Has Christ Returned?

“‘JESUS CHRIST’ COMES BACK​—IN KITWE.” Thus read the front-page heading of the Times of Zambia, March 24, 1980. The article continued: “A man proclaiming himself as Jesus Christ is organising a religious movement. . . . He has chosen 12 men as his disciples . . . ‘I am the real Jesus Christ and the masses have accepted me,’ he said.”

It is evident from news reports that this is not an isolated case. In some countries a whole cult, the “Moonies,” has grown up around Sun Myung Moon, described in the press by such designations as “Lord of the Second Advent,” “the Third Adam, the New Messiah.”

Awaiting the return of Christ is not a modern phenomenon. Down through history many humans have misrepresented themselves as the returned Christ. Millions of others have awaited Jesus’ second advent. Speaking of the “faithful of the early [Christian] church,” the Encyclopædia Britannica comments: “They believed that the promises of the Old Testament about the coming bringer of salvation had been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but that the fulfillment was not yet complete. Thus, they awaited Christ’s Second Coming, which they believed was imminent.”

However, many today view with skepticism those Bible prophecies that speak of Christ’s return. This is illustrated by the comment of a religious editor of a U.S. daily newspaper who wrote: “It has been remarked that ‘we can find a hundred different times in history when, according to the wars-earthquakes-famine timetable, Jesus should have come back.’”

This confused situation regarding Christ’s return forces us to face up to some pointed questions, such as: Is Christ really supposed to return in the flesh? Will we get to see him? How will we recognize him with so many frauds about? The following article will answer some of these questions.