We know from Acts 1.11 a few disciples saw Christ ascend into heaven. Jesus told Him they would “see” Him ascend into heaven in John 6.62
Then He told them they would see him come, as in returning to take them home with Him. Math 24.30; Luke 21.27; Mark 13 26 Rev 1.7 …
Paul Taught that “Jesus Himself’ would come… I Thess 4.16 “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven
When the Lord returns His coming would be an appearing, manifestation, or Epiphany 2 Thess 2.8 “…… by the appearance of His coming.” I Tim 6.14, 2 Tim 1.10: 2 Tim 4.1; 2 Tim 4.8, Titus 2.13 also confirm He will appear…at His coming…
Appearance means “manifestation” or “to be made visible”, it is used 6 times about Christ second coming and once about his first coming…every time the word “appearance” is used in the NT it means a person appears and they all see him appear. (Math 27.53 He appeared to many after His resurrection) and even appeared to Paul I Cor 15.. (This “ophthe” is to see with eye and perceive as we know he “appeared” too many disciples literally after His resurrection and was seen bodily.
Col 2.9 tells us Christ currently exist in bodily form…Rom 6.9 He cannot die again so he still has the “flesh and bone” body he was raised in, He said he was not a spirit, (Luke 24.39) as he died the first time in a flesh and blood body and so his flesh and bone body can not die again
There is no verse that says His body changed again after his ascension and he could not have “gotten rid of it” because for the spirit to leave the body causes death of the body, and again Christ cannot die again…
We are promised to get a body like His..Phil 3.21. .. as our bodies will be redeemed (Rom 8.23) Body means “flesh” as Paul states in I Cor 15, to each kind of seed its own body. 39For not all flesh is the same, he makes the two words equivalent in the context…Strong’s 4983
So Christ exist in heaven in a glorified body of flesh and bone.. One that is immortal and imperishable (I Cor 15) and we are promised our own body will be changed when he comes I Cor 15 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
Parousia means [3952 (parousía) is “used in the east as a technical expression for the royal visit of a king, or emperor. The word means literally ‘the being beside,’ thus, ‘the personal presence’.. The word is used 24 times in the NT in every case the word “parousia” is used outside of Christ second coming it means the person physically and bodily comes…
In I Cor 10.10 … For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak …” “bodily presence”..In the Greek is “parousia… in these other verses they all say the person physically bodily comes…(I Cor 16.17 Stephanous comes; 2 Cor 7.6 it is Titus who comes..Phil 1.26 is Paul personally coming..
The word is not used once in conjunction with the person appearing and not being seen…as these words are not Old Testament words or prophetic language.
2 Thess 2.9 tells us about the “parousía” of the lawless one… now as every preterist claims the lawless one was the beast a person (Nero) they can all “see”….
Why do Preterist claim he did not physically bodily come in 70 AD where everyone could see him when scripture said he would “appear”? Mathew 27.52 even demonstrates that dead bodies do rise up out of the grave.
From the scriptures above three things are very clear;
1. Christ exist in bodily form; he is not a spirit
2. He Himself will return, and
3. Appear at His coming. (2 Col 2.8)
So why do preterist deny Christ second coming is not physical and bodily if scriptures say it is?
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