Where does the Bible say Jesus will return a third time?
Question:
I've been a fan of Bible.ca for along time. One question that haunts me is this: With Matthew 24 fulfilled (I do believe this) where does God's word tell us Christ will come a third time? ( 1. birth - 2. A.D. 70 -3. ?) and what about passages like Ecclesiastes 1:4 "[One] generation passeth away, and [another] generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever"?
Answer:
I disagree that all of Matthew 24 is referring to the destruction of Jerusalem. What is being described and how Christians are to behave are quite different before verse 36 than from verse 36 to the end of Matthew 25. For details see:
In regards to Ecclesiastes 1:4, the Hebrew usage of "forever" is not exactly the same as the English usage of "forever." We tend to use "forever" to mean without end. They used it to mean a long time without a foreseeable endpoint. You can see this in the same chapter because Ecclesiastes 1:10 says it was forever since the Creation, but there was a definite start to the world. See: Does the word "forever" in Ecclesiastes 1:4 mean "everlasting?" for details.
What you are advocating is typically called Preterism. I have several good articles on this belief system, but Has the Second Coming of Jesus Already Occurred? is a good introduction. For more details on why Preterism is false, see Preterism.
