When is the second coming of Jesus?
Christian mythology
The Second Coming of Christ holds a central place in Christian mythology. The Second Coming is the return of Christ to earth during the period of transformation preceding the end of this world and the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. According to Matthew's gospel, when Jesus is on trial before the Roman and Jewish authorities, he claims, "In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
The legend of the "Wandering Jew" concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming.
Second Coming (LDS Church)
The Book of Acts states, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." It is believed that this means that there must be a restitution of all things before the Second Coming. The Book of Revelation says, "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people". This gospel believed to be the same church that was on the earth when Christ was here initially, and that it must be restored to the earth. It would then be established throughout the world. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believes that the true church that was originally formed became corrupted within decades of being established by Jesus Christ. Since God is the same yesterday, today and always, this restoration would need to be done through divine revelation, the same as it has been done in times of old.
Criticism of Christianity
Hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, Jewish prophets promised that a messiah would come. Judaism claims that Jesus did not fulfill these prophecies. Other skeptics usually claim that the prophecies are either vague or unfulfilled, or that the Old Testament writings influenced the composition of New Testament narratives. Christian apologists claim that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies, which they argue are nearly impossible to fulfill by chance. Many Christians anticipate the Second Coming of Jesus, when he will fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy, such as the Last Judgment, the general resurrection, establishment of the Kingdom of God, and the Messianic Age (see the article on Preterism for contrasting Christian views).
William Miller (preacher)
Despite the urging of his supporters, Miller never personally set an exact date for the expected Second Advent. However, in response to their urgings, he did narrow the time-period to sometime in the Jewish year beginning in the Gregorian year 1843, stating: "My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844." March 21, 1844, passed without incident, and further discussion and study resulted in the brief adoption of a new date (April 18, 1844) based on the Karaite Jewish calendar (as opposed to the Rabbinic calendar). Like the previous date, April 18 passed without Christ's return. Miller responded publicly, writing, "I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment; yet I still believe that the day of the Lord is near, even at the door."
End time
According with Preterism's interpretation of end times, many "time passages" in the New Testament foretell a Second Coming of Christ, with Last Days to take place within the lifetimes of his disciples: Matt. 10:23, Matt. 16:28, Matt. 24:34, Matt. 26:64, Rom. 13:11–12, 1 Cor. 7:29–31, 1 Cor. 10:11, Phil. 4:5, James 5:8–9, 1 Pet. 4:7, 1 Jn. 2:18.
Criticism of Jesus
In the 1927 essay "Why I Am Not a Christian", Russell pointed to parts of the gospel where Jesus is saying that his second coming will occur in the lifetime of some of his listeners (). He concludes from this that Jesus' prediction was incorrect and thus that Jesus was "not so wise as some other people have been, and He was certainly not superlatively wise".
Millerism
The Millerites were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who in 1833 first shared publicly his belief that the Second Advent of Jesus Christ would occur in roughly the year 1843–1844. Coming during the Second Great Awakening, his beliefs were taken as predictions, spread widely, and were believed by many, leading to the Great Disappointment.
Feast of Christ the King
The Feast of Christ the King has an eschatological dimension pointing to the end of time when the kingdom of Jesus will be established in all its fullness to the ends of the earth. It leads into Advent, when the Church anticipates Christ’s second coming.
Christ (title)
The followers of Jesus became known as Christians (as in Acts ) because they believed Jesus to be the "Khristós" or "Mashiach" prophesied in the Hebrew Bible. Religious Jews still await their messiah's first coming and the messianic prophecies of Jewish tradition to be accomplished. Religious Christians believe in the Second Coming of Christ, and they await the rest of Christian messianic prophecies to be fulfilled. One of those prophecies, distinctive in both the Jewish and Christian concept of the messiah, is that a Jewish king from the Davidic line, who will be "anointed" with holy anointing oil, will be king of God's kingdom on earth, and rule the Jewish people and mankind during the Messianic Age and World to come. Jesus is not accepted as the Jewish messiah in modern Judaism. Muslims accept Jesus () as "al-Masih", the messiah in Islam, and believe he will come again, but don't believe that the messiah is divine or the Son of God.
Matthew 2
Matthew 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It describes the events after the birth of Jesus, the visit of the magi and the attempt by King Herod to kill the infant messiah, Joseph and his family's flight into Egypt, and their later return to live in Israel, settling in Nazareth.
Seventh-day Adventist eschatology
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ marks the beginning of the Millennium, according to Adventist teaching. At the second coming, the righteous dead will be resurrected (the "first resurrection", Revelation 20:5), and both they and the righteous living will be taken to heaven to reign with Christ for 1000 years. The rest of mankind (the wicked, or unrighteous) will be killed at the second coming, leaving the earth devoid of human life.
John Humphrey Noyes
While in his second year at Yale Noyes made what he considered a major theological discovery. While attempting to determine the date of the second coming of Christ, Noyes became convinced that the event had already occurred. His conclusion was that Christ’s second coming had taken place in 70 AD and that therefore "mankind was now living in a new age."
Number of the Beast
Historicists believe Revelation articulates a full range of the history of the Christian church, from John's day to the Second Coming of Christ. The author alludes to Daniel 2:28 and 45; Daniel's vision (Daniel 2) uses symbols giving a sequence of future events in history, from the Babylonian empire, through Medo-Persian period, Greece and Rome continuing until the end of the current civilization. This apocalyptic volume builds on Daniel's approach focusing on major points of Christian history: the cross of Christ (Rev. 5:6,9,12); the Second Coming (Rev. 14:14-16; 19:11-16); the 1,000 years in heaven (Rev. 20:4–6); the third advent of Christ to earth along with his loyal followers and the destruction of Satan and those who refused Christ (20:7–15); and the creation of a new heavens and a new earth where death, sorrow, and sin cease and God dwells with His people (Rev. 21:1–8, 22–27; 22:1–5). The Book of Daniel is divided into two parts—the historical narrative of the captivity of Judah and the prophecies pointing to both promised Messiah and the events of the end of the world. Attention to the text of Revelation aids the student of Bible prophecy by showing how the Apostle John and Jesus intended us to interpret Bible apocalyptic literature as found in Daniel.
Second Coming (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that Jesus will come in "power and great glory." Latter-day Saints believe that the person who will arrive is the same Jesus as the one who ascended to heaven in the New Testament account and that he will still have the marks of the nails in his hands and feet that he gained from the Crucifixion when he returns.
