A PROBLEM which has commanded the closest examination of theologians and all students of the Bible from the first century to the present time, concerns the "second coming," as it is commonly termed. The belief usually held is that this coming pertains to the return of Christ Jesus to earth.
A wide divergence of opinion arises from the various interpretations of the Scriptural references relating to this subject. Was Jesus himself the Messiah, the personal Saviour, who had taught as none other had ever taught, and who had wrought wonders of healing as none other had ever wrought them, was he, the "Son of man," to return "in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory"? Probably the disciples and early apostles looked for the literal fulfillment of this prophetic statement by the Master, and, in fact, many have even to the present day believed that the personal Jesus was again to appear "with power and great glory." And those who have been imbued with this expectancy have had no satisfactory explanation for his nonappearance.
The difficulty has arisen from misinterpretation of Jesus' words, due to a confusion of thought regarding Jesus and Christ. This confusion Christian Science perfectly clears up. Jesus was human, born of a virgin, and partaking in some measure of the fleshly conditions which attach to the belief of material birth. Christ was his divine or spiritual nature, God's perfect idea, which Jesus so thoroughly understood, and with which he so completely identified himself that he became known as the Christ, or the Messiah, the Saviour of mankind from all its earthly burdens. Christ, Truth, the spiritual idea of God, was and is the Holy Ghost or Divine Comforter which Jesus promised should come. In fact, this spirit of Truth has ever been present, knocking at the door of human consciousness, waiting for admission. The situation is perfectly expressed in words recorded in the book of Revelation: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." Words could scarcely convey more clearly the fact of Christ's ever-presence.
