When the Christ Returns does it matter what He looks like?

[IgnatianPhilo]

The goats separate themselves by their own actions, they are really not that important.

The Christ will come to help humanity save ourselves from the mess we have created and correct many misconceptions we have about God and our relationship with him. Condemning, judging or punishing people is not his main purpose.

I am reminded of the epistle to the hebrews.

“To which of the angels has God ever said? Sit at my right hand til i make your enemies a footstool.” This is within the context of expounding who the son is.

I am then reminded of the apostle Paul.

Ephesians 1: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Need we forget the words of Christ?

John 5 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

So who is right? You who says the son judges no one, or Jesus who says that judgement comes to those who do not honour him as they honour the father? IS Paul wrong in saying all things have been put under his feet? Is the Author of hebrews wrong?

You read the new testament but you reject the New testament whenever it quotes the Old testament.

Read further in john chapter five and you will see this.

27And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

And again

30“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Judgement has been given into the hands of the son.

 

[openmind77]

I am reminded of the epistle to the hebrews.

“To which of the angels has God ever said? Sit at my right hand til i make your enemies a footstool.” This is within the context of expounding who the son is.

I am then reminded of the apostle Paul.

Ephesians 1: I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Need we forget the words of Christ?

John 5 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

So who is right? You who says the son judges no one, or Jesus who says that judgement comes to those who do not honour him as they honour the father? IS Paul wrong in saying all things have been put under his feet? Is the Author of hebrews wrong?

You read the new testament but you reject the New testament whenever it quotes the Old testament.

Read further in john chapter five and you will see this.

27And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

And again

30“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Judgement has been given into the hands of the son.

I did not say that the Christ did not have the authority. I said that judgement and punishment is not his main purpose.

But you are right, the only books I read from the NT are the Gospels, I don’t care much for the rest.

Since we disagree, we can just wait and see what happens when He returns and who he condemns, if anyone.

 

[andrewstx]

When He returns, He will be returning as He is. Perhaps, despite the fact that we KNOW He was born a Jewish man in Bethlehem and no doubt looked like the average Jewish man (dark hair and eyes, dark Caucasian complexion), He can ALSO look different in the eyes of individuals (especially as that body is now Glorified). . .and perhaps our human eyes will, at His return, behold Him as He is and all those ‘physical characteristics’ that we see as making us ‘different’ will be MEANINGLESS.

HMM, I never thought of Jesus looking different to different people. I would go with the semitic appearance idea.
But honestly we have no idea of what Jesus actually looked like. We do know that the early iconography in the catacombs he was depicted as a beardless shepherd. But again that is only a guess.

 

[FrDavid96]

I expect the Christ to return to the world pretty soon (although I don’t believe in the End of the World or the Armageddon or anything like that).

We don’t really know what exactly he would look like (at least I don’t think so).

I believe that when he comes, he will come for the whole world, not just for people in the West. He is especially needed in the East where there are many people who have no religion or a firm belief in a single God.

So my question is, if the Christ returned as an Asian (for instance an ethnic Chinese person), would Christians in the west have difficulty accepting him as the Christ?

In other words does it matter to you personally what he would look like? What if he does not look like the image you have created of him in your mind - would you have difficulty accepting him or maybe you would even reject him?

It really won’t matter what He looks like.

There won’t be anyone in the West, or Asia, or anywhere else on earth to even have any difficulty accepting Him. That won’t be a choice.

When He comes again, we will all experience the final judgement and go to either heaven or hell. In heaven, we will have the fullness of joy, and there will be room for being disappointed that He does not look a certain way. In hell, it won’t matter either, but for the opposite reason.

Having said that, though, He became Incarnate in a certain body; and He keeps that body for all of eternity. To say that He would look any different than He did on that first Easter Sunday would be to say that He exchanged one body for another one—and that makes no sense.

 

[openmind77]

It really won’t matter what He looks like.

There won’t be anyone in the West, or Asia, or anywhere else on earth to even have any difficulty accepting Him. That won’t be a choice.

When He comes again, we will all experience the final judgement and go to either heaven or hell. In heaven, we will have the fullness of joy, and there will be room for being disappointed that He does not look a certain way. In hell, it won’t matter either, but for the opposite reason.

Having said that, though, He became Incarnate in a certain body; and He keeps that body for all of eternity. To say that He would look any different than He did on that first Easter Sunday would be to say that He exchanged one body for another one—and that makes no sense.

I am not sure what you mean by there won’t be a choice. Unless you are really expecting the world to end when the Christ Returns.

I don’t believe the world will end, it will be just be the end of an age (or end of the world as we know it).

I believe the Return will be similar to when the Christ came last time - people will have a choice whether to accept him as their Messiah or not.

What I am wondering is that if he does not look as expected, then people will not believe that he is the Christ, don’t you think that is possible?

 

[FrDavid96]

I am not sure what you mean by there won’t be a choice. Unless you are really expecting the world to end when the Christ Returns.

I don’t believe the world will end, it will be just be the end of an age (or end of the world as we know it).

I believe the Return will be similar to when the Christ came last time - people will have a choice whether to accept him as their Messiah or not.

When Christ comes again, it will be the end of the world. We will all experience the final Judgement, whether we accept that or not–we won’t have a choice.

What I am wondering is that if he does not look as expected, then people will not believe that he is the Christ, don’t you think that is possible?

No, it won’t be possible. It will be the final judgement—there won’t be any room for even the slightest doubt.

The idea that the earth will continue after the Second Coming is not consistent with Christian doctrine. Millenarianism (the belief that there will some kind of new society on earth after the 2nd Coming) is a false doctrine. See the Catechism #676.

 

[openmind77]

When Christ comes again, it will be the end of the world. We will all experience the final Judgement, whether we accept that or not–we won’t have a choice.
No, it won’t be possible. It will be the final judgement—there won’t be any room for even the slightest doubt.

The idea that the earth will continue after the Second Coming is not consistent with Christian doctrine. Millenarianism (the belief that there will some kind of new society on earth after the 2nd Coming) is a false doctrine. See the Catechism #676.

That is very interesting! I thought the Catholic Church also subscribed to the belief in the 1000 year Kingdom of God on earth after the Second Coming - apparently not!

I am afraid I don’t agree with the ‘End of World’ theory, so we will just have to wait and see what happens (maybe the final trial that the Church is supposed to go through before the Second Coming will give us some clues)

 

[rossum]

When the Christ Returns does it matter what He looks like?

There is an old joke:

A man runs into a church all excited. “I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Jesus has returned!”

“Hallelujah!” the congregation says. “What is the bad news?” they ask.

“She’s black.”



rossum