The Orthodox understanding of the Second Coming of Christ is clear:
the Lord Jesus Christ truly will return. His second advent is not
a myth, nor an empty promise, nor is it a metaphor, In fact, each
time the Divine Liturgy is celebrated, the priest makes a proclamation
to the Father which reveals how the Church responds not only to
the Second Coming of Christ, but to all of His work.
Remembering this saving commandment (Jesus' command to eat His
flesh and drink His blood) and all that has been done for us-the
Cross, the Tomb, the Resurrection on the third day, the Ascension
into Heaven, the sitting at the right hand and the Second and glorious
Coming-we offer You Your own, from what is Your own, on behalf
of all and for all.
Orthodox Christians
also believe the New Testament revelation of the Second coming
of Christ is meant to stimulate our preparation
for it, not our speculation about it. This explains the relative
simplicity with which the Nicene Creed, the most universal confession
of faith in all of Christendom, addresses Christ's return: "He...will
come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead whose
Kingdom shall have no end." The emphasis of historic Orthodoxy
is that Jesus will come again, not when He will come again.
Thus, St. Paul writes, "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great
God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might
redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own
special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:12-14)
There are signs of Christ's coming, to be sure. Jesus prophesied
many events that would take place in the world prior to His return
(Matt. 24; Luke 21:7-36). But even here the teachings of Jesus
in these gospels close with His exhortation to virtue, righteousness,
and preparation for the Judgment. Christ and His apostles issue
severe warnings, implicit and explicit, against second-guessing
the time of His coming (Matt. 24:3-8, 36,43,44, 50; Luke 21:7-9,
34; Acts 1:7; 1 Thess. 5:1-3; 2 Pet. 3:8-10).
Much of modem Christendom has succumbed to divisive speculation
regarding Christ's return. We are divided into pre-millennial,
post-millennial, and a-millennial camps. Breaking it down even
further, there are pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, and post-tribulation
adherents. Christians part ways and new denominations spring up
around interpretations of events which have not yet even come to
pass!
Throughout history the
Orthodox Church has steadfastly insisted on the reality of the
Second Coming of Christ as a settled belief
but granted liberty on the question of when it will occur. In the
last chapter of Revelation, Jesus speaks the words, "I am
coming quickly" three different times (Rev. 2:21:7, 12, 20).
His coming will occur on a day, at an hour when it is not expected,
The Apostle John, the author of Revelation, concludes his book
with a warning: "For I testify to everyone who hears the words
of the prophecy of this book If anyone adds to these thins, God
will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and
if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, form the holy
city, and from the things which are written in this book:" (Rev.
22:18, 19).
To confess the return
of Christ is to stand squarely within the apostolic tradition.
To add "when" to the promise of
His coming is warned against in the Scriptures. As members of the
Bride of Christ, let us attend instead to being ready.
