90 基督的再来——耶稣基督要在荣耀中回到地上 SecondComing - Jesus Christ will return to earth in glory
《简明神学》Concise Theology: A Guide to
Historic Christian Beliefs，巴刻（J. I. Packer）著/張麟至译，更新传道会，2007年。
90 基督的再来——耶稣基督要在荣耀中回到地上
Second
Coming - Jesus Christ will return to earth in glory
弟兄们，论到时候、日期，不用写信给你们，因为你们自己明明晓得，主的日子来到，好像夜间的贼一样。人正说平安稳妥的时候，灾祸忽然临到他们，如同产难临到怀胎的妇人一样；他们绝不能逃脱。弟兄们，你们却不在黑暗里，叫那日子临到你们像贼一样。（帖前5:1-4）
新约圣经一再宣告，耶稣基督有一天要回家，那是祂的[君临]、祂的[显现]和[来临]（希腊文作parousia），耶稣基督有一日将要在荣耀中回到这个世界。救主第二次的降临是亲自以肉身出现（太24:44；徒1:11；西3:4；提后4:8；来9:28），是人眼看得见的、是凯旋式的（可8:38；帖后1:10；启1:7）。耶稣回来，为要结束历史，使死人复活及审判世界（约5:28-29），赐予祂的儿女们最终的荣耀（罗8:17-18；西3:4），并且引入再造的宇宙（罗8:19-21；提后3:10-13）。这项程序的执行是祂的中保国度最后的一个阶段，带来最终的胜利。这些事一旦完成了，神国度特定的工作，亦即实施撒旦所抵挡的救赎工作，也就完成了。当保罗说到，其后基督要[把国交予父神]，并服在祂之下（林前15:24-28），他并不是说基督后来的荣耀将有所减损，而是象征复活之子坐在宝座上所执行要将选民带到天上的计划完成了。选民在荣耀中已被洁净并得成全了，他们要永远尊崇羔羊是那位独一能打开神计划之书者，好在历史中完成并实施救赎，使所计划的事发生（启5章）。在新耶路撒冷里，神和羔羊要同坐在宝座上掌权，直到永远（启22:1,3）；然而，这种掌权是神与属神之人间那种不间断的主仆关系，是在（今日）中保国度时代之后的，但并非此国度的延续。
保罗在帖撒罗尼迦前书4:16-17节里教导说：基督的再来是采取从天而降的形式，先有号角吹奏、高声和天使长呼叫声作前导。那些在基督里死了的人要先复活，和祂同在，然后所有在地上的基督徒要[被提]（亦即被提到云里，在空中与基督相遇）；然后他们立刻和主一同回到地上，成为陪主凯旋归回之队伍的一部分。认为基督要先来将信徒提离这个世界一段时间，然后再第三次显现——亦即[主再来]共分两个阶段的说法，广为人所接受，可是却缺少经文的佐证。
保罗所说的一些细节虽有其象征性的意义（他所说的[号角]类似军队用的号角，用来引人留意神的行动，出19:9，16；赛27:13；太24:31；林前15:52.[云]象征神主动同在，出19:9,16；但7:13；太24:30；启1:7），但他似乎也是在讲实际发生的事。他所描述的，虽在我们所能想象的之外，却不应成为我们相信他所说之话的阻挠，事情的确将会如此发生。
新约圣经讲到很多在基督两次降临之间索要发生的事；但是，除主后七十年耶路撒冷沦陷一事外（路21:20,24），其他所有的预言都指向过程，而非单独可辨明的事件，也没有指出耶稣再临的大约日期（太24:14）。这些预言论到：外邦人要蒙召信主（太24:14）；犹太人要蒙引领进入神的国度（罗11:25-29，这段经文是否指全民族的归正，两面都有可能）；将有假先知或敌基督出现（太24:5,24；约2:18,22；4:3）。末日将有背离真道的事，信徒要受灾难（帖后2:3.提前4:1；提后3:1-5；启7:13-14；另参3:10）。保罗曾口头上教导过帖撒罗尼迦人有关[大罪人]的事，细节我们不得而知（帖后2:5），这个似乎无法确认的人将要显现（帖后2:3-12）。如果启示录25:1-10所提的一千年，真是指介乎基督两次降临之间的世界历史而言，那么世界反基督的势力和神的百姓之间，将会有一场最终、最高潮的权利斗争（启20:7-9）。不过，从这些资料里，我们无由归纳出预言的日期；耶稣回来的日子仍是无人可以知晓的。
基督的再来对当时还活在地上的基督徒而言，其意义犹如死亡对那些在祂回来之前就已去世的基督徒一样；都是今世生活的终结，与另一世界生活的开始。曾有人这样描述过那个世界：[那是和一群熟悉的居民，住在一个未知的环境里。]（参约14:2-3）基督教导我们（太24:36-51）：主降临的时候，如果有人没有准备好，那人就有祸了。因此之故，未来之事应担不断地呈现在我们得心思内，好激动我们目前的服事（林前15:58），并教导我们可以活得随时准备应征，去迎见基督（太25:1-13）。
SECOND COMING
JESUS CHRIST WILL RETURN TO
THE EARTH IN GLORY
Now,
brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know
very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While
people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly,
as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you,
brothers, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a
thief. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:1-4
The
New Testament repeatedly announces that Jesus Christ will one day be back. This
will be his “royal visit,” his “appearing” and “coming” (Greek: parousia).
