Jesus’ Return: parousia and judgment

“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)

We believe that in the same way Jesus ascended, He will return. This return is mentioned throughout the New Testament using the Greek word parousia, which means literally “a presence,” “a coming,” or “an appearing. ” That word can have the sense of an owner returning to the place of ownership, but sometimes has the technical sense of a royal visit of a king or emperor coming to be personally present somewhere.

In our Bibles, parousia at times refers to the simple presence of a visitor, like Paul visiting the Philippians. However, the predominant use of parousia is in reference to the coming of Christ, sometimes in relation to His first coming and other times in relation to His ultimate return at the end of human history. 

The season of Advent in which we now find ourselves addresses both the first advent of Christ at His incarnation, which we celebrate at Christmas, and the second advent of Christ at his return, or parousia. The Apostle’s Creed describes this in the phrase “He will come to judge the living and the dead,” referring to the future return of Christ at the end of the age, or the end of human history, which we are told in Scripture, will be glorious, decisive, and sudden.

Jesus will not only return, Scripture tells us, but He will return as the judge of the living and the dead, both physically and spiritually. We encounter this many times, but perhaps the easiest summary is in the Gospel of Matthew, at the beginning of one of Jesus’ parables, where He says:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” (Matthew 25:31-32)

Jesus refers to Himself here, as He often did, as the Son of Man. He will step in and judge the earth and all humankind, both living and dead.

Now, whenever we start talking about judgment, people often get nervous or feel tension because none of us like to be judged by others. Let me take that back. What we really don’t like is being misjudged by other people. We love it when people rightly judge us—recognizing our abilities, our character, or our experiences. There’s nothing quite as good as working for someone who has good judgment, but there’s nothing quite as bad as working for someone who has bad judgment. And there’s nothing worse than being in a life situation over which we have no control where we are constantly misjudged because of any variety of things: our past experiences or lack of experience, the color of our skin or the place we came from, whether we’re a woman or a man, or whether we’re too old or whether we’re too young. 

Anyone in a position lacking power to change much of anything deeply desires for judgment to come—good judgment that deals with injustice, unfairness, evil, and wrong. 

When Jesus returns, He will come with good judgment. In fact, He will not only bring good judgment, but the best judgment. He will see things accurately without misjudging anyone or anything. He will not judge according to bias but according to truth. We are also told in the Scripture that His judgment will be based on love, even as we read in John’s Gospel:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

As Frederick Buechner writes: “In other words, the one who judges us most finally will be the one who loves us most fully.” What a great statement that sets the tone for the judgment of Christ that arrives at the end of all things. If God is revealed in Jesus, then the judgment Jesus will bring at His return is actually something we anticipate with hope.

So, we boldly can say, “From there he [Jesus] will come to judge the living and the dead.” When we recite this portion of the Creed, or when we talk about the parousia and judgment of Christ, we are looking forward with hope to an encounter with Jesus the righteous judge who is also the lover of humanity and all creation.