Historicity and origin of the resurrection of Jesus
The authors of Matthew (c.80-90 CE) and Luke/Acts (a two-part work by the same anonymous author, usually dated to around 80–90 CE) based their lives of Jesus on the Gospel of Mark but diverge widely after Mark 16:8, where Mark ends with the discovery of the empty tomb: Matthew has two post-Resurrection appearances, the first to Mary Magdalene and "the other Mary" at the tomb, and the second, based on Mark 16:7, to all the disciples on a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus claims authority over heaven and earth and commissions the disciples to preach the gospel to the whole world. Luke does not mention any of the appearances reported by Matthew, contradicts him regarding an appearance at the tomb (Luke 24:24), and replaces Galilee with Jerusalem as the sole location. In Luke, Jesus appears to Cleopas and an unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus, to Peter (reported by the other apostles), and to the eleven remaining disciples at a meeting with others. The appearances reach their climax with the ascension of Jesus before the assembled disciples on a mountain outside Jerusalem. In addition, Acts has appearances to Paul on the road to Damascus, to the martyr Stephen, and to Peter, who hears the voice of Jesus.
Date of birth of Jesus
The date of birth of Jesus is not stated in the gospels or in any historical reference, but most theologians assume a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC. The historical evidence is too incomplete to allow a definitive dating, but the date is estimated through two different approaches—one by analyzing references to known historical events mentioned in the nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, and the second by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus.
Jehovah's Witnesses beliefs
Watch Tower Society publications teach that Jesus Christ began to rule in heaven invisibly as king in October 1914. They assert that the Greek word "parousia" (translated in most English Bible translations as "coming" when referring to Christ) is more accurately rendered "presence", perceived only by a composite "sign". As such, the Second Coming is considered an invisible presence, lasting for an extended period of time, and ending with Jesus' "coming" to separate the Sheep and the Goats. They believe that when Jesus became king, Satan was ousted from heaven to the earth, bringing a period of "woe" to mankind.
Jesus in Ahmadiyya Islam
The Hadith and the Bible indicate that Jesus will return during the latter days. Islamic Hadith commonly depicts that Jesus, upon his second coming, would be an "Ummati" (Muslim) and a follower of Muhammad and that he would revive the truth of Islam rather than fostering a new religion.
Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week
Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week is the second volume (after "Jesus of Nazareth" released in 2007) in Pope Benedict XVI's three-volume meditation on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Offers a detailed analysis of Jesus Christ's final week in Jerusalem, examining the political, religious and scholarly aspects of Jesus' life, teaching, death and resurrection.
Second Coming
A number of specific dates have been predicted for the Second Coming of Christ, some now in the distant past, others still in the future.
Second Coming (LDS Church)
Events that are specified in Church teachings to occur at the Second Coming include:Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' doctrine is fairly specific about the events that will occur at the Second Coming. It is believed that Christ will do the following things, though no order or time frame is specified:According to Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' doctrine, the Millennium is believed to be a period of peace and righteousness. During this time, Jesus will personally reign on the earth, and Satan will be bound and have no power over the people due to their righteousness.
Messiah
The Quran identifies Jesus (Isa) as the messiah ("Masih"), who will one day return to earth. At the time of the second coming, "according to Islamic tradition, Jesus will come again and exercise his power of healing. He will forever destroy falsehood, as embodied in the Daj-jal, the great falsifier, the anti-Christ. Then God will reign forever."
Christianity in the 19th century
Adventism is a Christian eschatological belief that looks for the imminent Second Coming of Jesus to inaugurate the Kingdom of God. This view involves the belief that Jesus will return to receive those who have died in Christ and those who are awaiting his return, and that they must be ready when he returns. The Millerites, the most well-known family of the Adventist movements, were the followers of the teachings of William Miller, who, in 1833, first shared publicly his belief in the coming Second Advent of Jesus Christ in c.1843. They emphasized apocalyptic teachings anticipating the end of the world and did not look for the unity of Christendom but busied themselves in preparation for Christ's return. From the Millerites descended the Seventh-day Adventists and the Advent Christian Church. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the largest of several Adventist groups which arose from the Millerite movement of the 1840s. Miller predicted on the basis of and the day-year principle that Jesus Christ would return to Earth on October 22, 1844. When this did not happen, most of his followers disbanded and returned to their original churches.
Advent
The theme of readings and teachings during Advent is often the preparation for the Second Coming, while also commemorating the First Coming of Christ at Christmas. The first clear references in the Western Church to Advent occur in the Gelasian Sacramentary, which provides Advent Collects, Epistles, and Gospels for the five Sundays preceding Christmas and for the corresponding Wednesdays and Fridays. While the Sunday readings relate to the first coming of Jesus Christ as saviour as well as to his Second Coming as judge, traditions vary in the relative importance of penitence and expectation during the weeks in Advent.
Benjamin Creme
In the spring of 1982 Creme placed advertisements in newspapers around the world saying, "The Christ is now here." According to Creme, the Christ, whom he also called Maitreya, would announce his existence on worldwide television broadcasts. Creme stated in these newspaper advertisements that the Second Coming of Christ would occur on Monday 21 June 1982 (the summer solstice in the Northern hemisphere). On 14 May 1982 Creme held a press conference in Los Angeles. More than 90 reporters attended and heard Creme announce that Maitreya was living within the Asian community in the Brick Lane area of London. Creme presented the reporters with a challenge: if the media made a serious attempt to seek Maitreya in London, he would reveal himself to them. Afterwards, Creme wrote, "It was hoped that the media would respond to my information at a level which would allow Him to come forward to them. This hope, however, was not fulfilled. While the media did show an interest in the reappearance story, it did not go so far as to actually get involved in searching for Maitreya."
Futurism (Christianity)
According to some Dispensationalists who hold the futurist view, the Tribulation is thought to occur before the Second Coming of Jesus and during the End Times. Another version holds that it will last seven years in all, being the last of Daniel's prophecy of seventy weeks. This viewpoint was first made popular by John Nelson Darby in the 19th century and was recently popularized by Hal Lindsey in "The Late Great Planet Earth". It is theorized that each week represents seven years, with the timetable beginning from Artaxerxes' order to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem (the Second Temple). After seven plus 62 weeks, the prophecy says that the messiah will be "cut off", which is taken to correspond to the death of Christ. This is seen as creating a break of indeterminate length in the timeline, with one week remaining to be fulfilled.
