THE LAST JUDGMENT
Finally, we believe, according to the Word of God, when the time appointed by the Lord (which is unknown to all creatures) is come, and the number of the elect complete, that our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven, corporally and visibly, as He ascended, with great glory and majesty to declare Himself Judge of the quick and the dead, burning this old world with fire and flame to cleanse it …

Louis Berkhof: “Several terms are used to denote this great event [i.e., our Lord’s bodily return], of which the following are the most important: (1) apocalupsis (unveiling), which points to the removal of that which now obstructs our vision of Christ, I Cor. 1:7; II Thess. 1:7; I Pet. 1:7, 13; 4:13; (2) epiphaneia (appearance, manifestation), a term referring to Christ’s coming forth out of a hidden background with the rich blessings of salvation, II Thess. 2:9; I Tim. 6:14; II Tim. 4:1, 8; Tit. 2:13; and (3) parousia (lit. presence), which points to the coming that precedes the presence or results in the presence, Matt. 24:3, 27, 37; I Cor. 15:23; I Thess. 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; II Thess. 2:1-9; Jas. 5:7, 8; II Pet. 1:16; 3:4, 12; I John 2:28″ (Systematic Theology [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, repr. 1996], p. 695).