Jesus clearly predicted that his 2nd coming (coming back) would be within the lifetime of those he was speaking to and that some would still be alive at his 2nd coming (Mt 10:23; 16:27-28; 24:30-34; 26:64; Mark 8:38-9:1). See the article “Was Jesus a false prophet” for more discussion on that. If he did not return within their lifetime as predicted, then he is a false prophet (Deut 18:20-22). I believe he did just what he predicted and came back in judgment on the wicked Jews in 70 AD, killing 1 million Jews, destroying the temple and the city of Jerusalem. That was the “2nd coming” of Jesus, just as he predicted.

But those who say that he did not come back soon as he predicted must come us with an explanation as to why he did not. I think this would have started soon after 70 AD. If someone living in 70 AD did not understand that his 2nd coming was coming in judgment using the Romans in 70 AD, then that person would keep looking for his 2nd coming, thinking that it would still be soon just as Jesus predicted. That thinking might continue for, let’s say, another 25 years after 70 AD. But by the year 100 AD, it would be 70 years after Jesus made his imminent 2nd coming predictions, and that would be getting past that time that would be “within that generation that Jesus spoke to”. But maybe, they might say, give it a few more years. So in 120 AD, some are still looking for Jesus to come soon, but now it is 90 years after Jesus made his predictions and no longer “within that generation” and no one would still be alive to see his 2nd coming (Mark 8:38-9:1). Now Jesus’ credibility as a prophet starts to be called into question. But who is bold enough to say that Jesus was mistaken and that he is just another false prophet, which is what the unbelieving Jews and Muslims and atheists say about Jesus b/c he supposedly didn’t return soon like he predicted.

So another explanation is needed to make Jesus’ predictions not look like false predictions. So Maybe he did predict that would return soon, but he delayed that return because the Jews rejected him as the Messiah. Now we can’t ignore his predictions about the coming kingdom. He predicted that “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mark 1:15). He predicted that some would still be alive to see him “coming in his kingdom” (Mark 9:1). That kingdom of God (or of heaven, the same) was the 5th kingdom in Daniel 2:44-45. Nebuchanezzar’s dream was a statue. Daniel said the statue was 4 kingdoms in succession: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecian, Rome. Daniel 2:44-45 God said that he would set up his kingdom, a 5th kingdom, in the days of the Roman Empire. Jesus, in 27 AD, said that 5th kingdom, God’s kingdom, was at hand which was indeed during the Roman Empire.

I include all that b/c the Jews expected the Messiah to set up a physical kingdom just like the kingdom of David with the Messiah exerting physical power over all the nations around them, including defeating the Romans. The Jews would have accepted Jesus as the Messiah if he did that, but he did not. Instead, he said: John 18:³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews.” But was the kingdom at hand as he predicted, or is he a false prophet on that prediction also? Was that kingdom established soon after his prediction? Yes, but not a physical kingdom. Instead, he established the church, a spiritual kingdom. That spiritual kingdom was established in Acts 2 in 30 AD when Peter preached the first completed gospel sermon and 3,000 were baptized and added to the church, which is “the saved”.

Thus we can see why most all the Jews, except for a “remnant” rejected Jesus as the Messiah b/c they didn’t think he established a physical kingdom. Also, if his imminent 2nd coming was to establish an imminent kingdom, you can see why they did not believe that he did indeed come back soon as he predicted. They would say that if the 2nd coming was in 70 AD, then he would have established a physical kingdom in 70 AD, but he did not (according to them). Therefore, according to them, his 2nd coming could not have been in 70 AD.

Thus the nature of the kingdom that Jesus established is tied directly to his predictions of an imminent 2nd coming. So in the 2nd century, most would still expect Jesus to come back in that century, a delayed coming but still relatively soon (instead of let’s say 2,000 years later). But they would also still expect his return to establish a physical kingdom.

