#1: Christ Returned in His Generation—the "Last Days" Generation

As most scholars, Church leaders, and even skeptics down the centuries have affirmed, Jesus Christ promised his early apostles that they would be the ones to witness the last days events as well as His return in their generation (Matt 24:33-34; Matt 23:36). We that are citizens of the Kingdom of God hardly need mention that the Lord of Heaven and Earth always keeps his promises. Therefore, the assertion that Jesus honored his promise to return in the lifetimes of his apostles (Matt 10:22-23; Matt 16:27-28; John 21:21-22) should come as a surprise to no one—the apostles, along with their Master, all taught and prophesied that they were the last days generation (Heb 1:1-2; James 5:3; 1 Cor 10:11; Acts 2:15-17; 1 Peter 1:20; Heb 9:26; Matt 16:3). The "last days" signifies the last days of the Old Testamental Age.

#2: Christ's Return was a "Day-of-the-Lord"

Christ's coming was a "Day of the Lord" (i.e. Day of Yahweh). This day of God's judgments is also known by the phrase "Day of the Lord's Vengeance" (see Jer 46:10; Isa 61:2; Luke 21:22). Jesus confirms for us that AD 67-70 was the day of the Lord's vengeance (compare Luke 21:20-22 to Isa 61:2/Jer 46:10). Biblically speaking, such periods of the Lord's vengeance are times of disasters and wars waged upon nations and individuals in real history by Yahweh, and AD 67-70 was the greatest day of the Lord in Israel's history—it was Israel's Great Tribulation. Undoubtedly, it was this day-of-the-Lord event that the first-century apostles and saints believed they would live to see in their lifetimes (1 Cor 1:7-8; Phil 1:10, 1:6; Heb 10:25; 1 Thess 5:23); they all spoke of this day of the Lord mere decades before it transpired. Jesus had told the rulers of Israel that he would come again to them as the "Lord of the Vineyard" and would be "The Stone" that would grind them to powder (Matthew 21:40-45)—they understood that he spake this of them (Matthew 21:45). Before that great and terrible day arrived, God sent a messenger to prepare the way before Him—a messenger that came in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers (Mal 3:1-5, 4:4-5; Luke 1:13-17; Matt 11:9-14). Jesus attested that this messenger was, indeed, Elijah that was to come before the "great and terrible day of the Lord" (Matt 17:10-13; Mal 4:4-5). Malachi did not speak of a mere great prophet, but of someone even greater—the herald of God Almighty Himself. As Jesus said:

What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.' Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist...he is Elijah who is to come (Matt 11:9-11,14).

#3: Christ Came Upon First-Century Sardis "as a Thief in the Night"

Everyone knows about Christ's teaching that he would come as a "thief in the night" (Jesus gives this teaching in Matthew 24:43). That coming came upon the first-century Church of Sardis in Revelation 3:1-3. It is clear that Christ's coming as a thief to the Church of Sardis was to violently remove many of them from the Church while vindicating the worthy ones there (Rev 3:1-5). This same thief-in-the-night coming was also promised to come upon the enemies of the Thessalonians; yet it would not violently overtake the Thessalonians themselves (1 Thess 5:2-9). For the early Thessalonian Church, the Day of the Lord brought about the much-expected glorification of Christ in His Church (2 Thess 1:10), the cessation of their contemporary persecution (2 Thess 1:6-7), and the continuation of their lampstand (presumably, from Rev 2:5). To the Church at Thyatira, Christ's coming meant the destruction of their false prophetess, "Jezebel," and her followers that were teaching against the decree of the Jerusalem council (compare Rev 2:20-21 to Acts 15:28-29). While Jesus promised them that these all would be killed or thrown into great tribulation, the faithful ones at Thyatira were to simply hold fast to what they had until Christ came to them to grant participation in his reign (Rev 2:24-25). For Pergamum, the coming of Christ primarily removed the Nicolaitans from destroying the Church ( Rev 2;14-16). All this, of course, necessarily places Christ's coming in the first century.

