Jesus said He is coming soon, and the Bible repeatedly calls His return near, without ever attaching a date, a range, or a generation to it. Scripture places the day and hour of His return in the hands of God the Father alone (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). Believers are called to eagerly await His appearing, the way a child awaits Christmas morning, while faithfully doing the work He has given them until He comes.
I recently watched a podcast with two preachers I respect a great deal, and what stayed with me afterward wasn’t a new insight. It was how freely they talked about Jesus coming soon. They didn’t hedge it, and they didn’t hang a date on it either. They simply said what He said, with the kind of gladness you hear in someone who actually expects Him to walk through the door.
I realized I’d grown careful with that word. Over the years, I’d learned to step around “soon” altogether in my writing, as if it belonged to the people who misuse it. But it doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to Jesus. He’s the one who said it.
Think about a child on Christmas Eve. Nobody has to tell that child to be excited. The promise has been made, the tree is up, and every hour leans toward the morning. That child still eats supper, still brushes their teeth, still goes to bed when they’re told. But the whole house can feel the anticipation, because the child believes the promise is real and that it’s coming.
That’s the posture Scripture asks of us toward the return of Christ, with one difference that matters a great deal, and we’ll get to it. So let’s ask the question plainly, because it’s the one nearly everyone asks sooner or later: when will Jesus return, and what did He actually tell us about the timing?
What Jesus Said About When He Would Return
Start with the promise itself. Jesus didn’t leave His return as a vague possibility for His followers to debate. He stated it as a fact, the night before the cross.
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:3)
Forty days after His resurrection, as He was taken up in front of His disciples, the angels said the same thing in even plainer terms.
“This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
That’s why the church expects Him. We’re not guessing, and we’re not hoping against the odds. We expect Him because He said He would come. The return of Christ isn’t a doctrine to hold at arm’s length or a theory filed away for some distant age. It’s a promise from the King, and the King keeps His word.
And when Jesus spoke about the timing of that promise, here’s the word He chose. It appears three times in the last chapter of the Bible.
“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)
Notice what Jesus did and didn’t do with that word. He didn’t attach a timeline to it. He didn’t say soon after a particular event, or soon within a certain generation. His “soon” sets an expectation rather than a schedule. It keeps His people’s hearts turned toward Him, knowing that soon can become today whenever the Father determines.
The Day and Hour Belong to the Father Alone
So if Jesus said soon, does anyone know exactly when? Jesus answered that too, and His answer is more comforting than it first sounds.
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” (Matthew 24:36)
We usually quote the first half of that verse and stop. No one knows. But Jesus didn’t end the sentence there. He told us exactly where the knowledge rests: with the Father, and with the Father only. The timing of Christ’s return isn’t lost, uncertain, or up in the air. It’s fixed, and it’s held by Someone.
When the disciples pressed Him on it again after the resurrection, Jesus gave the same answer.
“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)
That changes how the question feels. “Nobody knows” can leave you with an empty kind of uncertainty, like waiting on a delivery with no tracking number. But “the Father knows” leaves you with a Person. The day and hour of Christ’s return rest in the hands of a Father who is good, who has never once been late, and who has set the time by His own authority. You don’t have to carry that question. He already holds it.
It also explains why date-setting always fails. Every attempt to calculate the year, narrow the range, or name the generation is an attempt to take hold of something the Father has kept to Himself. Scripture doesn’t invite us to solve for it. It invites us to trust the One who knows.
If you’d like to see how this verse anchors everything else Jesus said about the end of the age, I walk through the whole chapter in Matthew 24 Explained: What Jesus Actually Said About the End Times.
Why the Apostles Called His Coming Near
Here’s something that surprises people. The apostles didn’t just repeat Jesus’ word “soon.” They taught the churches to live as though His coming was near, and they said so plainly, without apology.
“Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand.” (Philippians 4:5)
James told believers who were suffering under unfair treatment to hold steady for the same reason.
“You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” (James 5:8)
Peter wrote it too: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7). Notice what follows each of those statements. Not panic. Not a chart. Nearness in Scripture always produces steadiness: gentleness toward others, patient hearts, clear minds, and prayer.
So we say it the way they said it. His coming is near. He is coming soon. And we stop exactly where Scripture stops, without adding a relative estimate like “in our lifetime” or “within the next few years.” That’s as clear as Jesus was about the timing, and it’s clear enough.
Some people hear “soon” and point out that two thousand years have passed. Peter heard that objection in his own day, and he answered it with the heart of God.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
What looks like delay from our side is mercy from His. Every day the Father has not yet chosen is a day more people come home to Him. We can long for Christ’s return and be thankful for His patience at the same time, because both come from the same love.