Back to the delayed idea. Since, according to them, he did not establish a physical kingdom in 70 AD, then his 2nd coming could not have been in 70 AD. He did predict an imminent 2nd coming and imminent kingdom to be established, but since the Jews rejected him he must have delayed both his imminent prediction of his coming and his kingdom. But did he? There are no scriptures where Jesus or the apostles said that. he delayed those predictions. As a matter of fact, Hebrews 10 destroys that ided. Hebrews 10:³⁷ for yet a very very little, He who is coming will come, and will not tarry (delay)” That has to be referring to his 2nd coming. He wil not delay that coming. That destroys the “delayed coming” idea completely.

So, when did early Christians give up on the idea that Jesus was not coming back soon and that he wasn’t going to establish an earthly kingdom soon (as he predicted for both). Basically for 2,000 years many just tried to predict a date for the 2nd coming based on a variety of texts and world events.

180 AD, Montanism grew from the teaching of Montanus in Phrygia as a reaction against a growing laxity in the established church. Two women, Priscilla and Maximilla left their husbands to follow him. They desired to see the use of spiritual gifts to continue, emphasising tongues and prophecy. Initially they were accepted as part of the church and later considered as heretical.They expected the imminent end of the age and establishment of the millennium in Pepuza, a small village in Asia Minor.

180 AD. Around the time of Montanus at least two bishops, one in Pontus and one in Syria, were expecting the early return of Christ. One bishop in Pontus declared that the last judgement would come in two years and those who believe him ceased to cultivate their fields and rid themselves of houses and goods. The bishop in Syria led his flock into the wilderness to meet Christ. (Latourette p.128-129).

250 AD. Commodianus, who lived in Palestine, saw prophetic overtones to the persecution commanded by the emperor Decius (249-251). He listed seven persecutions that the church had suffered and likened them to the seven last plagues in the book of Revelation. The end of the world is at hand. Rome is the Antichrist, and this is the last persecution which represents the return of Nero. But Nero will be destroyed by a Jewish antichrist marching at the head of a Persian host. He in turn will be slain by angels and cast in to the lake of fire. The lost tribes will then return to Zion and God will come for judgement and to destroy the wicked. (Wand p.101).

500 AD. Both Hippolytus (c 170 – c 236) and Augustine (354 – 430) believed in the ‘Cosmic week’. Jesus had come in middle of sixth millennium, so they expected the end in AD 500.

1000 AD. An ancient chronicler tells us that it was widely believed that Jesus would return at the end of the first 1000 years of Christianity. As the last decade of the first millennium dawned, there was great apprehension and anticipation. With the birth of the year AD 999 certain amazing things began to happen. People began to listen to their church with whole-hearted seriousness. There was no stealing; cheating became almost unknown; bakers gave their bread away free of charge, and there was a constant cycle of confessions, absolutions, and communion.

1500 AD. Savonarola (1452-98) was a wandering prophet in Italy, predicting an imminent improvement on the earth before the final judgement. The social and political turmoil in Italy caused Savonarola to see the world as a battleground between good and evil. The last days were approaching with disaster for Florence and Italy, which would be averted if the people of Florence would repent. The coming antichrist would be defeated and the Turks and pagans would be converted. He saw Florence as Zion, the city of God, and himself as its prophet. He thought that Charles VIII of France was the last world emperor. He took control of Florence in 1494, before being defeated by the Medicis and being executed in 1498. (Kyle p.53).

1650 AD. Columbus’s motivation for exploration was partly religious. He wanted to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean in order to reach Asia directly. He did not know that America was in between. Inspired by the earlier crusades, his plan was to conquer Asia and take wealth from there to finance a crusade to the Middle East to capture the Holy Land from the Muslims, which he will lead himself. In order to persuade King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to finance his fourth voyage to the ‘Indies’ he presented them with his ‘Book of Prophecies’. From the Bible, he had predicted that the world will end in 1650, and before then he would lead a crusade to liberate Jerusalem.

1666 AD. Many combined 1000 (the millennium) with 666 (the mark of the beast) to arrive at the date 1666. 1666 was the year of the plague followed by the Great Fire of London. The Quaker George Fox wrote that in 1666, every thunderstorm aroused end-time expectations (Kyle p.67-68).

