Predictions and claims for the Second Coming of Christ
The Second Coming is a Christian concept regarding the return of Jesus to Earth after his "first coming" and his believed ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The belief is based on messianic prophecies found in the canonical gospels and is part of most Christian eschatologies. Views about the nature of Jesus' Second Coming vary among Christian denominations and among individual Christians.
A number of specific dates have been predicted for the Second Coming. This list shows the dates and details of predictions from notable groups or individuals of when Jesus was, or is, expected to return. This list also contains dates specifically predicting Jesus' Millennium, though there are several theories on when the Millennium is believed to occur in relation to the Second Coming.
Past predictions
| Predicted date | Claimant | Description |
| 500 | Hippolytus of Rome, Sextus Julius Africanus, Irenaeus | These three Christian theologians predicted Jesus would return in the year 500. One prediction was based on the dimensions of Noah's ark. |
| 6 April 793 | Beatus of Liébana | The Spanish monk prophesied the second coming of Christ and the end of the world would take place that day to a crowd of people. |
| 1 January 1000 | Pope Sylvester II | The Millennium Apocalypse at the end of the 1st millennium. Various Christian clerics predicted the end of the world on this date. Following the failure of the 1 January 1000 prediction, some theorists proposed that the end would occur 1000 years after Jesus' death, instead of his birth. |
| 1260 | Joachim of Fiore | The Italian mystic determined that the Millennium would begin between 1200 and 1260. |
| 1370 | Jean de Roquetaillade | The Antichrist was predicted to come in 1366 and the Millennium would begin in 1368 or 1370. |
| 1504 | Sandro Botticelli | Believed he was living during the time of the Tribulation, and that the Millennium would begin in three and a half years from 1500. |
| 20 February 1524 | Johannes Stöffler | A planetary alignment in Pisces was seen by this astrologer as a sign of the Millennium. |
| 1524–1526 | Thomas Müntzer | 1525 would mark the beginning of the Millennium, according to this Anabaptist. |
| 19 October 1533 | Michael Stifel | This mathematician calculated that the Judgement Day would begin at 8:00 AM on this day. |
| 1673 | William Aspinwall | This Fifth Monarchist claimed the Millennium would begin by this year. |
| 1694 | Johann Jacob Zimmermann | Believed that Jesus would return and the world would end this year. |
| 1694 | John Mason and Johann Heinrich Alsted | Both claimed the Millennium would begin by this year. |
| 1700 | Henry Archer | Archer counted 1335 years from the end of the reign of Julian the Apostate, taking the 1335 days in Daniel 12:12 as years. |
| 1757 | Emanuel Swedenborg | In 1758 Swedenborg reported that the Last Judgment had taken place in the spiritual world in 1757, the year before his report. This was one of many events recounted in his works resulting from visions of Jesus Christ returned. He tells of almost daily interaction with Christ over the course of almost 30 years. His return is not in the flesh, but in His Holy Spirit. "Neither shall they say see here or see there, for behold, the kingdom of God is within you". |
| 1793–1795 | Richard Brothers | This retired sailor stated the Millennium would begin between 1793 and 1795. He was eventually committed to an insane asylum. |
| 25 December 1814 | Joanna Southcott | This 64-year-old self-described prophet claimed she was pregnant with the Christ child, and that he would be born on Christmas Day, 1814. She died on the day of her prediction, and an autopsy proved that she was not pregnant. |
| 15 September 1829 Sep 15 | George Rapp | Founder and leader of the Harmony Society, predicted that on 15 September 1829, the three and one half years of the Sun Woman would end and Christ would begin his reign on Earth. Dissension grew when Rapp's predictions went unfulfilled. In March 1832, a third of the group left and some began following a man named Bernhard Müller who claimed to be the Lion of Judah. Nevertheless, most of the group stayed and Rapp continued to lead them until he died on 7 August 1847. His last words to his followers were, "If I did not so fully believe, that the Lord has designated me to place our society before His presence in the land of Canaan, I would consider this my last." |
| 1836 | John Wesley | Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, foresaw the Millennium beginning this year. He wrote that Revelation 12:14 referred to the years 1058–1836, "when Christ should come". |
