For nearly 2,000 years now, devout Christians from all walks of life have been eagerly and anxiously awaiting the predicted second and glorious advent of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Although this final event in world history is looked upon by believers as a means to their salvation, the Day of the Lord will also be terrible and dreadful for unrepentant sinners. Even faithful Christians view this day with fear while at the same time hoping earnestly for the Lord's mercy. None of us will be able to avoid Judgment Day, and we will all be forced to give an account to Jesus as to how we lived our lives and how we spent the time granted to us while here on earth. The books will be opened, and we will all have to give an answer for every idle word spoken and every deed acted upon; we shall even be held accountable for all of our sinful thoughts. So, due to our sinful nature, it is understandable why we don't want to even think about Christ's second coming. We may even go to the extent of blocking out the reality of Judgment Day from our conscience by choosing not to believe in Jesus and the Bible altogether. But no matter how much we attempt to deceive ourselves, all of us will eventually have to face the music.
Now, during the years of His earthly ministry, Christ Himself made a promise to all of his disciples and followers, foretelling how He would indeed one day come back at the end of this present world's history in order to judge mankind and renew creation. And this prophecy, which Jesus uttered, dealing with His return and the end of the age, is recorded in the 24th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew. Additionally, in the 4th chapter of the first Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians, St. Paul reveals the nature of Christ's second coming and also touches upon the resurrection of the dead, a most awesome event that will occur simultaneously with the Lord's return when Christ comes back to judge both the living and the dead (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17). But the key book in all of the New Testament, which provides the most insight concerning the second coming of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come, is none other than the book of Revelation, also known in Greek as the Apocalypse.
The book of Revelation goes into great prophetic detail by describing events that have already transpired in the ancient past and also speaks of things that have not yet happened but will truly find their fulfillment at some point in the near or distant future. The occurrences of this present age are also revealed, and in turn, many of these predictions have already come to pass, or more accurately, are currently and continuously being fulfilled. For the Fathers teach that after the loosening of the seven seals by Christ, as found written in Revelation chapter 6, the results or consequences of these broken seals have taken shape all throughout history and will continue to unfold until the end of time. Ever since this chain of events has taken place, due to the loosening of each seal, the events run their course until they are finished and then start once more, going all the way back from the beginning to when the seals were initially broken. And this theory, which teaches that the opening of the seven seals repeats itself in cycles now and all throughout the ages until the second coming of Christ, is appropriately titled the "cyclical theory."
However, it is not my intention to personally interpret the book of Revelation. For an ominous warning is given in the last few verses of Revelation that should make us all reconsider and resist the temptation to privately interpret this most mysterious and prophetic book. For concerning the prophecies of Revelation, it is written, "...If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life..." (Revelation 22:18–19). So, here we can clearly understand that interpreting the book of Revelation is quite a dangerous thing. For it is better to read and keep the words of this prophecy to ourselves, an action that will result in a blessing (according to Revelation 1:3), rather than making the grievous mistake of adding to or taking away from the meaning of these mysteries, which will only lead to perdition. Over the years, the private interpretation of the book of Revelation has resulted in a myriad of false doctrines and the creation of literally thousands of heretical Christian sects, all of which differ in their theology.
One such false and dangerous doctrine is that of the Rapture, a belief held by many Protestant Christian Evangelicals, which teaches that all true Christians will be taken up into Heaven prior to the Great Tribulation, also known as the seven-year era of the Antichrist. This type of thinking is fueled by the belief that God will not allow His people to suffer and go through the trials that non-believers will go through during the reign of the Antichrist. These Protestant denominations base their theology on a couple of New Testament scriptures, which they say points to the Lord's protection of his holy ones. The first scripture that they bank on for their end time deliverance is the quote from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, which states that when the Lord returns to resurrect the dead, those Christians who are alive on the earth at that time will also be "caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." The other scripture used to support the Rapture theory is taken from Revelation 3:10, which reads, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth."
Looking at these scriptures from a historical perspective, we can see that Christ, in Revelation chapter 3, was speaking to people living nearly 2,000 years ago and was not addressing people in the future who were not as yet born at the time when Christ made His promise to the Church of Philadelphia. Also, in 1 Thessalonians, Paul was simply making the point that when Christ returns, all those Christians alive at the moment of the Second Coming will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air at the end of time and not any time before that. Just as Christians were martyred in the early history of the Church and beyond, so too will Christians living towards the end of history suffer as well. If God allowed the Saints to be mercilessly tortured in the past, God will also allow His servants in the future and in the present times to go through trials and tribulations and even death for the sake of not denying Christ. For example, all of Christ's Apostles were killed except for St. John, so if Jesus allowed His closest friends to experience pain and suffering, what makes us wretched Christians in this sinful generation think that God will mystically deliver a people with so little faith and such great sin from passing through severe hardships?
