The second arrival of God – The Realm of one thousand years
Source : The Scientific Committee of the International Conference of Mahdism Doctrine
Parusia of Christ and “the end” of the world. – The Christian Eschatology includes learning about last moments of salvation history; the physical death of the man and particular judgment; the second arrival of Christ and pervious signs; the revival of deceased and the public judgment; release ...
Parusia of Christ and “the end” of the world. – The Christian Eschatology includes learning about last moments of salvation history; the physical death of the man and particular judgment; the second arrival of Christ and pervious signs; the revival of deceased and the public judgment; release of nature from immorality slavery and its renewal; passing for eternity of good people to heaven and bad people to torture of hell.
Within this learning, the Christian moral appreciates human facts according to their importance for earthly life (Matei V,5,25-26), but especially according to their importance for the future life (Matei X, 42,XXV, 31-460. The Church is teaching that earthly life of faithful people is a prelude and a premise of heavenly life, and any grand, the words and the facts will receive the just reward in the future life; that physical death of the man is just a temporal separation of the soul from the body and by deceased revival and transformation of alive people, at the second arrival of Christ, all faithful people will enter to a new state, without changing and endless.
In eschatological preoccupations of the Christian, first of all there is the care for the next end of his earthly life: the physical death, that the Holly Scripture considers a punishment and a consequence of ancient sin (Rom. V, 120 and the entry door to eternal life (Ioan XII, 24 ; I Cor. XV, 36). It is the reason for which the Church advises the faithful people that, before being preoccupied by the second arrival of God and last judgment, they mast take care on the nearest eschatological moment; the individual one, which is also the most important moment of the life of anyone – the separation of the soul from the body (II Cor. V, 1-10). It advises faithful people to be prepared to meet Christ at particular judgment, soon after the death.
In the books of Old Testament there are few teaching about soul state after death. In the old days the Jews believed that God rewards the good and the bad just here on the Earth and they imagined that, while the deceased bodies joined the earth from which they were made, their souls go for ever to “Seol”, a solitude, sadness and resignation place.
But the Eschatology of New Testament of more clear and full of hope. Saint Apostle Paul, en Jews XIII, 14, he said: “We have no permanent fortress here, but we are finding the future one”, and in II Corinteni V, 1-10, he declared: “We know if our tent is damaged, we have a house from God, a house not made by hand, eternal, in the heaven ... That we must appear before Christ, to receive each of us according to what we did through the body, good or bad”. Also, Saint Apostle Peter in his second synodial Epistle, he wrote: “We are waiting new heaven and new earth, where the justice is living”.
The Holly Scripture is concern on the issued regarding the human salvation, putting on the second plan the interest on cosmic events and the future state of the universe. In biblical books, we are finding only by chance allusions to laws governing the material world. As the human life may not be separated from the cosmic environment where it is developing from the beginning and which will accompany for ever, the Holly Scripture does not ignore the fact that between the man and the environment, “from the beginning, there was a relation of physical and moral solidarity”.
Thus, The Saint apostle Paul, speaking about the consequences of ancient sin, declared that because of not obedience of first men, “all people was subordinated to vanity” and like her “together sigh and is until now like in birth pains, to the hope that will be saved from immorality slavery, to enjoy the freedom of God’s sons” (Rom. VII, 18-25), comp. Childbirth III, 17-18).
Saying that the world is “subordinated to vanity”, does not mean to affirm that it is knavish and scornful. As it is known, the Church punished, in old times, Gnostics and Manicheans, who sustained that the world is bad and will be fully destroyed by God. The Church punished with the same severity in the Middle Age, the persons sustaining that the end of the world is close and the faithful people must leave their work, in order to be prepared, by prayers and vigil, the second arrival of God and the universal judgment.
We, as theologs, know very well, by studying the church history, the causes of arising the eschatological wanderings of the first ages of the Christianity: the lack of culture of faithful people, the violence of persecutions of Roman state, the impossibility of faithful people to release from the cleavages exploitation and poorness, the disgust of miserable people to live in a world incorrectly divided in free people and slaves, rich people and poor people, satiated and famished, the wish of desperate people to find the justice and the pace at least after death, in the heaven realm of Jesus Christ.
We certainly know also the causes of eschatological wanderings of Middle Age; the cultural and religious backward of faithful people, the cruel feudal exploitation, the abuses of Roman – catholic hierarchy and inquisition, many migrations of people and the endless wars, which exhausted the patience of oppressed people who whished that the whole world be destroyed, instead of a life full of injustice and pains.