Anno Domini
The date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth is not stated in the gospels or in any secular text, but most scholars assume a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC. The historical evidence is too fragmentary to allow a definitive dating, but the date is estimated through two different approaches – one by analyzing references to known historical events mentioned in the Nativity accounts in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, and the second by working backwards from the estimation of the start of the ministry of Jesus.
Second Coming
After the death of the "Mahdi", Jesus will assume leadership. This is a time associated in Islamic narrative with universal peace and justice. Islamic texts also allude to the appearance of Ya'juj and Ma'juj (known also as Gog and Magog), ancient tribes which will disperse and cause disturbance on earth. God, in response to Jesus's prayers, will kill them by sending a type of worm in the napes of their necks. Jesus's rule is said to be around forty years, after which he will die, (according to Islam Jesus did not die on the cross but was taken up to heaven and continues to live until his return in the second coming). Muslims will then perform the "Salat al-Janazah" (funeral prayer) for him and bury him in the city of Medina in a grave left vacant beside Muhammad.
Second Coming
Followers of the Bahá'í Faith believe that the fulfillment of the prophecies of the second coming of Jesus, as well as the prophecies of the Maitreya and many other religious prophecies, were begun by the Báb in 1844 and then by Bahá'u'lláh. They commonly compare the fulfillment of Christian prophecies to Jesus' fulfillment of Jewish prophecies, where in both cases people were expecting the literal fulfillment of apocalyptic statements. Bahá'ís claim that the return of Christ with a new name parallels the return of Elijah in John the Baptist as stated by Jesus in the Gospels.
Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu
Part II
End time
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that there will be a Second Coming of Jesus to the earth sometime in the future. The LDS Church and its leaders do not make any predictions of the actual date of the Second Coming.
Catholic theology
At the second coming of Christ at the end of time, all who have died will be resurrected bodily from the dead for the Last Judgement, whereupon Jesus will fully establish the Kingdom of God in fulfillment of scriptural prophecies.
Christianity and Judaism
Both Christianity and Judaism believe in some form of judgment. Most Christians (the exception is Full Preterism) believe in the future Second Coming of Jesus, which includes the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment. Those who have accepted Jesus as their personal saviour will be saved and live in God's presence in the Kingdom of Heaven, those who have not accepted Jesus as their saviour, will be cast into the Lake of Fire (eternal torment, finite torment, or simply annihilated), see for example The Sheep and the Goats.
Chronology of Jesus
Two main approaches have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus: one based on the accounts in the Gospels of his birth with reference to King Herod's reign, and the other by subtracting his stated age of "about 30 years" when he began preaching. Most scholars, on this basis, assume a date of birth between 6 and 4 BC.
Date of birth of Jesus
The earliest source stating 25 December as the date of birth of Jesus is likely by Hippolytus of Rome, written very early in the 3rd century, based on the assumption that the conception of Jesus took place at the Spring equinox which he placed on 25 March, and then added nine months – festivals on that date were then celebrated. 25 March would also roughly be the date of his crucifixion, which ancient Christians would have seen as confirming the date of his birth, since there was a notion that the great prophets were conceived into the afterlife on the same date they were conceived into the world. John Chrysostom also argued for a 25 December date in the late 4th century, basing his argument on the assumption that the offering of incense in Luke 1:8–11 was the offering of incense by a high priest on Yom Kippur (early October), and, as above, counting fifteen months forward. However, this was very likely a retrospective justification of a choice already made rather than a genuine attempt to derive the correct birth date.
The Quest of the Historical Jesus
The 1913 second edition of "Quest" included a rebuttal to the "mythicists" of his day, i.e. those scholars who maintain that no historical Jesus ever existed.Schweitzer wrote that Jesus and his followers expected the imminent end of the world. He became very focused on the study and cross referencing of the many Biblical verses promising the return of the Son of Man and the exact details of this urgent event, as it was originally believed that it would unfold. He noted that in the gospel of Mark, Jesus speaks of a "tribulation," with nation rising against nation, false prophets, earthquakes, stars falling from the sky, and the coming of the Son of Man "in the clouds with great power and glory." Jesus even tells his disciples when all this will happen: "Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done." (Mark 13:30) The same story is told in the gospel of Matthew, with Jesus promising his rapid return as the Son of Man, and again saying: "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled." Even St. Paul believed these things, Schweitzer observes (e.g. 1 Thessalonians 4), and Schweitzer concludes that Christians of the first century theology literally believed in the imminent fulfillment of Jesus' promise.
The Second Coming of Christ (book)
Yoganandas left India in 1920 for America and give his first speech at the Congress of Religious Liberals. He stayed here until his death in 1952. During this time he gave more than 150 talks and wrote articles, many about the Christian Gospels. He also announced that he would be giving weekly classes in Boston that would consist a half-hour exposition of the Bhagavad Gita, a half-hour exposition of the Gospels, and a half-hour discourse demonstrating their fundamental unity. After establishing a magazine, he began publishing a series of articles on the Gita and another series on the Gospels, which latter even then he called The Second Coming of Christ. Then, during his last four years, he withdrew into seclusion to work on his writings. Yogananda wanted them collected and printed in a book, but found that a tremendous amount of editing was needed, so that was not done. When he died, he left an extensive body of work—public lectures and classes that had been recorded stenographically by Sri Daya Mata, along with three decades of his original writing. The editors, to whom he had conveyed his wishes for this vast volume of material, compiled and integrated it into The Second Coming of Christ.