The fact of the matter is that all people will have to endure the Tribulation, both Christians and non-Christians alike. Yes, we will all be given a clear choice: either deny Christ and take the mark of the beast or die. But the good news is, all of us who refuse to receive the mark, due to our love for Jesus, will be granted the crown of martyrdom and will live forever in the kingdom of heaven along with the prophets, the angels, all the Saints and especially with Christ Himself. The pain that we will feel will only last for a few moments, but afterwards we will receive an abundance of God's grace and experience divine bliss for all of eternity. Yet even though this trade-off is more than fair, many of us don't understand why God would allow the people He loves so much to go through so much suffering. Even Christ, the Son of God, while on the cross, asked God the Father why he had forsaken Him (Matthew 27:46). Though this truly is a mystery, it should not give any of us the excuse to write God off as being unjust or evil. For we know from reading the Bible that God is good, the devil is evil, and that mankind is sinful. And because of man's sin problem, all other problems in the world can be traced back to mankind's disobedience towards the Almighty.
So, on Judgment Day, every person who has ever lived will be resurrected and brought before the great white throne of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we will all be held responsible for our thoughts, words, and deeds. But before that day comes, it is best that we all prepare for this harsh and inevitable reality. Through our personal repentance and the struggle to cease sinning, God will forgive us and grant us much mercy. However, after we die, there won't be any time left for us to get our house in order. So, before we die, let us repent and seek the kingdom of heaven. For the more we devote ourselves to Christ, the more the Holy Spirit will draw near to us, and we will then begin to experience heaven in this life, even before we die. Conversely, through our disobedience to God and His commandments, our time on earth will become hell, and when we die, we will take our sins with us and suffer the horrors of hell eternally. I say this with pain and love for all of humanity, for though these words are somber, the blessings of heaven and the torturers of hell are a reality. Personally speaking, I am a great sinner, but I do have hope in the Lord's mercy as I go about my personal repentance. And what should give us all hope in regard to our salvation is a saying of the Fathers, which reveals to us that heaven is full of repentant sinners.
Concerning the Day of the Lord, scripture tells us that Jesus will come as a thief in the night, but blessed is the man who watches and takes the necessary precautions so that he will not be found unprotected (Revelation 16:15). Scripture also informs us that, on top of the resurrection of the dead and the final judgment, the entire universe will be transformed. For as it is written in 2 Peter 3:10, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." It is also interesting to note that in Genesis 3:17, God cursed the earth due to sin entering into creation at the beginning of time, but at the end of time, God will re-create this once fallen world and transform all of creation into something new and incorruptible (Revelation 21:1). For when Christ returns, the first heaven and the first earth will pass away, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth. The righteous will be given glorified bodies that will not be subject to decay, a body similar to that of the risen Jesus. For as it is written, "...when he [Jesus] shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
God is love, and there is no unrighteousness in Him, so if we end up in a bad place, it will not be the Lord's fault, for the Lord cannot be wrong. Instead, it is due to sinful choices and an unrepentant lifestyle which will lead to one's downfall. It will be nobody's fault but our own if we are condemned to everlasting torment on the last day. Death will come to us all, but by patiently enduring all the trials of life through faith in Christ and by keeping the Lord's commandments, this in turn will attract the grace of God and keep us from falling by the wayside. God has given us free will to either resist temptation or fall into sin. The choice is ours, and what we reap is what we sow. For on the day of judgment, no lawyer on earth will be able to deliver us from the judge of judges. But the Orthodox Church has provided the remedy for man's sin problem through the sacraments, which have been handed down from the Fathers, who were given grace from the Apostles, who were personally ordained by Christ Himself. For through the gift of the Holy Spirit, no genuine believer can ever walk alone. In addition to the grace of God within us, we also have a cloud of witnesses in heaven who pray without ceasing for the salvation of the world. Therefore, let us begin to follow Christ so that we may be included in the sheepfold of the good shepherd. For the Lord comes quickly, even so, come, Lord Jesus.
References:
Mitilinaios, A. Revelation: The Seven Seals, Vol. II. (Dunlap, CA: Zoe Press, 2014).
Zondervan. The Holy Bible, King James Version. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2009).
