The Implications of the Second Coming
Nuzul-i-Isa: The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
Chapters
« Islam and the Descension of Jesus
Islam and Christianity are agreed that Jesus will return from heaven to earth. As said already, such an extraordinary event cannot be catalogued as simply one of the tenets of each respective faith. The implications of this persuasion are so profound that it must be analysed further. The concept of a man returning to earth from the realms of heaven itself, a man who once lived on the earth many centuries ago, begs further scrutiny. The very uniqueness of the whole event and its climactic character must surely lead us to conclude that there must be something very special about the one who is at the centre of it all - Jesus Christ. The return of no other prophet is awaited by Christians and Muslims. Indeed, even in their lifetimes, the influence of each prophet of God rarely spread beyond the confines of the prophet's own community and nation, yet it is agreed between Christians and Muslims that Jesus will, on his return, assume control over the whole world. There must be more to him than mere prophethood and his return will surely usher in greater benefits than a boom period in the economies of the nations.
A key to the real meaning of the return of Jesus is found in the expression used by both Yusuf Ali and Maulana Daryabadi in their comments on Quran 43.61. Yusuf Ali speaks of the "second coming of Jesus" and Maulana Daryabadi likewise refers to the "second advent of Jesus". Some years ago, in South Africa, Adam Peerbhai published a booklet entitled Hadis Text on the Second Coming of Jesus which canvassed the various traditions referring to the descension of Jesus. The key is in just one word used by all three Muslim authors - the word second. Each one speaks of the second coming of Jesus, a typical Christian definition of his return and one adopted by Muslim writers without much reflection on its immediate implications.
Christians speak of the second coming of Jesus from heaven because they believe that he came from heaven the first time. If there is to be a second coming, there must have been a first coming. This is, to us, the great key behind the return of Jesus to earth. He will come from heaven a second time because he came from heaven the first time. We believe that he pre-existed and that he was in the beginning with God before anything was ever created (John 1:1). He came as a spirit into the world directly from heaven and was thus conceived in the womb of a woman without any normal human agency. This belief is to some extent supported by the Qur'an which says of Jesus that he was a ruhun minhu, a "spirit from him (i.e. God)", a title applied to no other human in the book (Quran 4.171). This is just what Christians believe - that Jesus came into the world the first time as a spirit directly from God and this explains why his mother underwent such a unique experience in conceiving him without the agency of a human father.
It is in this expression "second coming" that we see the first real implication of the outstanding event to come at the end of time. Jesus will come from heaven to earth simply because he came in precisely this manner the first time. We need to peruse some of the statements of Jesus himself which relate to this very subject to see what he said about his first coming into the world.
On numerous occasions Jesus declared that he had come down from heaven and in such plain language that it could not be interpreted in any other way than literally. He declared to the Jews:
"For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me." John 6:38
In response to this the Jews murmured against him, saying "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" (John 6:42). In reply Jesus simply commanded them not to murmur among themselves about matters they did not understand, once again declaring that he had, in fact, come originally from heaven (John 6:51). When even some of his own followers began to murmur at his teaching, he said to them:
"Do you take offence at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before?" John 6:61-62.
Jesus spoke often about the fact that he had originally descended from heaven (John 3:13) and that he would ascend again (John 20:7), "ascending where he was before". It was his plain teaching that he had come down from heaven and that he would return there. Indeed it should not be too hard for Muslims to consider that Jesus had come down from heaven at the beginning. If it is possible for them to believe that he will come from heaven towards the end of the world, it should be equally possible and indeed logical to believe that he came from heaven in the first place.
On another occasion, while Jesus was debating with the Jews, he said to them:
"You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world." John 8:23.
This was an outstanding statement - "I am from above ... I am not of this world". It is a true maxim that man returns whence he came. We all return to the earth because we come from the earth. "You are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). We are all from below and we therefore go back to the dust. Jesus was from above and he therefore ascended where he, too, was before. This is why he is in heaven now and why he will return from heaven - because he came from heaven in the first place. He could not have put it more plainly or simply than he did when he said:
"I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father." John 16:28
We do well to ask why Jesus has been kept alive in heaven for nearly two thousand years when all other men, both small and great, have returned to the dust. David lies buried in Jerusalem and Muhammad likewise lies dead and buried in Medina. Neither lived beyond a normal lifespan. "No one has ascended into heaven", Jesus said while he was still on earth (John 3:13). Why then should this one man be taken up above the clouds, indeed right out of this universe, into the presence of the eternal Father where he has been for nearly two thousand years?
There can only be one rational, logical conclusion. He must likewise have been in heaven for thousands of years before he came into the world. If he has been there for nearly twenty centuries since his ascension it is logical to assume that he had been there for at least a similar period before his first nuzul, his first descension into the world. Fortunately, however, we do not have to rely on logical presumptions or speculation for Jesus himself, on a number of occasions, made it plain that he had, in fact, been in the presence of God even before the world was made. When his disciples one day exclaimed to him that even the demons were subject to them in his name, he replied:
"I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold I have given you authority to tread upon serpent and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:18-20.
The statement that concerns us is the first one: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven". According to the Bible the fall of Satan took place when he attempted to usurp the throne of God in heaven and make himself like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14). We do not know exactly when this happened but it must have been either before or at the time of creation for he was cast down to become the devil and thus tempted our first parents, Adam and Eve. The Qur'an places the fall of the great Shaytan, whom it names Iblis, at the beginning of creation, saying that he refused to bow to Adam at God's command (Surah 34), complaining that Adam had only been made of dust whereas he had been made of fire (Quran 7.12). As a result God cast him down and expelled him in disgrace (Quran 7.18). Both the Bible and the Qur'an therefore agree that the fall of Satan took place as far back at least as the very beginning of creation, yet Jesus declared "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven". It was his way of saying "I was there in heaven, I saw it happen." This could only have been possible if he had in fact been alive in heaven before the creation of the world. Furthermore, in his last great prayer on earth he said:
"And now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made." John 17:5
In these words we have a very clear statement by Jesus himself that he had, in fact, shared the glory of the eternal Father in his own presence in heaven before the world was ever made. We thus have clear testimonies by Jesus himself that he was alive in heaven at the very beginning of the world - is it surprising, therefore, that he will return from heaven at the end of the world?
We are now beginning to get a clearer picture of the meaning of the nuzul-i-Isa, the descension of Jesus to earth from heaven at the climax of history. He stands uniquely above all the prophets of God and men on earth as one who was alive in heaven at the beginning of time and as the only person today who has ascended to heaven where he has been for almost two thousand years. We will obtain further insight into his real identity and the purpose of his return to earth if we spend a little time considering how he will be recognised when he comes.