SECOND COMING EXPLANIED

What Exactly is The Second Coming of Christ?

The second coming of Jesus is something that has been predicted for hundreds of years. When we take a close look at the scripture we find that Jesus told his followers that he would return before some present tasted death. That would place his second coming within the lifetime of his youngest followers. In the Gnostic literature we also find that Jesus has returned after an absence of some 500 days; about a years and a half. In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene Jesus has clearly returned and has prepared to leave again.

Other records indicate that Jesus moved to Egypt following what was claimed to be his crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus and a new set of students have been placed in Egypt near the Valley of the Kings. There was a Temple built to the exact specifications of the Temple in Jerusalem on Elephantine Island. For many followers of Judaism, this was the real Temple after the Romans and their politically appointed priests had polluted the one in Jerusalem.

This is also the locale for the writing of the Gospel of Thomas and the Nag Hammadi scrolls were found not far from there. In the Gnostic tradition the second coming is clearly a spiritual event, not a physical one.

The mystery school system had a level of initiation, missionary work, discipleship and an advanced level of apostleship. The apostleship level was equivalent to spiritual enlightenment; what people now refer to as the Christ Consciousness. The Christ Consciousness is actually a better term, as it clearly identifies the experience as one of consciousness, rather that the enigmatic term enlightenment.

Jesus told his followers that He and the father were One. This statement was never intended to be taken literally, but was instead referred to a strong conscious connection with God. In Michael Baigent’s book “The Jesus Papers” two documents are identified as Jesus’ written response to the charges of blasphemy by the Sanhedrin. The claim against Jesus was that he was claiming to be the actual Son of God. Michael Baigent states that the documents explain what was meant: that Jesus was not an actual Son of God, but that he shared a strong conscious connection with God, and that everyone that experienced such a connection and state of consciousness would also be entitled to be called a Son of God.

Through this explanation we clearly see that the Son of God was a state of consciousness, not a physical relationship. As such, there were a number of “Sons of God” that were a part of the Gnostic communities.

Following that pattern in later years when a spiritual student completed his or her training and reached the apostleship level, the experience gradually became known as the coming of Christ, or the emergence of the Christ Consciousness within that person.

By convention then, the Second Coming of Christ is the emergence of the Christ Consciousness within an individual, not a collective physical event as is portrayed by the Christian Church. There have in fact been many Second Comings over the past two millennia as many individuals have reached that level of spiritual experience, and there will be many more to come.

Contrary to the predictions of the return of Jesus, no such event will take place. As with so many things in Christianity, the events and concepts apply to changes in awareness and consciousness, not physical events. Just as salvation is not as it is portrayed in the literal sense, but is a transformation in spiritual consciousness, so too is the Second Coming a transformation in a person’s spiritual consciousness and connection to God, not an outer physical event.

~Justin Taylor, ORDM., OCP., DM.