Second Coming:  Who will be with Christ when He returns?

Many years ago, I was taught that when Jesus Christ returns to Earth to rule, He’ll bring all the believers of what is called the church which is the Body of Christ with Him. You may not think that a correct understanding of such things is all that important.  But it is knowing the truth about even little things like this and things related that prove to be the building blocks for one’s spiritual growth and maturity.

The Apostle John spoke of Christ’s literal, physical, and visible return to Earth.  You might be surprised at how even many pastors don’t believe this truth about Christ’s eventual return to the Earth.  Surveys have been conducted and there are thousands of them that don’t believe it. But what does the Bible tell us about this? Here we have a prophecy about a future time—

Revelation 19:11-16

¹¹ And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he [Jesus Christ] that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Jesus Christ came to the world the first time to BE judged, but the next time He comes He’ll be serving as the One doing the judging.

¹² His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

¹³ And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

¹⁴ And the armies [angels] which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

¹⁵ And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

That passage right there tells us another simple but important truth—Internationalism will NEVER succeed! This prophecy tells us there will always be nations.  One-world-ism along with world-wide peace is doomed to failure.

¹⁶ And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords. [Emphasis added]

We know this Second Coming of Christ will occur after what we speak of as the Rapture of the Body of Christ church and a seven-year period called the time of tribulation.  Here are the names of articles on this website about these coming events—

Rapture:  Does this occur before The Tribulation?

Prophecy:  Will believers go through The Tribulation?

Rapture:  How is this different from the Second Coming?

The “armies” mentioned in Revelation 19:14 are often thought to be believers of our time—members of that which is known as the Body of Christ church.  But what so many people fail to realize is that believers today and all those who are called members of this Body of Christ won’t even be here then.  They’ll all already be enjoying Heaven.  The ones who return with Christ to the Earth to rule and reign here with Him are NOT members of the Body of Christ.  Instead, it will be regenerate, born-again or “bride” of Christ Israelites who will be here.  These people are described earlier in the Revelation passage I just cited.

Revelation 19:7-10

⁷ Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him [Jesus Christ]: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife [believing Israelites] hath made herself ready.

⁸ And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

⁹ And he saith unto me [the apostle John], Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

¹⁰ And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. [Emphasis added]

Again, it is often assumed that it is us as believers, deceased members of what is called the Body of Christ, who will be coming to the Earth with Him on this occasion.  But such is not the case! Again, it will be regenerate members of the household of Israel who’ll be coming to rule and reign with Him here for a thousand years on a restored post-tribulation Earth.  Note what the Scriptures tell us about this—

Matthew 16:27

²⁷ For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his ANGELS; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. [Emphasis added]

Matthew 25:31

³¹ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy ANGELS with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: [Emphasis added]

It makes you wonder why so many people could be wrong about this when there are so many passages that speak of this event, telling us clearly who’s coming with Him.

Luke 9:26

²⁶ For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy ANGELS. [Emphasis added]

Mark 8:38

³⁸ Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father. [Emphasis added]

A verse about all this that some people have been confused about is this one—

Jude 14-15

¹⁴ And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his SAINTS,

Some would want to argue that these “SAINTS” are believers.  Here, too, there’s often misunderstanding.

¹⁵ To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. [Emphasis added]

What some fail to realize is that the word “saints” can refer to angels as well as to people who are believers.  All the word means is set apart ones which, again, can refer to people or angels.  Moses spoke of angels being “saints” thousands of years ago.

Deuteronomy 33:2

² And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of SAINTS: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. [Emphasis added]

Either way, the term “saints” is used to speak of living beings who are serving God.

When Enoch prophesied some 5,000 years ago, neither he nor anyone else on Earth knew anything about the church called the Body of Christ.  As the apostle Paul states numerous times, this Body of Christ made up of Jews and Gentiles who would be God’s people was a secret held in the mind of God until it was first revealed through the apostle Paul.

1 Corinthians 12:12-13

¹² For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

¹³ For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. [Emphasis added]

The fact that such a union would ever come about had been a mystery, a secret kept in the mind of God.

Romans 16:25

²⁵ Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, [Emphasis added]

Colossians 1:25-26

²⁵ Whereof I [Paul] am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to ME for you, to fulfil the word of God;

²⁶ Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: [Emphasis added]

Paul presents a longer version of this same truth in Ephesians 3:1-11.

In Revelation 19, we have two sets of creatures wearing white. They are not to be confused with one another, and they’re not to be confused with us either.  One group is made up of angels and the other is made up of God’s people of Israel.  Today, being believers who are a part of the Body of Christ, we are a totally different entity.  Israel’s future is on a beautifully restored Earth while ours will be in this glorious place called Heaven.

As members of the church, the one which is called the Body of Christ, we will not be coming to the Earth with Christ at what is spoken of as His Second Coming.  Our citizenship is already in Heaven.

Philippians 3:20-21

²⁰ For our conversation [POLITEUO = citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

²¹ Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. [Emphasis added]

Scripture reminds us that our earthly “house” or body is temporary.

2 Corinthians 5:1-4

¹ For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Because of the temporary constitution of our body, Paul speaks of it as a tabernacle, a tent.  The “house” or home we’ll have in Heaven is a permanent one made of God especially for us.

² For in this [this temporal body] we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house [a body] which is from heaven [speaking of our resurrection body with all the perfect features of Christ’s resurrection body]:

For more information about the features of the resurrection body we’ll have, please see my articles about it.  Here’s the link to one of them—

Resurrection:  What will your resurrection body be like?

