The Reason for the Second Coming
To better understand the second coming, it helps to understand the reason for it–and Jesus addressed this issue in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers:
“33 There was a certain landowner [God] who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers [Israel] and went into a far country. 34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants [the Old Testament prophets] to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit [good works]. 35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. 36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. 37 Then last of all he sent his son [Jesus] to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him [the crucifixion]. 40 Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes [Jesus’s second coming], what will he do to those vinedressers?…41 He will destroy those wicked men [Israel] miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers [Christians] who will render to him the fruits in their seasons…43 Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you [Israel] and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it [Christians]…45 Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard His parables, they perceived that He was speaking of them” (Matt. 21:33-45).
As this parable shows, God had expected Israel to produce fruit (good works) for him. However, for much of Israel’s history, they did the exact opposite. In fact, at times, Israel had become worse than her pagan neighbors (2 Chron. 33:9; Ezek. 5:6). God had sent many prophets to try to get Israel to repent (turn back to him), but Israel rejected those prophets. So God finally sent his Son, thinking, “surely they will respect my son” (Matt. 21:37). But Israel killed him. (Technically, the Romans killed Jesus, but they did it at the behest of the Jews–see Luke 23:21, John 1:11). This was the last straw. God had had enough. As the parable says, “When the owner of the vineyard comes…he will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers” (Matt. 21:40-41).
This is the reason for the second coming!
The parable continues, “Therefore I say to you [Israel], the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matt. 21:43, italics mine). What “nation” was the kingdom given to? The Christian church, which is comprised of the righteous remnant (small number) of Israel along with the righteous remnant of the Gentiles.
God had originally wanted Israel to be a holy nation. When God first established the Old Covenant in approximately 1500 BC–which was essentially a contract between God and Israel–God said: “Now therefore, if you [Israel] will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6, italics mine). God wanted Israel to be a holy (set apart) nation. However, notice the conditional aspect of the covenant: “If you keep my covenant…then you shall be a special treasure, a holy nation.” The blessings of the Old Covenant (aka: Mosaic covenant, the Torah, the Law) were conditional upon Israel’s obedience. Unfortunately, as Jesus pointed out in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers (above), Israel failed to obey the conditions. Israel failed to produce fruit. And when God sent prophets to correct her, Israel rejected them too. Israel eventually killed God’s very own Son, Jesus. Therefore, as the parable says, God would “destroy those wicked men miserably at his coming“…take away their kingdom…and give it to another nation (Matt. 21:40-41).
This is the reason for the second coming–the judgment of the wicked and rewards for the righteous.
As noted above, the new nation that received the kingdom is the Christian church. In fact, notice how the apostle Peter describes them: “But you [Christians] are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9, italics mine). This is the exact same way God described Israel back in Exodus 19:5-6: a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a special treasure. The Christian church is God’s new holy nation. The church is the new Israel of God (Gal. 6:15-16). The church could also rightfully by called New Covenant Israel, although Christians do not usually go by that term.
Keep in mind, this new nation–first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26)–consists of both Jews and Gentiles. In fact, at its founding, the church consisted solely of Jews, those that recognized and followed Jesus (Rom. 9:27). Eventually, Gentiles began joining the church too, just as the Old Testament had prophesied would happen (Isa. 11:12, 55:5, 65:1). In this new nation, the church, there is no longer any division between Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 3:6). Jesus broke down the middle wall of partition between the two (Eph. 2:14). Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ (Gal. 3:28). This is the new nation that received the kingdom!
It’s fascinating how far back this event had been prophesied about. Way back in approximately 700 BC, Isaiah had foretold: “For the Lord God will slay you [Israel], and call His servants by another name” (Isa. 62:2; see also 65:15). This is what Jesus is referring to in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers when he says, “The Owner [God] will destroy those wicked men miserably [at his coming]…and give the kingdom to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matt. 21:41-43). It is amazing how beautifully Scripture fits together, even though it was written over such a long period of time (1500 years), by so many different people (forty authors), who lived in so many different places. This unity and consistency shows the hand of God upon both Scripture and history.
