Christ comes not once only, but a second time, and far more splendidly. His first coming was part of God's forbearance with us; his second coming will be in the manifest power of God's kingdom. At his first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger; at his second he will be robed in light. In his first coming he endured the cross and rose above its shame; at his second he will come gloriously with an army of angels. We are not content, then, with his first coming but look forward to the second. Of the first we said: “Blessed is he who comes in the Lord’s name”; we shall say it again when we meet the Lord with his angels and adore him.
The savior is not coming a second time to be judged, but to call to his tribunal those who once judged him. His first coming was in mercy, as he persuaded people to follow him; at his second coming, people will be subjected to his rule whether they want to be or not.
Of that twofold coming Malachi prophesied: “Straightway the Lord whom you seek shall come into his temple.” Of the second alone he says: “and the angel of the covenant whom you seek shall also come. Lo, the Almighty Lord is coming, and who shall abide the day of his coming or stand up to his gaze? For he comes like a refiners fire or a fullers lye, and he shall take his seat to refine and cleanse.” Of the two comings Paul, too, speaks to Titus: “the kindness of God the savior has manifested itself to all, teaching us to put aside wickedness and worldly desires and to live modestly, piously, and justly in the present age, while we wait for the blessed object of our hope to appear, the coming of our great God and savior Jesus Christ.” You can see how he speaks of the first coming, for which we give thanks, end of the second, which we await.
Our faith, then, is in him who “ascended to heaven and sits at the Father's right hand. He will come in glory to judge the living and the dead, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
SAINT CYRIL OF JERUSALEM Catecheses
