As people with a serious concern for the welfare of this planet, the return of Christ offers us hope.
Earth at the moment has a jinx on it. The best laws, best political systems, and best technology still go haywire, and the end result is greater suffering, increased corruption, and bigger and better wars.
As we understand it, the Creator of this planet has told us, through Jesus Christ, how the perfect government should operate. He calls on us to practice these principles in our own lives, but assures us that the same world that killed Jesus for his beliefs will eventually kill us. In other words, we have been given all the necessary theory... but not the means to put it into practice on a large scale.
This dilemma is part of an ingenious recruiting system for the leaders of the new world. Only those who believe in honesty, faith, and love enough to die for those beliefs will be suitable leaders in the new world order. Political expediency, economic pragmatism, and moral compromise are the stuff from which 'successful' systems are made; but they are also the seeds from which their corruption grows. So our coming Leader is seeking an army of people who will not cheat on fundamental principles for the sake of political success.
The second coming of Christ means, among other things, the lifting of the jinx... the turning of some cosmic switch, which will finally let good triumph over evil, on a grand and everlasting scale.
As we understand it, Jesus will, after his return, live in and reign over earth. He will appoint some of us as rulers over specific geographical areas. The people we lead will not be angels. They will be ordinary people with ordinary problems. It will be our job to teach them how to work together in harmony, for the good of all mankind... and we will succeed! We will literally create heaven on earth.
But we will only succeed because our Leader has the ability to stop the flow of outside evil influences (i.e. the devil). Our task as world leaders will be difficult, but it will no longer be a losing battle. (We leaders will have the added advantage that we will never die.)
The entire human race has an instinctive longing for a world where good triumphs over evil. But plan after plan for the salvation of the human race has resulted in failure.
Each new system offers promises of the longed-for utopia. Some put their hopes in new systems. Some give up hope altogether. But we look for the return of the One we call the Son of God, who alone can rule the world in fairness to all.
In the meantime, we strive to practice daily the principles that he taught. This (and the persecution that accompanies it) is our training for the day when our Leader returns to establish God's kingdom on earth.
(See also A Sense of His Story, and Reality in Utopia.)
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