Will Jesus Return? Where Did the Belief in Jesus's Return Come From?
Around 2.4 billion Christians and 2 billion Muslims believe that Jesus will one day come back. Most people assume the religion has always taught this doctrine. To help better understand this matter, the table below lists a series of historical events that may help us understand where it all began.| Book of Daniel | 165 BC |
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Long before Jesus, a Jewish book called Daniel described a vision of "one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven" who is given an everlasting kingdom. Jews were waiting for a Messiah to come.
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
DANIEL 7:13-14 |
| Paul's Letters | 50 AD |
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Shortly after Jesus' Crucifixion, his followers began saying he would return. The earliest written record we have is a letter from Paul, who wrote that the Lord himself would come down from heaven. This appears to be the very first time the idea of a "Jesus Return" is written of.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first
1 THESSALONIANS 4:16 |
| Gospels, Acts and Revelation | 70-100 AD |
The Gospel Writers take the picture from Book of Daniel and apply it literally to Jesus.
And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
MARK 13:26 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
ACTS 1:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
REVELATION 19:11-16 |
| Nicene Creed | 325-381 AD |
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The Church wrote the belief into its official creed, which says Jesus "will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead". From here on, Jesus Return has become a core Christian belief almost everywhere. |
| The Quran | 610-632 AD |
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The Quran honours Jesus deeply. It says he was not killed on the Cross and that God raised him up. But the Quran never claims in simple language that "Jesus will come back".
And [for] their saying, "Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allāh." And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.1 Rather, Allāh raised him to Himself. And ever is Allāh Exalted in Might and Wise.
QURAN 4:157-158 The verse most often quoted to support the idea of a Jesus return. Many scholars say the "it" here means Jesus. Other early scholars have argued the "it" means the Quran itself. This specific verse is not clear on this matter. And indeed, he [i.e., Jesus] will be [a sign for] knowledge of the Hour, so be not in doubt of it, and follow Me.1 This is a straight path.
QURAN 43:61 Another Quran verse that highights God raising Jesus up. It does not mention any earthly return. [Mention] when Allāh said, "O Jesus, indeed I will take you and raise you to Myself and purify [i.e., free] you from those who disbelieve and make those who follow you [in submission to Allāh alone] superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that in which you used to differ.
QURAN 3:55 |
| The Hadith | 700-875 AD |
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For Muslims, the more clear and detailed story of Jesus' Return comes from the Hadith tradition, which were written down in collections over the next two centuries.
Al-Bukhari (died 870) and Muslim (died 875) record Muhammad saying:
وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ، لَيُوشِكَنَّ أَنْ يَنْزِلَ فِيكُمُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ حَكَمًا عَدْلًا "By the One in whose hand my soul is, the son of Maryam will soon descend among you as a just judge." (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3448) Other hadith add the details. Jesus comes down at a white minaret east of Damascus, he kills the Dajjāl (الدَّجَّال) at the gate of Lod near Jerusalem, and later he dies and is buried. Notice where the story takes place: Syria and Palestine. These were Christian lands that Muslims had only recently entered. Historians such as David Cook have shown that early Muslim end-of-times stories grew up in this region and share a lot with the Christian end-times stories that were already told there. The Christian Antichrist and the Muslim Dajjāl look very much alike. |
| Sunni Creed | 850-930 AD |
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Next, the belief moved from hadith books into official Sunni creeds. Imam Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (died 855) listed Jesus killing the Dajjāl among the things a Muslim must believe.
Then Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī (died 933) wrote in his famous creed: وَنُؤْمِنُ بِأَشْرَاطِ السَّاعَةِ: مِنْ خُرُوجِ الدَّجَّالِ، وَنُزُولِ عِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ "We believe in the signs of the Hour, including the coming of the Dajjāl and the descent of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, peace be upon him, from the sky." At this point, the belief became part of mainstream Sunni theology. |
| Twelver Shia | 900 AD |
| Twelver Shia Muslims believe their twelfth Imam went into hiding in the late 800s and will return as the Mahdi. They fit Jesus into this picture. In their account, Jesus comes back as a helper who prays behind the Mahdi. |
| New Movements | 1800 |
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The river kept growing. In America, new Christian groups such as the Latter-day Saints, the Seventh-day Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses made Jesus's return the centre of their message, some even setting dates for it.
In Iran, Bahāʾuʾllāh (1863) claimed to be the return of Christ. In India, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1891) claimed that Jesus had died and that he himself was the "Promised Messiah" who fulfilled Jesus's return. |
| Quran-Only Movement | 1900 |
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Finally, some Muslim scholars walked back up the river and asked what the Quran itself says. Muḥammad ʿAbduh and Rashīd Riḍā leaned towards the view that Jesus had died.
Then, in the early 1940s, Shaykh Maḥmūd Shaltūt, who later became Grand Imam of al-Azhar, gave a famous fatwa. He argued that the natural reading of the Quran is that Jesus died. Jesus himself says to God: فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي كُنتَ أَنتَ الرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْ "When You took me, You were the One watching over them." (5:117) Even Ibn ʿAbbās, the Prophet's cousin and the great early interpreter of the Quran, explained the word this way, as al-Bukhārī records: مُتَوَفِّيكَ: مُمِيتُكَ "Mutawaffīka means: I will cause you to die." Shaltūt read the "raising" as God raising Jesus in honour and rank. He also said the descent hadith come through individual chains of narrators. In his view, reports like these are not strong enough to build a core belief on, so a Muslim who does not believe in the return has not left Islam. Many scholars pushed back, including Muḥammad Zāhid al-Kawtharī, and most Muslim scholars still hold that Jesus will return. They argue that the descent hadith are so many that, together, they reach certainty. |
| Summary |
| The belief in Jesus's return began as a spring in Jewish visions and early Christian letters. It became a Christian creed. It flowed into Islam mainly through the hadith and later the creeds, not explicitly through the Quran. And in modern times, some Muslim scholars went back to the Quran and asked whether this water really came from our own spring. You can agree with Shaltūt or with his critics. But knowing where a belief came from is the first step to understanding it, and asking that question is part of our tradition. |
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| Author: Guest • Updated: 18 Oct 2026 • 15 views | 19 mins ago |
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