Will Jesus Come Again?

Mayor Gerardo Balmori

The Salvation Army

The second coming of Jesus is an imminent fact. Before we start into this topic, I want to make some

preliminary comments.

There are over 2,000 references to the second coming of Jesus in the Bible. For every prophecy

concerning the first coming of Christ, there are eight that look forward to His second!

Let’s ask these two questions:

• Will Jesus comes again? • When is He coming?

Will Jesus Come Again?

The Bible is clear that the return of Christ is certain. John 14:3: “And if I go and prepare a place for

you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” After His

Resurrection, Jesus appeared to people for 40 days. After giving some final instructions, He was

transported to Heaven before their very eyes. Two angels then appeared and said in Acts 1:11, “Men of

Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into

heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

The early Christians were convinced that Jesus was going to return. In fact, they thought it was going

to happen in their lifetime. From the first century up to now, Christ followers have always believed

that Jesus could return at any time.

When Is He Coming?

Turn in your Bible to Matthew 24. This chapter contains more about the end times from the lips of

Jesus than any other section of Scripture. The material here has reference not only to events that were

about to take place in Jerusalem but also to those stretching far into the future. Specifically, two

momentous occurrences are intertwined throughout the chapter:

• The coming judgment upon Jerusalem

• The final judgment at the close of the world’s history

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, where he can overlook the temple mount. An amazing prophecy in

the book of Zechariah referring to the second coming of Christ, Zechariah 14:4 says, “On that day His

feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two

from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving

south.” After hearing the prediction of the temple’s demolition, they turn to Jesus and ask Him some

questions in verse 3: “…when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the

end of the age?”

In the first part of his answer in verses 4-14, Jesus gives us three significant signs to let us know that

His return is right around the corner. Let’s look at these briefly. 3 Signs

1. The first sign has to do with False Things. We see this in verses 4-5: “Watch out that no one

deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.”

There have been many examples of false messiahs in recent memory. Jim Jones in Jonestown. David

Koresh in Waco. As we near the return of the real Jesus, there will be an increasing number of leaders

who will claim that they are the Christ. A lot of these so-called saviors have been surfacing in the land

where Jesus actually lived. According to a recent TIME magazine article, a Psychiatric Hospital in

Jerusalem treats over 50 false messiahs a year.

2. That leads to the second significant sign in verses 6-13. Our world will increasingly

experience Bad Things that will range from cataclysmic natural disasters to an outpouring of evil

like we’ve never seen before. Killer hurricanes, deadly floods, and earthquakes are almost a daily

occurrence in the news. The bad news is that these disasters will only get more frequent and increase

in their intensity as we approach the end of time as we know it. Jesus very clearly taught that

earthquakes and famines are only the beginning of birth pains in verse 8. Coupled with natural

disasters, we will see an acceleration of unbridled evil. 2 Timothy 3:1 says, “But mark this: There will

be terrible times in the last days.”

3. These first two signs are negative, let’s take a look now at a positive precursor that will

indicate that the return of Jesus is close at hand. Sign #3 refers to some Good Things.

The first good thing that will happen as a prerequisite to the Second Coming may surprise you. Listen

to the words of Jesus in verse 14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world

as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The word ‘nations’ in this verse does not