IV. Whence and whither will He come?

We expect Christ, our judge, to come from heaven in a cloud. He will come from the same place to which the disciples saw him ascend. “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.” “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” “Our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus.” (2 Thes. 1:7. Matt. 26:64. Phil. 3:20.) Christ, according to these declarations of Scripture, will descend in a cloud from heaven, where he sits at the right hand of God, and not from the air, the sea, or the earth. He will descend from heaven in a visible manner to this region of the air, as he ascended into heaven. “He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11.) It is necessary that these things should be explained that the church may know whence to look for her judge and redeemer; for as Christ will have it known whither he ascended, so he will also have it known whence he will return, that we may be assured that he has not laid aside the human nature which he assumed.