Jesus' Failed Second Coming Prophecy & What this Means for Christianity

[Rational Agnostic]

The central doctrine of Christianity states that Jesus will return in his Father's glory with his angels to judge the living and the dead, gathering up his elect to take them to spend an eternity in heaven with him, while casting the unbelievers into eternal hellfire. However, what many Christians do not realize is that when reading the Bible, we find that Jesus himself actually gave a very specific timeframe of when this apocalyptic event was supposed to occur. And, as it turns out, this timeframe has long expired. Jesus predicted that he would return, and that the apocalypse and final judgment, would occur within the lifetimes of his disciples, certainly no later than 100 AD.

One example Scripture where Jesus mentions this is found in Mark 13:9-30, where (referring to the final judgment), Jesus states:

“You must be on your guard. You will be handed over to the local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of me you will stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. “Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

“When you see ‘the abomination that causes desolation’ standing where it does not belong—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down or enter the house to take anything out. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that this will not take place in winter, because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world, until now—and never to be equaled again.
“If the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen, he has shortened them. At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. So be on your guard; I have told you everything ahead of time.

“But in those days, following that distress,

“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’

“At that time people will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And he will send his angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens.

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

A common explanation that apologists and pastors give to explain away this passage is that "this generation" referred to in verse 30 is not actually referring to the generation alive at Jesus' time, but instead is referring to a future generation, or perhaps defining "generation" to mean something different than its usual sense. But when we examine other passages in the Bible where Jesus makes this same prophecy, we see that clearly, this is not the case. Jesus is in fact referring to the literal generation alive at the time he was. Let's take a look at another instance where Jesus makes this same prediction of his return, but even more explicitly states that it will be within his disciples' lifetimes: Matthew 10:17-23. Notice that the language used in Matthew 10:17-22 EXACTLY mirrors the language used in Mark 13:9-13, which is very clearly a chapter about end times, so there is no ambiguity about what Jesus is referring to here. He is very clearly returning to his Second Coming and the subsequent end of the world. Mark 10:17-23 states:

Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues. On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. Truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

Here we can see very clearly that "this generation" referred to in Mark 13 is in fact the generation alive at Jesus' time, and that Jesus explicitly and unambiguously predicted that he would return within the first century A.D.

This failed prophecy is also found in Matthew 16:27-28, in which Jesus states:

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

“Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

So, clearly, the second coming of Christ and subsequent Apocalypse that was supposed to occur in the first century never happened, and Jesus was wrong. Yet, more than 2000 years later, billions of Christians around the world still earnestly believe that it will occur in the future, and are not aware that this prophecy already failed. The truth is, there is no reason to expect that this second coming will ever happen, and is anything more than a fairy tale. If Jesus was wrong about something as key and central to Christianity as this, there is no reason to trust that Jesus was right about anything else he said, and no reason to believe that the Christian god exists outside the imaginations of those who believe in him.

[Sioux See Q]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #29]

You do not agree with my interpretation. Ok.

Yes I have verses. As to what the deity thought of kings, read 1 Sam. 8: 10-22. This does appear, however, to be another pump fake where the Israelites are rewarded for disobedience. Over and over in the Old Testament YHWH tells them what they did was bad and then rewards them. Eg Abraham and Sarah in Egypt. Here we see he tells Samuel to tell them the truth about royalty. Not suprisingly the people insist so they can be like their neighbors and also not surprisingly the kings lead them into their golden age and ultimately final rule over the whole earth. See below.
In Rev 21: 24-26 the kings bring their glory into the new Jerusalem.

[JehovahsWitness]

In Rev 21: 24-26 the kings bring their glory into the new Jerusalem.

WHO ARE THE KINGS MENTIONED AT REVELATION 21 VERSE 24?

The "Kings" mentioned in Revalation Chapter 21 verse 24 are not the High ranking non-believers and pagan kings of secular governments since they are prophecied as a class to complete destruction (see Revelation 19 verse 18). The Kings of Revelation are the chosen spirit anointed Christians resurrected to heavenly life to rule over the earth with Jesus (see Rev 5 v 9 & 10)


JEHOVAH'S WITNESS



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[Sioux See Q]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #32]

The kings of the earth are those whose bloodlines are traced throughout the Bible.

In Rev. 22:14 They are the ones who eat from the tree of life and those who wash their robes (the servants) will be blessed.

