Reflection on John 20:29: Do Not Repeat Thomas’ Mistake in Welcoming the Lord’s Return
In John 20:29, the Lord Jesus gave a verdict on Thomas. What inspiration does this give us in welcoming the Lord’s return?
The greatest wish of believers in the Lord Jesus is to welcome Him in the last days, and so many want to learn about how the prophecies of Jesus’ second coming will be fulfilled, so that they can welcome Him soon. Here we will fellowship and resolve this issue to show you the way to welcome the Lord which may give you some help.
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As for the prophecies of Jesus’ second coming, it is recorded in Revelation 6:12, “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, see, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.” And Matthew 24:6–8 says, “And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
In recent years, wonderful sights such as blood moons and supermoons have appeared one after another. Moreover, disasters are getting worse and worse all over the world, such as earthquakes, fires, floods, famines and plagues. Of particular note, the pandemic which broke out at the end of 2019 has spread throughout the world. Besides, the world is in a turbulent state, and wars, violent acts and terrorist attacks happen frequently and continue to escalate; the world’s atmosphere is getting warmer, and extreme weathers are occurring all the time.
From these signs, it can be seen that the prophecies of Jesus’ second coming have largely been fulfilled, thereby showing that the Lord has already returned. Then, how can we welcome Him?
If we want to welcome the Lord, we must be clear on how He will come. Many people have read these words in the Bible, “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” (Matthew 24:30). They are certain that the Lord Jesus will return with clouds, so they wait blindly for Him to come on a cloud. But why haven’t they welcomed the Lord since the prophecies of Jesus’ second coming have now basically been fulfilled?
Actually, although the Lord prophesied that He would descend on a cloud, He never said that He would only return in this way in the last days, but instead He prophesied in what way His return would happen. That is why we must seek and investigate in many aspects the way in which the Lord will return when welcoming His second coming. Through studying the Bible, it is easy to see that the Lord’s return is prophesied in two different ways. Besides His public descent upon a cloud, He will also come secretly. For example, the Bible records, “Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes” (Matthew 24:44). “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in His day. But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luke 17:24–25). “Behold, I come as a thief” (Revelation 16:15). “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). The Scriptures’ references to “as a thief,” “at midnight there was a cry made” and “the Son of man comes” indicate that the Lord will return in another way, that of coming secretly by incarnating as the Son of man. The words “the Son of man” refer to someone born of a person and with a mother and father. So, God’s Spirit clothed in human flesh as a person is called the Son of man. For example, when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, He became flesh and appeared among man in the form of the Son of man, and ate, wore clothing, lived and acted just like a regular person. If God were to come in Spirit form, then He could not be called the Son of man, just as Jehovah God was a Spirit and could therefore not be called the Son of man. The spiritual body of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection could pass through walls, now appearing, now disappearing, and was incredibly transcendent, and thus could not be called the Son of man either.
Furthermore, the words “first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” are mentioned in the Scriptures. Only when God becomes flesh and performs His work as the Son of man will He suffer resistance, condemnation, and rejection from humanity. If the Lord returned in Spirit form after His resurrection and He came with great glory with clouds to openly appear before all peoples, then no one would dare to resist Him. Then suffering and being rejected by this generation would be out of the question. Only by God incarnating as a normal, ordinary person and by people not treating Him as God will He endure suffering. When the Lord Jesus worked in secret with the identity of the Son of man, for example, the Pharisees merely looked at the Lord’s outward appearance and so thought He was a Nazarene and failed to recognize Him as the Messiah. They thus condemned and resisted the Lord and even nailed Him to the cross. Therefore, when the Lord returns in the last days, He will first appear to us by incarnating and working in secret—it is just when we least expect it that He will come.