Ahn Sahng-hong
Ahn, who like most Christians believed in the Second Coming of Jesus, had predicted a Second Coming "within 10 years" in 1956. In the tradition of Seventh-day Adventist eschatology, which had been suppressed by Kuniaki Koiso during his wartime rule of Korea, Ahn further believed to be living in the end time and that the Second Coming was imminent. As Korean Protestants earlier in the 20th century had perceived Japanese occupation by identifying symbolically with the history of Israel, Ahn through biblical exegesis in his book "The Mystery of God and the Spring of the Water of Life" (1980) interprets the Gospel of Matthew to suggest that the world could come to an end in 1988, 40 years after the independence of the modern state of Israel. Ahn's original "The Mystery of God and the Spring of the Water of Life" is made available online; World Mission Society Church of God in their later editions of the book have deleted information pertaining to the failed prediction. Ahn in his book "The Bridegroom Was a Long Time in Coming, and They All Became Drowsy and Fell Asleep" (1980) in a discussion about the last day of rebuilding the temple scriptural typology
By 1978 a group of people centered around a female member, one Um Sooin (born 1941), within the Witnesses of Jesus Church of God, claimed through a chain of scriptural eisegesis that they published in writing, that Um variously was "the only bride", "the Heavenly Jerusalem", "the New Jerusalem" on earth, "the comforter sent by God", and they asserted that she was "our mother who has come down from Heaven", and that Ahn was Christ. Um and the group around her claiming she was the spiritual mother were expelled from the church, and Ahn dedicated a book entitled "Problems with the New Jerusalem, the Bride and Women's Veils" (1980, reprinted 1983) to the controversy, in which he writes:
Kermit Zarley
In "The Third Day Bible Code" (2006), Zarley examined the relatively frequent occurrence of "third day" in the Bible. Applying the words "with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day" (), he offered the provocative interpretation that Jesus' expected second coming will occur during the early part of the third millennium following his departure, between the years 2070 and 2250.
Second Coming
Latter-day Saints have particularly distinct and specific interpretations of what are considered to be signs stated in the Book of Revelation. Their scriptures say that Christ will return, as stated in the Bible. Their church also teaches that "When the Savior comes again, He will come in power and glory to claim the earth as His kingdom. His Second Coming will mark the beginning of the Millennium. The Second Coming will be a fearful, mournful time for the wicked, but it will be a day of peace for the righteous."
Seventh-day Adventist eschatology
The Seventh-day Adventist Church holds a unique system of eschatological (or end-times) beliefs. Adventist eschatology, which is based on a historicist interpretation of prophecy, is characterised principally by the premillennial Second Coming of Christ. Traditionally, the church has taught that the Second Coming will be preceded by a global crisis with the Sabbath as a central issue. At Jesus' return, the righteous will be taken to heaven for one thousand years. After the millennium the unsaved will be punished by annihilation while the saved will live on a recreated Earth for eternity.
Antichrist
Origen (185–254) refuted Celsus's view of the Antichrist. Origen utilized Scriptural citations from Daniel, Paul, and the Gospels. He argued:
Cyril of Jerusalem, in the mid-4th century, delivered his 15th Catechetical lecture about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, in which he also lectures about the Antichrist, who will reign as the ruler of the world for three and a half years, before he is killed by Jesus Christ right at the end of his three-and-a-half-year reign, shortly after which the Second Coming of Jesus Christ will happen.
Second Coming
Daya Mata wrote in the preface of "The Second Coming of Christ" that the "two-volume scriptural treatise thus represents the inclusive culmination of Paramahansa Yogananda's divine commission to make manifest to the world the essence of original Christianity as taught by Jesus Christ." In sharing her memories of when she wrote down his words, she shares - "the great Guru, his face radiantly enraptured, as he records for the world the inspired exposition of the Gospel teachings imparted to him through direct, personal communion with Jesus of Nazareth." Larry Dossey, M.D., wrote that "Paramahansa Yogananda’s "The Second Coming of Christ" is one of the most important analyses of Jesus’ teachings that exists...Many interpretations of Jesus’ words divide peoples, cultures, and nations; these foster unity and healing, and that is why they are vital for today’s world."
Second Coming
The "hadith" (sayings of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad) and the Bible indicated that Jesus would return during the latter days. Islamic tradition commonly depicts that Jesus, upon his second coming, would be an "Ummati" (Muslim) and a follower of Muhammad and that he would revive the truth of Islam rather than fostering a new religion.
I Dream of Jesus
"I Dream of Jesus" is the second episode in the seventh season of the American animated television series "Family Guy". It originally aired on Fox in the United States on October 5, 2008. In the episode, Peter finds Jesus Christ (voiced by Alec Sulkin) working at a record shop, and convinces Jesus to make his second coming.
Eschatology
The Second Coming of Christ is the central event in Christian eschatology within the broader context of the fullness of the Kingdom of God. Most Christians believe that death and suffering will continue to exist until Christ's return. There are, however, various views concerning the order and significance of other eschatological events.
Second Coming
Some Preterists see this "coming of the Son of Man in glory" primarily fulfilled in Jesus' death on the cross. They believe the apocalyptic signs are already fulfilled including "the sun will be dark" (cf. ), the "powers ... will be shaken," (cf. ) and "then they will see" (cf. ). Yet some critics note that many are missing, such as "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up." (). And "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." ()
Rapture
In the post-tribulation premillennial position, the rapture would be identical to the second coming of Jesus or as a meeting in the air with Jesus that immediately precedes his return to the Earth before a literal millennium. The post-tribulation position places the rapture at the end of the tribulation period. Post-tribulation writers define the tribulation period in a generic sense as the entire present age, or in a specific sense of a period of time preceding the second coming of Christ. The emphasis in this view is that the church will undergo the tribulation. - ""Immediately after the Tribulation of those days...they shall gather together his elect..."" - is cited as a foundational scripture for this view. Post-tribulationists perceive the rapture as occurring simultaneously with the second coming of Christ. Upon Jesus' return, believers will meet him in the air and will then accompany him in his return to the Earth. In the Epistles of Paul, most notably in ("the dead in Christ shall rise first") and , a trumpet is described as blowing at the end of the tribulation to herald the return of Christ; further supports this view. Moreover, after chapters 6–19, and after 20:1-3 when Satan is bound, says, "and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This "is" the first resurrection. Blessed and holy "is" he that hath part in the first resurrection."
Life of Jesus in the New Testament
The "Ascension of Jesus" (anglicized from the Vulgate Latin section title: "Ascensio Iesu") is the Christian teaching found in the New Testament that the resurrected Jesus was taken up to heaven in his resurrected body, in the presence of eleven of his apostles, occurring 40 days after the resurrection. In the biblical narrative, an angel tells the watching disciples that Jesus' second coming will take place in the same manner as his ascension.
