Has Jesus already come back since His ascension?

Last modified 2020-09-28 .............. Total: 7 pages



The answer, in brief, is YES. But it is not the last coming of the Lord

The New testament speaks of the "coming" (which happened in 70 AD, a coming in wrath and judgment against the churches two main enemies, Jerusalem and Rome) in several places and by virtually every New Testament writer. Just do a search on:

The day of the Lord, day of wrath, the day, when He comes, it is the last hour, etc.

Jesus WILL physically come again (Last coming) at the end of this age (the church age, the Kingdom age, the millennium).

When He comes for the last coming, over a hundred thousand years from now (see my link "Is Jesus coming back soon") it will look like this:

Acts 1:9-11 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

Revelation 20:7-11 And when the thousand years (not a literal 1000 but a "fullness" or "complete" number) are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 20:8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 20:9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city (the church, NOT O.T.Jerusalem): and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

This is NOT how Jesus came back in 70 AD.

The timetable for history is set out in 1 Cor 15:22.

1 Cor 15:22For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when (or AFTER) He has abolished all rule and all authority and power (which is the age we are in now, i.e. the millennium). 25For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

For a fuller explanation of this timetable, and some of what it entails, see my link off the home page

Is Jesus physically coming back (the so called 2nd coming) any time soon? The Nay Sayers

There are a few verses that muddy the waters here, and would tend to make us believe the pre-mill case. These are:

Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

However, we know that all these verses pertain to 70 AD by the context:

Matthew 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, (1) there will the eagles (Roman ensigns) be gathered together.

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(1) the old covenant that was "obsolete and ready to disappear" Heb 8:13, the dead and stinking carcase of Jewry with their dead animals in the temple, type of Christ no longer needed now that Christ (the fulfillment of those types) has come.

Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This (1) generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.(2)

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(1) 30 AD generation, that Jesus was addressing at the time, the one He said "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for ME but weep for your children", this is contrary to Hal Lindsey's we are the terminal generation.
(2) A generation in the Bible is 40 years (Joshua 5:6 and Hebrews 3:9,10). 40 plus 30 = 70 AD.

So let us examine these verses one by one.

Matthew 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

First of all, lets keep in mind the context:

Matthew 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.

How many people would see His coming, if he came in the desert, or if He came into the secret chambers (of the Temple, which had many secret chambers, and inner rooms). Answer: not very many. But if all Jerusalem were on fire, including the tall temple mount, it would become as well known (seen) perceived, realized, as a bolt of lightning could be seen, for miles around.

One way Jesus coming in Judgment against the Jews resembled "lightning" was by the way everybody heard of it (i.e. by the thunder). At this time, the entire Roman empire was in turmoil. It was in its death throes. Every vassal state of Rome was wondering if the current rebellions going on would succeed. Is this the time for us to rebell too, to try to throw off the roman yoke? Everyone had their ear to the ground to hear the latest rumblings. When they heard that Titus had defeated the Jews at Jerusalem, they all knew, "OK, maybe now is not the time to rebell, maybe the empire isn't yet dead". Then when Jews and Christians across the empire heard that the temple had been torn down, "not one stone, left upon another" they remembered Jesus prophecy in Matt 24. When they saw the slave markets across the Roman empire glutted with Jews for sale they were mindful of:

Deut 28:63“It shall come about that as the LORD delighted over you to prosper you, and multiply you, so the LORD will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. 28:64“Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. 28:65“Among those nations you shall find no rest, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 28:66“So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you will be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life. 28:67“In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you will see. (1) 68“The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I spoke to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, (2) but there will be no buyer.” (3)

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(1) see Josephus quotations about the siege of Jersualem, also "egypt" here is Spiritual Egypt (which could be Rome in 70 AD or any hostile nation to the Jews), not to be taken literally, even as "sodom and egypt" in the book of Revelation is not to be take literally. If you Dispys are going to force it to be taken literally, then when was Deut 28:68 EVER fulfilled in history? Oh, you want to push it off into the future, as you do with all of Revelation and Matt 24. OK, do you REALLY think Jews sometime in the future are going to "there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone" or , "And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.” REALLY, human slaves being bought and sold in the civilized world in the future? No, this was fulfilled in 70 AD, and anyone familiar with the torah (Jewish christians and the Jews around the empire) would have recognized it. God had "visited" His people in wrath and judgment. And this was not done in a corner, Matthew 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
(2) Literally, the Jews were forced to be sold as slaves, they didn't "offer" themselves, but given the choice of being run through with a Roman sword back in 70 AD in Jerusalem during the siege, or being sold as a slave, you would have gladly "offered" yourself as a slave to be sold.
(3) This is just to highlight that the slave markets would be "glutted" with Jewish slaves. Of course many of them had buyers, otherwise it would have not been profitable for the Romans to keep them alive after the siege and feed them and transport them. If you literally have no buyer, do you get to go free? No, even if they sold for pennies on the dollar, or were given as gifts to friends, or traded for favors, they didn't get to go free.


Another way Jesus coming in Judgment against the Jews resembled "lightning" was by the way everybody round about Jerusalem in 70 AD would have seen the smoke of the city going up and the fires by night. How far can you literally see lightening flash? 10 miles, 20 miles? So, the environs about Jerusalem would have seen the judgment of God upon the "great city" (not the Holy city, which is the church) of Revelation.

A possible third way that His coming in Judgment against he Great City was seen like lightning, is described in Jospehus: Wars of the Jews Book VI (William Whiston edition page 582): "Thus there was a star resembling a sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year. Thus also, before the Jews’ rebellion, and before those commotions which preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus, [Nisan, Since Josephus still uses the Syro-Macedonian month Xanthicus, for the Jewish month Nisan. this eighth, or, as Nicephorus reads it, this ninth of Xauthicus, or Nisan, was almost a week before the Passover] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright daytime; which light lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskilful, but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes as to portend those events that followed immediately upon it."



To be continued. For an explanation of:

Matthew 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Matthew 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.