He never left.

The biblical and historical facts are, Jesus is not coming back ever because He never left—as He said (Matt. 28:20b). Therefore, return language is inappropriate and never used in proper translations. And He still comes, many times and in many different ways as He has done throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Consequently, the coming of Christ does not refer to just one or two historical events. Nor is there such terminology in the Bible as a “final coming” or “last coming” in a world, kingdom, and Christian age that are all without end.

How can we be even more sure of all this? It’s as simple as answering the question, Where is Jesus now? Yet it’s as complex as asking, why don’t we see Him with our physical eyes somewhere on this earth? Since we don’t see him, we have decided that Jesus could not have “returned” and be here with us. Paradoxically, Billy Graham confidently declared to a mass crusade audience on September 2, 1997, “This living Christ is in the world today.” Well, is He or isn’t He? And if He is, where is He?

The answer to this perplexity is simple yet profound. Authentic Christianity does not stand for an absentee Christ absent the entire length of the Christian age! It stands for a present and active Christ who never left and is truly, wholly, and totally here with us. Of course, at one point in history, after his ascension and during the closing period of the Jewish age (“the last days”), He did leave, physically. This departure was required, and it was the decisive factor for the coming of the Holy Spirit (John 14:2-3, 18-19, 28; 16:7; 2 Cor. 5:8; Acts 2:16-17 f). However, He didn’t leave to send Himself back.

And yet some postulate that He “returned” in the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. But this is scripturally impossible. Not only was the outpouring of the Spirit a separate and distinctly-prophesied event in the Old Testament, but no New Testament text acknowledges this event as that fulfillment. Rather, all New Testament writers were still anticipating Christ’s age-ending coming as future.

So if Jesus is now present, and not off in some distant place waiting to come back, then at some point between his departure and his Presence with us today He either had to return or He never left. The sequence therefore is either: present, absence, present or present, present, present. It’s highly inconsistent for deferment futurists to say that Jesus is with us today and then claim that He has not “returned.”

The correct biblical and historical answer is: Jesus never left, just as He said (Matt. 28:20). Hence, He doesn’t need to “return” or come back again from anywhere at the end of the Christian age or at the demise of the material universe, as is commonly asserted—one cannot return to a place one never left. John, in the first chapter of the book of Revelation, affirms this reality. He saw Christ standing in the midst of the lampstands (his Church) clothed in his high priestly garments (Rev. 1:13, 20). His continuing Presence has not changed since that time.

What is needed is for us to wean ourselves from the idea that the Presence of Christ must be visible, and to reeducate ourselves on how to better worship, encounter, and enjoy Him in his Presence. Unfortunately, assumptions often blind us to realities.

Sources:

1 The Perfect Ending for the World by John Noe

2 The Greater Jesus by John Noe