Predictions of the Second Coming

Predictions of the Second Coming

Blaine Robison, M.A.

Published 28 July 2025; Revised 17 December 2025

Scripture: Unless otherwise indicated Bible translation of quoted versions is by the author of this article. Other Bible versions may be quoted. Click here for Abbreviations of Bible Versions.

Sources: Bibliographic data for sources cited may be found at the end of the article. Citations for Mishnah-Talmud tractates are from the Soncino Babylonian Talmud (1948); found at Halakhah.com. Click here for Talmud Abbreviations. Citations for Josephus, the first century Jewish historian (Yosef ben Matityahu), are from The Works of Flavius Josephus (c. 75–99 A.D.) trans. William Whiston (1737). Online.

Special Terms: In order to emphasize the Hebraic and Jewish nature of Scripture and its central figure I use the terms Tanakh (Old Testament), Torah (Law), Besekh (New Testament), Yeshua (Jesus), and Messiah (Christ).

Christians have endured much speculation from prognosticators on when Yeshua will return. The church fathers did not engage in the date-setting common to later generations, but simply forecast the likely century Yeshua would return based on the 6,000-year view of history. Indeed, the beliefs of the church fathers argue against the pretribulationist theory that the early church espoused an "any moment" view of the Rapture. See my article The Rapture, which rebuts the Dispensational doctrine.

If Yeshua could come at any moment, then saying that he will come when 6,000 years are completed would be utterly foolish. However, beginning in the Middle Ages predictions became more specific. George Lyons recounts the following list of false predictions of the Second Coming: ("False Alarms: The End is Near…Again," Illustrated Bible Life, Vol. 22, Number 4. Word Action Publishers: July 25, 1999, p. 32.)

● During the 12th century, the Franciscan scholar Joachim of Fiore set 1260 and 1369 as dates for the Second Coming.

● The Taborites, Bohemian opponents of the Roman Catholic Church, put forward three dates: 1420, 1525, and 1560.

● Early in the 19th century, Methodist Bible commentator Adam Clarke speculated, based on Daniel 8, that 1866 was a likely end-time date.

● Baptist preacher William Miller mistakenly predicted the Second Coming for 1844.

● Between 1861 and 1908 Michael Baxter set dozens of doomsday dates.

● The years of the great World Wars generated several predictions of the end--notably 1917 and between 1941 and 1948.

● In 1970, Hal Lindsay's Late Great Planet Earth predicted that the Second Coming would occur within a generation – "forty years or so" – after the founding of the modern state of Israel on May 14, 1948. His particular understanding of the Second Coming as a two-phase event presumed that there would be a secret Rapture of believers in 1981 and the Second Coming proper in 1988. One false alarm did not cure Lindsay of date-setting. He currently predicts 2007 as the likely year for the Second Coming--40 years after the 1967 Arab-Israeli "Six-Day War." Thus, he expected the Rapture in 2000.

● In the mid-1970s, Cyril Hutchinson suggested that the so-called "Jupiter Effect"- a rare alignment of the nine planets of our solar system on the same side of the sun expected in 1982 – just might be a good time for the Second Coming.

● In 1982, Benjamin Creme announced that the Christ had already reappeared as a Pakistani named Maitreya in 1977 and was living in London.

● In 1988, Edgar C. Whisenant gave the most precise predictions of the Lord's return: actually a three-phase Second Coming – September 1988, March 1992, and September 1995.

● In 1992, "Missions for the Coming Days" published ads in several United States newspapers predicting the Rapture on October 28, 1992.

● In 1994, Harold Camping announced that he was "99 percent sure" that the end of the world would occur on September 6, 1994.

● Also in 1994 Gary L. Cutler suggested a date between 1995 and 1997 as a good possibility for the Second Coming.

● In 1992, Marilyn J. Agee set the date for the Rapture as May 31, 1998.

It is ironic that so many in church history have thought they could guess the date of the Lord's return even though Yeshua declined to satisfy the apostles' curiosity on the matter (Acts 1:7). Even the book of Revelation, which is concerned with the end of the age, does not reveal the greatest mystery of all – when those things will occur. The Father keeps His own secret counsels (Deut 29:29; Matt 24:36).

Attempting to deduce the date from feast calendars or "biblical coding," engaging in "newspaper exegesis" of current events or claiming special knowledge is engaging in folly of the highest order. The saints should ignore such false prophets. The futile efforts to deduce the date for the Second Coming reflects at least a failure to believe the Word of God and at worst an arrogant confidence in human reason. No one knows the date or can know the date (Mark 13:32) — end of argument.

Suggested Reading

Michael Brown, Not Afraid of the Antichrist: Why We Don't Believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Chosen Books, 2019.

Robert H. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation: A Biblical Examination of Posttribulationism. Zondervan Pub. House, 1973.

Bob Gundry, First the Antichrist. Baker Books, 1997.

Dan Juster & Keith Intrater, Israel, the Church, and the Last Days. Destiny Image Publishers, 2003.

Dan Juster, Revelation: The Passover Key. Destiny Image Publishers, 1991.

George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope. William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1956.