Second Coming of Christ
In Old Testament times the idea that in due course God would send his Messiah (= "Anointed One") made its appearance and this thought continued in the intertestamental period. The term could be applied to Gentiles, such as Cyrus ( Isa 45:1 ), but its characteristic use was for a great king whom God would send at the end of the world, a deliverer who would set God's people free from their oppressors. The Christians accepted this idea and built on it. They gave it a new twist when they spoke of Jesus as "the Christ, " "the Anointed One, " and saw him not only as having lived a life on earth here in time but as destined to return to the earth at the end of the age to set up God's final state of things. There was a difference from previous messianic expectations in that Jesus had lived out a life on earth so that the coming to which Christians looked forward was a second coming. And it was important that the one for whose second coming believers looked had already lived on earth and wrought redemption for all who believed in him.
The Teaching of Jesus. The greater part of Jesus' teaching concerned life here and now and the way people should live in the service of God. He drew attention to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies (e.g., Luke 4:21 ; cf. Matt 12:17-21 ), and clearly saw himself as sent by the Father to inaugurate the kingdom of God. Some have seen this as "realized eschatology, " the view that the present kingdom of God, established in the life and the teaching of Jesus, is the whole story (C. H. Dodd argued for this view). But this perspective overlooks the fact that Jesus certainly looked forward to a future "coming" when this world order would be done away and a completely new state of affairs would be inaugurated.
Thus he warned his hearers that anyone ashamed of him and his teaching would find the Son of Man ashamed of him "when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels" ( Mark 8:38 ). This teaching is given as something already accepted and it thus appears to be part of Jesus' teaching from earlier days. There is no point at which he ceases to teach other things and begins to enunciate teaching on his second coming. Right at the beginning Jesus taught that "the kingdom of God is near" ( Mark 1:15 ) and this may be held to imply the second coming for it was when that took place that the kingdom would be set up in its fullness. That he spoke more about his second coming than is recorded seems clear from the question the disciples asked him toward the end of his life: "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" ( Matt 24:3 ). Not much teaching about his return is recorded before this time, but these words show that Jesus had previously taught the disciples that he would come back. All three Synoptists record significant teaching about Jesus' coming again in the Olivet discourse.
The coming will be sudden and unexpected ( Matt 25:13 ; Luke 12:40 ), but when it happens it will be like lightning, obvious to all ( Matt 24:27 ; Luke 17:24 ). Jesus makes it clear that his coming will take place at a time when people will not be expecting it ( Matthew 24:36 Matthew 24:44 ). His call for watchfulness is important ( Matt 24:42-51 ), for it indicates that the coming of the Son of Man has decisive importance. Earlier there had been a request that the places of honor in the kingdom should be given to the sons of Zebedee. Jesus did not deny that there would be such places, but said they were for those for whom the Father had prepared them ( Matt 20:20-23 ). The call for watchfulness is surely related to the coming of the kingdom. When Jesus comes it will be too late to make preparations, so he exhorts his followers to be watchful, ready for his coming, whenever it should be. We should also bear in mind the teaching of the parable of the talents. When the Master returns there will be an accounting of what his people have done with the talents he has given them.
An important part of Jesus' teaching about his second coming is the truth that it will form a strong contrast with his first coming. Then he had been a poor man, despised by religious and secular authorities and indeed probably quite unknown to many people. But when he comes back he will be "coming in clouds with great power and glory" ( Mark 13:26 ). Something of his eminence is to be discerned from the fact that he will "gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the heavens" (v. 27); he will be seen "sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven" ( 14:62 ).