| 22 October 1844 | William Miller, Millerites | The fact that this failed to happen the way people were expecting was later referred to as the Great Disappointment. Some Millerites continued to set dates; others founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Advent Christian Church, which continue to expect a soon Second Coming but no longer set dates for it. Baha'is claim that Miller's prediction of the year 1844 was in fact calculated correctly, and refers to the advent of the Báb. |
| 7 August 1847 | George Rapp | Rapp, the founder of the Harmony Society, preached that Jesus would return in his lifetime, even as he lay dying on 7 August 1847. |
| 1861 | Joseph Morris | Morris told his followers not to plant crops because he firmly believed that "Christ will come tomorrow." |
| 1863 | John Wroe | The founder of the Christian Israelite Church calculated that the Millennium would begin this year. |
| 1874 | Charles Taze Russell | The first president of what is now the Watchtower Society of the Jehovah's Witnesses, calculated 1874 to be the year of Christ's Second Coming, and until his death taught that Christ was invisibly present, and ruling from the heavens from that date prophesied. Russell proclaimed Christ's invisible return in 1874, the resurrection of the saints in 1875, and predicted the end of the "harvest" and a rapture of the saints to heaven for 1878, and the final end of "the day of wrath" in 1914. 1874 was considered the end of 6,000 years of human history and the beginning of judgment by Christ. |
| 1890 | Wovoka | The founder of the Ghost Dance movement predicted in 1889 that the Millennium would occur in 1890. |
| 1891 | Joseph Smith, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints | In the History of the Church Volume 2, page 182, an eyewitnesses account of Joseph Smith's prophecy in 1835 is recorded as: "President Smith then stated that the meeting had been called, because God had commanded it; and it was made known to him by vision and by the Holy Spirit. He then gave a relation of some of the circumstances attending us while journeying to Zion--our trials, sufferings; and said God had not designed all this for nothing, but He had it in remembrance yet; and it was the will of God that those who went to zion, with a determination to lay down their lives, if necessary, should be ordained to the ministry, and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, or the coming of the Lord, which was nigh--even fifty-six years should wind up the scene." Though this was not a prediction from Joseph Smith, he stated, "I believe the coming of the Son of Man will not be any sooner than that time". According to FairMormon, an organization that responsds to criticism of Mormons, Smith believed no one knew the hour of the Second Coming. |
| 1901 | Catholic Apostolic Church | This church, founded in 1831, claimed that Jesus would return by the time the last of its 12 founding members died. The last member died in 1901. |
| 1914 | Jehovah's Witnesses | The "Second Coming" is important in the doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, although they do not use this term. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Christ's visible return will be at Armageddon. They believe that 1914 marked the beginning of Christ's invisible presence as the King of God's Kingdom, and the beginning of the last days of the human ruled system of society. They believe the signs Christ revealed about his return in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 began to occur starting in 1914. In a parallel Biblical account at Revelation 6, they believe the ride of the symbolic four horsemen began in the same year, and that the first rider on the white horse depicts the Christ. He goes forth to complete his conquest of the earth, while the rule by human leaders continues for a short while until they meet their end at Armageddon by the power of the Christ. |
| 1915 | John Chilembwe | This Baptist educator and leader of a rebellion in Nyasaland predicted the Millennium would begin this year. |
| 1917–1930 | Sun Myung Moon | The followers of Reverend Sun Myung Moon consider Reverend Moon to be the Lord of the Second Advent called by Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday at the age of 15 on a Korean mountainside. |
| 1930–1939 | Rudolf Steiner | Steiner described the physical incarnation of Christ as a unique event, but predicted that Christ would reappear in the etheric, or lowest spiritual, plane beginning in the 1930s. This would manifest in various ways: as a new spiritual approach to community life and between individuals; in more and more individuals discovering fully conscious access to the etheric plane ; and in Christ's appearance to groups of seekers gathered together. |
