He ascends and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
When He returns, he appears again out of a cloud from heaven, visible to the entire world.
But it does not in the NT say Christ actually sets foot again on this 'first earth', read Revelation 21.
All Things Made New - Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud...
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It says He destroys the world, first earth, in fire at His coming, it dissolves, melts in fervent heat, (2 Peter 3) and in the rapture we are caught up in the air to meet Him in the clouds.
Would make no sense at all to say Christ comes all the way down to earth and stands there burning unbelievers alive in fiery wrath of God.
And supposedly, according to Revelation, the only unbelieving people left alive on this first earth right before His returning are all worshipping the dragon, and none of them are repenting and believing in Christ. Therefore, all of the unbelieving world will die in fire at His return. Which fully agrees with John the Baptist a great OT prophet and Christ's teaching. such as the wheat and tares.
Matthew 3
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as
our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit [
a]and fire. 12 His winnowing fan
is in His hand,
and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 13, and age is world in the KJV
Jesus here is describing when the end comes, called also the 'Last Day'.
The Parable of the Tares Explained
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked
one.
39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age (world), and the reapers are the angels.
40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age (world). 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
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The only place where we read about the glorified, all powerful, Christ on the earth again in the NT, is in Rev 21 and the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven onto the NEW earth, not the 'first earth' where God will dwell with His people.
I honestly believe the New Testament gives us a clearer and more relevant image of what happens in the future than what is found in the Old Testament.
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