"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also." (John 14:1-3)
These words were spoken by our Saviour himself, in his talk to his disciples, in the evening of the day on which he was crucified. He had been with them in constant companionship for over three years, and besides the tie of personal love which bound them to him, they had given him reverence as "the Christ, the Son of the living God," and had "trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." They had looked for a speedy deliverance from the Roman yoke, and now consternation and grief had taken hold of their hearts as they listened to his words:
"Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You shall seek me; and as I said unto the Jews, Where I go, you cannot come; so now I say to you." (John 13:33)
Peter voiced the common desire, and said,
"Lord, where do you go? ..." (John 13:36)
And to this question the Saviour replied,
"...Where I go, you cannot follow me now; but you shall follow me afterwards." (John 13:36)
And then, in the words quoted at the beginning of this chapter, he proceeded to comfort their troubled hearts, telling them how and when they could follow him and be with him.
The "glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), is the "blessed hope" that is set before the church of Christ. It has been the hope of the church in all ages.
As has been shown in preceding chapters, the ancient prophets foretold in minutest detail "the sufferings of Christ," and at his first advent the "sure word of prophecy" was fulfilled to the letter; but "the glory that should follow" was, as has also been shown, no less the theme of inspired penmen, and the followers of Christ were pointed forward to the time when his glory should be revealed, as the time when they also should "appear with him in glory," and "be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13; Colossians 3:4). It was with this hope that our Saviour comforted his sorrowing disciples.
That Christ will come again, is as sure as that he was once here upon earth, and that he is now:
"...gone into Heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." (1 Peter 3:22)
Said he,
"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself." (John 14:3)
He was here; he has gone; and he will certainly come again. This is the testimony of Christ himself, and of all the holy men in whom was his Spirit.
"I will come again." This means "another time; once more." Not thousands of times, as they would have us believe, who claim that in fulfillment of his promise he comes whenever a saint dies, but only once more will he come again, to consummate the great plan of salvation.
To this the apostle bears emphatic testimony, in these words:
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the Judgment; So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Hebrews 9:27-28)
It is appointed unto men once to die; in order that men might have life, Christ was once offered for sin, bearing "our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24); and so, when his work for sinners shall have been finished, he will come once more--"the second time"-not bearing the sins of the world, as at his first advent, but for the salvation of those who, by means of his sacrifice and mediation, have "put away sin" (Hebrews 9:26).
The fact having been settled beyond all controversy, that Christ will come to this earth again, three questions naturally arise in our minds, namely:
• How will he come?
• Why will he come? And,
• When will he come?
These questions must be answered by the Bible, if they are answered at all, and to it we will turn for light. Anything that throws light upon Christ's second coming must be of first importance.