Another passage in Matthew that talks about the reason for the second coming is Matthew 23:29-36. Once again, Jesus is speaking:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell [literally: Gehenna[1]]? Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” (Matt. 23:29-36, italics mine).
Just like in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers, Jesus condemns Israel for rejecting and murdering the prophets which God had sent her. And once again, Jesus says judgment is coming “within a generation” or by AD 70.
Jesus makes the same point yet again in Matthew when he curses a fruitless fig tree, which quickly withers away. One day when Jesus was hungry, he came across a fruitless fig tree, to which he said: “May no one ever eat fruit from you again…And by morning, the tree had withered away and died” (Mark 11:14-21). The reason Jesus cursed this tree is because it was a useless tree that was not doing what it was supposed to do, which is to produce fruit. This fig tree represented Israel (Jer. 8:13; Hos. 9:10), and because it was not producing fruit, Jesus cursed it: “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” The quickness of the withering (“by morning”) indicated that Israel’s judgment was coming soon! Moreover, this judgment would be permanent. As Jesus said, “nobody will ever eat fruit from this tree again.” Israel’s unique and privileged position/connection/relationship with God was fast coming to an end. This is the exact same point Jesus made in the Parable of the Wicked Vinedresser when he said: “The owner will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers…The kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it” (Matt. 21:41-43). Both stories make the same point: A cataclysmic judgment was coming on Israel soon, and it would be permanent.
Some commentators argue that Israel is still–and will always be–God’s chosen people. These commentators claim that only the Jewish leaders were judged in AD 70, not Israel as a whole (the masses). However, the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers and the fig tree story teach otherwise!
As further evidence of this, consider what happened at Jesus’s trial. The Roman governor Pontius Pilate had asked the crowd (the masses) which prisoner he should release: Jesus or the notorious criminal Barabbas? And the crowd chose Barabbas! Pilate then asked, What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ? “And they all said to him, ‘Let Him be crucified!’ Then the governor said, ‘Why, what evil has He done?’ But they cried out all the more, saying, ‘Let Him be crucified!…His blood be on us and our children‘” (Matt. 27:15-26, italics mine).
The last sentence says it all. It was not only the Jewish leaders that were culpable for killing Jesus; it was the Jews as a whole! It was the masses. The apostle John summed it up well: “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11). It was the masses that were responsible for Jesus’ death, and it was the masses that were judged in AD 70–permanently! The kingdom was taken away from Israel and given to another nation, Christians.
Keep in mind, this does not mean that all of the Jews rejected Jesus. As noted above, the first Christians were Jews. All of the apostles, with the possible exception of Luke, were Jews (Phil. 3:14-16). Jesus himself was a Jew (John 4:20). Still, these faithful Jews were far and few between, which is why Jesus called his contemporaries “an adulterous generation” (Matt. 12:39) and “a faithless, perverse generation” (Matt. 17:17; see also Acts 2:40 and Phil 2:15). The angel of Revelation likewise described Jerusalem–the hub of first-century Judaism–as “mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots” (Rev. 17:5). Note: Revelation specifically defines “Babylon” as Jerusalem. “Babylon” was the city where the Lord was slain (Rev. 11:8), which is Jerusalem. Israel had played the harlot–and was outright called a harlot–many times throughout her checkered history because she frequently went after other gods (Hos. 9:1, Jer. 2:20-24, 3:2-3; Ez. 23:14-20; Isa. 1:21; 57:9), and this was the case in Jesus’ day too, per Jesus and Revelation.
Despite all the unfaithfulness, God has always had a remnant of faithful followers. In Noah’s day, when God judged that wicked generation with a flood, Noah and his family were the faithful remnant. Centuries later, when Elijah wondered if he was the last faithful Israelite alive, the Lord said: “I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all who’s knees have not bowed to Baal” (1 Kings 19:18). And in the first century, the righteous remnant were those who followed Jesus. Just like Noah and his family, the first-century Christians entered the ark, so to speak, when they fled Jerusalem–just as Jesus had told them to do when they saw the armies surrounding Jerusalem (Luke 21:20-21; Rev. 18:4). These Christians had already sold their possessions (Acts 2:45; Matt. 19:21), so they were ready to flee Jerusalem at a moment’s notice. As a result, they were spared the cataclysmic judgment–Jesus coming on clouds–that befell Jerusalem in AD 70.