Waiting Like a Child on Christmas Eve
That brings us back to the child on Christmas Eve, because Scripture describes the church’s waiting in exactly those terms: eager, glad, and leaning forward.
“…so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28)
Paul uses the same eager, leaning-forward word when he says our citizenship is in heaven, “and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). He tells Titus that grace trains us to live well “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). And near the end of his life, Paul says the crown of righteousness is waiting not only for him but “also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Timothy 4:8).
Loved His appearing. That’s not a description of people who’ve made peace with a far-off theory. It’s a description of people who can hardly wait.
Here’s where the Christmas picture breaks, though, and the break is important. The child knows the date. We don’t. The day and hour are known by the Father alone. So our eagerness can’t come from a countdown, a calendar, or a careful reading of the news. It comes from the certainty of the promise and from love for the One who is coming.
And not knowing the day doesn’t dampen that eagerness. It actually sharpens it. A child counting down to December 25th can relax on December 3rd. We don’t have a December 3rd. Any morning could be the morning, which means every morning is a good morning to look up.
Eager Waiting Is Busy Waiting
There’s a way to get eager expectation wrong, and the early church ran into it. Some of the believers in Thessalonica were so caught up in the Lord’s return that they quit working altogether, and Paul had to tell them to get back to it (2 Thessalonians 3:6-12). Eagerness that leaves your post isn’t the eagerness Jesus asked for.
Every parable Jesus told about His return makes the same point. In one, a nobleman leaves for a far country and gives his servants a simple instruction.
“Engage in business until I come.” (Luke 19:13)
In another, the blessed servant is the one his master finds faithfully caring for the household when he arrives (Matthew 24:45-46). The servants who are ready are “dressed for action” with their lamps burning, so they can open the door the moment their master knocks (Luke 12:35-36). In none of these stories is the faithful servant the one who figured out the date. The faithful servant is the one found working when the master walks in.
So what does eager waiting look like on an ordinary Tuesday? It looks like doing your job well because you belong to a King who’s coming back. It looks like loving your family patiently, telling the truth when it costs you, and sharing the hope you have with someone who needs it. I’ve written more about that kind of everyday readiness in Watchfulness as Obedient Living.
You can live this way without anxiety, because you’re not responsible for the timing. The Father holds that. Your part is to be glad He’s coming and faithful until He does. And when something in the news makes you wonder whether today is the day, you can hold that question the way I describe in Are We in the End Times? What Scripture Says When the World Shakes: with open hands, steady faith, and your eyes on Him.
Key Takeaways
- Jesus promised to return, and the church expects Him because He said He would come (John 14:3; Acts 1:11).
- Jesus said He is coming soon, and the apostles called His coming near, without ever attaching a date, range, or generation (Revelation 22:20; James 5:8).
- The day and hour of Christ’s return are known by God the Father alone, which means the timing rests in good and trustworthy hands (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7).
- Believers eagerly await His appearing, like a child awaiting Christmas morning, but without knowing the date (Hebrews 9:28).
- Eager waiting is faithful working: the ready servant is the one found doing the Master’s work when He arrives (Luke 19:13).
Questions To Sit With
Jesus said He is coming soon (Revelation 22:20), and the apostles taught that His coming is near (James 5:8). Scripture never gives a date, range, or generation. Jesus said the day and hour are known by God the Father alone (Matthew 24:36), so believers wait eagerly and faithfully rather than trying to calculate the time.
Jesus said that the day and hour are known by the Father only, not by angels or anyone else (Matthew 24:36; Acts 1:7). The timing isn’t uncertain or unsettled. It’s fixed by the Father’s own authority and rests in His hands alone.
Peter answered this in his own day: the Lord isn’t slow as some count slowness, but patient, not wishing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). What looks like delay from our side is mercy from God’s side, giving more people time to come to Him.
Eagerly and faithfully. Scripture describes believers as people who love His appearing and eagerly wait for Him (2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 9:28), and Jesus’ parables show readiness as doing His work until He comes (Luke 19:13). Eager waiting isn’t anxious or idle; it’s faithful living with your eyes on Him.
So when someone asks you when Jesus is coming back, you don’t have to dodge the question. You can answer it the way He did: soon, at a time the Father alone knows, and worth waiting for with your whole heart. Keep your lamp burning, keep your hands busy, and keep looking up.
Christ reigns. Christ restores. Christ will return.
Longing for Christ, learning to wait faithfully.
Your brother in Christ, Duane