The Second Coming of Christ

Exploring what the Bible has to say on the coming of the Son of man.

Photo by Michael & Diane Weidner on Unsplash

I was raised to believe that Jesus was coming back some day (in the future), which is commonly referred to as his "second coming", and the Bible was used to support this notion.

However, I no longer believe that is the case. Because the more I looked into what the Bible had to say on this matter, the more I saw it doesn't really support that notion.

It wasn’t until somewhere around 2017 or 2018, I think, that I became aware of the notion that the book of Revelation may have been written prior to 70 AD.

Up until then, I always understood that it had been written later. Therefore, I never considered the possibility that the Fall of Babylon addressed within that book was a reference to the Fall of Jerusalem in the first century.

But then certain passages within the text itself were pointed out to me, which made me question my line of thinking.

The book of Revelation opens with the following verses in chapter 1:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Then the book closes with the following verses in chapter 22:

6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done. 7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

and

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand. 11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. 12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

and finally,

20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

How could I justify something being done shortly, the time being at hand, and someone coming quickly with nearly 2,000 years later?

Then, there was this…

Matthew 24 reads:

24 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. ² And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Clearly, Jesus/Yeshua is speaking to his disciples, who are physically in his presence, about structures that are physically standing at that time: the buildings of the second temple.

Parallel passages can be found in Mark 13:

13 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! 2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

And Luke 21:

⁵ And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, ⁶ As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

Matthew goes on to say:

³ And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming¹, and of the end of the world²?

Mark reports it in this way:

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, 4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled³?

Luke says it this way:

⁷ And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass⁴?

These passages reveal his disciples, specifically Peter, James, John and Andrew, question him privately as to the timing of when the destruction of that place would come to pass. They also ask for a sign.

What Shall Be the Sign?

Notice Matthew’s version of events says specifically, “what shall be the sign of thy coming presence (see note 1 below) and of the end of the world age (see note 2 below)”, whereas the other two accounts simply record them saying, what shall be the sign (or what sign will there be) when these things shall come to pass (or be fulfilled finished (see note 3 below))?”

Clearly the “these things” mentioned in the disciples’ first question, referring to the destruction of the second Temple buildings, identified in all three gospel accounts, are the same “these things” in the disciples’ second question asking for a sign recorded in Mark & Luke.

But what about Matthew’s account? He doesn’t ask for the same sign. He asks for “the sign of thy coming presence and of the end of the world age.” Is this different than the coming to pass of “these things”?

There are many within Christianity who have been led to believe that these particular signs that are being asked for are referring to a separate event that hasn’t happened yet, commonly referred to as “the second coming of Christ”.

However, at the conclusion of Jesus’/Yeshua’s reply to his disciples’ questions, according to all three gospel accounts, he vows “this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled (or done).”

See Matthew:

³⁴ Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled⁵. ³⁵ Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

And Mark:

³⁰ Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done⁶. ³¹ Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

And Luke:

³² Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled⁷. ³³ Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.

The gist of the text that falls between the disciples’ initial questions and these concluding words from Yeshua in all three of these gospel accounts is the same.

Therefore, I contend that “these things” and “thy coming presence” coupled with “the end of the world age” are indicative of the same thing: the destruction of the 2nd temple buildings, which was the final component of the Fall of Jerusalem, bringing an end to the Temple Era (or Age).

[I found this video portraying a simulation of what is thought to have happened to Jerusalem and the buildings of the second temple on that land in 70 AD. You might find it interesting. I did.]

However, I must say, while I could accept the notion that the destruction of the temple and the fall of Jerusalem marked the end of the age, I struggled for some time trying to get a handle on the reference to seeing the “Son of man coming in the clouds…” in all three of these gospel accounts.

The Son of Man Coming in the Clouds

In Matthew:

³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹ And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

In Mark:

²⁶ And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

²⁷ And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

In Luke:

²⁷ And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

²⁸ And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Did Jesus already come back? If so, how come there’s no historical record of such an event?

Like I said, I grappled with this statement (and the statement that follows it concerning the gathering of the elect) for quite a while. Finally, up until last week that is, I had chalked up its meaning to being something akin to “and they lived happily ever after”.

Now, however, I’m realizing this statement is a reference back to a night vision had by Daniel, which was recorded in Daniel 7. And this vision was something that had to be interpreted.

The Son of man coming in a cloud is representative of something else.

See Daniel 7:

¹³ I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

¹⁴ And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

¹⁵ I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

¹⁶ I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

¹⁷ These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

¹⁸ But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

Then near the end of the chapter, it says:

²⁷ And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

So, what do I think all of this means?

I believe that what took place in 70 AD was not just the fall of Jerusalem and the end of an age, but also the fulfillment of the prophet’s dream that the possession and dominion of the kingdom (under the whole heaven) was being given to the people of the saints [or holy] of the most High. ← This is what “the Son of man coming in a cloud” was representative of.

Therefore, from what I can tell, given what the Bible says, there is no “second coming” of Christ still to come. Whatever “coming” of the Son of man spoken of by Jesus, already took place.

[Edited 2/22/25] That means the possession and dominion of “the kingdom under the whole heaven” that the holy (or set apart) people of the most High back then were longing for came to pass.

[Edited 2/22/25] The End.

So, there you have it. That’s what I’ve come to learn about the Second Coming of Christ through my personal study of the Bible and what I think it means.

What do you think?

Does this make sense to you? Do you agree with my conclusion? Do you have any questions for me? Am I missing or misunderstanding something? If so, please tell me about it. I want to hear from you, and I’d like to know your take on the above.

Sincerely,
Carrie (Not Kelly), a.k.a. Messyanic

NOTES:
1 The Greek word translated here as “coming” is parousia (G3952), which means “presence”, and is translated as such elsewhere (see 2 Corinthians 10:10 and Philippians 2:12).
2 The Greek word translated here as “world” is aion (G165), which means “age”, coming from an obsolete primary noun, which apparently meant continued duration. Aion is where we get our English word “eon”.
3 The Greek word translated here as “fulfilled” is synteleō (G4931), which means “to end together or at the same time” or “to finish”.
4 The Greek word translated here as “come to pass” is ginomai (G1096), which means “to become”.
5 The Greek word translated here as “be fulfilled” is ginomai (G1096), which means “to become”.
6 The Greek word translated here as “be done” is ginomai (G1096), which means “to become”.
7 The Greek word translated here as “be fulfilled” is ginomai (G1096), which means “to become”.