How would you recognize Christ if you met Him?

[mike1reynolds]

If Christ were here today how would you recognize Him? Do you think that He would be recognized by any official church? 1 Thesselonians 5:2 refers to Christ returning like a “thief in the night”. What do you think that this means?

 

[tapero]

We would recognize Him as we do today.

I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

 

[lmnop9876]

If Christ were here today how would you recognize Him? Do you think that He would be recognized by any official church? 1 Thesselonians 5:2 refers to Christ returning like a “thief in the night”. What do you think that this means?

it mattereth not, for Christ our God shall descend with the sound of the trump and the voice of the Archangel to judge the quick and the dead.

 

[mike1reynolds]

Granted that later in the story He rules the world with an iron rod, but initially he comes as a “thief in the night”. This is not a reference to a surprise arrival, a thief in the night has to come and go unseen, or he is a thief in jail, not in the night.

If you think that it will be easy to recognize Him when He is a thief in the night and not announcing Himself with trumpet blasts, then I think that you can count out being from among the 144,000. He would reveal Himself to them before revealing Himself to the world.

 

[lmnop9876]

Granted that later in the story He rules the world with an iron rod, but initially he comes as a “thief in the night”. This is not a reference to a surprise arrival, a thief in the night has to come and go unseen, or he is a thief in jail, not in the night.

If you think that it will be easy to recognize Him when He is a thief in the night and not announcing Himself with trumpet blasts, then I think that you can count out being from among the 144,000. He would reveal Himself to them before revealing Himself to the world.

methinketh this is an incorrect theory. Jesus shall come as a thief in the night, He shall take us all by surprise, but He shall announce His arrival, and we shall all be taken up into Heaven in the wink of an eye.

 

[mike1reynolds]

In chapter 12 Revelations briefly describes the childhood of the Second Coming as being imperiled from birth. Since the child and his mother are described as signs in the heavens it is interpreted allegorically by many otherwise literalists, but the child’s mother is described in purely terrestrial terms a few verses farther. I think that it is literally describing the birth of a child long before coming into power and being strong enough to protect himself.

You are assuming that recognizing Christ will be a trivial matter and that there is nothing to recognize, it will just be obvious. I think that is a good way to be certain that you won’t be able to recognize Him. If you give no thought to preparation then you can be sure that you aren’t prepared.

 

[Splayd]

I suspect you'll be hard pressed finding agreement with your theories here. I don't know of any recognised church teaching from any denomination that Jesus will have to go through childhood all over again.

 

[mike1reynolds]

That is assuming that Jesus is the Second Coming. Revelations never identifies the lamb that was slain as being Jesus. The Second Coming is described in several ways such as the ruler with an iron rod and the rider of the white horse. None of these are ever identified with Jesus. Jesus is only described very briefly as returning in the clouds, in an ethereal context rather than the more concrete context of the lamb that was slain.

Are all the teachings of all the Churches completely silent on the mater of how to recognize Christ in person? If that is so then it would seem to me that a true devotee of Christ would have little interest in them.

 

[Robskiwarrior]

Taken from Luke 24:13-33

30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32They asked each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

My heart burns when I talk about the Lord, my ears prick up when I hear someone talking about him... Imagine if he walk and spoke with you! My spirit would instantly combust!

 

[mike1reynolds]

My heart burns when I talk about the Lord, my ears prick up when I hear someone talking about him... Imagine if he walk and spoke with you! My spirit would instantly combust!

That is assuming that you recognize Him. The traditionalists of the Jewish religion 2000 years ago did not. Are the traditionalists of Christianity today any different?