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is the largest of several Adventist groups which arose from the Millerite movement of the 1840s in upstate New York, a phase of the Second Great Awakening. William Miller predicted on the basis of Daniel 8:14–16 and the "day-year principle" that Jesus Christ would return to Earth between the spring of 1843 and the spring of 1844. In the summer of 1844, Millerites came to believe that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844, understood to be the biblical Day of Atonement for that year. Miller's failed prediction became known as the "Great Disappointment".
Judaism's view of Jesus
The Jewish view of Jesus is influenced by the fact that Jesus lived while the Second Temple was standing, and not while the Jews were exiled. He never reigned as King, and there was no subsequent era of peace or great knowledge. Jesus died without completing or even accomplishing part of any of the messianic tasks, instead promising a Second Coming. Rather than being redeemed, the Jews were subsequently exiled from Israel, and the temple was destroyed years later not rebuilt. These discrepancies were noted by Jewish scholars who were contemporaries of Jesus, as later pointed out by Nahmanides, who in 1263 observed that Jesus was rejected as the messiah by the rabbis of his time.
Mahdi
These prophecies according to Ahmadi Muslims have been fulfilled in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), the founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement, who claimed to be divinely appointed as the second coming of Jesus and the Mahdi in 1891 around the same point in time after Muhammad as Jesus had appeared after Moses (thirteen centuries). Contrary to mainstream Islam, the Ahmadis do not believe that Jesus is alive in heaven, but claim that he survived the crucifixion and migrated towards the east where he died a natural death and that Ghulam Ahmad was only the promised spiritual second coming and likeness of Jesus, the promised Messiah and Mahdi.
Bible prophecy
Preterist scholars explain this verse as referring to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 AD with the phrase "before the Son of Man comes" meaning before judgment comes upon the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem for rejecting Jesus Christ as The Messiah. They reject to refer Matthew 10:23 to the second coming of Jesus because Jesus speaks to his disciples about the towns of Israel:
End time
According to church doctrine, the true gospel will be taught in all parts of the world prior to the Second Coming. They also believe that there will be increasing war, earthquakes, hurricanes, and man-made disasters prior to the Second Coming.
Disasters of all kind will happen before Christ comes.
Upon the return of Jesus Christ, all people will be resurrected, the righteous in a first resurrection and the unrighteous in a second, later resurrection. Christ shall reign for a period of 1000 years, after which the Final Judgement will occur.
List of books about Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth (; 7–2 BC/BCE to 30–36 AD/CE), commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity. Most Christian denominations
Second Coming
In modern times some traditional Indian religious leaders have moved to embrace Jesus as an avatar, or incarnation, of God. In light of this, the Indian guru Paramahansa Yogananda, author of "Autobiography of a Yogi", wrote an extensive commentary on the Gospels published in 2004 in the two-volume set "The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You". The book offers a mystical interpretation of the Second Coming in which it is understood to be an inner experience, something that takes place within the individual heart. In the introduction of this book, Yogananda wrote that the true Second Coming is the resurrection within you of the Infinite Christ Consciousness. Also stated in the Book of Luke - "Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:21)
Miraculous catch of fish
The second miraculous catch of fish is also called the "miraculous catch of 153 fish," and seems to recall the first catch. It is reported in the last chapter of the Gospel of John () and takes place after the Resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus of Nazareth (book)
The book stops short of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and subsequent Passion and Resurrection, which are the primary topics of the second volume, "", which was published on March 15, 2011.
Parable of the Faithful Servant
In Matthew, the parable opens with the injunction: "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come" (Matthew 24:42). In other words, "the disciple must remain prepared for his Lord's coming, remaining alert and awake at his post." Even though there may be general signs of Jesus' Second Coming, the exact time is unknown. This is a theme which has also been discussed earlier in Luke 12. The reference to a wedding banquet in Luke 12:36 suggests a heavenly banquet, and recalls the parable of the Ten Virgins, which follows this parable in Matthew.
Life of Jesus in the New Testament
The canonical gospels include two brief descriptions of the Ascension of Jesus in and , in which it takes place on Easter Sunday. A more detailed account of Jesus' bodily Ascension into the clouds is given in the Acts of the Apostles () where the narrative starts with the account of Jesus' appearances after his resurrection and describes the event as taking place forty days later.
Messiah
It is believed that Isa will return to Earth to defeat the Masih ad-Dajjal (false Messiah), a figure similar to the Antichrist in Christianity, who will emerge shortly before "Yawm al-Qiyāmah" ("the Day of Resurrection"). The "Mahdi" will come shortly before the second coming of Jesus. After he has destroyed ad-Dajjal, his final task will be to become leader of the Muslims. Isa will unify the Muslim "Ummah" (the followers of Islam) under the common purpose of worshipping Allah alone in pure Islam, thereby ending divisions and deviations by adherents. Mainstream Muslims believe that at that time Isa will dispel Christian and Jewish claims about him.
Daniel 2
The story in Daniel 2 has significant meaning to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who believe that the true church was restored to the earth in the "latter days" through a modern prophet, Joseph Smith, in 1830. Like other Christians, the LDS church believes that the "stone cut out of the mountain without hands" is God's kingdom on the Earth, but unlike many other Christians, they believe that it has already been established rather than at a future date.
World Mission Society Church of God
The Church believes that Jesus was to come a second time in the flesh. They believe that Ahn Sahng-hong is the Second Coming Jesus, who came with a new name, the name of the Holy Spirit.( and ), and it states that he fulfilled biblical prophecies that only Jesus could have fulfilled.
Second Coming (disambiguation)
The Second Coming generally refers to the Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return to earth.
Jesus in Ahmadiyya Islam
Henceforth, Ahmadis believe this prediction – the Second Coming – was fulfilled by Ahmad and continued by his movement.
Nativity of Jesus in art
In the liturgical calendar, the Nativity is followed by the Circumcision of Christ on January 1, which is mentioned only in passing in the Gospels, and which is assumed to have taken place according to Jewish law and custom, and the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple (or "Candlemas"), celebrated on February 2, and described by Luke. Both have iconographic traditions, not covered here.
Premillennialism
Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. The doctrine is called "premillennialism" because it holds that Jesus' physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration of the Millennium. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpretation of in the New Testament, which describes Jesus' reign in a period of a thousand years.
Second Coming (LDS Church)
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that there will be a Second Coming of Jesus Christ to the earth sometime in the future. The Church and its leaders do not make predictions of the actual date of the Second Coming.