You have skipped part of the story. The bride was formed to create the church and then rule for 1000 years, which it did. During this time, Islam grew and established its assembly on the Temple Mount. This is the new god. That’s a fact in near eastern religions. The new god builds his home on the grave of the old. Remember God promised Hagar that her son would become a great nations of kings, too. Since 1071 it has been the new Jerusalem. The kings of the earth rule from their cube made up of precious jewels. The walls are Christians. The gates are the tribes. Read the description yourself.

We can debate whether this has already occurred, I.e. the when, but the what is not up for debate. The gentiles are outside the walls of the holy cube I’m sorry to say. They are the dogs. This is not my interpretation, it is what Jesus called gentiles and what Revelation describes.

PS most of Revelation describes the coming destruction to the first century Christians so they would be willing to martyr themselves for the church. That second coming of Jesus occurred in 70 ad and the millennia ended 1000 years after that. Death, Satan, Hell, were all disposed of then and what remains is the cube and everything outside it. Nice, huh?

This is the story. It isn’t to provide you perfection eternally. It is to keep these special bloodlines in power by divine right. If everyone knew this they’d be in trouble. That’s why they encourage people to spend their lives arguing over specks of dust and not the dirt bags ruling over them. I know this goes way beyond what you wrote, but the only time Christians were to reign was in the first millennia so that Islam could grow.

[boatsnguitars]

We need to take actions by people seriously, we don't need to take their claims seriously. Let's face it, religious claims are laughable and childish.
However, the actions of the ridiculous religious people who kill, maim and torture ought to be taken seriously.

[TRANSPONDER]

We need to take actions by people seriously, we don't need to take their claims seriously. Let's face it, religious claims are laughable and childish.
However, the actions of the ridiculous religious people who kill, maim and torture ought to be taken seriously.

Indeed. It would be no more than a petty annoyance that a number of people believed in a flat earth or ET technology built the pyramids, unless they becom influential. Who wants flat earth taught in Geography alongside the globe as 'Teach the controversy'? And (almost too late) Daaniken's teachings became a real nuisance for science (nearly as much as YE Creationism) and the effects are still felt.

Atheism (and atheists, generally) do not mind if there are religions. They can be quite entertaining as artforms, but their influence is a problem, and never more so than right now. Though I do perceive that many of their false claims have been debunked, even though the believers trot them out. We saw the 'sea shells on mountains' argument not long ago.

[William]

[Replying to boatsnguitars in post #28]

I think they need to be taken seriously because millions of people do. I believe they are made up, but I have to deal with the repercussions of what others believe. This includes their wars, superstitions, etc…. I used to consider myself a Christian but when Trump people started to use the Bible as their authority, I decided I better study the book more because I wasn’t reading it like them. Truth be told, most of them aren’t, but I was sincere and I wanted to understand. I also studied other ancient near eastern religions and the Old Testament for three years. At the end, I realized they were all written by the religious elites for the religious and political elites and Trump and company are a perfect recent example. But I understand this is just another conspiracy theory and I will never be able to prove it. Christians can’t entertain these ideas at all so I quit talking and thinking about it. But even though you and I may agree that there is no second coming or third coming, millions of others think there is. And they (being led by the elites who know it’s a scam) seem to be doing their best to make it happen.

I agree that you have indeed brought conspiracy theory into the discussion - perhaps in a more legible manner than biblical writings - pointing to relative recent events such as the utterances of Donald Trump.

Others in the thread have posited (pointed out) such possible occurrences as writings attributed to Paul-Once-Saul as "forgeries" and such didn't escape my notice while reading that this idea also falls under "conspiracy theory".

I have my own suspicions which also fall under that heading, which go along the linear lines of.

1. Religion is an arm of politics (thus too, religious stories) - an invention of humans rather than of God/gods.
2. In earlier times stories invented were believable to the listeners because no science had escaped the suppression of politics long enough to establish.
3. The beliefs may well have reflected the underlying beliefs of the politicians who wanted those they ruled over to have the same beliefs.
4. As the passage of time unfolded, certain utterances promising salvation (salvation from the political systems no less) passed the use-by date and had to be tinkered with. The task would have been easy enough before the invention of the printing press as human personalities don't have the greatest talent for remembering things, which is one reason for why things are written down.
5. During that unfolding passage of timeline, the actual leadership did not change with the passing of empires. Most of these Families maintained their ruling roles to ensure legacies did not die with the former empires they built and were subsequently "destroyed". That is why, although the Roman Empire is only seen to be ruins, even the architecture remained, as did the offices (Senators et al).
6. Enter Trump, telling the world what the world all really "knows" (strongly suspects) and appearing to be somewhat "foolish/clownish" alongside this serious conspiracy theory that there is stinky stuff in the white-houses of the world - the Politics.