Such wanderings may disturb sometimes the soul peace of faithful people and to prevent them from their religious tasks; fighting the wrong interpretations of biblical eschatology is representing a permanent pastoral obligation for the servants of our holly altars. In order to fulfill these obligations, we have to mention the following theological issues regarding the Holly Scripture;
It is true that the Holly Scripture many times speak about “the end of the world” (Ps.CII, 26-27); Isaia LI 6; Matei XXIV, 35; II peter III, 7, 10 etc.). But this “end” was not understood in a pessimist way, as destruction, a disappearance or returning of the world to nothingness. On the contrary, by “end of the world” the biblical eschatology understands, in a positive way, its full purification by any imperfection, its total renewal, its fulfillment.
Thus the Saviour speaks about “world renewal” in Matei XIX, 28 and Saint Apostle Peter wrote: “We (Christian people) are waiting, according to God promises, new heaven and new earth, where justice will be” (II Peter III, 13). In the some way, Saint Apostle and Evangelist Ioan, speaking about one of his prophetic visions, he mentioned the life of the future century and he said: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; because the first heaven and the first earth were gone... And will be no death, or tears, or cry, or pain, as the first ones were gone” (Apoc. XXI, 1-50.
The Christian faith that the works will be renewed by God is arisen by the strong relation, in Holly Scripture, with the teaching about the second arrival of Jesus Christ, about the deceased revival and last judgment (Matei XVI, 27; XXV, 31-46; Ioan V, 28-29; I Tes.IV, 13-18; I Cor. XV, 35-38; Apoc. XX, 11 S.U.). But the Holly Scripture does not say to us when Jesus Christ will arrive for the second time and when will take place the “world renewal” and does not give us any information to assess the respective date.
All the Holly Scripture says about the “end” of this world and the beginning of the “future world” is the affirmation that this date will be chronologically the same with the second arrival of Christ, the event shortly named “Parusia of God” ( the Greek word “Parusie” means: presence, arrival”.
The prophets of Old Testament wrote just a few about Parusia of Jesus Christ (Isaia LXVI, 15-18, Sofonie I, 14-18). There is a clear explanation because it was not appropriate to speak much about the second arrival of Messiah, before the first one. In Old Testament, there are few words also about the deceased revival (Isaia XXXVI, 19; Ezekiel XXXVII 1-14), on which, excepting saduchens, all Jews during the Saviour believed (Ioan XI, 24).
But in New Testament often and clearly are mentioned the second arrival of God and the deceased revival. Thus, the Saviour solemnly declared that the Father will return to prepare the place for His apprentices (Ioan XIV,3) will come back in the clouds of the sky, strong and with much glory” (Matei XXIV, 30; XXVI, 64; Ioan XIV, 18, 28). Also, while the Saviour gone to the heaven, the angels said to saint apostles: Galilean men what are you looking for the heaven? This Jesus, who gone to the heaven, so he will return, as you sow him going to the heaven” (Facts of apostles I, 11). Saint Apostle Paul – speaking about Parusia of Christ and deceased revival and transformation” – he wrote: “God Himself ... will come back from the heaven and the deceased will be revived first; after that, we alive people remained, will be taken together with them to the heaven to meet God, and will remain with God for ever”, (I Tes. IV, 16-17).
The date of Parusia of God – of which depend the world renewal and deceased revival for last judgment – is known only by God (Matei XXIV, 36, Marcu XIII, 32) and the Saviour did not wanted to discover it and also prevent his saint apostles and apprentices to be preoccupied by finding it or to ask him about this issue: “You don’t need to know the times or the dates God put in His power” (Facts I,7).
Jesus Christ told us about His Parusia only that He will suddenly come back, as flood came during Noe patriarch, as fur comes in the night, as arrive the birth pains for pregnant woman and lighting comes from the East to the West (Matei XXIV, 27, 36-44, XXV, 13; Marcu XIII, 33-37; Luca XVII, 24-30; according to this teaching, the Saint apostle Paul wrote: “And about times and years, brothers, we don’t have to write about, because you know very well that God Day will arrive as a fur in the night ..., like pain of pregnant woman” (I Tes, V, 1-3). The same wrote Saint Apostle Peter: “And the God day will arrive as a fur” (II Peter III, 10).
