The Long Delay
Did Jesus really teach he would delay his return for thousands of years? Those who say “yes” usually point to the following two passages in Matthew. In the parable of the virgins, Jesus said the Bridegroom (which represents himself) delayed his return (Matt. 25:1–13). Likewise, in the parable of the talents, Jesus said the Master (which represents himself) traveled to a far country and returned after a long time (Matt. 25:14–30). In both of these parables, Jesus implied he would not come for a long time–thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years (according to some postmillennialists).
Response: First, notice that the Bridegroom/Master returned within the lifetimes of the people he left. In the parable of the virgins, the Bridegroom returned while the unprepared virgins were gone purchasing oil, so he must have come within their lifetimes. And in the parable of the talents, the Master returned to the same group of people he had given the talents to and rewarded/condemned them based on how they used their talents. So once again, he must have returned within their lifetimes.
This timing matches perfectly with Jesus’s many other statements in Matthew about his second coming, in which Jesus said–in AD 30–that he would come within the lifetime/generation of the people he was addressing. For example, in Matthew 16:28, Jesus said: “Assuredly, I say to you [first-century audience], there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” And in Matthew 24:30–34, Jesus said: “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory…Assuredly, I say to you [first-century disciples], this generation will by no means pass away till all these things [including the second coming] take place.” See also Matthew 10:23 and 26:64.
There is not a scintilla of biblical evidence to suggest Jesus was referring to a different coming in the two parables in Matthew than in those other four statements in Matthew. Jesus certainly never said he was referring to a different coming; and neither did Matthew, the author of the book. That notion has to be read into the passages, which is nothing more than eisegesis[1]. Had Jesus been referring to a different coming in the parables, surely Jesus or Matthew would have said so! Yet they didn’t.
Second, it was the unrighteous people in Jesus’s day–not the righteous people–who expected a prolonged delay to the second coming. In the parable of the evil servant, Jesus called these people “evil servants” (Matt. 24:48). Paul described them as “children of darkness” (1 Thess. 5:3–5). And Peter called them “scoffers” (2 Pet. 3:3–4). The righteous people, on the other hand, were the ones warning that Jesus was coming soon (James 5:7, 1 Pet. 4:17, Phil. 4:5, Rev. 22:6–12).
It is true that Jesus mentioned a “delay” in the parable of the virgins (in AD 30); however, by AD 60, the writer of Hebrews said that delay was about over: “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay” (Heb. 10:36, NASB, italics mine).
Jesus’s idea of a “delay” was forty years (a generation). Jesus was mercifully giving the people of his generation a reasonable amount of time to figure out who he was before he judged them: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise [of his coming], as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Jesus was mercifully giving the people of his day some time to figure out who he was before the judgment hit. Yet this delay would not extend past “this generation,” as Jesus repeatedly said in those time statements in Matthew (above).
Here’s a very telling comparison: Compare what Jesus had said in AD 30 regarding the timing of his second coming…to what Jesus said in approximately AD 65 regarding the timing of his second coming. In AD 30, Jesus had said he would come (again) within a generation (Matt. 10:23, 16:28, 24:30–34, 26:64). Yet thirty-five or so years later, at the tail end of “this generation,” Jesus now said (through an angel): “Behold, I am coming quickly…for the time is at hand” (Rev. 22:7, 10). What a difference thirty-five years makes! Note: Jesus uttered this latter statement through an angel (Rev. 1:1).
For more responses to commonly-cited arguments against the preterist view of the second coming–which holds that Jesus came in AD 70–see my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament’s Prophecies Were Fulfilled. I answer more than thirty futurist arguments!
Alex Polyak, The Bible Fulfilled 3/3/24
[1] Eisegesis means: “to read one’s preconceived views and biases into a passage.” Exegesis, on the other hand, means: “to let the passage speak for itself.”
