“. . . the return of Christ unto judgment is not an arbitrary addition that can be isolated from his preceding work and viewed by itself. It is a necessary and indispensable component of that work. It brings that work to completion and crowns it. It is the last and highest step in the state of his exaltation.
“Because Christ is the savior of the world, he will someday return as its judge. The crisis, or judgment (krisis), that he precipitated by his first coming he consummates at the second coming. The Father gave him authority to execute judgment (krisin poeiein) because he is the Son of Man (John 5:27). Eschatology, therefore, is rooted in Christology and is itself Christology, the teaching of the final, complete triumph of Christ and his kingdom over all his enemies. In accord with Scripture, we can go back even further. The Son is not only the mediator of reconciliation (mediator reconciliatonis) on account of sin, but even apart from sin he is the mediator of union (mediator unionis) between God and his creation. He is not only the exemplary cause (causa exemplaris) but also the final cause (causa finalis) of creation. In the Son the world has its foundation and example, and therefore it has in him its goal as well. It is created through him and for hims as well (Col. 1:16). Because the creation is his work, it cannot and may not remain the booty of Satan. The Son is the head, Lord, and heir of all things. United in the Son, gathered under him as their head, all creatures return to the Father, the fountain of all good. The second coming is therefore required by his first coming. It is implied in the first; in time, by inner necessity, it will proceed from the first; the second coming brings the first coming to its full effect and completion and was therefore comprehended in a single image with the first coming by Old Testament prophecy.”
– Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (4:685).
The Reformed Parish 