| 1935, 1943, 1972 and 1975 | Herbert W. Armstrong | Armstrong, Pastor-General and self-proclaimed "Apostle" of the Radio Church of God, and then the Worldwide Church of God, felt the return of Jesus Christ might be in 1975. Of particular note was the book 1975 in Prophecy! written by Armstrong and published by the Radio Church of God in 1956. Though, never explicitly stating a date in the booklet, the title led people to believe the date was the second coming. It was actively preached in sermons in the 1960s by all of his ministers that his church would "flee" to Petra, Jordan in 1972 and Christ would return 3 1/2 years later. After the failure to flee in 1972 Armstrong was careful not to set specific dates but claimed that Christ would return before he died. He died 16 January 1986. Armstrong had previously predicted in a 1934 edition of The Plain Truth magazine that Christ would return in 1936. After that prediction failed, he stated in a 1940 edition of The Plain Truth that "Christ will come after 3 1/2 years of tribulation in October 43. After those failed predictions and loss of members he moved his operation from Oregon to Pasadena, California. After Armstrong's death in 1986, his Worldwide Church of God and the empire he created slowly disintegrated, abandoning his beliefs and philosophies and eventually the name. His three college campuses and the majority of his Pasadena headquarter properties were closed and sold. His successors changed the name to Grace Communion International in 2009. |
| 21 June 1982 | Benjamin Creme | The followers of the New Age Theosophical guru Benjamin Creme, like Alice A. Bailey, believe the Second Coming will occur when Maitreya makes his presence on Earth publicly known—Crème believes Maitreya has been on Earth since 1977, living in secret. Creme put advertisements in many of the world's major newspapers in early 1982 stating that the Second Coming would occur on Monday, 21 June 1982, at which time Christ would announce his Second Coming on worldwide television When this event did not occur, Crème claimed that the "world is not yet ready to receive Maitreya"; his followers continue to believe it will happen "soon". |
| 1988 | Edgar C. Whisenant | Published a book, 88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be in 1988. When this didn't happen he wrote a follow-up book entitled "89 Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1989." |
| 6 September 1994 | Harold Camping | Camping, general manager of Family Radio and Bible teacher, published a book, 1994?, a prediction that Christ's return was likely pointing to 1994. |
| 1999–2009 | Jerry Falwell | Fundamentalist preacher who predicted in 1999 that the Second Coming would probably be within 10 years. |
| 2000 | Ed Dobson | This pastor predicted the end would occur in his book The End: Why Jesus Could Return by A.D. 2000. |
| 2000 | Timothy Dwight IV | This President of Yale University foresaw Christ's Millennium starting by 2000. |
| 2000 | Edgar Cayce | This psychic predicted the Second Coming would occur this year. |
| 2000 | Isaac Newton | Newton predicted that Christ's Millennium would begin in the year 2000 in his book Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John. |
| 6 April 2000 | James Harmston | The leader of the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days predicted the Second Coming of Christ would occur on this day. |
| 21 March 2011 21 October 2011 | Harold Camping | Main article: 2011 end times prediction Camping claimed that the rapture would be on 21 May 2011 followed by the end of the world on 21 October of the same year. Camping wrote "Adam when?" and claimed the Biblical calendar meshes with the secular and is accurate from 11,013 BC–AD 2011. |
| 29 September 2011 27 May 2012 18 May 2013 | Ronald Weinland | Weinland predicted Jesus would return on 29 September 2011. When his prediction failed to come true, he moved the date of Jesus' return to 27 May 2012. When that prediction failed, he then moved the date to 18 May 2013, claiming that "a day with God is as a year," giving himself another year for his prophecy to take place. Weinland was convicted of tax evasion in 2012 and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison. |
| 2012 | Jack Van Impe | Televangelist who has, over the years, predicted many specific years and dates for the Second Coming of Jesus, but has continued to move his prediction later. Many of these dates have already passed, and he recently pointed to 2012 as a possible date for the second coming. Van Impe no longer claims to know the exact date of the Second Coming, but quotes verses which imply that mankind should know when the Second Coming is near. |
| 28 September 2015 | Mark Biltz | Starting in 2008, Mark Biltz began teaching that Christ's return would correspond with the 28 September 2015 lunar eclipse. His idea, known as the Blood Moon Prophecy, attracted attention from pastor John Hagee and mainstream media such as USA Today. |
| 9 June 2019 | Ronald Weinland | Weinland believed that Jesus Christ would return on Pentecost in 2019. |