For most of my Christian life, I heard the same message over and over:

“Jesus is coming soon.”

It was on church banners, in worship songs, in the small talk before sermons. It was the ultimate motivator: keep going, stay holy, keep waiting because at any moment, Jesus could split the sky and take us home.

But at some point, I stopped and asked: why hasn’t he come back yet?

What the Disciples Actually Asked

When I went back to read the Gospels carefully, I noticed something I had missed all those years.

The disciples had just heard Jesus say something shocking:

“Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:2)

He was talking about the temple, the center of Jewish worship. This wasn’t just a casual remark, it was like telling someone their entire world was about to collapse.

So naturally, the disciples asked:

• “When will this happen?”
• “What sign will show us it’s near?”

Simple, practical questions. If Jesus meant, “Oh, this is thousands of years away,” the kindest thing he could have said was:

“Don’t worry, this isn’t for you.”

But he didn’t.

His Warnings Felt Urgent

Instead, Jesus spoke directly to them, not to some distant future audience:

• “Let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” (Matt 24:16)
• “Pray that your flight may not take place in winter or on the Sabbath.” (Matt 24:20)
• “Watch out for false messiahs.”

Why warn them about running, praying, and watching if none of this was for them?

This always bothered me, why would Jesus make it sound urgent, personal, and life-or-death if it was never meant for them to experience?

“This Generation Will Not Pass”

The more I studied, the more I saw that Jesus doubled down on this idea:

“Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” (Matthew 24:34)

That word “generation” (Greek genea) is used everywhere else to mean the people alive right then. Jesus rebukes “this generation” for seeking a sign (Matt 12:39). He warns “this generation” of coming judgment (Matt 23:36).

So why, suddenly, would “this generation” mean a group thousands of years later?

More Evidence He Meant Their Generation

Once I noticed this, the rest of the New Testament started to sound completely different. The language is consistently urgent:

• “You” Not “Them” – Jesus says “when you see…” (Matt 24:15), “pray that your flight…” (Matt 24:20), “I have told you ahead of time” (Matt 24:25). This was personal, not generic.
• Some Will Not Taste Death – Jesus promises, “some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming” (Matt 16:28). That only makes sense if it was for that generation.
• Paul Expected It Too – “We who are alive… will be caught up” (1 Thess 4:15). Paul thought he might live to see it.
• Other Writers Agree – James says “the Judge is standing at the door” (James 5:9). John writes “it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18). Revelation begins with “what must soon take place” (Rev 1:1).

Taken together, these don’t sound like predictions for 2,000+ years later. They sound like imminent expectations for first-century believers.

The History Lining Up

About 40 years after Jesus said those words, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and burned the temple to the ground, exactly what he described.

But here’s the hard question: were these truly miraculous predictions, or were they written after the temple had already fallen?

Most scholars date Mark (the earliest Gospel) to around 70 CE, Matthew and Luke later, which means these prophecies could have been recorded with full knowledge of the events, what scholars call ex eventu prophecy (prophecy after the fact).

Either way, this does not support the idea that we should still be waiting 2,000 years later.

The Power of “Soon”

And that’s when it hit me:

This whole “Jesus is coming soon” narrative is the heartbeat of the religion.

• It keeps people afraid to step out of line.
• It keeps you giving, attending, obeying, and watching because any moment could be “the moment.”
• It makes you ignore the fact that generation after generation has died waiting for something that never came.

And for me, that’s when I stopped waiting.

The Personal Impact

I spent years of my life “watching,” trying to stay ready, even feeling guilty for every slip-up because what if Jesus came that night?

But now I see that the original audience Jesus spoke to would have died waiting if he didn’t mean them. And that would make his words confusing and even cruel.

I can’t live my life on an eternal countdown timer that never reaches zero.

A Better Way

If you’ve ever felt trapped by this narrative, if you’ve ever feared being “left behind”, maybe it’s time to ask the hard question:

Was Jesus really talking about us at all?

Because if he wasn’t, then we are waiting for something that was never meant for us.

And life is too short to spend it in endless expectation of a day that may never come.