In like manner

The two men in white

Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus led His disciples out to the Mount of Olives and, while they watched, was taken up from them. Luke, who records it, had interviewed eyewitnesses, and he gives us the scene with a physician’s precision.

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Four things stand out. The disciples watched; the ascension was visible. A cloud received Him. It was this same Jesus, the man with the nail-scarred hands who had eaten with them an hour before, who went up, not a spirit or an influence. And He “will so come in like manner as you saw Him go”. Whatever else the second coming is, the angels say it will be like the ascension: visible, bodily, with clouds, and the same Jesus.

That sentence rules out a great deal. It rules out a coming that is merely spiritual, as some have taught: Jesus “coming” in the hearts of His people or in the spread of His church. It rules out a coming that is secret, since the ascension was seen by the gathered disciples in broad daylight. And it rules out a coming that is not personal, since it is “this same Jesus” who returns.

Every eye will see Him

John, who was on that hill, later heard the same thing in vision, and gave it the widest possible scope:

Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Every eye. Not every believing eye; every eye. Even “they who pierced Him”, the very men responsible for the crucifixion, will see Him, which means that the second coming is attended by a resurrection of some who are not saved. And “all the tribes of the earth will mourn”. The whole world will know what is happening. There is no reading of “every eye will see Him” that is compatible with an invisible return.

What Jesus told the high priest

At His trial, Jesus was put under oath and asked whether He was the Christ. His answer was a statement about His return:

Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Jesus told Caiaphas, who was about to condemn Him, that Caiaphas himself would see Him coming on the clouds of heaven. That is a public coming if ever there was one. Jesus was quoting Daniel, who had seen “One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven” to receive “dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him” (Daniel 7:13-14). The clouds, in Scripture, are the sign of the visible presence of God; it was in a cloud that He led Israel, filled the temple, and overshadowed the mount of transfiguration. When Jesus comes with clouds, He comes in open glory.

Power and great glory

Jesus Himself described the moment, in the same sermon in which He warned against deception:

“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”

“They will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” Mark adds that He will send His angels to “gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest part of earth to the farthest part of heaven” (Mark 13:27). Matthew adds a “great sound of a trumpet” (Matthew 24:31). Paul adds a shout and the voice of an archangel (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Every description, from every writer, is of an event that fills the sky and fills the ear. Nobody in Scripture describes the second coming as quiet.

Why “in like manner” matters so much

The angels’ phrase is the anchor of this whole subject. We know what the ascension looked like. It was bodily: the disciples watched a man go up. It was visible: they “looked steadfastly toward heaven”. It was with clouds. It was the same Jesus. The second coming will be like that. That is the standard against which every claim about His return, including every claim that He has already come or will come secretly, is to be measured. He has told us beforehand, so that when someone says, “Look, here is the Christ,” we will know better.