³ If so be that being clothed [with a resurrection body] we shall not be found naked.

⁴ For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon [with a permanent resurrection body], that mortality might be swallowed up of life. [Emphasis added]

We’ll become residents there when we step into Heaven after we die physically or at the time of the Rapture, whichever comes first.

The Body of Christ church does not accompany Jesus Christ at His Second Coming; Paul probably would have said so if we did. Paul and all other members of the Body of Christ are saved to live in Heaven, not on a restored Earth. Heaven will be our realm of influence.  It will be there that we’ll enjoy a position of rulership reflecting our degree of faithfulness to our Lord when we were living here on Earth.

2 Timothy 2:11-13

¹¹ It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:

¹² If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him [a reference to our times of disobedience], he also will deny us [in relation to our rank in rulership]:

¹³ If we believe not [speaking of times of unfaithfulness on our part], yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself [even in spiritual failure we are still members of His body].

The fact that He cannot deny himself speaks of the permanency and everlasting security of our salvation.  Those who have it now will always have it.  We weren’t saved by our works, and we aren’t kept in our saved status by them either.

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast. [Emphasis added]

As I often say, we didn’t DO anything to gain it, and we can’t DO anything to lose it.  Our salvation is made permanent the moment we first believe our gospel message.  It is sealed of God forever.

Ephesians 4:30

³⁰ And grieve not the holy Spirit of God [by foolish sinful living], whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. [Emphasis added]

Therefore, it is certain that everyone who has ever been saved through Paul’s gospel message will have a position of rulership in Heaven that was vacated by Satan and those other angels who sided with him in his revolt against God.

Our salvation is our greatest blessing.  Nothing will ever surpass it.  We gained it by simply accepting the gospel message our Lord gave the apostle Paul. For more information about that gospl please see my other articles about it—

Peter and Paul:  Was their message the same?

Gospel:  Which one is ours today?

Despite what church tradition says, we the Church which is the Body of Christ have no relation whatsoever to Christ’s Second Coming. It is wrong to confuse the nation Israel with the Body of Christ church.  The differences must be sorted out or as Scripture puts it— “rightly divided.”

2 Timothy 2:15

¹⁵ Study [SPOUDAZO = be diligent] to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

If we are to understand the Bible, we must separate and define the dispensational teachings. We cannot combine passages that have no relation to one another, mixing Israel’s verses and program with our verses and program. This will only lead to heartache, confusion, and division that has produced denominationalism.

At the time of the Rapture [which is imminent, meaning it could occur at any moment], and before the seven-year Tribulation begins, God will secretly and instantly remove from Earth and transport to Heaven  in bodily form all remaining people who have trusted exclusively in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, believing He died for their sins, was buried, and arose for their justification and resultant salvation.

If God removed us [the Body of Christ] from the earth, it would not make any sense at all for us to return to Earth at His Second Coming. We the Church which is the Body of Christ have a home waiting for us in the heavenly places [2 Corinthians 5:1; Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6,7; Colossians 3:1; 2 Timothy 4:18] just as the nation Israel will have a glorious home right here on Earth [Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 11:1ff.; Zechariah 8:20-23; Revelation 5:10]. Again, God will give us glorified bodies “eternal in the heavens” [2 Corinthians 5:1-5]. Our glorified bodies will not be meant to function on earth. We are God’s heavenly people. Our rightful place is Heaven. Israel is God’s earthly people, which is why Israel will inherit the earthly kingdom. This is the kingdom on Earth Israel was to pray for.

Matthew 6:9-10

⁹ After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

¹⁰ Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. [Emphasis added]

Has that kingdom come as some claim? No! No form of it is here today. Will that promised earthly kingdom come? Yes! But we will not have a part in it! We as members of the Church the Body of Christ have a heavenly hope whereas regenerate Israel has this earthly hope.

At Christ’s Second Coming, He will be coming for Israel.  We have no part in that event. Jesus Christ’s Second Coming is to rescue Israel from the Antichrist and her other enemies. For information about this one called the Antichrist, please see my article about him—

Antichrist:  Is he alive today?

When we understand dispensational Bible study, we see that we have nothing to do with God’s dealings with Israel. For more information about dispensations, please see my articles—

Dispensations:  What is this about?

Dispensation:  What is the Dispensation of Grace?

Dispensational Theology:  What should everyone know about it?

Beginning at the Rapture and down through the future ages of even eternity, we, the Body of Christ, will function in heaven. That will be our eternal home.  We will apparently never have a need to ever return to Earth.  Earth will be Israel’s territory.  Again, Israel is God’s earthly people [Exodus 19:6; Psalm 37:9; Matthew 5:5; Revelation 5:10]; we the Church the Body are His heavenly people [2 Corinthians 5:1; Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 2:6-7; 2 Timothy 4:18].

Conclusion—

Jesus Christ clearly identified these creatures returning with Him at His Second Coming as angels.  They are not Christians. There will be some surviving believer Jews waiting on the Earth to receive Jesus Christ as their Messiah King at His Second Coming.  These angels will gather Israel’s believing remnant on Earth for entry into Christ’s promised earthly kingdom.  Since Revelation 19:14 calls them “the armies of heaven,” these angels will fight and defeat Satan’s armies on earth when Jesus Christ returns.

There are links to two other articles on this website that are related to what all you’ve just read.  I know you’ll find them both quite helpful.

Jesus Christ:  Will He return in this generation?

Second Coming:  Why has He still not returned?