What Does the Bible Say About the Second Coming of Jesus?
Short answer
Jesus said his return will be visible to everyone at once, "as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west," not a secret or local event (Matthew 24:27). He described the Son of Man coming "on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" to gather his people (24:30-31), but said no one, not even the angels or the Son himself in his earthly ministry, knows the exact day or hour (24:36). His parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 makes the point directly: stay ready in advance, because the timing is not given.
One afternoon, Jesus left the temple in Jerusalem and made a prediction his disciples could not have found more shocking: not one stone of the massive complex would be left standing on another (Matthew 24:2). Some of those stones weighed hundreds of tons. The disciples wanted a timeline.
Instead, Jesus gave them warnings about what would happen before his return, a description of what his return itself would look like, and a story about ten women waiting for a wedding that would not begin on their schedule. Taken together, Matthew 24 and 25 form Jesus' longest single teaching on the end of the age. He delivered it to four disciples on the Mount of Olives, just days before his crucifixion (Mark 13:3).
The temple was destroyed almost exactly as he said it would be, within the lifetime of people who heard him say it. The second half of what he described, his own visible return, has not happened yet, and Jesus was explicit that even he did not know the day or the hour it would happen (Matthew 24:36).
What Did Jesus Predict About the Temple's Destruction?
Herod's temple in Jerusalem was one of the ancient world's most impressive buildings, faced with white stone blocks historians estimate at roughly 20 meters long. Pointing at that structure, Jesus told his disciples, "there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down" (Matthew 24:2). The disciples asked two related questions: when this would happen, and what sign would mark his coming and the end of the age (24:3).
In 70 AD, roughly forty years later, Roman forces under Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple during the Jewish revolt, leveling it in a way ancient historians describe as strikingly literal. Jesus never told the disciples exactly when. He told them what to watch for instead.
What Signs Did Jesus Say Would Come Before the End?
Jesus listed several warning signs a reader could mistake for the end itself: false messiahs, wars, famines, and earthquakes (Matthew 24:4-8). He was direct about the danger of over-reading them. "See that you are not alarmed," he said, "for this must take place, but the end is not yet" (24:6).
He called these events "the beginning of birth pains" (24:8), a comparison that names real, painful events without claiming any single one of them signals the end has arrived. Jesus also warned of persecution against his followers and false prophets who would lead many astray (24:9-11), and said the gospel would be preached to the whole world before the end finally comes (24:14).
How Did Jesus Describe His Second Coming?
Jesus was careful to rule out a quiet or private return. False messiahs would claim Christ had appeared secretly, "in the wilderness" or "in the inner rooms" (Matthew 24:26), and Jesus told his followers not to believe it. His actual return, he said, "will be as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west" (24:27), visible everywhere at once rather than a rumor to chase down in one location.
Matthew 24:30 describes it directly: "they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," sending angels "with a loud trumpet call" to gather his people "from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (24:31). The language draws on Daniel 7:13-14, where a figure "like a son of man" receives eternal authority directly from God, tying Jesus' own words to a prophecy his Jewish audience already knew.
Why Did Jesus Say No One Knows the Day or Hour?
After describing what his return would look like, Jesus stated a limit on the knowledge even he had access to: "concerning that day and hour no one knows, not the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36). He compared the moment to the days of Noah, when people went on eating, drinking, and marrying right up until the flood came and swept them away, "and they were unaware until the flood came" (24:38-39). The comparison is not about wickedness alone.
It is about people who kept living ordinary life without expecting anything to interrupt it. Jesus followed the warning with a direct instruction: "stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming" (24:42).
What Is the Parable of the Ten Virgins About?
Matthew 25:1-13 tells a story set at a first-century Jewish wedding, where ten young women wait to escort a bridegroom to the marriage feast, each carrying an oil lamp. Five bring extra oil. Five do not.
The bridegroom is delayed, all ten fall asleep, and at midnight a cry goes up: "the bridegroom is here! Come out to meet him" (25:6). The five without extra oil find their lamps going out and beg to borrow from the others, who refuse, since sharing would leave everyone without enough.
While the unprepared five go to buy more oil, the bridegroom arrives, the prepared five go in with him to the feast, and the door is shut. When the other five return and knock, the answer they get is final: "I do not know you" (25:12).
What Does the Parable of the Ten Virgins Mean?
Jesus states the point directly in the closing line: "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour" (Matthew 25:13). All ten virgins believed the bridegroom was coming. All ten fell asleep waiting, which the parable does not treat as the failure.
The difference was extra oil, brought in advance, before anyone knew exactly when it would be needed. Oil cannot be borrowed at the last minute in the story, a detail that makes readiness something each person has to carry for themselves rather than something they can pick up from someone else once the moment arrives. The parable sits directly after the warning about Noah's flood and directly before the parable of the talents, in a section built entirely around the same instruction: stay ready, because the exact timing is not given.
Key Bible verses
- "There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down." — Matthew 24:2
- "For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man." — Matthew 24:27
- But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. — Matthew 24:36
- Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. — Matthew 24:42
- Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. — Matthew 25:13
Frequently asked questions
What does the Bible say about the second coming of Jesus?
Jesus described his return as visible to everyone at once, "as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west" (Matthew 24:27), not a private or hidden event. He said the Son of Man would come "on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (24:30), and that no one, including Jesus himself in his earthly ministry, knew the exact day or hour (24:36).
Did Jesus' prediction about the temple's destruction come true?
Yes. Roman forces destroyed Jerusalem and its temple in 70 AD, roughly forty years after Jesus predicted that not one stone would be left on another (Matthew 24:2), a prediction ancient historians describe as fulfilled with striking literalness.
What is the meaning of the parable of the ten virgins?
Ten women wait for a delayed bridegroom, but only five bring enough oil for their lamps to last. When he finally arrives, the five without extra oil are shut out. Jesus draws the point directly: stay ready, "for you know neither the day nor the hour" (Matthew 25:13).
Why could the wise virgins not share their oil?
The text says sharing would leave all ten without enough (Matthew 25:9), and the parable never treats that refusal as unkind. The point is that readiness is something each person has to carry in advance, not something transferable at the last minute.
Does the Bible say anyone knows when Jesus will return?
No. Jesus stated plainly that "no one knows, not the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36), and followed it with a direct instruction to stay watchful rather than try to calculate a date.
What are the signs Jesus said would happen before the end?
Jesus listed false messiahs, wars, famines, earthquakes, persecution of believers, and false prophets (Matthew 24:4-11), but called these "the beginning of birth pains" rather than the end itself (24:8), warning against assuming any single event marks the final moment.