When Will Christ Return?

by R. H. Vargo

Most Christians have been taught it is impossible to know when Christ will return. However, that just isn’t the case. In the last days before Christ’s return, the prophet Daniel was told in chapter 12 that this information would be “unsealed”; revealed at the time of the end. This knowledge was closed only “until” the time of the end. So those who made forecasts or wrong predictions over the years did so because it was not the “right” time to gain awareness of this date.

If the end of the Age is near, then God will reveal His plans ahead of time just as He has many times in the past. So when will Christ return? Jesus says, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”” (Luke 24:44)

Jesus reminds the apostles that certain things “must” take place… must be fulfilled that are written about Him or else the Bible would not be totally true. As a Christian do you know what those things were? Many requirements Christ fulfilled at His first coming, but many more are still left unfulfilled. Could Christ come back at any moment, as first century Christians believed? No! They didn’t understand this lesson and most Christians today, twenty centuries later, still do not.

Why didn’t they understand? Because first century Christians and all those believers who have come before today’s generation, God chose not to unseal this information. For our generation this knowledge is beyond the casual Christian’s understanding because they do not know the Word of God well enough.

Many profess to be Christians, yet their master is something else. They do not go to church regularly, study scripture on a regular basis, or worship the Lord with their words and actions. They are caught up in today’s world… the treasures of this world dreaming about what “new thing” they want (idol worshiping) or lusting after some enticing pleasure of the heart. Not much different than the “unbelievers” in the world.

When presented with the truth from the Holy Spirit, they cannot see it anymore than those who do not believe Christ is their personal savior. Daniel was told this information would not only be revealed at the end times, but only to the “wise”… only to those that pay attention, watch for the signs, study the Word and belong to Christ. It is no surprise that many Christians do not realize Christ’s return is so near when they are not “keeping watch.” They are asleep at the wheel.

If you are a faithful, practicing Christian, then the Holy Spirit is sending you signs right now. You are looking around, watching the news, and wondering how current worldly trends can continue indefinitely. Well the response is; they can’t and they won’t!

So when will Christ return? The answer to this question is very complex and can’t be thoroughly proven to everyone’s satisfaction in just a flyer. But to those with some understanding of the Bible, who are willing to examine what I write on their own and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to my words, they will be able to see the truth of what will be revealed.

To really accept a date of Christ’s return as truth, all the prophecies that speak of this important event must agree. One cannot forecast a specific date and another prophecy predict a different date. If that is the case, then the underlying understanding that these dates were derived from is in error. All scripture and divine revelation must converge to the same time… the same date to know with confidence it is the right date.

Is this time knowable? Jesus says, “no one knows the hour or the day, but the father in heaven,” but we should know when the season is near if we keep watch and are His faithful servants. So if we are near the end of the Age… the time of Christ’s return, we may not learn of the exact day and hour, but His sheep will be able to hear His call and learn the season and the year.

Understanding the Word, what God’s plan for mankind holds, His use of numbers, history, and listening to the Holy Spirit unlocks this secret (and many others) kept until this very moment in time. I am sure if you have read this far that you are wondering if this hidden knowledge will be revealed to you clearly.

Well if you have not been taught the prophecies of the Bible or are unfamiliar with history, then some of the proofs may seem unbelievable. But God says test what I say. After reading what is written, do your own research for the truth is undeniable except to those who wish to believe in their own ideas.

In Matthew 24, Christ gave the lesson of the fig tree. He commanded us to “learn” this lesson. “As soon as its twigs get tender and the leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (Matthew. 4:32-34)

This is a prophecy on Jesus’ return and the fig tree symbolizes the Jewish nation of Israel. In other words, when the nation of Israel comes back into existence that generation would witness Christ’s return! This event occurred in May 1948. Many believed a generation was forty years and made predictions of Christ’s return in 1988, but it is self evident they were mistaken.

Psalms 90:10 says, “the length of our days is seventy years [a generation]—or eighty, if we have the strength; …”. So a generation can be other numbers besides forty years. Genesis even implies it can be one hundred years (Gen. 15:12-16). If we add seventy or eighty years (which is about the life span of people today) we get to the dates 2018 or 2028 as the time for Christ’s return. Not that far into the future.

Which date is it? Well that is easy to know. I told you all prophecies must converge on the “true” date or else they are a false understanding. So we only need to find more prophecies that must be fulfilled before Christ returns to see what dates they predict.

In the book of Daniel, a prophecy is made about a time I like to call the “new” Eden. When everything will be finished and everything will be perfect. This time is when the earth and Heaven will be remade at the end of the next Age (Revelation 21). How long before this event occurs…. “Seventy Weeks.” (Daniel 9:24)

Well there are various understandings for this prophecy and this prophecy is true on multiple levels of understanding. On the deepest plane of understanding, “weeks” are symbolic for Jubilee years that are described in Leviticus 25. A year of “Jubilee” occurs every fifty years and so seventy Jubilees are 3,500 years in length.

