Either Jesus Has Already Come or He Won’t Come Again (Part 2)

MANY read Matthew 16:27-28 and think that Jesus Christ either came in the first century or that He would never come again. Their argument is that all the people who Christ said would not taste death until they see Him coming died in the first century, yet He has not come.

For this reason, doubters urge people to feel free and enjoy themselves. In the Part 1, we explained verse 27 which says, “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.”

In the Part Two, we are trying to discuss the verse 28 which reads, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Our intention is to attempt to correct the error that has already influenced many to deny Jesus Christ over the decades.

A misunderstanding or misinterpretation of this verse has led many to conclude erroneously that either Christ Jesus came in the first century or He would not return at all, considering the fact that all the people He made the promise to died hundreds of years ago.

What Christ Jesus really meant concerning Matthew 16:28 was that there was a high probability of some of His hearers who were standing where He was speaking dying between that time and the time He would be raised from the dead. In this world, people die all the time.

In fact, the time span between the day Christ made those statements and the day He was raised from the dead could be several months in which some of the people could die while others could live to see Him coming in His kingdom.

It is obvious that some of the people died while others lived. Judas Iscariot, for instance, died before Christ Jesus was raised from the dead. However, the rest of His disciples and several other people lived to see His resurrection.

The Lord Jesus Christ left the earth through death, and powerfully returned to the earth alive just three days later. In just a moment Christ was on the earth being crucified for the salvation of lost souls. He died and was buried, entering the region of the dead, but just three days later, Jesus Christ returned to the earth, appearing in another form (Mark 16: 12).

The Lord did not only appear in another form to people, but also visited the earth again another way. This time, the angel Gabriel did not appear to anyone to announce that Christ would return to the earth in this or that manner.

He just appeared suddenly to people as a full grown man just as He died. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared to some people, on the road to Emmaus. One of them was called Cleopas. The Lord conversed with them, but they could not recognise Him.

They could identify Jesus Christ only after He had sat at a meal with them and taken bread, blessed, broken and given it to them to eat.

“And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures” (Luke 24: 31- 32)?

The verse says Jesus vanished from their sight. That means Jesus suddenly disappeared from their midst in the room. But shortly after those witnesses had found the Apostles and were telling them about their encounter with the risen Lord, they saw Jesus Christ standing in their midst again.

From the teachings, so far, it has been proven that Jesus Christ did not return in the first century and that He will definitely return to judge the world in an hour known by the Father.

By James Quansah