Best Books on The 2nd Coming
The second coming is Christ's promised, visible, and bodily return in glory to raise the dead, judge the world, and bring his kingdom to its fullness. Reformed theology treats this as a single, personal, public event and calls believers to watchful hope rather than speculative date-setting.
Start Here
basic
The Second Coming: Signs of Christ's Return and the End of the Age
Top pickJohn MacArthur · 1999
A readable exposition of Jesus's own teaching on his return in the Olivet Discourse.
The Last Days According to Jesus
R. C. Sproul · 1998
A clear study of what Jesus meant by 'this generation' and other timing statements about his return.
Coming Events and Present Duties
J. C. Ryle · 1867
Warm nineteenth-century tracts urging Christians to live in daily, sober expectation of Christ's return.
The Returning King: A Guide to the Book of Revelation
Vern S. Poythress · 2000
An accessible guide treating Revelation as a picture book that keeps Christ's return at the center.
Go Deeper
intermediate
The Blessed Hope: A Biblical Study of the Second Advent and the Rapture
Top pickGeorge Eldon Ladd · 1990
A classic case against the pretribulational rapture, defending a single, unified return of Christ.
A New Heaven and a New Earth: Reclaiming Biblical Eschatology
J. Richard Middleton · 2014
A substantial biblical-theology case for a renewed physical creation as the goal of Christ's return.
The Bible and the Future
Anthony Hoekema · 1994
A comprehensive Reformed treatment of 'already and not yet' eschatology culminating in Christ's return.
Heaven
Randy Alcorn · 2004
A widely read, Scripture-saturated picture of the physical new earth believers will inherit at Christ's return.
For Study
advanced
The Promise of the Future
Top pickCornelis P. Venema · 2000
A comprehensive scholarly Reformed eschatology that engages every major view of Christ's return in depth.
The Last Things: Hope for This World and the Next
Herman Bavinck · 1996
The eschatology section of Bavinck's Reformed Dogmatics, a classic technical treatment of death through consummation.
Jesus and the Last Days: The Interpretation of the Olivet Discourse
George R. Beasley-Murray · 1993
A rigorous scholarly exegesis of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, the core New Testament texts on Christ's return.
Christ and Time: The Primitive Christian Conception of Time and History
Oscar Cullmann · 2018
A foundational academic study of New Testament 'already and not yet' time, underlying much modern Reformed eschatology.
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A tiered reading guide of the best books on The 2nd Coming.