Judgment and salvation go hand in hand
Although the second coming was a cataclysmic judgment of the wicked, it was also a time of salvation for the righteous. Consider Jesus’ words in the Olivet Discourse:
“And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” (Luke 21:25-27).
This is describing the judgment of the wicked. However, in the very next verse, Jesus tells his disciples: “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). This is describing salvation for the righteous.
The second coming was a time of judgment for the wicked yet salvation for the righteous! Judgment and salvation go hand in hand.
This is how it had always been during God’s judgments. In the judgment back in Noah’s day, the wicked were destroyed in the Flood, yet Noah and his family were saved by the Ark. Judgment and salvation. In fact, Jesus compared his second coming to this very event: “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37).
The second coming would be cataclysmic judgment on the wicked (Luke 21:22; Matt. 21:41-43, 22:7, 23:33-36, 24:2-34, 25:41)…yet the righteous would receive salvation (Heb. 9:28), redemption (Luke 21:28), the kingdom of God (Luke 21:31-32; Matt. 16:28, 25:34), and rewards (Matt. 16:27-28, Rev. 22:12).
In another prophecy about the second coming, this time from the Old Testament, the Lord said he would come “with a strong hand” against his enemies, yet he would “feed His flock like a shepherd [and] gather the lambs with His arm” (Isa. 40:10). Judgment and salvation!
In yet another Old Testament oracle about second coming, Isaiah said God would destroy Jerusalem and make it a ruin (Isa. 25:2) yet at the same time “swallow up death forever” and “wipe away every tear” (Isa. 25:8). Judgment and salvation.
In still another Old Testament prophecy about the second coming, Zechariah foretold a terrible judgment of the city of Jerusalem (Zech. 12:12) in which 2/3rds of the citizens would be slaughtered (13:8-9) and people would eat each other’s flesh (9:9)….yet living water would flow from New Jerusalem for the saints (14:8). Judgment and salvation.
The second coming was a cataclysmic judgment of the wicked…yet glorious salvation for the righteous!
Salvation and the Second Coming
Although many Christians believe salvation was obtained at the cross, that’s technically incorrect. Salvation was certainly obtained by the cross, but it was not obtained at the cross…at least, not in full. We can be sure of this because Paul, in AD 58–decades after the cross–said “our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Rom. 13:10). Likewise, Peter, in around AD 63, said “salvation is ready to be revealed” (1 Pet. 1:5). These kinds of passages show that salvation had not yet been fully obtained. The atonement was not yet complete. This is why the writer of Hebrews said in AD 62-63 that Jesus would “appear a second time for salvation [to complete the atonement]” (Heb. 9:28, italics mine). And when would this happen? In a little while: “For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37). The year AD 70 fits this timing perfectly. This timing also “just happens” to fit perfectly with Jesus’ many statements about his second coming, in which he said (in AD 33) he would come within a generation (Matt. 10:28, 16:28, 24:30-34, 26:64; Rev. 22:12). Salvation came (in full) at the second coming in AD 70!
This should be eye-opening for those who say the second coming has still not happened, for if that’s true, then that means salvation has still not come either–at least not in full.
Keep in mind, there are passages that were uttered before AD 70 that talk about salvation in the present tense, as if it were already a reality (2 Tim. 1:9, Titus 3:5, 1 Cor. 6:11, etc.); however, unless there is an outright contradiction between these passages and the ones cited above, then we are forced to conclude that salvation had only come in part at this time (pre-AD 70); and salvation would come in full when Jesus “appeared a second time for salvation” (Heb. 9:28).
For more about this topic, see my article “Salvation and the Cross” and “The Already and Not Yet.” Or for a detailed discussion of these topics (and much more), see my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled.
Alex Polyak, The Bible Fulfilled 12/15/23
[1] Many historians believe Gehenna was a garbage dump outside Jerusalem where trash was burned/destroyed.
