---
title: "What is the Second Coming of Christ?"
url: "https://seekabove.com/answers/what-is-the-second-coming"
description: "The Second Coming is the Church’s belief that Jesus, who rose and ascended, will return at the end of history in glory — to raise the dead, judge the world, and bring God’s kingdom to its fullness. W…"
published: "2026-06-06"
updated: "2026-06-06"
category: "Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell"
scripture: ["Acts 1:11", "Matthew 24:36", "Matthew 24:42-44", "1 Thessalonians 4:16-17", "Revelation 22:20"]
catechism: "CCC 668–669, 671–675, 677, 680–682"
---

# What is the Second Coming of Christ?

## Short answer

The Second Coming is the Church's belief that Jesus, who rose and ascended, will
return at the end of history in glory — to raise the dead, judge the world, and
bring God's kingdom to its fullness. We don't know when, and the Church warns
against anyone who claims to. It is the completion of a victory Christ has
already won.

## Full explanation

At the heart of the Creed is a line we say so often we may forget how startling it
is: "he will come again in glory." The same Jesus who lived, died, rose, and
ascended is not finished with history. He will return — not quietly and hidden as
at Bethlehem, but openly, in glory, to bring everything to completion.

The key to understanding this rightly is the phrase "already, but not yet." In his
death and resurrection, Jesus has *already* won the decisive victory over sin and
death. The outcome of history is no longer in doubt. But the victory is not yet
fully worked out in the world we see, where evil and suffering still rage. The
Second Coming is the day that finished victory becomes visible everywhere at once
— when, as Scripture puts it, every tear is wiped away and God is "all in all."
Until then, the Church lives in the in-between, working and watching.

What will the return involve? Scripture and the Creed tie several things
together: Christ appearing in glory, the dead rising, the Last Judgment, and the
final coming of God's kingdom in a renewed creation. The Church also soberly
acknowledges that before the end, God's people may face a final great trial of
faith. But the tone of Christian hope is not dread — it's expectation. The
earliest Christians prayed, simply, "Come, Lord Jesus."

One thing the Church is firm about: **no one knows the day or the hour.** Jesus
himself said so plainly. Every attempt to crack a code, read current events as a
secret calendar, or name a date has been wrong, and Christians are warned not to
play that game. The point of "be ready" was never "calculate the date"; it was
"live each day as someone who belongs to Christ, so that whenever he comes you are
found loving and faithful."

## Why this matters

Belief in the Second Coming keeps Christian hope from shrinking into mere private
comfort. It says history is *going somewhere* — toward Christ — and that good will
not be quietly defeated in the end. That fuels two attitudes at once: patience,
because the final setting-right is God's to bring, not ours to force; and urgency,
because we're called to live now as people ready to meet him. It also guards
against two opposite errors — despairing that the world is beyond hope, and
arrogantly trying to engineer the end ourselves.

## Common misunderstanding

The biggest distortion is treating the Second Coming as a puzzle to be decoded —
matching headlines to prophecy and predicting dates. The Church rejects this
flatly; Jesus said no one knows the time. A second misunderstanding is imagining
Christians should therefore disengage from the world while "waiting for the end."
The opposite is true: precisely because Christ is coming, we're meant to work for
justice, love, and the good now, building what will last.

## Scripture connections

- **Acts 1:11** — at the Ascension, the promise that "this same Jesus" will return
  as he was seen going.
- **Matthew 24:36** — "about that day and hour no one knows," the clearest warning
  against date-setting.
- **Matthew 24:42-44** — "stay awake," because the Lord comes at an unexpected
  hour; readiness, not prediction, is the point.
- **1 Thessalonians 4:16-17** — Paul's vivid picture of the Lord's coming and the
  raising of the dead.
- **Revelation 22:20** — the Bible's closing prayer, "Come, Lord Jesus," the
  posture of Christian hope.

## Church teaching references

- CCC 668, 669, 671, 672, 673, 674, 675, 677, 680, 681, 682
- The Creed professes that Christ "will come again in glory to judge the living
  and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end."

## Reflection question

If you genuinely lived as someone expecting to meet Christ — not in fear, but in
readiness — what is one thing you would start doing, or stop doing, this week?