1770 AD. In the late 1700s, the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing also known as the Shakers, believed that the second coming of Christ would be through a woman. In 1770, Ann Lee became the leader of the Shakers and they believed she was revealed in “manifestation of Divine light” to be the second coming of Christ and was called Mother Ann.

1789 AD. Many English Bible interpreters thought that the French Revolution was the prophecies of Daniel chapter 7 and Revelation chapter 13 being fulfilled before their very eyes (Kyle p.72).

1843 or 1844 AD. William Miller (1782-1849) was a farmer from Western Massachusetts. After 14 years of intensive Bible study, he calculated the second coming in 1843 or early 1844. After it didn’t happen during that period, he re-calculated dates to 22nd October 1844. Many people were waiting in church on 22nd October, absolutely convinced that the Lord would appear during the service for all to see. His followers stayed together after the failed prediction and formed into the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. (Latourette p.1259) His calculations were quite elaborate, but his key was Daniel 8:14, the 2,300 days before the sanctuary will be cleansed. He said this described the second coming of Jesus, which would purge the world of evil and usher in the millennium. Miller took the 2,300 days to mean 2,300 years starting from 457 BC, when Ezra and 1,700 Jews returned to Jerusalem. This linked with the seventy weeks of years in Dan 9:24, so he counted back 490 years from AD 33 (the crucifixion) to arrive at 457 BC. Miller added 2,300 years to 457 BC to reach 1843. (Kyle p.89-93).

1874 AD (and several more). Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916), was the founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. He believed that Christ came in invisible form in 1874, and millennium had begun. (Latourette p. 1260). The Jehovah’s Witnesses are the most persistent date setters. The following years have been set by their leaders: 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1984 (Kyle p.93).

1890 AD. Joseph Smith of the Mormon church. In a revelation dated 2 April 1843, and published as scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 130:14–17, Smith states: “I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following: Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter. I was left thus, without being able to decide whether this coming referred to the beginning of the millennium or to some previous appearing, or whether I should die and thus see his face. I believe the coming of the Son of Man will not be any sooner than that time”. Smith was born December, 1805, which would put that date at no earlier than 1890. 

1934 (and other dates) AD. Herbert W. Armstrong (Worldwide Church of God of Prophecy) had previously predicted^{[citation needed]} in a 1934 edition of The Plain Truth magazine that Christ would return in 1936. After that prediction failed, he stated in a 1940 edition of The Plain Truth^{[citation needed]} that “Christ will come after 3 1/2 years of tribulation in October 43.” After those failed predictions and loss of members he moved his operation from Oregon to Pasadena, California.

1988 AD. Hal Lindsey published a book, The Late Great Planet Earth, suggesting Christ would return in the 1980s, probably no later than 1988.

1988 AD. Whisenant wrote a book titled, ’88 reasons why the rapture will be in 1988′ which sold two million copies. He predicted the date of the rapture as being between the 11th and 13th September 1988. He reasoned that even though Jesus said that no one can know the day or the hour of his return, we can still know the month or the year. He even predicted the date of the beginning of World War III as 3rd October 1988.He later wrote another book titled ‘The Final Shout: Rapture Report 1989. What went wrong in 1988’, explaining errors in his calculations.

1994 AD. Harold Camping was the president of Family Radio in USA, predicted the world would end in September 1994. His book ‘1994?’, and its sequel ‘Are You Ready?’ used his own elaborate, rather unorthodox, system of dating, numerology and allegory pointing to the second coming being in September 1994. Even after the date, Camping still believed that Christ would return soon.

1999-2009 AD. Jerry Faldwell predicted the 2nd coming within these 10 years.