Second Coming
In Rosicrucian esoteric Christian teaching, there is a clear distinction between the cosmic Christ, or Christ without, and the Christ within. According to this tradition, the Christ within is regarded as the true Saviour who needs to be born within each individual in order to evolve toward the future Sixth Epoch in the Earth's etheric plane, that is, toward the "new heavens and a new earth": the "New Galilee." The Second Coming or Advent of the Christ is not in a physical body, but in the new "soul body" of each individual in the etheric plane of the planet where man "shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." The "day and hour" of this event is not known. The esoteric Christian tradition teaches that first there will be a preparatory period as the Sun enters Aquarius, an astrological concept, by precession: the coming Age of Aquarius.
Hippolytus of Rome
Hippolytus did not subscribe to the belief that the Second Coming was imminent. He was apparently the first to set a specific date for the second Advent through calculation—AD 500—which was 260 years after his time. He assumed, like Irenaeus his teacher, that inasmuch as God made all things in six days, and these days symbolize a thousand years each, in six thousand years from the creation the end will come. He apparently based his calculation on the Septuagint which had the world beginning about 5500 BC.
Criticism of Christianity
However, Preterists argue that Jesus did not mean his second coming but speaks about demonstrations of his might, formulating this as "coming in his kingdom", especially the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple 70 AD, which he foretold, and by which time not all of his disciples were still living. According to this view should be understood in the same way.
Jesus
The Gospel of John recounts of two other feasts in which Jesus taught in Jerusalem before the Passion Week (). In Bethany, a village near Jerusalem, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. This potent sign increases the tension with authorities, who conspire to kill him (). Mary of Bethany anoints Jesus' feet, foreshadowing his entombment. Jesus then makes his Messianic entry into Jerusalem.
The cheering crowds greeting Jesus as he enters Jerusalem add to the animosity between him and the establishment. In John, Jesus has already cleansed the Second Temple during an earlier Passover visit to Jerusalem. John next recounts Jesus' Last Supper with his disciples.
Millerism
Despite the urging of his supporters, Miller never personally set an exact date for the expected Second Advent. However, in response to their urgings he did narrow the time-period to sometime in the year 1843, stating: "My principles in brief, are, that Jesus Christ will come again to this earth, cleanse, purify, and take possession of the same, with all the saints, sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844" March 21, 1844 passed without incident, and the majority of Millerites maintained their faith. On March 25, Miller wrote to Himes, "I am still looking for the Dear Savior…. The time, as I have calculated it, is now filled up; and I expect every moment to see the Savior descend from heaven. I have now nothing to look for but this glorious hope."
Nativity of Jesus
The date of birth for Jesus of Nazareth is not stated in the gospels or in any secular text, but a majority of scholars assume a date between 6 BC and 4 BC. The historical evidence is too ambiguous to allow a definitive dating, but the date has been estimated through known historical events mentioned in the Gospels of Luke and Matthew or by working backwards from the estimated start of the ministry of Jesus. Luke 2:1 states that Jesus was born when "Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria." All that is generally accepted is that Jesus was born before 4 BC, the year of Herod's death.
Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
In the Eastern and Western liturgical calendars the Presentation of the Lord falls on 2 February, forty days (inclusive) after Christmas. In the Church of England it may be celebrated on this day, or on the Sunday between 28 January and 3 February.
Calvary Chapel
the generation that was living in May 1948 shall not pass until the second coming of Jesus Christ takes place and the kingdom of God be established upon the earth.
Timeline of Christianity
Jesus begins his ministry after his baptism by John and during the rule of Pilate, preaching: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near" (). While the historicity of the gospel accounts is questioned to some extent by some critical scholars and non-Christians, the traditional view states the following chronology for his ministry: Temptation, Sermon on the Mount, Appointment of the Twelve, alleged Miracles, Temple Money Changers, Last Supper, Arrest, Trial, Passion, Crucifixion on Nisan 14th (, , Gospel of Peter) or Nisan 15th (Synoptic Gospels), entombment by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, professed Resurrection by God and claimed Resurrection appearances of Jesus to Mary Magdalene and other women (, ), Simon Peter (), and others, (), Great Commission, Ascension, Second Coming Prophecy to fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy such as the Resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, and establishment of the Kingdom of God and the Messianic Age.
Second Coming
A recent survey (2010) showed that about 40% of Americans believe that Jesus is likely to return by 2050. This varies from 58% of white evangelical Christians, through 32% of Catholics to 27% of white mainline Protestants.
False prophet
Samra ibn Jundab reported once Muhammad (while delivering a ceremonial speech at an occasion of a solar eclipse) said;
Anas ibn Malik narrated that Muhammad said;
Imam Mahdi, the redeemer according to Islam, will appear on Earth before the Day of Judgment. At the time of the Second Coming of Christ, the Prophet 'Isa (Jesus Christ son of Mary) will kill al-Masih ad-Dajjal (The Antichrist).
Muslims believe that both Jesus and Mahdi will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny, ensuring peace and tranquility.
Post-Resurrection appearances of Jesus
This is also the message of Mark, a gentile writing for a church of gentile Christians, for whom Jesus as "Son of God" has become a divine being whose suffering, death and resurrection are essential to God's plan for redemption. Matthew presents Jesus' appearance in Galilee (Matthew 28:19-20) as a Greco-Roman apotheosis, the human body transformed to make it fitting for paradise. He goes beyond the ordinary Greco-Roman forms, however, by having Jesus claim "all authority ... in heaven and on earth" (28:18) - a claim no Roman hero would dare make – while charging the apostles to bring the whole world into a divine community of righteousness and compassion. Notable too is that the expectation of the imminent Second Coming has been delayed: it will still come about, but first the whole world must be gathered in.
John Sebastian Marlowe Ward
His other mystical experiences included claims of visits to the saintly and angelic realms, and visions of the more distant future. He predicted a number of terrible events preceding the second coming of Jesus, including a devastating biological attack on New York City. He saw the second coming of Jesus as a quite literal "establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth". To him, Christ was coming to judge mankind, as had long been foretold, yet he also predicted that although many would fail that test, many more would pass and although some of those would pass immediately to Heaven, most would be permitted to continue their lives on earth under his benign rule. He went on to say that through mysticism he had been able to "track" the gradual descent of Christ as he passed steadily through the various celestial realms on his way to earth.
