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 …

Dean Davis: “[In Matthew 13:41] at the end of the age the Son of Man will send forth his angels to effect a final separation of the wheat and the tares (v. 30). In the gospels alone there are quite a number of texts that make explicit what remains implicit here: At the end of the age the glorified Christ will descend from heaven with all his holy angels to accomplish the final Judgment of all sentient beings (Mt. 24:29-31, 25:31, 26:64; Mk 8:38, 14:62). And with this solemn truth the epistles and the Revelation agree (1 Thess. 3:13, 4:16, 2 Thess. 1:7, Jude 1:14, Rev. 19:11-16)” (The High King of Heaven [Enumclaw, WA: Redemption Press, 2014], p. 134).

I. Among the Brethren
II. Without Covetousness
III. Regarding Church Officers

I. Whence Comes This Imagery?
II. What Does It Mean?
III. Who Dearly Loves It?

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 …

W. J. Grier: “It is clearly taught in the New Testament that the Lord will return visibly. His first coming was literal and visible, and we may be sure that His second coming, which is so often linked with it in Scripture statements, will be literal and visible too. ‘This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven’ (Acts 1:11); His second coming is to be as visible as His ascension. ‘Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other’ (Matt. 24:30, 31)” (The Momentous Event [Belfast: Evangelical Book Shop, 1952], pp. 9-10).

I. The Great Supper
II. The Parallel Passages
III. The Eschatological Events

I. The Glorious Vision
II. The Victorious Warrior
III. The Heavenly Armies

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 …

I. The Believer’s Desire
II. The Spiritual Reason

I. Praying for God’s Rule
II. Praying for God’s Church
III. Praying Against God’s Enemies

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 …

Dean Davis: “[Christ’s coming] is the hub, the central element of the Consummation, the core eschatological event that brings all the others to pass in quick succession” (The High King of Heaven [Enumclaw, WA: Redemption Press, 2014], p. 596).

Prof. David J. Engelsma: “That Jesus will return on or with the clouds (Matt. 24:30; 26:64; Rev. 1:7) is often misunderstood, as though this were a general description of the manifestation of his glory at his return. The clouds then are more or less ordinary clouds. The reference, however, is to a special cloud, thus signifying a particular glory. The clouds are the effulgence of the special cloud that in the Old Testament rested upon the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-48); that led Israel through the desert (13:21); and that rested upon the mercy seat in the tabernacle (Lev. 16:2). It is the bright cloud that overshadowed Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the mountain and out of which the voice of God sounded, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him’ (Matt. 17:5). This cloud is special. It is the cloud that is the shining forth of the glorious being of God himself. It is the presence of God with his people in the most visible manifestation of this awesome being possible for humans, other than his presence in Jesus, of course. As names by an extra-biblical source, it is the ‘Shekinah-cloud.’ That Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven therefore signifies as Jesus himself explained, that he comes ‘with power and great glory’ (Matt 24:30). That power and great glory will be the power and glory of God himself in the fullest manifestation of the divine power and glory possible to humans. Jesus’ coming is a coming with this power and glory; on this power and glory; attended by this power and glory” (The Church’s Hope: The Reformed Doctrine of the End, vol. 2, “The Coming of Christ” [Jenison, MI: RFPA, 2022], p. 106).