Jesus will return in the same way that He ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-11). It will be physical and personal, not figurative. He will descend from the sky accompanied by a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God (1 Thess. 4:16-17). This is what is prophesied in Scripture, and generally speaking, prophecies are fulfilled literally. Nevertheless, there are those who say that Jesus returned in 70 A.D., with the Roman armies as they laid siege to and destroyed Jerusalem. This is called preterism and we at CARM reject it as a false teaching. Please take a look at the following verses.

• Matt. 24:30-31, “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky [ouranos], and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS [nephelon] OF THE SKY [ouranos] with power and great glory. 31 And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky [ouranos] to the other.”
• Acts 1:9–11, “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud [nephele] received Him out of their sight. 10 And as they were gazing intently into the sky [ouranos] while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. 11 They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky [ouranos]? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven [ouranos], will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven [ouranos].”
• 1 Thess. 4:16-5:2, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven [ouranos] with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds [nephele] to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Take note of the similarities between the three major pericopes dealing with the manner of Jesus’ return.  Notice how they deal with clouds, the kind that are in the sky!

VERSE	CLOUDS (νεφέλη nephélē)	SKY/HEAVEN (οὐρανός ouranós)
Matt. 24:30-31	X	X
Acts 1:9-11	X	X
1 Thess. 4:16-17	X	X

The Day of the Lord comes like a thief

Further evidence that Jesus will return literally from the sky is found by comparing what is said in 1 Thess. 5:2 and 2 Peter 3:10.  The Thessalonian passage states that the return of the Lord (descend, shout, trumpet, resurrection) will be like a thief in the night. 2 Pet. 3:10 says a day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away, the elements we destroyed, and the earth will be burned up.  Is that what happened in 70 AD?  Nope!

• 1 Thess. 5:2, “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night.”
• 2 Peter 3:10, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”

This refutes the idea that Jesus returned in 70 A.D. because the heavens and the earth were not destroyed. As simple as this is, preterism is false.

In just the same way

There are some preterists who quote the King James Version which says that Jesus will return “in like manner.”  They refer to this phrase because they want to deny that Jesus’ return is literal ‘in just the same way.” So, let’s take a look at some translations and how they render it.

• NASB 95, “in just the same way as he watched him go into heaven.”
• ESV, “will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
• RSV, “will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
• LEB “will come back in the same way you saw him departing into heaven.”
• NIV84, “will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
• ISV, “will come back in the same way you saw him go up into heaven.”
• CSB, “will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
• ASV, “shall come in like manner as ye beheld him going into heaven.”
• KJV, “shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”

Since the majority of Bibles listed translate it as “in the same way,” there is no reason to focus on the KJV and assert that the return of Christ is not literal, but symbolic (in the armies of the Roman Empire!?). After all, the context of Acts 1:9-11, is that Jesus will return in just the same way as He ascended into heaven.

Conclusion

So, we can see that Jesus will return in just the same way that He left. He ascended into heaven and was received by a cloud. The clouds will be there in heaven when He descends. That is how Jesus will return.