Let's assume that He will be a super genius, so His opinions will go far beyond Biblical subjects and terminology. He will not base all of His opinions on Biblical scripture, why should He be bound by this at all in fact? I’m not saying He’ll have a contradictory message, but rather that when He discusses His opinion on a variety of contemporary topics that never appeared in the Bible, which is what most people talk about most of the time even when discussing spiritual matters, how would you know it was Him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jesus has been stripped of His humanity so that it would not be possible to recognize any human being as Christ, even though there is no other possible form for Him to come in. For example, Jesus is never depicted laughing in religious art. When I was a child my father had a Playboy poster of Jesus with his head tilted back rolling in laughter while holding a lamb. It immediately struck me as sacrilegious, and then a moment later I was in horror at my own reaction. Literally in horror, I couldn’t believe what I was thinking. I realized at that moment that Jesus had been stripped of His humanity and that to conceive of Him in any normal healthy human context was something that had been programmed out of me. He couldn’t be light hearted at times, I had been programmed that He was *always* serious and somber. Of course, the reasons for this have everything to do with appeals to authority made by authoritarians, and nothing to do with the actual character and demeanor of Jesus…

Another example of this is loljesus.com. The humor is lame, even if the sacrilege doesn’t bother you. The only purpose of the site is to provoke a reaction from Christians. I bring it up only because the person who made the website chose the name because the idea of Jesus laughing out loud must have seemed to him like a succinct yet powerful sacrilege. The whole site is based on making fun of the stiff humorless inhuman portrayal of Jesus. He isn’t trying to make a point about how Jesus really was, he buys into the Christian portrayal of Jesus as humorless, hook line and sinker, and so he can’t recognize Jesus. But I don’t think that his lack of recognition is so very different from that of any “believer” who also sees Jesus as humorless, and essentially not human.

 

[LambiePie]

I don't see Jesus as humorless and unloving. I see him as smiling with soft eyes. I see him having fun - at the wedding, with his disciples. I see him in righteous anger at the Temple.

There are several modern artists who are depicting Jesus in a full range of emotions. One does have him with his head thrown back just roaring with laughter. It's wonderful.

Thief in the night is an idiom meaning suddenly, without warning, don't know when, etc.

 

[Tonks]

Dunno. The Apostles didn't recognize Him immediately following the Resurrection. If they didn't there is no way that I'm going to claim 100% that I would be able to....

 

[The Prokeimenon!]

We've got pictures of Him all over our Church buildings and homes

Rdr Moses

 

[relspace]

If Christ were here today how would you recognize Him? Do you think that He would be recognized by any official church? 1 Thesselonians 5:2 refers to Christ returning like a “thief in the night”. What do you think that this means?

First, this is just the kind of argument/questions made by Rev. Moon's church, and is going to be used by any other group claiming that their leader is the fulfillment of the prophecy of the second coming, and so it is no surprise that most Christians are very uncomfortable with this line of reasoning/questioning. Another one of their arguments points to the fact that Jesus says in Matt 11:14 that John the Baptist fulfills Malachi's prophesy of the second coming Elijah. By which they argue that the prophesy of the second comming of Jesus can be fulfilled in a completely different person. This natually goes along with a very different view of Christology than traditional Christianity which holds that Jesus is, was, and was always God.

So the question is just how much of Christian theology you are suggesting be thrown out the window in this question you are asking. Furthermore, there is the question of what you think this appearance of Jesus is supposed to accomplish. The second coming can always be recognized the accomplishment of the tasks which are the purpose of the second coming according to scripture. Otherwise we are left with the kind of situation posed in the film "Jacob", in which a humble carpenter comes to a small town with miracles and a simple message. The local religious leader does not recognize him and sets out to put a stop to this dangerous "heresy". The movie is delightful and is quite Christian because there is nothing contrary to traditional Christian interpretations of the scripture. But then such a coming of Jesus as in this movie is clearly not "the second coming" prophesied in the Bible.

If Christ were here today how would you recognize Him?

