In this post we’ll take a look at what I consider to be one of the clearest passages on the topic of the return of Jesus. We’ll discover what the coming of Jesus actually means, and why it is certain that Jesus will never return.
The World Waits
Generation after generation waits for the immanent return of Jesus Christ. Generation after generation believes it is living in the “end times”. Waiting, watching, listening, and interpreting the times and events, it is believed that Jesus will descend from the clouds at any moment, and what he does next depends on your particular eschatological position, which of course varies according to this or that denomination within Christendom.
Indeed, there is a minute minority that isn’t looking for a physical return of Jesus out of the sky. This minority may perhaps interpret Jesus’ return in a spiritual way or a figurative way. Those who hold to these interpretations are few and far between. The vast majority of Christians are waiting for a physical return of their Savior. One that is always going to happen…very soon.
Interpreting the Times
There are those in every decade who are continually analyzing world events and the trends of humanity and are making bold assertions that these events and trends are certain proof that we are indeed living in the end times. The world is going to hell in a hand basket, and as in the days of Noah before the flood, “unaware” people are “eating and drinking, marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.” Of course, the point of this is to emphasize that “so will be the coming of the son of man,” aka, the return of Jesus (quotes from Matthew 24:38-29).
Accepting the Default
One of the last nails in the coffin of my faith in Jesus was when I realized that I had been expecting something that was never actually expected by the writers of the Gospels themselves. Namely, I had been waiting for and expecting Jesus to come back, and yet, the writers of the Gospels never intended for anyone to expect such a thing! Somehow we have for ages misinterpreted the actual meaning of the return of Jesus by missing the original intent of the Gospels themselves.
However, the Gospels are actually quite clear on what they mean by the coming of Jesus. Exceptionally clear! In fact, when one sees just how clear they are, one is astounded that the misinterpretation has prevailed for such an incredible amount of time! The question becomes, “How are so many people in the year 2023 still waiting for this miraculous, unique, and (one might say) fantastical event to occur? When will people begin to wake up and realize they’ve simply been adopting this misunderstood story for generation after generation?”
And that’s what it boils down to. For most people it is nothing more than an acceptance of the default position handed to them by family or friends, without knowing any better.
Re-Interpreting the Times
Let’s take a look now at one of the most well-known and widely used passages in the Gospels to encourage the expectation of the return of Jesus in modern times. We’ll see how clear the passage becomes once we look at it in the proper light.
I quoted Matthew 24 above, and let us return to this passage to illustrate the point.
What is the context of the passage about? The focus is on the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and leaders of Israel and on the lamentation of Jerusalem. The question must be asked, “In what time period is the hypocrisy of the Pharisees being condemned by Jesus? Is it the hypocrisy of past Pharisees, the present Pharisees of Jesus’ day, or the Pharisees of thousands of years in the future?” It obviously seems like a silly question. Jesus is condemning the Pharisees of his present day, in the 1st century AD, of course.
Likewise, what day of Jerusalem is it over which Jesus is lamenting? Is it Jerusalem in Jesus’ time, or Jerusalem thousands of years in the future? The obvious answer is like the previous; Jesus is lamenting over what Jerusalem has become in his own day, in the 1st century AD. There is absolutely no reason to think otherwise (unless one has an underlying presupposed motive to do so).
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’
Matthew 23:37-39
Notice the phrase “your house is left to you desolate.”
The Disciples’ Question is Key
After lamenting over the leaders of Israel and the desolate house of Jerusalem, it says that Jesus left the temple. It’s absolutely important that we realize that Jesus was in the temple as he was offering these sayings. As Jesus was going away, his disciples come to him and “point out to him the buildings of the temple.” Shockingly, and quite prophetically (in the story, that is), Jesus replies by saying, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
So, Jesus literally says the temple that he was just lamenting is about to be destroyed. And, now, the key!
After hearing Jesus say that the temple was going to be destroyed, the disciples go to Jesus privately (emphasis here!), and they ask him an incredibly important question.
“Tell us when these (things) will be and what (is) the sign of your coming (Greek: parousia) and the end/culmination of the age?”