#4: Christ Came "In His Kingdom"

The nature of Christ's Parousia (lit. "presence") is confirmed by a comparison of Matt 16:27-28 and Luke 17:20. Jesus taught openly in Matt 16:27-28 that His coming was going to be "in His Kingdom." Jesus also states in Luke 17:20-21 that the coming of His Kingdom was going to be unobservable. Therefore, if the coming of the Kingdom was going to be unobservable, then it follows that the coming of the King in that Kingdom was also going to be unobservable. As Jesus said: "my kingdom is not of this world; if my kingdom were of this world then would my servants fight" (John 18:36). The Kingdom, of course, was establshed right on time (Mark 1:14-15), and Christ shortly stripped it away from his usurping enemies by his divine decree at AD 67-70 (Matt 21:43-45; Luke 19:43-44; Matt 22:6-7; Luke 21:20-22).

#5: Christ Came "in the Glory of the Father"

The coming of Jesus was to be "in the glory of the Father" (Matthew 16:27) — i.e., Christ's return was a coming in power and glory as Father Yahweh had come in great power and glory to Israel and other nations in Old Testament times. Yahweh was famous for his cloud-comings and apocalyptic comings down to earth (see: Isaiah 19:1-2; 2 Sam 22:10-14; Deut 33:2; Neh 9:13; Hab 3:3-16; Isa 31:3-8; Psalm 97:2-5; Ezek 30:3; Ps 104:3; Nah 1:3; Ex 34:5; Judges 5:4-7; Jer 4:13; Zeph 1:14-15; Psalm 68:32-35; Isa 31). So also did Christ return as Yahweh had done many times before. Our Lord returned in that generation for the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in AD 67-70 (Matt 24:33-34; Luke 21:20-22; Matt 21:40-45). Christ was exalted after his resurrection to his former glory He had with Yahweh before the world ever began (John 17:5), and his promised return to the nation came in the power and glory of Yahweh.

#6: Christ Came "with Clouds" (Rev 14:14-20)

Coming and going "with clouds" is a consistent biblical theme for the comings and goings of divine beings and saints (see: Dan 7:13; Rev 11:12; Isa 19:1-2; 2 Sam 22:10-14; Ps 104:3). In scripture, "clouds" often signifies magnificent judgment and doom (Ez 30:3; Nah 1:3-5). We have a clear example of this from Revelation 14:14-20 where Christ is depicted in a "cloud-coming," one that is firmly transacted from the realm of the heavenlies. In the passage, Christ is depicted as Yahweh, the mighty ruler and judge over Heaven and Earth who decrees great judgments along with the mighty angels (Ps 22:28/Matt 28:18/Ps 68:17). Stationed and enthroned in the heavenlies, Christ is seen causing calamities upon the earth by his coming (Rev 14:20). This is how the jews understood Yahweh to come in Old Testament times. The apostle John is, therefore, depicting Christ as equal to Yahweh in executing punishments upon apostate Israel as Yahweh had done before him. Revelation 14:14-20 thus shows us what a "cloud-coming" means as well as its precise spiritual and potent nature.

#7: Christ Declared: "The World Sees Me No More"

Jesus plainly stated in John 14:19 and 17:11 that this world would see him no more. How long is "no more"? We maintain that "no more" means "no more." Jesus goes on in that John 14 passage to explain that He was to be seen on earth thereafter in and through his universal Body, the Church (John 14:19-23, 17:20-23—compare also to Eph 1:22-23; Eph 5:30-32; 1 Cor 12:27; Rom 12:5). The true temple, listed as the body of Jesus Christ in John 2:19-22, is now also the eternal Church-Temple, one of the great mysteries of the Faith (Eph 5:30-32; 2 Cor 6:16). We can't explain mysteries in totality, we can only affirm them. Indeed God is here now and walks among His people forever (2 Cor 6:16). He walks among us as the Lord of all heaven and earth, the Prince of the kings of the earth (Matt 28:18; Rev 1:5).