The Second Coming of Christ: How the Bible Describes Jesus’ Return

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

What is the Second Coming of Christ? It is the belief that Jesus will one day return to earth — and one of the central tenets of Christian eschatology. For many believers, it represents not only the culmination of God’s plan for humanity but also a moment of ultimate justice and redemption. But how did this belief emerge, and what does the Bible actually say about it? Was the Second Coming of Christ a late addition to Christian doctrine, or was it a foundational part of the faith from the beginning?

In this article, I’ll trace the development of the idea of the Second Coming of Christ through key New Testament texts. Along the way, we’ll explore what early Christians believed about Jesus’ return, how those beliefs were shaped by Jewish apocalyptic traditions, and how different authors depicted what would happen when Jesus came again.

By examining the biblical sources themselves, we can better understand not only the origins of this enduring belief, but why it has remained so powerful throughout Christian history.

What Will Happen When Jesus Returns? Biblical Views

How early did the belief in the Second Coming of Christ become common among early Christians? One way to decide this is to look at biblical texts that clearly refer to it. While there are many verses referring to the return of Jesus, in this article I’ll look at them chronologically, to the extent that it’s possible. We know, for example, that Paul’s letters were written before the Gospels, so let’s start with Paul’s take on the Second Coming.

In the Jewish Annotated New Testament, David Fox Sandmel writes that 1 Thessalonians is the earliest of Paul’s letters. It was written around the year 50 CE, which also makes it the oldest book in the New Testament and, thus, a good place to start.

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It’s clear that this letter is at least partially a response by Paul to questions from members of the church that he started in the city of Thessaloniki. When this letter was written, it had already been about 20 years since Jesus’ death and resurrection. Paul was sure that Jesus would return imminently, reflecting his belief in the general resurrection of the righteous at the end of time which he believed had been initiated by Jesus’ resurrection. However, some members of the Thessalonian church had died in the years since the founding of their church. Would these deceased people be saved when Jesus’ came back?

In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, Paul reassures them that these dead members will also be saved:

These verses have long been used to justify belief in the Rapture, in which Jesus returns and all Christians go up with him to heaven, leaving non-Christians behind. However, that may not be what Paul is talking about here.

Bart Ehrman points out that Paul leaves a lot of questions unanswered in this passage. Among them is whether the believers would go up to heaven with Jesus or whether he would come down with them and establish his kingdom on earth. This and other questions are probably not answered because Paul had long been preaching about this to the Thessalonians, and they already knew his answers; there was no need for Paul to reiterate them.

Having said all that, it’s clear that well before 50 CE when 1 Thessalonians was written, Paul had told the churches he’d founded that Jesus would return. However, it’s also interesting to note that Paul says that no one knows when exactly Jesus will return. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2 he says the day will come unexpectedly “like a thief in the night,” and that they should, therefore, remain prepared at all times. Later, I’ll discuss predictions about when Jesus would return.

Next we have the Gospel of Mark, written in 70 CE, or 20 years after 1 Thessalonians. What do Mark’s early Jesus traditions say about the Second Coming of Christ? In Mark 14:61-62, we see Jesus being questioned before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme council:

Jesus’ words in this passage are drawn from two Hebrew Bible passages, Psalms 110:1 and Daniel 7:13, in order to prove that Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy. Notice that the juxtaposition of these two quotes means both that Jesus will ultimately be seated at God’s right hand and that he will return to earth in a glorious fashion.

Matthew’s Gospel has several quotations about the Second Coming of Christ, but two are especially relevant to our discussion. First, in Matthew 16:27-28, Jesus says

Not only will Jesus return, but some of the people around Jesus will still be alive when he returns. Like Paul, the author of Matthew thought the Second Coming was imminent. However, also like Paul, Jesus says “Keep awake, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” In other words, he is coming very soon, but you won’t be able to predict when. Implied in this statement is that one shouldn’t try to predict when he is coming.

Skipping forward in time again, we find the book of Hebrews, written sometime between 80-100 CE. Many early Christians originally thought this book was written by Paul, but the vast majority of scholars no longer believe this. For one thing, Paul died about 20 years before this book was written. However, it is clear that this anonymous author would have agreed with Paul about the Second Coming:

While the author of Hebrews certainly believes Christ will appear again, he doesn’t talk about how: there are no clouds of heaven or angels in this passage. That might mean that such a glorious arrival was already assumed and thus went without saying, but we can’t know for sure.

