Can the time of Christ's return be known or calculated, or is the hour deliberately hidden? And what does Scripture say of his coming, the judgment, and the resurrection?
19 verses are cited on this page. Each one links to its chapter in the Greek text.
...this Jesus... shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven.Acts 1:11
He will return in the same manner he ascended, visibly and bodily, not merely in spirit.
For as lightning cometh out of the east, and appeareth even into the west: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.Matthew 24:27
His coming (parousia) will be as unmistakable and universal as lightning across the sky. (See the parousia word study.)
...the Lord himself shall come down from heaven... and the dead who are in Christ shall rise first.1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
A public, glorious descent, with the resurrection of the dead.
Behold, he cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see him.Revelation 1:7
Every eye will see him; the coming is not hidden or private.
But of that day and hour no one knoweth, no, not the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.Matthew 24:36
The day and hour are known to the Father alone; date-setting claims a knowledge Christ says no creature has.
But of that day or hour no man knoweth, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.Mark 13:32
Christ places the date outside what is given to be known, and includes himself in the saying as to his human knowledge. Every attempt to date the return runs against this verse first.
Watch ye therefore, because you know not what hour your Lord will come.Matthew 24:42-44
The command is to watch precisely because the hour is unknown.
It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in his own power.Acts 1:7
Christ refuses even the apostles the times and seasons.
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.Revelation 20:1-3
The binding is the question. If it is still future, the Church now lives before it. If it began at the cross, then this is the age we are in, and the chain is the reason the nations can be preached to at all.
And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead lived not, till the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.Revelation 20:4-6
Read as a coming earthly kingdom this requires two resurrections separated by a thousand years. Read of the souls already reigning with Christ, which is what the verse says of them, the first resurrection is baptism or death in Christ and the second is the general one.
Or how can any one enter into the house of a strong man, and rifle his goods, unless he first bind the strong man?Matthew 12:29
Christ describes his own ministry as the binding of the strong one, and he speaks of it as already happening. That is the same image Revelation uses, and it dates the binding rather than leaving it open.
Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.John 12:31-32
Now, at the cross. The casting out of the prince of this world and the drawing of all nations are named as one event, which is what a bound strong one and a preached gospel look like together.
...all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life.John 5:28-29
A bodily resurrection of all, to life or to judgment, by deeds.
...for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.1 Corinthians 15:20-23
The resurrection of the body, Christ the firstfruits, then those who are his at his coming.
And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty... he shall separate them.Matthew 25:31-46
The general judgment at his coming, sorting all the nations.
And I saw a great white throne, and one sitting upon it. And the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire.Revelation 20:11-15
Judged according to their works, and the books are opened before the book of life is consulted. Whatever else the passage settles, it does not describe a judgment in which what a man did is beside the point.
Christ will return visibly and bodily in glory (Acts 1:11; Revelation 1:7) to judge all and raise the dead (John 5:28-29; Matthew 25:31-46). But the day and hour belong to the Father alone (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7), so every attempt to date the end presumes against Christ's own words. The Church confesses in the Creed that "he shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead", and bids the faithful to watch and be ready rather than to calculate.