1. The parousia, as understood in theology, is the permanent blessed presence of Christ in the manifest finality of the history of the world and of salvation which is perfected and ended in the destiny of Jesus Christ. It is the fullness and the ending of the history of man and the world with the glorified humanity of Christ — now directly manifest in his glory — in God (Mt 24:36; 25:31 ff.; 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Thess 2:2ff.; Rev 20:11 ff.; 22:17…