Matthew 28:20 (NKJV)
... and lo, I am
with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.
The bible tells us Jesus would never leave us. So, why does He need to return when He never left in the first place? The truth is Jesus still comes, many times and in many different ways as He has done throughout both the Old and New Testaments. The coming of Christ does not refer to just one or two historical events. Nor is there such terminology in the Bible as a "final coming" or "last coming" in a world, kingdom, and Christian age that are all without end.
How do we know this for sure? Where is Jesus now? Since we don't see him, many have decided that Jesus could not have "returned" and be here with us. We live in the Christian age and many think Jesus is absent the entire time. Jesus is in the world today. Christianity does not stand for an absentee Christ. It stands for a present and active Christ who never left.
After Jesus' ascension, physical was no more. He left His physical body but at no time never left us. This physical departure was required to bring in the spiritual and the coming of the Holy Spirit. He didn't leave only to send Himself back.
John 14:2-3 (NKJV)
2 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. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be
also. When Jesus became that house, He had a place for every believer and
would always be present.
John 14:18-19 (NKJV)
18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
19 "A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see
Me. Because I live, you will live also.
John 14:28 (NKJV)
28 You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If
you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for
My Father is greater than I.
John 16:7 (NKJV)
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for
if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will
send Him to you.
2 Corinthians 5:8 (NKJV)
8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to
be present with the Lord.
Acts 2:16-17 (NKJV)
16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
Some say that He "returned" in the sending of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost. But this is scripturally impossible. Not only was the outpouring of
the Spirit a separate and distinctly-prophesied event in the Old Testament, but
no New Testament text acknowledges this event as that fulfillment. Rather, all
New Testament writers were still anticipating Christ's age-ending coming as
future.
So if Jesus is now present, and not off in some distant place waiting to come
back, then at some point between his departure and his Presence with us today He
either had to return or He never left. The sequence therefore is either:
present, absence, present or present, present, present. It's inconsistent
for futurists to say that Jesus is with us today and then claim that
He has not "returned."
The correct biblical and historical answer is: Jesus never left, just as He said
(Matt. 28:20). He doesn't need to "return" or come back again from anywhere at
the end of the Christian age. One cannot return to a place when one never left.
John, in the first chapter of the book of Revelation, affirms this reality. He
saw Christ standing in the midst of the lampstands (his Church) clothed in his
high priestly garments (Rev. 1:13, 20). His continuing Presence has not changed
since that time.
We need to get rid of the idea that the Presence of
Christ must be visible, and re-educate ourselves on how to better worship,
encounter, and enjoy Him in his Presence.