I haven't noticed people denying that Jesus literally returns to His followers. All I have noticed is some insist Jesus returns physically in His earthly or flesh and BONE body to planet earth. He does not. Jesus returns to each believer in the spiritual realm where He judges them, 2 COR 5:10 AFTER their personal death, Hebrews 9:27.
Justme
Yes Hebrews 9:27 is the condition by which we are to receive our eternal inheritance.
So what is the condition?
The context to Hebrews 9:27 is............
Hebrews 9:15-17
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.
So whilst we live in the earthly body, we can not receive our eternal inheritance and so Hebrews 9:27 states ..........
Hebrews 9:27-28
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
We need to remember that the writer of Hebrews was writing to his immediate audience who are other Jewish apostles that would have most certainly seen the Lord the
first time in the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. The Hebrews writer now within the context of the afterlife, meaning after the death of the witness, declares that the Lord will appear to the faithful the
second time, this time those apostles who had seen him the first time will now have died and been raised in their sinless resurrection bodies to be present with the Lord. This is the separation of the sheep and the goats after every man in turn are destined to die once then judgment, on the day and hour the thief (death) comes to destroy the earthly house (body).
Saint Paul writes..........
2 Timothy 4:6-8
For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
The Lord's second appearing as far as Paul and the apostles were concerned in their time, was when they were to die. After death and in line with what the Hebrews author writes, the death of the testator then immediately presents them before the Lord for judgement, in receiving their eternal inheritance (crown of righteousness), that the Lord has already through the cross and his resurrection as the forerunner laid up for every witness on their last day in the earthly body. Notice Paul places
each in his own turn criteria, within the context when that particular testator dies. That is why he comforts those who would live beyond his departure/death, that they too
in turn when they die will also gladly behold the Lord's appearing. Saint Stephan was the first to behold the Lord's appearing coming with the clouds of heaven. People are glad as Paul states in this appearing because it will be the presentation of all presentation days for the witness when they
according to their turn have finished their individual race and have kept the faith even onto death.
Looking forward in gladness for the Lord's appearing is not to be confused with the day of the Lord, when he takes out vengeance upon the unbelieving world at large. So this message of gladness is a time in a believers life stage, where they are rewarded for the works done in the body as the ultimate progression from temporal life in the earthly body to life in the eternal body to be reunited with the risen Lord. To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord.
So there is this turn criteria that is reiterated throughout scripture concerning the New Testament witnesses who on their unique day and hour of departure/death are to receive their eternal inheritance. That is why Paul states that........
1 Thessalonians 4:15
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
It should be obvious that Paul is alluding to the brilliant coming of the Lord after the day of the Lord, as a brilliant light, in the same way as it was declared in Genesis "Let there be Light". Paul highlights that those that remain alive towards the end of the harvest and after the days of vengeance/slaughter, shall not prevent those who had previously died in receiving their eternal inheritance. So when we look at the New Testament age from the reaping of the first fruits (old covenant saints) Matthew 27:52-53 all the way up until the last good tasting wine of the harvest towards the gleaning, we see that the last 2000 years have already advanced those departed to already receive their eternal inheritance, as time has no bearing on a departed soul, who unlike the old covenant saints do not go down to the grave/shoel, but immediately receive what has already been laid up for them after they die.
The turn criteria continues..........
1 Corinthians 15:22-23
22For as
in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.
We have to harmonise all scripture to understand the thoughts of the apostles, as if we lived in their shoes.
Let us look at one final verse that discloses what condition is required to behold the Lord's appearing with gladness.
1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
So the condition of seeing the risen Lord in his glorified form requires us to also put on our glorified bodies and this cannot happen until we first die, then be judged by the Lord, according to our works done in the body.
So the apostle admits that in his human body he doesn't know what his experience will be like in the afterlife glorified body, but is confident that when the risen Lord appears to the faithful, himself included, that he also needs to be like him and then and only then shall he see him as he is in his glorified risen form.
So I see many confusing the resurrection of the dead as being a one time event towards the gleaning of the harvest, when scripture clearly informs us that the reaping of the harvest covers the entire new covenant age and that each witness receives their eternal inheritance in turn when their time of departure comes, to then gladly receive what has already been laid up for them to receive after they die.
Many confuse the appearing of the Lord with the brilliant coming of the Lord after the day of the Lord, which is a day of vengeance taken out upon the inhabitants of the world. Remember the day of the Lord is not something to look forward to for it is a day of vengeance and this is in vast contrast to the appearing of the Lord for the departed faithful witnesses who looks forward to it with gladness as Paul declares in 2 Timothy 4:6-8. So the two are completely different.
There is a second coming of the Lord or shall I say there has been and will be for every departed faithful who finishes their race and keeps the faith even unto death, so that they too in turn may receive their eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:27-28)
Therefore it is a literal coming within the context of the afterlife!
The second coming is not spiritual, but real and tangible to the departed faithful who now is presented before the Lord for judgement, so to receive their eternal inheritance, that has been already laid up for them and every faithful witness in Christ.