CHRIST'S SECOND COMING EXPLAINED
A Brief Panoramic View by Dr. M. E. J. Packer.
A GOOD while ago I was standing on a small hill near Calais harbour, gazing with eager expectancy out over the English Channel. A heavy fog obscured the distant part of the sea. It was a specially happy occasion for me because soon, indeed at any moment, a ship with my daughter on board would suddenly burst through the bank of mist, and she who was coming from the north and I who had come from the south would meet each other and so continue to be together. But a far greater thrill awaits the believer at that marvellous day of the Rapture, when from the earth below all the Lord's own (composing the church), whether alive or dead, will rise up in glorified bodies to meet our Lord from heaven above, in the air. Then after a short time, the Lord will lead us triumphantly back to earth. Thus His coming will be in two stages, firstly into the air, and then down to earth.