2020 AD. Jeane Dixon. The alleged psychic claimed that Armageddon would take place in 2020 and Jesus would return to defeat the unholy Trinity of the Antichrist, Satan and the False prophet between 2020 and 2037.^[48]

Most of these dates (and many more not included here) came from Julian Spriggs. Some of the dates came from Wikipedia.

https://www.julianspriggs.co.uk/pages/SecondComingDates. Sources: Carl E Armerding and W Ward Gasque – Handbook of Biblical Prophecy (Armerding/Gasque)
Richard Kyle – The Last Days are Here Again (Kyle)
Latourette – The History of Christianity (Latourette)
J.W.C. Wand – A History of the Early Church to AD 500 (Wand)

Obviously all of these predictions, and many others, failed. They failed b/c the 2nd coming was in 70 AD and there are no Biblical predictions of another “coming” (a 3rd?) after 70 AD.

So how did the views about the kingdom of God change over the centuries. Jesus had said the kingdom was “at hand” and that it was spiritual, not physical but Christians kept looking for a physical kingdom of God to be set up on earth. Many important authors from the first to fifth centuries believed in the Kingdom of God as a new age that would begin when Christ came (a physical kingdom on earth). The idea of the Kingdom of God was replaced by the idea of heaven or hell at death. Augustine’s rejection of the Kingdom in favor of heaven-at-death settled the matter for the Roman Catholic Church. We would call this view “a-millennial” (no millennial). Basically the Catholic Church became the kingdom on earth, a greedy physical kingdom. Groups on the margins of the institutional Reformation churches expected the Kingdom of God to come imminently. These groups formed sects based on this expectation of a physical kingdom to be set up on earth. Some groups today expect Christians to usher in the Kingdom of God on earth.

Most expect Jesus’ reign on earth to be 1,000 years (based on Revelation 20:⁴ And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them, and the souls of those who have been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and who did not bow before the beast, nor his image, and did not receive the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand, and they did live and reign with Christ the thousand years.” Some believe that the 2nd coming will be before the millennium, thus premillennial. Others believe that the 2nd coming will be after the millennium, thus postmillennial. I believe the 1,000 years of Revelation 20:4 to be figurative, representing the 40 year period between 30 AD and 70 AD (the destruction of the temple and of the city Jerusalem). The end of the 1,000 years: Revelation 20:⁷ And when the thousand years may be finished, the Adversary shall be loosed out of his prison, ⁸ and he shall go forth to lead the nations astray, that are in the four corners of the earth — Gog and Magog — to gather them together to war, of whom the number [is] as the sand of the sea; ⁹ and they did go up over the breadth of the land, and did surround the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, and there came down fire from God out of the heaven, and devoured them.” This beloved city must be Jerusalem. All the events predicted in Revelation were to happen soon. Revelation 1:1 A revelation of Jesus Christ, that God gave to him, to shew to his servants what things it behoveth to come to pass quickly; and he did signify [it], having sent through his messenger to his servant John, ² who did testify the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, as many things also as he did see. ³ Happy is he who is reading, and those hearing, the words of the prophecy, and keeping the things written in it — for the time is nigh (near). Revelation 22: ⁶ And he said to me, `These words [are] stedfast and true, and the Lord God of the holy prophets did send His messenger to shew to His servants the things that it behoveth to come quickly. <sup>7</sup> Lo, I come quickly; happy [is] he who is keeping the words of the prophecy of this scroll.’ <sup>10</sup> And he saith to me, `Thou mayest not seal the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is nigh. ¹² And lo, I come quickly, and my reward [is] with me, to render to each as his work shall be. ²⁰ he saith — who is testifying these things — `Yes, I come quickly!’ Amen! Yes, be coming, Lord Jesus!” Thus, the surrounding of the beloved city (Jerusalem) by Gog and Magog (Rome) had to happen soon after the time of writing (63 AD). That could only be fulfilled when Rome sieged Jerusalem in 70 AD. The end of the 1,000 year millennium would be 70 AD. So the millennium would be the 40 years from 30-70 AD. There is no future millennial reign of Christ to be set up on earth, a physical kingdom.

As you can see, there are so many false theories and predictions that contradict Jesus’ prediction of an imminent 2nd coming and his prediction of a spiritual kingdom that was “at hand” even as he spoke. All the false predictions and expectations had simply caused confusion and frustration among believers for the past 2,000 years.