The Crucified Messiah

The return of Jesus in great glory will result in the resurrection of the righteous dead, and the end of Death itself - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. Paul responded to believers who denied the coming resurrection of the righteous by stressing the necessity of resurrection for our salvation and life in the new creation. He pointed to Christ’s past Death and Resurrection as the precedent for and guarantee of our own resurrection.  We will be raised bodily when Jesus arrives from the heavens.

El regreso de Jesús en gran gloria resultará en la resurrección de los muertos justos y el fin de la Muerte misma - 1 Corintios 15:1-57. Pablo respondió a los creyentes que negaban la resurrección venidera de los justos enfatizando cuán necesaria es la resurrección para nuestra salvación y vida en la nueva creación venidera. Señaló la Muerte y Resurrección pasadas de Cristo como el precedente y la garantía de nuestra propia resurrección.  Seremos resucitados corporalmente cuando Jesús llegue de los cielos.

Foundational to our future hope is bodily resurrection when Jesus arrives in glory to gather and meet his saints . Paul’s description of the “ arrival ” or ‘ Parousia ’ of Jesus in his first letter to the Thessalonians was written to comfort believers over the fate of their compatriots who die before Christ’s return. We need not sorrow “ like the others ” since the righteous dead will be resurrected when the Lord “ arrives ” from Heaven. This hope is based on the sure foundation of Christ’s past Death and Resurrection.

The arrival of Jesus will be an event of great victory and utter finality. That day will include the resurrection and the New Creation . The return of Jesus is portrayed in the New Testament as a singular event, one of great finality. His “ arrival ” or ‘ Parousia ’ will be accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, the appearance of the New Creation, the resurrection of the righteous dead, the judgment and punishment of the ungodly, “ the gathering of his elect ,” and the end of Death.

The New Testament moves inexorably from the death of Jesus to the last hour when God will judge the wicked and reward the righteous . Passages in the New Testament that describe the return of Jesus base his future triumph on his past Death and Resurrection. His crucifixion and subsequent resurrection and enthronement inaugurated “ the Last Days ,” the final era of Human History that will culminate with the arrival of the Son of Man, the resurrection of the dead, and the judgment of the wicked.

The figure of the Son of Man in the Book of Daniel is the source of Christ’s self-designation, the Son of Man . The term “ Son of Man ” is the self-designation found most often on the lips of Jesus. It is derived from Daniel’s vision of the one “ like a Son of Man ” who received the “ dominion and kingdom ” from the “ Ancient of Days .” All the tribes of the Earth will mourn when “ they see  the Son of man  coming on the clouds of Heaven .”