David Pawson
In "When Jesus Returns", he critically considers in the light of scripture the major views on eschatology popular in the church today, specifically the preterist, historicist, futurist and idealist schools of interpreting the Book of Revelation. He rejects postmillennialism in favour of a premillennial understanding of the Second Coming, so that Jesus will return bodily in power immediately before his reign over the world for a millennium from Jerusalem. He asserts that the supernatural taking up of believers alive at this time (following the 'tribulation' period of persecution), so as to join the returning Christ, fulfils the Rapture prophecies; he argues against a pre-tribulation timing of the rapture. He further argues that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a fulfilment of scriptural prophecy, and that prophecies spoken about Israel relate specifically to Israel (not to the church), so that the outstanding prophecies about Israel will be fulfilled before the end of the age.
Millerism
Miller believed that the cleansing of the sanctuary represented the Earth's destruction by fire at Christ's Second Coming. Using the year-day method of prophetic interpretation, Miller became convinced that the 2,300-day period started in 457 BC with the decree to rebuild Jerusalem by Artaxerxes I of Persia. Simple calculation then indicated that this period would end about 1843. In September 1822, Miller formally stated his conclusions in a twenty-point document, including article 15, "I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within twenty-one years,—on or before 1843." This document remained private for many years.
Members Church of God International
MCGI believes that Jesus Christ "will come again" or "will return" (Tagalog: ""muling paririto""), rather than using the terminology "second coming" (Tagalog: ""ikalawang pagparito"") which they consider a mistake by other religious denominations. They strongly believe that Christ came to the earth in many occasions already and his return will not be the "second" citing .
Post-tribulation rapture
The pretribulational argument that there are 'two phases' to Christ's coming (a rapture and a later second advent) runs into difficulties with , which nearly equates Christ's ascension to heaven with his second coming. Logically, the second coming cannot have two phases if the ascension only had one. This eliminates two phases of his coming with a 7-year interval. Likewise, heaven must "receive" or contain Jesus "until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time". Most scholars see this "restoration of all things" as the one-thousand year reign of Christ on earth (as prophesied in the Old Testament) which begins just after the second advent. If Christ is to remain in heaven until this coming rule of his according to these verses (see also Hebrews 9:27,28), it would seem the next main prophetic event would be the second coming rather than him coming 7 years prior to get the church, bring them back to heaven, and then leaving heaven for earth again as the pre-tribulational rapture position indicates.
Tertullian
Tertullian was a premillennialist, affirming a literal resurrection at the second advent of Jesus at the end of the world, not at death.
Concerning the image prophecy of Daniel 2, Tertullian identified Jesus, at his second advent, as the stone cut out of a mountain that strikes and destroys the image of "secular kingdoms". He compares this with Daniel 7, 'Behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days; and they brought Him before Him, 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."
Like Irenaeus, Tertullian equated the Antichrist with the '"Man of Sin" and the "Beast". He expected a specific Antichrist to appear as a persecutor of the church just before the resurrection, under whom a second company of martyrs will be slain. Unlike Irenaeus, however, Tertullian does not consider the Antichrist to be a Jew sitting in a Jewish temple at Jerusalem. Rather, the Antichrist comes out of the church.
Tertullian applied the Biblical figure of Babylon to the city of Rome and her domination. He portrayed Rome as drunk with the blood of martyred saints.
The order of Last Days events, according to Tertullian, are the plagues, Babylon's doom, Antichrist's warfare on the saints, the devil cast into the bottomless pit, the Advent, the resurrection of the saints, the Judgment, and the Second Resurrection, with the harvest at the end of the World; and the sixth seal extending to the final dissolution of the earth and sky, including the stars.
Tertullian maintained that the thousand years of Revelation will follow the resurrection of the righteous dead on the earth with the New Jerusalem, proceeding the eternity of heaven. The earth is destroyed after the one thousand years and the saints moved to the kingdom of heaven.
Tertullian contended that Daniel's seventy weeks foretold the time of Christ's incarnation and death. He started the seventy weeks from the first year of Darius, and continued to Jerusalem's destruction by the Romans under the command of Titus, fully completing the vision and prophecy. It is sealed by the advent of Christ, which he places at the end of the sixty-two and one-half weeks.
Criticism of the Bible
Jesus prophesied that the second coming would occur during the lifetime of his followers and Caiphas, and immediately after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE (referred to as abomination of desolation in Matt 24:15).
Second Coming
Some Christian writings say that there will be a great deception before the Second Coming of Christ. In Matthew 24, Jesus states in the following passage:
Ellen G. White, the early Seventh-day Adventist leader, wrote:
Jesus predicts his death
Each time Jesus predicts his arrest and death, the disciples in some way or another manifest their incomprehension, and Jesus uses the occasion to teach them new things. The second warning appears in (and also in ) as follows:
He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.
The third prediction in the specifically mentions crucifixion:
Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will turn him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day he will be raised to life!"
The fourth prediction in Matthew is found in Matthew 26:1-2 immediately precedes the plot made against him by the religious Jewish leaders:
Second Coming (LDS Church)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that no person will be given the knowledge of when the Second Coming is to occur. There are no official teachings speculating about an exact time or date. Although the exact time and date is not known, Latter-day Saints believe that specific events must take place as signs before the Second Coming can occur.
Gospel of Mark
Christians of Mark's time expected Jesus to return as Messiah in their own lifetime – Mark, like the other gospels, attributes the promise to Jesus himself (Mark 9:1 and 13:30), and it is reflected in the letters of Paul, in the epistle of James, in Hebrews, and in Revelation. When return failed, the early Christians revised their understanding. Some acknowledged that the Second Coming had been delayed, but still expected it; others redefined the focus of the promise, the Gospel of John, for example, speaking of "eternal life" as something available in the present; while still others concluded that Jesus would not return at all (2 Peter argues against those who held this view).
Olivet Discourse
In modern times, a popular (but far from unanimous) opinion is that Jesus in the Olivet Discourse is using the apocalyptic language of his time "symbolically, " as did many Jewish prophets. Nevertheless, throughout history there have been many groups who read the discourse literally. Christian thought continues to include groups who say that "the end of the world is near", some even giving exact dates which have since come and gone without an intervening end of the world. Some Christians believe that predictions of several events are related: the second coming of Jesus, the war of Armageddon, the arrival on earth of the Antichrist, the Tribulation, the Rapture, some horrendous natural disaster, etc. Jewish, Islamic, psychic and occult predictions have also been offered as well. Some very prominent individuals have been consistently wrong when they predicted the end of the world. End-of-the-world predictions have been common throughout Christianity and other religions for almost 2000 years.
