The Manifestation of Christ

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

The Lord Jesus will come both in and with His saints. In the spiritual sense, Jesus is here now. He is building His Church. His second coming, in one sense, will be as that of a person returning from afar but in another sense will be a bodily manifestation of what already is here.

In a sense, the coming of the Lord actually will be the manifestation of the Lord. We know from the Scriptures that Christ is in Heaven at the right hand of the Father. We understand also that He is both in and with His saints today. Christ dwells in us, and He also abides with us and works with us, strengthening us and confirming His Word with signs following.

The Lord Jesus is in Heaven but He also is here on the earth wherever two or three are gathered together in His name. Those who are diligently seeking Him know He dwells in us and will walk with us until the close of the present age.

If such is the case, if Christ dwells in and walks with His saints on the earth, then the coming of the Lord will be, to a certain extent, the making visible of the Lord.

Christ came to earth two thousand years ago, was crucified, and then was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. After that, He ascended to Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. The physical body of Christ is there in Heaven at the right hand of God.

But Christ returned immediately in the Holy Spirit, for He said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20).

Mark verified this:

And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. (Mark 16:20)

We could maintain that the Lord sat in Heaven and worked with the Apostles from there. This undoubtedly is true. Our point is, however, that Heaven and earth are so close that the Lord Jesus is present among us and with us at all times. It is inaccurate to envision the Lord as being beyond the stars while we humans are left (even though we have the Holy Spirit) to carry out His commands as best we can. In fact, it is the idea of the Lord's being far away while we build the Kingdom of God that has caused us to place the head of man on the Body of Christ.

We understand that Christ is in Heaven at the right hand of God. We know also that there will come a point in time at which He will descend to the earth and sit on the Throne of David in the earthly city of Jerusalem. These facts are essential to our understanding of the Kingdom of God.