Christian Interpretations of the Second Coming of Christ

The second coming of Jesus Christ is one of the central teachings of Christianity with which the Christian eschatology has been mainly concerned. The Christians have always been of opinion that Christ will return with great glory in the end times to fulfill his promises and prophecies he has made on his first coming; he will return to establish the divine kingdom on earth. This, it goes without saying, does not mean that all Christians have had the same interpretation of this teaching; in fact, depending on the social conditions and intellectual contexts, they have had different views of it. Based on the literal meaning of the biblical verses concerned with this event, some Christians believe in the literal and visible second coming of Christ as well as his worldly kingdom which is to last for one millennium. Based on the interpretative approach, some other Christians have spiritualized this teaching. Providing a brief overview of the second coming of Christ, this article is concerned to discuss different views on this teaching in different periods of Christian history including New Testament period, church fathers period, middle ages, and the modern period.