A volta de Jesus
A volta de Jesus é uma das maiores promessas da Bíblia. Cristo prometeu que retornará em glória, e os cristãos vivem na expectativa desse dia triunfante.
A promessa do retorno
Jesus prometeu aos discípulos que voltaria. Os anjos confirmaram essa promessa na ascensão, e os apóstolos ensinaram que Ele virá com poder.
In my Father’s house are many dwellings (otherwise I would have told you). I am going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.
Upon saying these things, as they watched, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And as they were staring into the sky, while He was going, suddenly two men in white clothing stood beside them; and they said: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into the sky? This very Jesus who is being taken up from you into the sky, He will come again in the precise manner that you observed Him going into the sky."
Os sinais e o momento
Ninguém sabe o dia nem a hora. Jesus alertou sobre falsos sinais e nos chamou à vigilância constante, pois Ele virá como ladrão na noite.
"But no one knows concerning that day and hour, not even the angels of the heavens, except my Father alone. But just as were the days of Noah, so also will be the coming of the Son of the Man. For just as they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, in the days before the flood until the day that Noah entered the ark, and were not aware until the flood came and took all away, so also will be the coming of the Son of the Man.
"Now concerning that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels who are in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father.
So be watchful, because you (pl) do not know in what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, because the Son of the Man is coming at an hour that you do not suppose.
A glória da segunda vinda
Cristo voltará nas nuvens, com poder e grande glória. Os mortos em Cristo ressuscitarão, e os vivos serão arrebatados para encontrá-lo nos ares.
"But in those days, after that tribulation, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will be falling, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.’ And then they will see the Son of the Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then He will send His angels and gather together His elect from the four winds, from earth’s extreme point to heaven’s extreme point.
"When the Son of the Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on His throne of glory. And all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And the sheep He will place on His right, but the goats on His left.
Yes, whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of the Man will be ashamed of Him, whenever He comes in the glory—His, and the Father’s, and of the holy angels.
Vivendo na expectativa
A certeza do retorno de Cristo nos chama a viver em santidade, aguardando novos céus e nova terra onde habita a justiça.