Daniel was further told when to start counting… from a decree that ultimately can be traced back to Ezra from the Persian King Artaxerxes; the details of which I will not go into due to space. This decree was given to Ezra on March 21, 458 B.C. When you count 3,500 years into the future from this date you arrive in the spring of the year 3043 A.D. This is the time for the end of the “next" Age… the time of the “New Jerusalem”… the time when we will live in eternity without any more problems and anymore sin.

When Christ returns, Revelation 20 says He will rule for one thousand years, then Satan will be unchained for a short time, and the final judgment will come. After this, Heaven and earth will be remade starting in 3043. We see Christ’s return will be for one thousand years (plus a little more). How do we know exactly?

Well since this time was given in a prophecy, it is considered “prophetic” time and prophetic years are measured in 360-days years and not 365.25-day years. This means we need to adjust them from God’s perspective to man’s viewpoint to find the “real” time.

When this is done we get 1,000 years plus 14 years plus seven months exactly (1,000 x 365.25/360 = 1,014.58333). This is a very interesting number sequence if one understands God’s use of numbers. So if one subtracts this length of time under Christ’s earthly rule from the date 3043, you get another date. The time of Christ’s return! What time is that using Daniel’s prophecy? The autumn of the year 2028!

So now we have Christ’s prophecy in Matthew and Daniel’s prophecy that predict the year 2028 and thus it cannot be 2018, which was one of our earlier choices. We now have “two witnesses” that testify to our Lord’s return. How many more ways are there that confirm this date? Many! Those watchers for Christ’s return could not predict the true date of His return in the past because God didn’t want that information revealed before the appropriate time. Now we realize there is more than one method that coincides with the date 2028.

Is this a coincidence? Maybe. But how many coincidences do you need to be shown before you can see the power of the creator and that He has planned this since the beginning of time? Pharaoh needed ten times. Do you need ten? Listen, I told you there are many… more than ten. Isn’t it strange how God works? That people in the past would come up with a date using some understanding, but they could never figure out any other way to confirm it and if they did, that way came to a different date. Need more proof?

Some scholars teach Christ died in 30 A.D. even though history books tell us the 15^th year of Tiberius Caesar (Luke 3:1-4) was August of 28 A.D. to August 29 A.D. Also, Christ’s ministry was 3½ years long.

Many Christians support a 7,000-year history for man. Why? Because a day is like a thousand years to God and so one “week” on God’s calendar would be 7,000 years. The Bible records there were about 2,000 years from the creation of Adam to Abraham (2 days). From Abraham to Christ was another 2,000 years (2 more days) or so and expanding on this idea there will be another 2,000 years (2 days) until Christ returns. With the remaining 1,000 years (1 day) for His earthly rule, which was already discussed.

So applying this understanding, we see Christ would return in the year 2029 (since John the Baptist began preaching in the spring which could only have been in the year of 29 A.D. and about six months later in the fall Christ began to teach). But Jesus further says in Matthew 24:22, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect [true Christians] those days will be shortened.”

This time can only be shortened up to a year (otherwise what was foretold to Daniel would become a lie) and in doing so we get to 2028 again. Furthermore, the Jews content that the Messiah will come in a year of Jubilee… well He did, but they did not accept Him the first time. That year was 28/29 A.D. and they will be right again this next time. The year 2028/2029 is a year of Jubilee according to projections derived from a footnote in William Whiston’s translation of Josephus’ “Antiquities of the Jews.” (A Jubilee year is measured on the Jewish calendar and overlaps part of two Gregorian years; our present calendar system).

Daniel was given another prophecy in chapters 10-12 and told that the time from the Persian Empire until Christ returns would be “time, times, and half a time” long. What does this mean?

Well understanding how God uses numbers we find that the word “time” is really 700 “prophetic” years (P-years) long and the complete phase is 2,450 P-years long (time – 700, times – 1,400, and ½ time – 350). Converting just as we did before, we get 2,486 years and using the same starting time from the Persian king Artaxerxes of 458 B.C. gets us to the year… you guessed it… 2028!

When will Christ return? When all that was foretold “in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms” is fulfilled and not one day before… or one day later. When will that time be? You now know it will be the fall of 2028 A.D. because any other time would make parts of scripture false.

Are you ready? Are your unbelieving friends and relatives ready? If you are not and they are not, the Bible says they will spend eternity in the “Lake of Fire” instead of eternity with Christ. There are more proofs and if you want to learn more, then you can contact me at http://christsreturn2028.com.

May the Lord bless you and bring you the wisdom to see the truth the Holy Spirit spreads in these last days before Jesus returns. Days that will be unimaginable and unforgiving to those who don’t accept the free gift of God’s saving grace… Jesus; who died for the sins of the whole world… died for your sins so that you could live forever in paradise.

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Bible verses that have bracketed “[ ]” comments inserted within the passage are exclusively the author’s commentary and are not part of the original NIV® text.