Matthew 24:3
Not Three
The disciples hear Jesus say that the temple is going to be destroyed. Their response isn’t a question about three different things. They’re response is one. When? And, in their response they ask the same thing in three different ways: when these things will be (the destruction of the temple), what is the sign of your coming (the destruction of the temple), and the end of the age (the destruction of the temple). Once again there is absolutely no reason to read into this question three different topics. Jesus has been condemning the current leaders of Israel, he has been lamenting the current state of Jerusalem, and he says that therefore, the current temple is going to be destroyed.
And, the disciples refer to this destruction as “these things”, “your coming”, and “the end”.
The Coming of Jesus
It would be difficult to make this passage any clearer. The response of the disciples is in reaction to Jesus’ previous words: condemning Israel’s leaders, lamenting over Jerusalem, and saying the temple would be destroyed.
In their question the disciples equate the destruction of the temple with the coming (parousia) of Jesus.
Now, most Christians aren’t aware that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by the Romans in 70AD, just 40 years or so after the supposed death of Jesus. (Click here to purchase the Jewish Historian Josephus’ enlightening account of the destruction of Jerusalem.) This occurred within the generation of those who would have been alive during the time to which the Gospels are referring. Of course, this makes sense of Jesus’ words at the end of the passage under examination when Jesus says,
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.
Matthew 24:34
Some work desperate acrobatics to attempt to explain away the word “generation” as though it means something other than “this generation.” But, again, this is only necessary when one has a presupposition, a particular pre-determined outcome that one must reach. In fact, the temple was destroyed before the generation passed. This is why Jesus says in other places that some will be left standing there (will still be alive) when they see “the son of man coming in his glory/kingdom”. The coming of Jesus is interpreted in the Gospels as the destruction of the temple.
A Private Conversation
Recall that the disciples came to Jesus in private to ask him this question. Jesus isn’t saying these things to the crowds. He is directly addressing the disciples. Some of them will not pass “before all these things take place.”
Although, his coming will be within the generation, the specific day or hour he supposedly doesn’t know and doesn’t tell them; only that it will be before they all die. And, because it will be in their lifetime, he tells them to be ready (verse 44). Again, remember, he is privately talking with his close disciples. He is telling them to be ready, no one else; especially no one in the year 2023!
Historical Fiction
Now that we have established that at the very least the Gospel of Matthew in chapters 23 and 24 interpret the coming of Jesus to be synonymous with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, let us also remember that all evidence suggests that the Gospels were written after that destruction of Jerusalem. The earliest manuscript evidence of a fragment of any of the Gospels is dated no later than sometime between 150-250AD. There is not a shred of evidence that any of the Gospels were written prior to 70AD.
What does this mean? This means that the Gospels were written in response to the destruction of the temple. The Gospels are the products of human beings, believers in the 1st century who had experienced, or had recent relatives who had experienced, the cataclysmic, earth-shattering, world-changing (for them) events of 70AD. What did this mean for them? How were they to understand and make sense of such drastic events? Their attempt to explain and interpret the events are the Gospels themselves.
The believers interpret the events of 70AD through their faith, theology, and scriptures (today known as the Old Testament) and come to the conclusion that the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was none other than the judgment of God on unfaithful Israel (“woe to you Pharisees”, “O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem…your house is left desolate!”).
Jesus the Prophet
The times were charged with high messianic expectation. A man named Jesus was one of many who claimed or who were proclaimed to be a prophet or messiah. Perhaps he foresaw the potential outcome of the rising tension between the Romans and the Jews. Perhaps he gave warnings that included the possible defeat of Israel to Rome. Or, perhaps none of it was spoken by a man named Jesus. Either way, the Gospels were written well after the fact, and one can only be sure that the words and stories we read of Jesus are the products of the human beings interpreting the times in line with their faith. Using “prophetic hindsight” to create the stories of events prophesied before they occurred.
The Gospels have a mission: to attribute the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple to the covenantal judgment of their God against Israel’s unfaithfulness, and to give hope to the remaining believers that God remains faithful to them, and that they are part of the spiritual kingdom of God that is no longer to be found in the physical religion of the fallen past. Prophetic hindsight is one of the tools used to accomplish that mission.
However, prophetic hindsight is a phrase for what is also known as “historical fiction”.
