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Will Jesus ever be back on Earth?

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am" (John 14:3). In this passage, Jesus assures His followers that even though He must go for a short time, He is going to prepare a place for them and He will be back for them. Then, in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul said, "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." Revelation 1:7 further describes the return of the Lord by saying, "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him." The bodily, visible return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the Christian's "blessed hope."

The above-mentioned passages are all referring to the rapture—the physical removal of Christians before the beginning of the tribulation period. But, there will also be a time when Jesus will return to set up His kingdom on earth. He will rule and reign on earth for 1,000 years. Revelation 20 describes this awesome event in detail. After the 1,000-year reign of Christ has ended, Satan will be defeated permanently, and God will create a new Heaven and a new Earth. Revelation 21:1-2 says, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”