The Second Coming

[Sufjon]

Dear friends: I hear the term “Second Coming” quite a bit, and as you know, I am learning about what various Christian groups think. I have heard a number of differing accounts on a range of topics, and I was wondering if there is one vision shared throughout Christianity on this event, or are there varying views on what will take place. I saw a movie once where pilots disappeared from airplanes, people disappeared from whatever it was they were doing, and then there were the people who were left behind. I have heard others say that they believe they will get their bodies back. Perhaps both of these fit together in some common narrative, or maybe they represent divergent understandings. I can’t say. Can some of you share what your denominations believe on this subject, or is there one common expectation on what will transpire? I am not looking to see who is right or who is wrong, but I am interested to know simply what the various views are, or if they for the most part match.

Thanks in advance for any (name removed by moderator)ut.

Your friend
Sufjon

 

[GEddie]

Dear friends: I hear the term “Second Coming” quite a bit… I have heard others say that they believe they will get their bodies back.

You absolutely will. This is not a denominational saying, it is Scriptural.

A human being is a life-filled human body; to have life eternal requires an eternal body. According to Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, those who are alive at “the last trumpet” will not “sleep” in death, but remain alive for ever, and enter Heavenly life in their human bodies (redesigned for life eternal); while those who have died and have decomposed will be reinstated as a “pneumatikon soma,” or spiritual body. Either way, you enter Heaven embodied!

God Bless and ICXC NIKA

 

[benidict]

everything, and i do mean everything is made new. we get our bodies back, but in a glorified condition, kind of like having your car refurbished… just that this is better! heaven and earth will be reunited in a way that has never been seen before. it will be as in the days that God created adam. but even better. all of creation will be renewed. it is written in the bible. that the creation itself groans for the coming of Christ. think about it. being able to work, and never failing. everything you do say, think, feel. Everything will glorify our Creator. this is exciting my friend.

 

[Sufjon]

everything, and i do mean everything is made new. we get our bodies back, but in a glorified condition, kind of like having your car refurbished… just that this is better! heaven and earth will be reunited in a way that has never been seen before. it will be as in the days that God created adam. but even better. all of creation will be renewed. it is written in the bible. that the creation itself groans for the coming of Christ. think about it. being able to work, and never failing. everything you do say, think, feel. Everything will glorify our Creator. this is exciting my friend.

Hi Benedict: Thanks as usual - I always appreciate your responses. Can you elaborate on the part where heaven and earth are united? Does that mean that at the point at which this happens, the earth becomes eternal, as in no longer part of the process of creation, change and destruction that goes on in the rest of the galaxy or universe? Or does the whole universe become static in some way? I’m not sure if there’s a definite answer on that somewhere, but either way, I’d be interested in your thoughts on it.

Thanks again!

Your friend
Sufjon

 

[Sufjon]

You absolutely will. This is not a denominational saying, it is Scriptural.

A human being is a life-filled human body; to have life eternal requires an eternal body. According to Saint Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, those who are alive at “the last trumpet” will not “sleep” in death, but remain alive for ever, and enter Heavenly life in their human bodies (redesigned for life eternal); while those who have died and have decomposed will be reinstated as a “pneumatikon soma,” or spiritual body. Either way, you enter Heaven embodied!

God Bless and ICXC NIKA

Thanks GEddie! So, it appears that the part involving getting your body back is a universal Christian understanding, that is, it’s shared by all Christians. This is why I ask - I always learn something from it.

Your friend
Sufjon

 

[GEddie]

Hi Benedict: Thanks as usual - I always appreciate your responses. Can you elaborate on the part where heaven and earth are united? Does that mean that at the point at which this happens, the earth becomes eternal, as in no longer part of the process of creation, change and destruction that goes on in the rest of the galaxy or universe? Or does the whole universe become static in some way? I’m not sure if there’s a definite answer on that somewhere, but either way, I’d be interested in your thoughts on it.

Thanks again!

Your friend
Sufjon

Hello again Sufjon;

Of course, I’m not Benidict; but here’s my MX$2 worth anyhow:

The earth, its universe, and the materials in it, are subject to the law of entropy. This also applies to beings formed from the earth, such as our human bodies.

The law of entropy requires (as an oversimplification) that all energy runs down, and that all materials deteriorate over time. We see this in the rusting of metals; in the erosion of rocks; in the breakdown of mechanical systems; and in our own human bodies, via the wrinkling of our skin, the weakening of our breathing, the wasting of our muscles, the fading of our sight, etc. Ultimately, the law of entropy requires that we die.

Science could conceivably lengthen human life by decades or even centuries. But it can never give us eternity, because entropy is fundamental to the physical world. Ultimately, the land will be washed into the sea, the sun will burn down, and there will be no energy to keep our bodies warm and breathing. The physical world is unsuitable to live eternal life in; and our naturalbodies are equally unsuited to hold life eternal. You can’t put new wine in an old skin (literally) as our LORD once said.

So we will be awakened from Death as a pneumatikon soma; or if alive at that moment, our breath-filled human bodies will be converted to the pneumatikon soma with no loss of life. But the phyiscal world, too, will take part in this human restoration; somehow, our majestic old planet, and its universe, will be released from the law of entropy.

What the planet will be like then is beyond our imagination. Fortunately, in our new bodies, we will be able to walk around and investigate it ourselves.

God Bless and ICXC NIKA!