Someone or something is working overtime to convince the world that Christs return will be a visible event. They base this off of what is written at Matthew 24:30 which says:
and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Please permit me to show you that Christ never said that he will be seen again and that ALL of the tribes of the earth would see him in another manner other than with the physical eye.
What Was The Question Asked of Jesus By His Disciples at Matthew 24:3?
One would think that when sitting with the Lord, his disciples would have asked him, “Lord, when will we see you again?” But they did not. They asked him:
… what shall be the sign of thy coming.
So it was a sign that they were asking for that would signal his return.
The World Will See Me No More
At John 14:19 Jesus himself said:
Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Jesus’ disciples obviously knew and understood Jesus’ words above and this explains why they asked for the sign that would signal his return.
The world, that is, ALL of the tribes of the earth, would never see him. His disciples – even the ones he was talking to on that day more than 2000 years ago (and who are long dead), would see him – in the future – in another manner. How? Invisibly! As he would be alive invisibly at his return to heaven and his disciples back then would have known that.
Additionally, the only way the disciples Jesus was talking to back then could see him again in the manner I just spoke of, would be if they were resurrected from the dead in the future when his return would occur. At present, those men are in their graves – dead – awaiting a promised resurrection.
Anyone teaching that when a person dies, and is a Christian and goes to heaven, is not teaching Christ. No human has ever ascended into heaven. Jesus says this at John 3:13:
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
So when you attend a church service or a funeral and there is talk of the departed being in heaven or in some fiery hell, those things are not true. Yet, the majority of the world believes that it is! When Jesus said that no man hath ascended up into heaven, that is exactly what he meant. So why is a religious system called by men – Christianity – teaching that persons do ascend into heaven; something in opposition to what Christ taught? Answer: Because these religious systems are not of God and Christ. They are only pretending to be.
Even King David did not ascend into heaven. So where is he? In his grave to this day like all persons who have died since the beginning, awaiting a resurrection from the dead by Christ. (Acts 2:34)
Even Jesus friend Lazarus of Bethany, when he died (John 11:1-49) and was entombed for four days when Jesus resurrected him, did he report that he was in heaven or in a fiery hell? No! Why? Because as King Solomon said at Eccl 9:5:
For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten.
Lazarus was dead; and dead persons are not aware of anything: Life, heat, cold, smell, sight, pain, the passage of time, etc.
What Jesus’ Ascension Teaches Us?
Christs ascension into heaven was not as a flesh and blood creature. According to Acts 1:9-11, Jesus’ ascension was an event that “caught him up from their vision.” In other words, Christs ascension back into heaven was as an invisible entity. The same invisible entity that God dispatched out of heaven to the earth in the beginning.
Logically then, Christs return will be unseen; invisible. (Acts 1:11)
We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight
These are the words of the Apostle Paul at 1 Cor 5:6-7. The walk (of faith) by Christs disciples is not by what we see with our physical eyes, but by what we DO NOT see. And that requires faith. Faith is defined at Hebrews 11:1 as:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Christs return will be evident by the things that we do not physically see.
Only An Evil and Adulterous Generation Seeks After a Sign
This seeking after a sign; this desire to physically see something is the mark of an evil and adulterous (unfaithful) generation.
Note: Adultery used here is not the adultery committed by married persons who are unfaithful to their husbands and wives. The adultery referred to here is in reference to an unfaithful [to Christ] generation. One can only be unfaithful if one has had a previous relationship with Christ. One cannot be unfaithful to something that never had a connection with. So it is the religious system called by men, Christianity, who has become unfaithful as it claims an attachment to Christ. Not only is the religious system as a whole an adulterer, but also those within her. Many of which are unwitting adulterers or unfaithful ones. Both have deviated from Christ’s teachings and believe and teach things that Christ did not. This deviation is like a woman who does not cling to her husband and strays away from the marriage and commits adultery. She becomes unfaithful to her husband. Christianity has proven to be unfaithful to Christ’s teachings.
Thus, religious organizations teaching that Christ’s return is a visible event are evil and being unfaithful to the words of the Lord: And the world seeth me no more.
Only those faithful to Christ’s teachings will see (perceive) his invisible return.
So with regards Christ return, no sign – visible or invisible – will be seen on earth. The earth today is wicked and adulterous (unfaithful). Yet, we are told that the sign is seen in heaven. In other words, seen by those who live in heaven (angels). That sign is Christ’s coronation as king and the location of that coronation is in heaven, not on earth. (Matthew 24:30)
When we are told that “all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” this means that when ALL TRIBES OF THE EARTH are resurrected by Christ, they will know without a doubt who it was who resurrected them.
Notice that ALL of the tribes of the earth is spoken of here. Who are ALL these tribes? Will they the people who will be living at the time of Christ’s invisible return? No! ALL of the tribes of the earth are each and every person EVER born since Adam (to include Adam) who were resurrected by Christ. All the tribes of the earth are ALL of mankind!
