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Extract

The early Christian confession called the Nicene Creed states, as a core tenet of the church’s faith, that Jesus Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead.” Those who drew up this creed were right to affirm the glorious reality of Christ’s second coming. It forms an important part of the apostolic faith and is intimately tied to Christ’s first coming. It brings all of Christ’s work in His first coming to a glorious fulfillment. Paul summed up this faith in his first letter to the believers in Thessalonica, saying, “Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:9-10). Paul ties the Thessalonians’ faith to concrete actions: turning from the idols of this world, serving the living God in this world, and waiting for the return of the risen Christ, whose death delivered His people from the wrath to come. And Christ’s work in His first coming—His death and resurrection and His deliverance of sinners from idolatry—is neatly tied to His second coming.