Second Coming Timing Indicators

Jesus may not have known the exact day and hour of his second coming, but he sure knew it would happen within his generation—and so did his apostles! As you read the following passages, notice how the urgency increases as the year AD 70 approaches:

AD 30 “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I [Jesus] say to you [first-century disciples], there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:27–28).

AD 30 “When they persecute you [first-century apostles] in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I [Jesus] say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matt. 10:23).

AD 30 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other…Assuredly, I [Jesus] say to you [first-century apostles], this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place” (Matt. 24:30–34).

Note: A biblical generation equates to around forty years (Heb. 3:8–10, Num. 14:30–34, Neh. 9:21).

AD 51/52 “For this we [apostles] say to you [Thessalonians] by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep [have died]” (1 Thess. 4:15).

Note: Paul is essentially echoing what Jesus had said twenty years earlier, namely, “There are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming” (see above).

AD 57 “The time is short” (1 Cor. 7:29).

AD 58 “The night is far spent, the day [of the Lord] is at hand” (Rom. 13:12).

AD 61/62 “The coming of the Lord is at hand…the judge is standing at the door” (James 5:8, 9).

AD 62/63 “The Lord is at hand” (Phil. 4:5).

AD 62 “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37).

AD 63 “They will give an account to him [Jesus] who is ready to judge the living and dead” (1 Pet. 4:5).

AD 63 “The end of all things is at hand” (1 Pet. 4:7).

AD 65 “It is the last hour” (1 John 2:18).

AD 65 “Behold I [Jesus] come quickly…the time is at hand” (Rev. 22:7–10). Note: Jesus said this through an angel (Rev. 1:1).

Can there be any doubt that Jesus and the apostles believed the second coming would happen in their generation? Back in AD 30, Jesus had said it would happen within a generation or forty years…but by the time Revelation was written in around AD 65, Jesus said (through angel) that he was coming quickly, for the time is near. What a difference thirty-five years makes!

And did it happen? Absolutely! Jesus came on clouds in judgment—that’s what a “cloud coming” refers to—in AD 70. According to the first century historian Josephus, the city of Jerusalem and famed Herod’s Temple were laid waste. Approximately 1.1 million Jews were killed and another 97,000 were taken into slavery. Jesus came on clouds of glory in AD 70, just like Jesus had prophesied.

For more information about what a “coming of the Lord” refers to, check out my article “What is a Coming of the Lord?” Or, for a more in-depth analysis of this subject—as well as many other eschatological topics such as the Man of Sin, the New Heaven and Earth, the Third Temple, etc.—get my book The End Is Here: How the New Testament Prophesies Were Fulfilled, available now on Amazon!

By Alex Polyak, Director of The Bible Fulfilled, 4/11/25.