Most of those persons (tribes) will have no clue about who Christ is because he was unknown to them in their time periods. This is what the churches are not getting and teaching.
The world of today with all of its religions have gone adulterous (unfaithful) and have not kept the Masters teaching close to them. He told us that the world would see him no more. Yet, Christianity has proven to be evil and adulterous and is teaching the world that it will see him again. (This is also the defiant spirit of antichrist).
A faithful generation would “see” that Christ is ascended invisibly and that he is alive and will not return to us through a flesh and blood woman again so as to be seen. His return will be unseen. Like a thief coming in the night. When a thief comes and steals, one is unaware until after the fact. Additionally, a thief does not announce when he is going to pay you a visit. (Matthew 24:42)
Likewise, Christ’s return will not be announced or broadcasted. It will be unseen and unexpected.
The Sign of Jonah
It is interesting what Jesus said at Matthew 12:38 in response to some of the Scribes and Pharisees who requested from Jesus “a sign.” In reply, Jesus said to them:
A wicked and adulterous generation keeps on seeking for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
There is more to what Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees that has major application to Jesus NEVER being seen again by any one in the world – present or future.
What does Jonah have to do with Christ’s invisible return? Well, Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish. Jesus – the Son of man – when he died, spent three days and three nights in his memorial tomb or the heart of the earth. So says Matthew 12:40:
For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the Son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
The belly of that huge fish was Jonah’s grave, but Jonah was released from the belly of the huge fish. Likewise, the Son of man – Jesus – was resurrected from the dead back to life again.
The association here to “the sign of Jonah” to Christ’s invisible return is that his return is associated with the resurrection of all from the dead; a coming out of the heart of the earth of the dead.
In other words, when Christ takes kingdom power (is coronated in heaven unseen to any human on earth), all of mankind will be dead. All of mankind will be proverbially in the belly of a huge fish or in the heart of the earth! Christs return – and one of his first acts as earth’s king – will be to resurrect ALL of mankind from the grave in keeping with his promise at John 5:28-29 and Acts 24:15.
This is the “raising up” mentioned several times in Matthew 12:41-42.
If all of mankind is dead prior to Christ invisible return, then there is no way for anyone to see “a sign” in heaven.
I tell you, dear reader, most of the information you have read and heard about Christs return coming out of Christianity – all of it – is in gross error.
One should ask, “Why, is the world being carried down this path of erroneous teaching about God and Christ?”
Answer: To mislead you, keep you in a slumbered state, to make you think you are enlightened, and to make you unprepared to what must take place.
Mankind Must Die
In all of the denominations of Christianity, there is one common teaching: People will not really die. Let me give you some examples.
There is a Rapture teaching that says Christ will appear in the sky and all of his followers will float up to where he is and he will then take them to heaven. This is one of those “you will not really die teachings.” (Read about the Rapture here and here).
Another example comes out of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They teach that millions living now will never die. They even have a publication by that same name. Yet both examples are contrary to what God has spoken. At Genesis 2:17:
But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.
All humans have inherited the curse of death caused by our biological father, Adam. It is a fact that we all grow old, get sick and die. No one can escape death. No one. Even Jesus could not escape it. Because God sent His Son into the world did not did remove that curse of death. All persons, whether they accept Christ or not are subject to an eventual death.
The Apostle Paul spoke of the resurrection of the dead at 1 Cor 15:42-44 in this way:
So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised up in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised up in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised up in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised up a spiritual body.
In other words, the dead are buried in sin. (The sin we inherited from Adam). But the dead are brought back to life again in incorruption; that is, with no sin on them. (See Romans 6:7)
So ALL mankind must go through a cycle of dying and being resurrected. There is no escaping death.
So all of these false – and made up – teachings about not really dying is something Christ NEVER taught. These are escapism teachings and they were created because of the inability of the religious system called by men – Christianity – to understand what Christ taught. So it made up its own brand of teaching that it understands and it teaches it as truth.
Who Said That Mankind Would Not Really Die?
If one really thinks about it, who was it who originated the lie that mankind would not die? It was the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. He told the woman something different from what God told Adam and Adam told Eve. Here is what the Serpent said to the woman, Eve:
At this the serpent said to the woman: “YOU positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of YOUR eating from it YOUR eyes are bound to be opened and YOU are bound to be like God, KNOWING good and bad.
So the very same lie told back then is being taught by the religious system called by men, Christianity.
The religious system is in full denial to this and pushes forward teaching the lie and people believe it. And, as a result of believing “the lie,” it will be very difficult for them to see the truthfulness in this article concerning the manner of Christ’s return.
See a related article I wrote a few years ago, The Return of Christ.
