The End of the World

For as lightning comes out of the east, and appears even into the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be... And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give its light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven shall be moved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. (Lord Jesus - St Mathew 24:27-30)

The day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great noise, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burned up. (St Peter - 2Peter 3:10)

Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule. Behold his reward is with Him and his work is before Him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, He shall gather together the lambs with His arm, and shall take them up in His bosom, and He Himself shall carry them that are with young. (Prophet Isaiah 40:10,11)

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He who sat upon it was called faithful and true, and with justice does He judge and fight. And his eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many diadems, and He had a name written, which no man knows but himself And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood; and his name is called, the Word of God... And the armies that are in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean... And He has on his garment, and on his thigh written: King of kings, and Lord of lords. (Apocalypse 19:11-17)

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives [the place from where He ascended], which is over against Jerusalem toward the east: and the mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst thereof to the east, and to the west with a very great opening, and half of the mountain shall be separated to the north, and half thereof to the south. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the next, and you shall flee...

And the Lord my God shall come, and all the Saints with him.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall be no light, but cold and frost. And there shall be one day, which is known to the Lord, not day nor night : and in the time of the evening there shall be light. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them to the east sea, and half of them to the last sea, they shall be in summer and in winter. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be one. (Prophet Zechariah Chapter 14)

When Christ shall appear, who is your life, then you also [Saints] shall appear with him in glory. (St Paul Colossians 3:4)

I beheld till thrones were placed [thrones of coming rewards and judgments], and the Ancient of days [Almighty God] sat: his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool: his throne like flames of fire: the wheels of it like a burning fire. A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him, thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him [Angels and rewarded Saints]: the judgment sat, and the books were opened... I beheld therefore in the vision of the night, and lo, one like the son of man [Lord Jesus] came with the clouds of heaven, and He came to the Ancient of days, and they presented Him before Him. And he gave Him power, and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, tribes and tongues shall serve Him, his power is an everlasting power that shall not be taken away, and His kingdom that shall not be destroyed... And that the kingdom, and power, and the greatness of the kingdom, under the whole heaven, may be given to the people of the Saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all kings shall serve Him, and shall obey Him. (Prophet Daniel 7:9-27)

When the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king say to them who shall be on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in, naked, and you covered me, sick, and you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry, and fed you; thirsty, and gave you drink? And when did we see you a stranger, and took you in? or naked, and covered you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison, and came to you? And the king answering, shall say to them: verily I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me. Then he shall say to them also that shall be on his left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat, I was thirsty, and you gave me not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in, naked, and you covered me not, sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also shall answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you? Then he shall answer them, saying: verily I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. And these shall go into everlasting punishment, but the just, into life everlasting. (Lord Jesus - St Matthew Chapter 25)

At that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who stands for the children of your people, and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall your people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some unto life everlasting, and others unto everlasting reproach. But they who are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they who instruct many to justice, as stars for all eternity.  (Prophet Daniel 12)

Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying: Behold, the Lord comes with thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to reprove all the ungodly for all the works of their ungodliness, whereby they have done ungodly, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against God. (St Jude 1:14-15)
 

Let us be prepared in great confidence, and like children, for your Second Advent full of splendor...
Before I come as a righteous Judge, I will first come as King of Mercy. Before the day of justice comes, it will be given to men this sign in the heavens: All luminaries in the sky will be extinguished, and great darkness will be over all the earth. Then the Sign of the Cross will be seen in the sky; from the wounds in the hands and feet of the Savior, will radiate great lights which for certain time will light the earth. This will come to pass little time before the last day. (St Faustina - Devine Mercy)

Dear children Read Sacred Scripture, live it, and pray to understand the signs of the times.

Dear children! From day to day I wish to clothe you in holiness, goodness, obedience and God's love, so that from day to day you become more beautiful and more prepared for your Lord.

Little children, pray and prepare your hearts for the coming of the King of Peace, that with His blessing He may give peace to the whole world... Dear children! Do not forget that you are here on earth on the way to eternity and that your home is in Heaven.

(Our Lady of Medjugorje)

Catechism of The Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church

"... He will come again in great glory
 to judge the living and the dead,
 and his kingdom will have no end" (Nicene Creed)
 

I. He will come again in glory

Christ already reigns through the Church. . .

668 "Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." Christ's Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in God's power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and on earth. He is "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion", for the Father "has put all things under his feet." Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of history. In him human history and indeed all creation are "set forth" and transcendently fulfilled.

669 As Lord, Christ is also head of the Church, which is his Body. Taken up to heaven and glorified after he had thus fully accomplished his mission, Christ dwells on earth in his Church. The redemption is the source of the authority that Christ, by virtue of the Holy Spirit, exercises over the Church. "The kingdom of Christ [is] already present in mystery", "on earth, the seed and the beginning of the kingdom".

670 Since the Ascension God's plan has entered into its fulfillment. We are already at "the last hour". "Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect." Christ's kingdom already manifests its presence through the miraculous signs that attend its proclamation by the Church.

. . .until all things are subjected to him

671 Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless yet to be fulfilled "with power and great glory" by the King's return to earth. This reign is still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by Christ's Passover. Until everything is subject to him, "until there be realized new heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church, in her sacraments and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the mark of this world which will pass, and she herself takes her place among the creatures which groan and travail yet and await the revelation of the sons of God." That is why Christians pray, above all in the Eucharist, to hasten Christ's return by saying to him: Marana tha! "Our Lord, come!"

672 Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel which, according to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace. According to the Lord, the present time is the time of the Spirit and of witness, but also a time still marked by "distress" and the trial of evil which does not spare the Church and ushers in the struggles of the last days. It is a time of waiting and watching.

The glorious advent of Christ, the hope of Israel

673 Since the Ascension Christ's coming in glory has been imminent, even though "it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.". This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment, even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are "delayed".

674 The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come upon part of Israel" in their "unbelief" toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old." St. Paul echoes him: "For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?" The "full inclusion" of the Jews in the Messiah's salvation, in the wake of "the full number of the Gentiles", will enable the People of God to achieve "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", in which "God may be all in all".

The Church's ultimate trial

675 Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.

676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular messianism.

677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection. The kingdom will be fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven. God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.

II. To judge the living and the dead

678 Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the judgment of the Last Day in his preaching. Then will the conduct of each one and the secrets of hearts be brought to light. Then will the culpable unbelief that counted the offer of God's grace as nothing be condemned. Our attitude to our neighbor will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine love. On the Last Day Jesus will say: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me."

679 Christ is Lord of eternal life. Full right to pass definitive judgment on the works and hearts of men belongs to him as redeemer of the world. He "acquired" this right by his cross. The Father has given "all judgment to the Son". Yet the Son did not come to judge, but to save and to give the life he has in himself. By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one's works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love.

In brief

680 Christ the Lord already reigns through the Church, but all the things of this world are not yet subjected to him. The triumph of Christ's kingdom will not come about without one last assault by the powers of evil.

681 On Judgment Day at the end of the world, Christ will come in glory to achieve the definitive triumph of good over evil which, like the wheat and the tares, have grown up together in the course of history.

682 When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according to his works, and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.

Notes & Summary

- Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers

- The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the mystery of iniquity in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth.

- The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.

- A political form of a secular messianism.

- The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover, when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.

- The kingdom will be fulfilled by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause his Bride to come down from heaven

- God's triumph over the revolt of evil will take the form of the Last Judgment after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing world.

The Second Coming of Jesus Christ