Waiting in Vain
I’m sure it’s now clear (if the passage we’ve examined is consistent with the rest of the Gospels, and I have found that they are) that those millions of human beings who continue to wait for the “second coming of Jesus” are waiting in vain for something that will never occur. Waiting for something that was never expected to occur in the first place! The writers were writing after the fact to assert that Jesus came in judgment against Israel in the destruction by the Romans (just as God had done time and time again in the Old Testament).
No, Jesus is not coming back. Ever. The Gospels are the product of human beings in the 1st century simply trying to understand the tragic events that had recently occurred. They aren’t the true stories of a prophet or messiah named Jesus. They are historical fiction written as explanation. They are a product of their historical context. Nothing more.
Why Am I Writing These Things?
I am writing these truths not to be combative, not to go to war with believers, and not to unnecessarily disrupt the faith of believers. I am writing these words because I know that there are people out there who will read these words, who are going through an existential crisis, who worry that they may be judged for thinking outside of the box, and who know deep down there is so much more to discover outside the bondage of religious defaults. Outside the cages of religions that promise things that they can never deliver. I write these things out of compassion for those seeking the true peace and happiness that will be found once the chains of religion are broken.
The peace that religion promises is not to be found in religions like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Mormonism, etc.
What must be discovered is that you ARE the peace you are seeking. You ARE the happiness you seek. You ARE what you are seeking. Religion provides so-called answers from “out there”, from some god or book. The answer is always within. It always has been.
Like the prodigal son, after searching for happiness “out there”, in this possession, in that person, in this religion, one must finally come back home to oneself. This is the path of self-realization. This is the path of discovering who you really are.
(If you’d like to read about my journey out of Christianity and onto the path of self-realization, click here. To read more about your true identity as existence itself and how to experience that identity, click here.)
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If one looks to the historical and cultural context that produced the disciples question in Matthew 24:3, it seems pretty clear to me that implicit in their desire to know about “the end of the age” is their expectation of the “olam ha-ba”, or “the age to come”, a subject which their “old testament” scriptures had a great deal to say about. And the writers of the gospels, as well as those who opposed them all recognized that what followed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70AD looked nothing like what the old testament prophesied about the olam ha-ba. That is why both groups are still waiting.
There is a prophetic “type” that runs from Genesis chapter 22 to chapter 24 which shows that there is a time lag between 70AD and “Jesus coming”. Chapter 23, which deals with the death of Sarah, is prophetic of the destruction of the temple and Jersualem, and the Jews being “cut off” for unbelief. Chapter 24 describes “a Helper” (Eliezer means “My God helps”) being sent on a journey by a Father to get a bride for His Son. Eliezer succeeds in his mission and the bride travels with Eliezer to meet her husband. She is riding on a camel, an animal that is constantly associated with gifts and riches in scripture. She rides this camel all the way up to verse 64, when she sees her husband for the first time. I don’t know if the apostle Paul was aware of this aspect of the “prophetic type” in Gen. 24:64 when he wrote 1 Corinthians 13:9-13, but both accounts tell the same story. The “bride” is reliant on the “camel” (symbolizing the spiritual gifts) all the way along the journey until she sees her Husband face to face, at which point the “camel” (the spiritual gifts that Paul is talking about) is no longer necessary. 1 Cor. 13:9-10 are saying the same thing as what is said in 13:12.
There is another prophetic type is Genesis 38 that prophecies of a time lag occurring. If you look up the meaning of the names in that chapter, it is uncanny how well the names and characters of Judah’s three sons line up with church history, a history that did not end in 70AD. “Er” is symbolic of the early church, “Onan” came about hundreds of years later culminating in Constantine and the changes he brought about. “Shelah” is the church from the reformation on. There is significance to the mention of “Cozbi” in relation to his birth. There is significance to be found in a lot of the people and place names in this chapter. If you want, I can send you a description of what I found. So, no, 70AD was not the end of the story. The birth of Zerah is prophetic of the end of the story and Jesus’s coming. All throughout Israel’s history, I doubt that Genesis 38 was seen as a prophecy by anyone who read it. Yet there it is. And there are signs in the natural realm that we are heading for a major change that will affect not only the physical world, but our consciousness as well. The electromagnetic environment that surrounds us affects our consciousness whether we realize it or not. Our brains produce electromagnetic fields, but they are no match for the fields that move throughout the cosmos. Think “Zerah”.