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 the house of my Father be many dwellings; if anything less, I had said to you, for I go to make ready to you a place.
And if I go, and make ready to you a place, again I [shall] come, and I shall take you to myself, that where I am, ye be.
And when he had said these things, in their sight he was lifted up, and a cloud received him from their eyes.
And when they beheld him going into heaven, lo! two men stood beside them in white clothing,
and said, Men of Galilee, what stand ye beholding into heaven? This Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall come, as ye saw him going into heaven.
He saith, that beareth witnessing of these things, Yea, Amen. [Lo!] I come soon. Amen. Come thou, Lord Jesus.
Lo! I come soon, and my meed with me, to yield to each man after his works.
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 of that day and hour no man knoweth, neither [the] angels of heaven, but the Father alone.
But as it was in the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of man’s Son.
For as in the days before the great flood, they were eating and drinking, wedding and taking to wedding, till that day, that Noah entered into the ship;
and they knew not, till the great flood came, and took all men, so shall be the coming of man’s Son.
But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither angels in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
But, brethren, of times and moments ye need not that I write to you.
For ye yourselves know diligently, that the day of the Lord shall come, as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say peace is, and secureness, then sudden death [or suddenly perishing] shall come on them, as sorrow to a woman that is with child, and they shall not escape.
Therefore wake ye, for ye know not in what hour the Lord shall come.
But know ye this, that if the husbandman knew in what hour the thief were to come, certainly he would wake, and suffer not his house to be undermined.
And therefore be ye ready, for in what hour ye guess not, man’s Son shall come.
But, brethren, we pray you by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of our congregation into the same coming [or the same thing],
that ye be not moved soon from your wit, neither be afeared, neither by spirit, neither by word, neither by epistle as sent by us, as if the day of the Lord be nigh.
No man deceive you in any manner. For but dissension [or departing away] come first, and the man of sin be showed, the son of perdition,
that is adversary, and is enhanced over all thing that is said God, or that is worshipped, so that he sit in the temple of God, and show himself as if he were God.
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.
For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven, in the command-ment [or in the commanding], and in the voice of an archangel, and in the trump of God; and the dead men that be in Christ, shall rise again first.
Afterward we that live, that be left, shall be ravished together with them in clouds, meeting Christ in the air; and so evermore we shall be with the Lord.
But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be made dark, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars of heaven shall fall down, and the virtues that be in heavens shall be moved.
And then they shall see man’s Son coming in the clouds of heaven, with great virtue and glory.
And then he shall send his angels, and shall gather his chosen from the four winds, from the highest [or the lowest] thing of earth till to [or unto] the highest thing of heaven.
When man’s Son shall come in his majesty, and all his angels with him, then he shall sit on the seat of his majesty;
and all folks shall be gathered before him, and he shall separate [or part] them atwain, as a shepherd separateth [or parteth] sheep from kids;
and he shall set the sheep on his right half, and the kids on the [or his] left half.
And I saw heaven opened, and lo! a white horse, and he that sat on him was called Faithful and soothfast; and with rightwiseness he deemeth, and fighteth.
And his eyes were as flame of fire, and in his head many diadems; and he had a name written, which no man knew, but he.
And he was clothed in a cloth sprinkled with blood; and the name of him was called The Son of God [or The Word of God].
And the hosts that be in heaven, pursued him on white horses, clothed with bissyn, white and clean.
And a sword sharp on either side [or on each side] came forth of his mouth, that with it he smite folks; and he shall rule them with an iron rod. And he treadeth the presser of wine of strong vengeance of the wrath of almighty God.
And he hath written in his cloth, and in the hip [or in his hem], King of kings and Lord of lords.
For whoso shameth me and my words, man’s Son shall shame him, when he cometh in his majesty, and of 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.
But, ye most dear, this one thing be not hid to you [or be not unknown], that one day with God is as a thousand years, and a thousand years be as one day.
The Lord tarrieth not his promise, as some guess, but he doeth patiently for you, and will not that any man perish [or not willing any to perish], but that all turn again to penance.
For the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which heavens with great rush, [or fierceness], shall pass, and elements shall be dissolved by heat, and the earth, and all the works that be in it, shall be burnt.
Therefore when all these things shall be dissolved, what manner men behooveth it you to be in holy livings and piety,
abiding and hieing into the coming of the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom heavens burning shall be dissolved, and elements shall fail by burning [or heat] of fire.
Also we abide by his promises new heavens and new earth, in which rightwiseness dwelleth.
And as it is ordained to men, once to die, but after this is the doom,
so Christ was offered once, to void, [or do away], the sins of many men; the second time he shall appear without sin to men that abide him into health.