Christ will return to this world in glory. The Savior’s second advent will be
personal and physical (Matt. 24:44; Acts 1:11; Col. 3:4; 2 Tim. 4:8; Heb.
9:28), visible and triumphant (Mark 8:38; 2 Thess. 1:10; Rev. 1:7). Jesus comes
to end history, to raise the dead and judge the world (John 5:28-29), to impart
to God’s children their final glory (Rom. 8:17-18; Col. 3:4), and to usher in a
reconstructed universe (Rom. 8:19-21; 2 Pet. 3:10-13). His execution of this
agenda will be the last phase and final triumph of his mediatorial kingdom.
Once these things are done, the applying of redemption against Satanic
opposition, which was the specific work of the kingdom, will be over. When Paul
says that Christ then “hands over the kingdom” and becomes subject to the
Father (1 Cor. 15:24-28), he is not implying any diminution in Christ’s
subsequent honor, but is signifying the completion of the plan for bringing the
elect to heaven that the risen Son was enthroned to carry through. The elect in
glory, purified and perfected, will forever honor the Lamb as the one who was
able to open the book of God’s plan for the accomplishing and applying of
redemption in history, and make what was planned happen (Rev. 5). In the new
Jerusalem, God and the Lamb are enthroned and reign together forever (Rev.
22:1, 3). But this reigning is the ongoing servant-Lord relationship between
God and the godly that follows the era of the mediatorial kingdom, rather than
the continuation of that kingdom as such.
In 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17 Paul teaches that Christ’s coming will take the form of a
descent from the sky, heralded by a trumpet fanfare, a shout, and the voice of
the archangel. Those who died in Christ will already have been raised and will
be with him, and all Christians on earth will be “raptured” (i.e., caught up
among the clouds to meet Christ in the air) so that they may at once return to
earth with him as part of his triumphant escort. The idea that the rapture
takes them out of this world for a period before Christ appears a third time
for a second “second coming” has been widely held but lacks scriptural support.
Though
some of the details Paul gives have symbolic significance (the trumpet, like a
military bugle, demands attention to God’s activity, Exod. 19:16, 19; Isa.
27:13; Matt. 24:31; 1 Cor. 15:52; the clouds signify God’s active presence,
Exod. 19:9, 16; Dan. 7:13; Matt. 24:30; Rev. 1:7), he seems to be speaking
literally, and the fact that what he describes is beyond our power to imagine
should not stop us from taking his word that this is how it will be.
The
New Testament specifies much that will take place between Christ’s two comings,
but apart from the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (Luke 21:20, 24) the predictions
point to processes rather than single identifiable events and do not yield even
an approximate date for Jesus’ reappearance. The Gentile world will be summoned
to faith (Matt. 24:14); Jews will be brought into the kingdom (Rom. 11:25-29, a
passage that may or may not anticipate a national conversion); there will be
false prophets and false Christs or antichrists (Matt. 24:5, 24; 1 John 2:18,
22; 4:3). There will be apostasy from the faith and tribulation for the
faithful (2 Thess. 2:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; 2 Tim. 3:1-5; Rev. 7:13-14; cf. 3:10). A
seemingly unidentifiable “man of lawlessness,” about whom Paul had told the
Thessalonians in oral teaching that we do not have (2 Thess. 2:5), was or is
due to appear (2 Thess. 2:3-12). If the thousand-year period of Revelation
20:1-10 is actually world history between Christ’s two comings, there will be a
last climactic power struggle of some sort between the world’s anti-Christian
forces and the people of God (vv. 7-9). No dates, however, can be deduced from
this data; the time of Jesus’ return remains completely unknown.
The
return of Christ will have the same significance for Christians who will be
alive when it happens as death has for Christians who die before it happens: it
will be the end of life in this world and the start of life in what has been
described as “an unknown environment with a well-known inhabitant” (cf. John
14:2-3). Christ teaches (Matt. 24:36-51) that it will be a tragic disaster if
the parousia finds anyone in an unprepared state. Rather, the thought of what
is to come should be constantly in our minds, encouraging us in our present
Christian service (1 Cor. 15:58) and teaching us to live as it were on call,
ready to go to meet Christ at any time (Matt. 25:1-13).