Finally, jumping forward to 96 CE, the book of Revelation was written. Its author, a Jewish Christian named John (sometimes called John of Patmos, referring to the island on which he wrote the book), had a lot to say about Jesus’ Second Coming. In Rev. 1:7, in fact, he refers to the image of Jesus coming on the clouds, just as Paul and the Gospels say:

Even at this early stage of the book, we see an important difference in John’s version of the Second Coming. John’s Jesus indeed comes with the clouds, but he seems to come not only in order to save Christians but also to enact revenge upon their enemies. Notice that “even those who pierced him” — that is, the Romans — will see him and all nations will cry because of his return, presumably because Jesus’ Second Coming signals the beginning of God’s ruthless wrath upon those who have oppressed his people.

John’s Jesus makes this revenge motif clear in Rev. 22:12 when he says “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” This ruthless, warlike Jesus finds a culmination in Rev. 19:11-16:

Jewish apocalypticism has abundant images of war and violence like this, whether in the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Books of Enoch. But while Christ as judge is common in Second Coming references, this is the most violent depiction of Jesus in the entire NT.

So what can we conclude from these references? First, belief in Jesus’ return probably began fairly soon after his death and resurrection. Most scholars agree that Paul’s conversion experience happened within 4-7 years of Jesus’ death. Since Paul was so adamant that Jesus would return, this puts a very early date on this belief. It is possible that Jesus’ disciples believed it right after his death. Whatever the case, it is clear from the NT references that the belief in Jesus returning was widespread among early Christians.

In addition, many early Christians seem to have believed that Jesus’ Second Coming was a fulfillment of prophecy, that just like the “one like a son of man” in Daniel, Jesus would come on the clouds to rule the world on God’s behalf.

The only place we find a possible difference in opinion is when we look at the bloodthirsty Jesus of Revelation. While Paul and the other NT authors certainly refer to God’s wrath at the end of days, none of them go into as much bloody, militaristic detail as John of Patmos. That is, while most believed Jesus would come back, there might have been some disagreement on what he would do after his return.

When Is Jesus Coming Back?

It’s safe to say that if Paul were alive today, he’d be completely shocked that Jesus has not yet returned. It turns out that he and his whole generation of early Christians were wrong about how soon the Second Coming would happen.

When is Jesus coming back? Although Paul and the Jesus of the Gospels say that human beings cannot know the exact time when Jesus will come back, this hasn’t stopped many, many people from trying to fix a date for that return in advance. Let’s look at some of those.

In 1532, a German monk and mathematician named Michael Stifel published an unusual tome called A Book of Arithmetic about the Antichrist: A Revelation in the Revelation. In this book, Stifel claimed to have applied his mathematical knowledge to the book of Revelation, coming up with a date and time when the world would end and Jesus would come: October 19, 1533. When this forecast proved wrong, Stifel ended his career as a predictor of the Second Coming.

In his book Prophets of Doom, Daniel Cohen writes about Johann Jacob Zimmermann, a German theologian who, in the 17th century, predicted that Jesus would return and the world would end in the year 1694. Conveniently, he died in 1693, never knowing that he had been wrong.

In the Rough Guide to the Millennium, Nick Hanna writes that famed 20th-century psychic Edgar Cayce predicted the end of the world and the return of Christ in the year 2000. Cayce died in 1945, long before his prophecy would fail.

When is Jesus coming back? A number of people in the past predicted that Jesus would return at a date that has yet to happen. For example, mathematician and physicist Sir Isaac Newton used a series of convoluted calculations to conclude that the apocalypse detailed in the book of Revelation, including Jesus’ return, would occur in the year 2060. We will see.

Conclusion

Christians have long believed that Jesus’ time here in the 1st century CE was only the first of his visits. They believe he will return to earth and, although there is some disagreement about what will happen after that, this will, in some sense, end the current world.

Paul is our earliest reference to the Second Coming of Christ. Whatever else he believed, he thought that Jesus’ resurrection was only the beginning of a general resurrection predicted by prophecy and believed in by many pious Jews of his time, including the Pharisees. It seems clear from Paul’s references, and the fact that he converted so soon after Jesus’ death, that this belief in Jesus’ Second Coming began very early in the movement.

The Gospels mostly follow suit, saying that Jesus will return as judge of the living and the dead, subsequently ruling the world on God’s behalf. The book of Hebrews also espouses this belief, although its author is a bit more vague in describing the actual events coinciding with Jesus’ return. Then there’s the book of Revelation.

In Revelation, Jesus indeed comes back — with a vengeance! He is riding a war horse, has a vicious, double-edged sword, and a garment dipped in blood. He is furious and John says that he slaughters the enemies of God, including the Romans who crucified Jesus and any other nations who have oppressed God’s people.

Since humans are never good at dealing with uncertainty, many throughout history have tried in vain to predict when Jesus would return. They did this in spite of the fact that both Paul and the Jesus of the Gospels say that only God can know.

Despite all these failed predictions, perhaps at heart the idea of Jesus’ return is a message of hope: Things may look bad now, but they’re going to get better.