Kingdom theology
George Eldon Ladd believed that the Bible taught of two ages: 'This Age' and 'The Age to Come'. In 'This Age', there will be hostility to Christianity but in the 'Age to Come' those who have followed Jesus will be free from oppression and given eternal life. He believed that 'The Age to Come' would be inaugurated by the second coming of Jesus and the resurrection of the dead. Ladd argued that there is an overlap between the two ages; he suggested that, although the 'Age to Come' is in the future, it can still be "tasted" now, and its power can penetrate 'This Age'. The Vineyard movement's statement of faith relating to the last book of the bible, Revelation, states that God's kingdom came through Jesus and continues to come through the Holy Spirit. It suggests that, when Jesus comes again, Satan will be defeated, the dead will be raised, the final judgement will happen, and God's kingdom will be fully established.
Jesus in Ahmadiyya Islam
Ahmadi scholars consider the contemporary Islamic views of the second coming of Jesus (see Ahmadi prophetology) as inaccurate. The view of Jesus' expected return in person is deemed as mistaken since the return of an Israelite prophet after Muhammad is seen as violating the finality of Muhammad's prophethood and of the Islamic dispensation. Jesus is believed to have died a natural death, like all other prophets. In the Quran and Hadith there is an absence of the use of terms such as "return" or "second coming" with reference to Jesus' advent in the end times.The movement interpret the prophecies concerning Jesus's end time advent as allegorical - expressing the coming of a person (from within Islam itself) being in the "likeness" of Jesus. The prophecies are merged with those concerning the coming of the Mahdi. Both the terms "Jesus Son of Mary" and "Mahdi" (as used in Islamic eschatological literature) are understood interchangeably as two titles for the same person.
Ahmadis believe these prophecies have been fulfilled in the person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the movement. Ahmadiyya believe that the Turin Shroud is authentic.
Christmas controversies
Sextus Julius Africanus, a historian of the second century, maintained that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived on March 25, which the Christian Church came to celebrate as the Feast of the Annunciation. With the term of a pregnancy being nine months, Sextus Julius Africanus held that Jesus was born on December 25, which the Western Christian Church established as Christmas. Recorded in Sextus Julius Africanus's "Chronographiai" (AD 221), this thesis is corroborated by an interpretation of Gospel of Luke that places the appearance of Gabriel to Zechariah on the observance of Yom Kippur that occurs around October, as "the worshipers were praying outside of the Temple and not within" for "only the priest could enter the Temple at this time to conduct the proper rituals"; because Jesus was six months younger than his cousin John the Baptist, Jesus was conceived in March and born in late December.
Second Coming
A short reference to the second coming is contained in the Nicene Creed: "He [Jesus] shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; and His kingdom shall have no end." An analogous statement is also in the biblical Pauline Creed ().
Chronology of Jesus
Colin Humphreys' widely publicised "double passover" astronomical analysis, published in 2011 and outlined above, places the hour of death of Jesus at 3pm on 3 April AD 33 and claims to reconcile the Gospel accounts for the "six days" leading up to the crucifixion. His solution is that the synoptic gospels and John's gospel use two distinct calendars (the official Jewish lunar calendar, and what is today the Samaritan lunar calendar, the latter used in Jesus' day also by the Essenes of Qumran and the Zealots). Humphrey's proposal was preceded in 1957 by the work of Annie Jaubert who suggested that Jesus held his Last Supper at Passover time according to the Qumran "solar" calendar. Humphreys rejects Jaubert's conclusion by demonstrating that the Qumran solar reckoning would always place Jesus' Last Supper "after" the Jewish Passover, in contradiction to all four gospels. Instead, Humphreys points out that the Essene community at Qumran additionally used a lunar calendar, itself evidently based on the Egyptian liturgical lunar calendar. Humphreys suggests that the reason why his two-calendar solution had not been discovered earlier is (a) widespread scholarly ignorance of the existence of the Egyptian liturgical lunar calendar (used alongside the well-known Egyptian administrative solar calendar, and presumably the basis for the 13th-century BC Jewish lunar calendar), and (b) the fact that the modern surviving small community of Samaritans did not reveal the calculations underlying their lunar calendar (preserving the Egyptian reckoning) to outsiders until the 1960s.
Paul Solomon
Solomon suggests that the second coming of Christ does not only relate to Jesus's return but also to the Christ consciousness which he possessed. The Second Coming is then portrayed as the birth of another person who, similar to Jesus, exemplifies the Christ consciousness. This person, who is referred to as John of Peniel, will then cause those already living to elevate to an equal level, enabling them to achieve Christ consciousness. Solomon claims that Peniel is the reincarnation of John the Apostle and that his purpose is to end the duality and separation of man. Solomon has also suggested that Peniel will only appear on a global scale when confronted with the figure of the Antichrist. Confronting this Antichrist figure, he will help to reveal further aspects of Earth's history, as well as the history of pre-Earth events.
Chronology of Jesus
The date of birth of Jesus of Nazareth is not stated in the gospels or in any secular text, but most scholars assume a date of birth between 6 BC and 4 BC. Two main methods have been used to estimate the year of the birth of Jesus: one based on the accounts of his birth in the gospels with reference to King Herod's reign, and another based on subtracting his stated age of "about 30 years" from the time when he began preaching () in "the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar" (): the two methods indicate a date of birth before Herod's death in 4 BC, and a date of birth around 2 BC, respectively.
Second Coming
It is the traditional view of Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, preserved from the early Church, that the second coming will be a sudden and unmistakable incident, like "a flash of lightning". They hold the general view that Jesus will not spend any time on the earth in ministry or preaching. They also agree that the ministry of the Antichrist will take place right before the Second Coming.
Jesus in Ahmadiyya Islam
The movement believe the interpretation of "finality" that is upheld by the mainstream Islamist view, paradoxes the Hadith concerning the second advent of Jesus altogether. For instance if Jesus is expected to return physically, as contemporary Islamic scholars uphold, it would be completely implausible considering that at the same time it is impossible for any Prophet to come after the Prophet Muhammed.