Honestly I do not know if I would. I certainly think he would be recognizable as extraordinary good and loving person. The difficulty is going to arise if he openly claims to be Christ, for that is certainly a serious matter. Most Christians will look for a consistency with their understanding of the scriptures. But since I do not pretend to know what most of the scriptures mean, I would start looking for the kind of obvious contradictions that I see between the words and life of Rev. Moon before I would denounce such a person as false. It is also possible that I simply could not agree with what he teaches, in which case, I am also unlikely to accept his claim to be Christ, but I would be willing to admit that I could be wrong. Perhaps the most important question is what this person, who claims to be Christ, is trying to accomplish? What does he want? His answer to such a question will play a big factor in how I respond to him.

Do you think that He would be recognized by any official church?

Not unless he conforms to their expectations according to their interpretations of the scriptures.

1 Thesselonians 5:2 refers to Christ returning like a “thief in the night”. What do you think that this means?

I do not pretend to know. Such is the case for most scriptures refering to what will happen in the future.

 

[Leah]

When you say recognize, do you mean being able to see Him here on earth? Because I always thought that we will meet Him in the air, not here on earth. So, considering what I've learned over the past few months, perhaps we won't recognize Christ unless HE gathers His elect into the kingdom of heaven and there, we will meet Him face to face.

Am I wrong in this assessment?

 

[lmnop9876]

When you say recognize, do you mean being able to see Him here on earth? Because I always thought that we will meet Him in the air, not here on earth. So, considering what I've learned over the past few months, perhaps we won't recognize Christ unless HE gathers His elect into the kingdom of heaven and there, we will meet Him face to face.

Am I wrong in this assessment?

nay, my lady, methinketh thou art not wrong in this thine most wise and Scriptural assessment.
The trouble with the notion put forth in the Original Post is that it is based on an incorrect premillenarian understanding of the return of Christ. Christ our God now ruleth upon this earth through His Holy Spirit. This reign began when He crushed the head of Satan, conquered death by death, by His Resurrection brought new life to the earth, established His holy Temple, the Church, with Himself as the chief Corner-stone, the Apostles and Prophets as the foundation, and believers as the living stones built up on this foundation, established a royal priesthood of believers, with Christ as the great High Priest, and established a new order of sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, the one great atoning Sacrifice of the Lamb of God having been offered, and continually being presented by the High Priest Himself to God the Father.
Our God and Saviour Jesus Christ shall return with the sound of the trumpet and the voice of the Archangel, the great discriminating Judgement shall take place. those who are dead in Christ shall first be raised and their bodies and spirits reunited and shall meet Christ, and then those who are alive in Christ shall be taken up with them. Those who are not in Christ shall go away into everlasting punishment, those who are in Christ shall rule with Him in the new Heavens and the new Earth, which will be renovated with fire (whether literal or figurative), forever praising and glorifying Him in a place where there is no sin, no sorrow, and no more tears.

 

[Beoga]

We've got pictures of Him all over our Church buildings and homes

Rdr Moses

Are you serious in your response here?

 

[4christilive]

i think robskiwarrior is right on the mark.............my sheep know my voice!

 

[Agape_]

We so need to go back down to basics of what it means to be a christian. When we were baptized and recieved the Holy Spirit the essence of God came within us and even now guides us. By saying that when Jesus comes back there will be a possibility that we won't recognize him tells us that the Holy Spirit will not recognize him. For Jesus is in us and we will recognize him when he returns. To this I say there is no text describing what Jesus really looked like such as his height weight etc, but we can be sure that we will be able to recognizxe his spirit and goodness when he returns.

I really belive that when Jesus returns we will know him for when he first came among his creations the world did not know him for we were under law, but now we are under grace. The knowledege and understanding of Jesus comes from God himself for when Peter proclaimed that Jesus is the son of the living God, Jesus said that knowledge came from God.

So the point is that it is true that when Jesus returns we will not know him, but God knows him and if God is within us we will know him. So appearence is not important but a faithful understanding that Jesus knows his own sheep and his sheep know him is what we say.

 

[Melethiel]

Are you serious in your response here?

Yes. Like this one: