The Return of the King

At His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, Jesus was hailed as Israel's King.

“Say to the Daughter of Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey’” ... A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" (Matthew 21:5, 8-9)

Pontus Pilot acknowledged Jesus as King of Israel when he posted a plaque on the Cross which read – This Is Jesus, King Of The Jews.

Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS (Matthew 27:37).

The First Coming of Jesus Christ the King was marked by the Cross.

  

At the end of His First Coming Jesus said to His disciples that He would be leaving to go to the Father. He also told them that if He left that He would come back.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take [receive] you to be with me that you also may be where I am (John 14:3).

The Second Coming of Christ will not be marked with the Cross but with a Sword.

  

The sword of the returning and conquering King of the Jews.

 I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations (Revelation 19:11-15).

The household of God is so focused on the Cross of Christ that we have forgotten that the Sword of the Lord is coming.

The sword of Yahweh is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat-- the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat. For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause (Isaiah 34:6-8).

It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares. Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of Yahweh will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe (Jeremiah 12:11-12).
 

Richard H Perry