Parousia is the New Testament word for the coming and royal presence of Jesus Christ.
It names the day when the Lord Himself descends, the dead in Christ rise, and every eye sees Him.
The word was used in that world for the arrival of a king.
The church lives between His first appearing in grace and His parousia in glory.
The apostles did not invent a vague hope. They spoke of the parousia of the Lord. The word means arrival and presence: not merely that He travels, but that He is there. In ordinary Greek it could describe a ruler coming to a city. In the church it describes the coming of the Son of Man.
The disciples asked Jesus for the sign of His coming and of the end of the age.
Paul wrote of the coming of our Lord Jesus and our being gathered to Him. He said the Lord Himself would descend with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.
James told the church to be patient until the coming of the Lord.
Peter said we wait for new heavens and a new earth, and he spoke of the promise of His coming against the scoffers.
John said that when He appears we shall be like Him.
The parousia is therefore personal, public, and final in the sense that it closes this age. It is the same Jesus who went up who will come in the same way. Until that day the church watches, works, and comforts one another with these words.
- Parousia means the arrival and presence of the King, not a rumor in the desert.
- The hope is the Lord Himself, not a timetable first.
- His coming gathers the elect, raises the dead, and judges the world.
- False alarms and scoffing both miss the patience and the certainty of that day.
- The first coming was in humility. The parousia is in power and great glory.
- Watchfulness is the ethic of those who wait for a real appearing.
- Comfort belongs to this doctrine: so we will always be with the Lord.
- Royal Arrival – The word fits a king’s coming to His people.
- The Lord Himself – Not a substitute, not a mere influence.
- Public Glory – Clouds, trumpet, angels, and every eye.
- Gathering – The elect collected; the living and the dead in Christ together.
- Judgment and Joy – The same appearing is blessed hope and the day of wrath.
- Patience – The farmer waits; the Lord is not slow as some count slowness.
- Same Jesus – The One taken up will come in the same way.
- Matthew 24:3, 27, 37, 39 – “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?… For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man… For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 – “For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
- 1 Thessalonians 5:23 – “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 8 – “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him… And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:23 – “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”
- James 5:7-8 – “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth… You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.”
- 2 Peter 3:3-4, 12 – “Scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming?’… waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God.”
- 1 John 2:28 – “And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.”
- Matthew 24:30-31 – The sign of the Son of Man; He comes on the clouds; the elect are gathered.
- Acts 1:11 – “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
- Titus 2:13 – “Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
- Hebrews 9:28 – “So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
- Revelation 1:7 – “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.”
- Philippians 3:20-21 – “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body…”
- 1 Thessalonians 3:13 – “…so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.”
- 2 Peter 1:16 – “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”
- Matthew 25:31 – “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.”
- 1 John 3:2 – “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
The coming of the Lord is the coming of the Lord Himself.
Parousia is not a myth and not a secret in the inner rooms.
As lightning shines from east to west, so will His coming be.
Be patient. Establish your hearts. Abide in Him, so that you may have confidence at His coming.
The dead in Christ will rise. The living will be caught up. So we will always be with the Lord.
Scoffers will ask where the promise has gone. The Lord is not slow. He is patient, and the day will come.
This Jesus will come in the same way as they saw Him go. Comfort one another with these words. Come, Lord Jesus.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.