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Bible Q & A
Q.
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There are two accounts of the second coming in the New Testament. The first account says Jesus will come ‘as a thief in the night,’
and in the second account He will ‘come in the clouds of glory, and every eye shall see him.’ Now, which one (if any) can we believe?
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A.
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Revelation 1:7
(“Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see
him”) refers to the manner
of Christ’s coming. The statement that “the day of the Lord
will come like a thief in the night” (I Thess. 5:2; II Pet.
3:10) refers to the time
of his coming. He will arrive like a thief—at a time no one
expects. The context of I Thessalonians 5:2 shows this: “But
as to the times
and the seasons,
brethren, you have no need to have anything written to you. For
you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like
a thief in the night.”
There is no contradiction between these two concepts:
Christ will arrive in a dramatic, obvious
manner
(Matt. 24:29-31), but the
time of this
coming is known only to God the Father (Matt. 24:36) and
it will take many by surprise just like a thief in the
night. |
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