I ask myself "why?" and "why now?" while the probable answer resounding within my thought processes is that throughout this whole history, the apparent overwhelming lust for power over other human beings has created a monster out of those very human beings.
But wait! There is more!
It is the very human beings being controlled who forced this role upon leadership, effectively "controlling" the leaders through obedience...something of a logical contradiction when taken at face value.

But if we learned not to "rubbish" the idea of conspiracy, would we then be enabled to recognise it for the true thing that it is, and proceed to work things out?

The way I see today's Politics, the leadership knows not what to do about fixing the monster they - not so much "made" but are themselve "made of" and is it nigh time to look at ourselves honestly and cease all conspiracy since it appears that The Father (Biblical) Jesus spoke about hasn't yet sent the order for The Son's return (to fix that which human beings appear unable to fix for themselves)...and perhaps The Father holds back because He believes Humanity has the power to sort it out for themselves - perhaps for no other reason than how embarrassing a human personality would be at believing in politically inspired religious stories and the empty promises therein, as being "gospel".

Perhaps Trump isn't telling us the half of it but he has told enough that the highly suspicious (Conspiracy Theorists) are getting angry and wanting heads to roll (from the role) - but these are the "bottom dwellers" of human society - those who traditionally come from the lowlands of social structure and are already angry because of that...but also more inclined to knee-jerk violent reaction rather than well thought out attainable alternatives.
Historically when heads roll, other heads (holding the axes) then take up "the role" and wouldn't ya know it! Nothing at all has actually changed!

I hear Trump saying something along the lines of..."hey stupid monster - what you have suspected has been happening is actually exactly what has been happening so what are ya'll ganna DO about it?"

Shall we DO the usual, or perhaps try something else for a change?

[boatsnguitars]

Imagine all the religious proclamations and prophesy over the centuries. None have come true.
Only children's tales and grim commands exist from ancient religions, besides a little conventional wisdom sprinkled in with the crazy.
Religion is no longer useful to humanity.

[JehovahsWitness]

WHO ARE THE KINGS MENTIONED AT REVELATION 21 VERSE 24?

The "Kings" mentioned in Revalation Chapter 21 verse 24 are not the High ranking non-believers and pagan kings of secular governments since they are prophecied as a class to complete destruction (see Revelation 19 verse 18). The Kings of Revelation are the chosen spirit anointed Christians resurrected to heavenly life to rule over the earth with Jesus (see Rev 5 v 9 & 10)


JEHOVAH'S WITNESS



RELATED POSTS

What is the New Jerusalem spoken of in the book of Revelation?
viewtopic.php?p=1021283#p1021283

To learn more please go to other posts related to...

GOD'S KINGDOM , THE 144, 000 and ...THE BOOK OF REVELATION

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #32]

The kings of the earth are those whose bloodlines are traced throughout the Bible.

Do you have any scriptural support for this reading ?

[Sioux See Q]

[Replying to JehovahsWitness in post #38]

Chapter 5 of Revelation is referring to what happens before the 1000 year period after Jesus returns. The story follows a traditional jewish wedding where the couple is engaged and the groom returns to his father's house for forty days to prepare a place for his bride. Jesus went to his father's house for forty years to prepare a place for his bride. When he returned in 70AD the wedding ceremony and feast were held (the destruction of Jerusalem). This is described in Rev. 19 as the marriage supper of the lamb. Then the bride rules and reigns with christ on earth for 1000 years. Then Jesus returns to the father and the new jerusalem comes down from heaven and the "kings of the earth" bring their glory to it. The bride (the church) has finished her reign at this point. (interestingly in 1070 ad at the battle of manzikert the church was defeated by the muslims.) The deity and the lamb are on the throne in the new jerusalem. There is no scriptural support for the idea that believers are kings of the earth. Throughout the bible "the earth" usually means the surrounding areas. Since the new jerusalem is described as a 1400 sq. mile cube it follows that "the earth" would be that region and "the kings" would be the kings.

[Sioux See Q]

[Replying to William in post #36]

I'm sure the ruling elite wants to believe the stories are true-that they have the divine right to rule-so that they continue their little power trips, but that doesn't mean they are true. If they know the stories aren't true, does that imply a conspiracy? It would seem to, but who knows? Who knows what really goes on? Not me.

I agree that we allow them their power. There are more of us than them. What are we going to do about it? Probably nothing because as you pointed out, the one who wins that battle will become just like them. I guess it's the nature of the beast, so to speak.