The reason we believe that Jesus Christ is coming back is that he said so. Some people maintain that he expected his parousia (‘coming’) to take place within the lifetime of his contemporaries, and that he was mistaken. But since he confessed that he did not himself know the date of his return, it is extremely unlikely that he would have taught when it would take place. What he surely intended by his urgent predictions was to persuade his followers to ‘watch’, because they did not know when the time would come. As we look forward to the parousia, we should neither ‘demythologize’ it (denying that it will be an event of history) nor ’embroider’ it (decorating it with our own speculative fancies). Instead, if we are wise and humble, we will acknowledge that much remains mysterious, and we will be careful not to go beyond the plain teaching of Scripture. While refusing to dogmatize over details, we can then affirm at least that the Lord’s coming will be personal (‘this same Jesus’, ‘the Lord himself’ — Acts 1:11; 1 Thes. 4:16), visible (‘every eye will see him’ — Rev. 1:7), universal and undisputed (‘like the lightning’ — Lk. 17:24), and glorious (in ‘the majesty of his power’ — 2 Thes. 1:9).  ‘He will come again in glory’, says the Nicene Creed; his second coming will be as spectacular has his first was lowly and obscure.

—Dr. John R.W. Stott