At this point, some people will surely ask: “If the Lord Jesus’ return involves descending secretly in the flesh as the Son of man, how are the prophecies of Jesus’ second coming in a cloud fulfilled?” In fact, every prophecy the Lord Jesus spoke will be fulfilled. The Lord’s return will be done in stages: He will first become incarnate as the Son of man at the hidden advent; after that He will openly appear to all. It will be like when the Lord Jesus came to work: He first incarnated as the Son of man and came in secret. After finishing the work of crucifixion He was raised from the dead. He publicly appeared to people for forty days, and then ascended to heaven.
The Lord, when He returns in the last days, also first becomes flesh and comes in secret. During this time, those who love the truth and can recognize God’s voice are able to relinquish all their notions and accept God’s work of the last days, thus becoming the objects of God’s salvation, finally being made into overcomers by God and led into God’s kingdom. However, those who stubbornly cling to their own notions to reject and slander God and to resist and condemn God’s work of the last days are naturally exposed as wicked people, God’s enemies, and the ones who will end up being eliminated by God. And so, those who love the truth are separated from those who don’t love the truth, and the wheat is separated from the tares. Only after God separates the good from the wicked will He come with clouds, openly appearing to all peoples, and begin to reward the good and punish the wicked based on every person’s deeds, thus fulfilling the prophecy in Revelation 1:7, “Behold, He comes with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.”
Let’s think about it: If the Lord descended publicly on a cloud like people imagine, then the tares, the goats, and the evil servants would definitely fall down in worship. How would they be exposed then? How would each be put with their own kind? And how would God punish evil and reward good? Only when God comes secretly by incarnating as the Son of man can the prophecies spoken by the Lord Jesus be completely fulfilled and accomplished.
We have seen that the Lord’s return will first be in secret, in the flesh, so many begin to care about how to greet the Lord during the time He comes to work in secret. The Lord Jesus told us long ago, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). It is also written in the Book of Revelation, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). We can see from this that the most important thing to greeting the Lord is that we must listen attentively for the Lord’s voice. The wise virgins, when hearing that someone has borne witness that the Lord Jesus has returned, will seek and investigate with an open mind and focus on listening to God’s voice to greet the Lord. Those who hear God’s voice and who then accept and submit to it are the wise virgins who welcome the bridegroom—the Lord’s second coming.
Today, the prophecies of the Lord Jesus’ secret coming have already been fulfilled. The Church of Almighty God has been openly testifying that the Lord Jesus has returned as Almighty God incarnate. Almighty God has expressed millions of words and performs the work of judgment beginning in God’s house in order to thoroughly purify and save man. Almighty God’s appearance and work fulfills not only the prophecies related to the Lord descending in secret, but also the prophecies of the Lord returning to express the truth and to do the work of judgment. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come” (John 16:12–13). “He that rejects Me, and receives not My words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). And it says in 1 Peter 4:17, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.”
The present time is the stage of Almighty God’s hidden work of saving mankind. Almighty God expresses the word to judge and purify people. Once He makes a group of overcomers, God’s great work will be successfully completed, and the incarnate God’s work of the hidden advent will also come to an end. God will then begin to unleash the great disasters to reward the good and punish the wicked. All who are made into overcomers before the disasters will come under God’s protection and will survive; those who constantly refuse to accept the work of the secret coming of Almighty God, and who condemn Christ of the last days, will be utterly abandoned and eliminated by God, fall into disaster, and wail and gnash their teeth.
It has now been almost 30 years since Almighty God began His work. He has already made a group of overcomers, and their testimonies have now long been published online, testifying to all the world that Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned. Therefore, if we want to welcome the Lord, we need to carefully study Almighty God’s work of the last days, and listen to see whether Almighty God’s utterances are the Lord’s voice. In this way we will not miss the opportunity to welcome the Lord and be made into overcomers, and will not ultimately be detested, rejected or eliminated by God, weeping and gnashing our teeth in the darkness.
Editor’s Note: Now we have understood how the prophecies of Jesus’ second coming will be fulfilled. If you want to investigate Almighty God’s work of the last days, or if you have any other issues or questions, you can click on the online chat icon below this article to seek and investigate, or message us on Messenger.
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