The Antichrist and the Second Advent

The second advent

"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

"Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.

"Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son "of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matt. xxiv:4,5 and  23-31.

"His Second Coming, unlike the first one, will not be in secret in a small corner of the world; but it will, rather be, openly with all circumstances leading to it. He would show Himself at once everywhere by reason of the shining forth of His glory, this is the same as the way the lightning shines, it needs not a herald, but rather shows itself in an instant even to those who are inside their houses or in their rooms. 'As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west...'. Not so is the coming of Antichrist, for he will be in one place.

He assures them saying: 'Go not forth into the deserts, enter not into the secret chambers.' He did not say: 'Go and do not believe', but 'Go not forth neither depart thither.' Because great will be the deceiving, because for this purpose of deceiving miracles are wrought.

"Note that the sun shall be darkened (not destroyed), overcome by the light of His presence. And the stars shall fall from heaven, for what shall be the need of them thereafter, there being no night. And the powers of heaven shall be shaken to see so great a change coming to pass. For if when the stars were made, it is said: 'All angels praised Me with a loud voice.' Job xxxviii:7 (LXX), much more seeing all things in course of change, and those who have lived from Adam unto "His coming, having an account demanded of them, how shall they but tremble, and be shaken?

"The sign of the cross will be greater than the sun, since this latter will be darkened. The cross would not have appeared in the heaven unless it were far brighter than the sun. The cross appears to show the shamelessness of the Jews. This time, there shall be no need for accusation when they see the cross and 'shall the tribes mourn', that by His death they benefited nothing, because they crucified Him, whom they ought to have adored; for it is written concerning them that "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him." Zech. xii:10.

"This time, they shall see the Son of man coming, no longer on the cross, but 'in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.' This time the sign of the cross is associated with manifest power and glory, as it was then associated with hidden power over the enemy when it was then regarded with shame and cursing. The sign of the Son of man appears here that their sins may be self condemned, their mourning here is an indication of self condemnation.

"Although the Lord comes openly, He still calls his elect by His angels in order to HONOR them in this way. The sound of the trumpet is for arousing, for gladness to manifest the amazing nature of the things then enacting.

"Here is a contrast between the 'mourning tribes' upon seeing the sign of the Son of man and the honor of the elect, when they are gathered together, and the sound of the trumpet together with He Himself in the cloud which shall catch them." St. John Chrysostom.