Question

Why did God wait so long to send Jesus after the fall, and why are we still waiting for his return?

Studied by claude-opus-5-5 · asked once

Start the discussion

The Bible never gives a full explanation for either wait. It says Jesus came "when the fullness of time had come" (Galatians 4:4), after a long period of promise and preparation. It treats the time before his return as God's patience, which leaves room for repentance and for the message to reach every nation (2 Peter 3:9; Matthew 24:14). It also openly admits that this delay was hard for believers even in the first century.

What the text says

On the first wait. The New Testament doesn't call the time before Jesus wasted or empty. Paul says "when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son" (Galatians 4:4), and that "at just the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6). Jesus began preaching with "The time is fulfilled" (Mark 1:15). The point is that the timing was chosen, not late. The text doesn't list the reasons, but it does describe what happened in those centuries. God spoke "at many times and in many ways" through the prophets before speaking "by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2). A promise was given right after the fall (Genesis 3:15) and was carried forward through Abraham, Moses and David. Paul calls the Law a "guardian until Christ came" (Galatians 3:24). Jesus' parable of the vineyard tells the same story: servant after servant is sent, and only at the end does the owner say "I will send my beloved son" (Luke 20:13). Meanwhile people like Simeon were "waiting for the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25). The prophets themselves "searched intently" to learn what time their prophecies pointed to (1 Peter 1:10-11).

The Bible also doesn't say people before Jesus were simply abandoned. Abraham "believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" (Romans 4:3). Paul says God "in His forbearance had passed over the sins committed beforehand" (Romans 3:25), and that he "overlooked the times of ignorance" (Acts 17:30).

On the second wait. The question "why the delay?" is already in the Bible. 2 Peter 3:4 quotes scoffers asking, "Where is the promise of His coming?" The answer given is that "with the Lord a day is like a thousand years" (3:8, echoing Psalm 90:4), and that "the Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance" (3:9). Readers are told to "consider the patience of our Lord as salvation" (3:15). Romans 2:4 says the same about God's patience in general: it is meant to lead people to repentance. Jesus also ties the end to a task: "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world … and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).

Scripture is also blunt that the timing is withheld. "No one knows about that day or hour" (Matthew 24:36). "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7). Instead of a date, it gives instructions for the waiting: be patient (James 5:7-9), stay alert (Matthew 25:13), and keep hoping. "Hope that is seen is no hope at all" (Romans 8:24). The Bible doesn't pretend that waiting is easy. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Proverbs 13:12), and the martyrs in Revelation cry out "How long?" (Revelation 6:10). The psalmist's answer is not an explanation but trust: "I wait for the LORD … and in His word I put my hope" (Psalm 130:5).

Where readers differ

Patient delay with a purpose (futurist reading)

Christ's return is a single future event whose date God has deliberately hidden. The long gap is mercy: room for repentance, and time for the gospel to reach every nation. 2 Peter 3 is taken as the direct, intended answer. The same God who chose the 'fullness of time' for the first coming has chosen the time for the second.

2 Peter 3:82 Peter 3:15Matthew 24:14Matthew 24:36Acts 1:7Galatians 4:4

Already and not yet (inaugurated kingdom)

The New Testament treats the whole stretch from Jesus' resurrection onward as 'the last days.' The kingdom has truly begun in Jesus and the Spirit, and his return will finish what has started. So 'near' and 'soon' describe the kind of era we live in, not a short countdown. Creation's 'groaning' is a description of the in-between time.

Mark 1:15Acts 2:17Hebrews 1:21 John 2:18Romans 8:19Luke 17:20

Much of the 'soon' language was fulfilled in AD 70 (preterist / partial preterist)

Jesus said 'this generation will not pass away until all these things have happened' and that some standing there would see the kingdom come. On this reading those sayings point mainly to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70, which happened within that generation. Partial preterists still expect a future bodily return. Full preterists, a small minority, believe the return has already happened.

Matthew 24:34Matthew 16:28Mark 13:2Luke 21:20

The delay reshaped early expectations (historical-critical reading)

Many historians think the earliest Christians expected the end within their own lifetimes. Paul writes 'we who are alive and remain.' On this view, later writings such as 2 Peter 3 are themselves evidence of a community reworking its hopes as decades passed. Jewish readers, for their part, point out that the signs of the messianic age, such as universal peace, have not yet appeared. For them the waiting for the Messiah continues.

1 Thessalonians 4:15Mark 9:1Mark 13:301 Corinthians 7:292 Peter 3:3Isaiah 2:4

The words it turns on

  • καιρός kairos (καιρός)

    A fitting or decisive moment, an opportune season. Used in Mark 1:15 ('the time is fulfilled'), Romans 5:6 ('at the right time') and Acts 1:7 ('times or seasons').

    Drift: English 'time' usually means a clock or calendar duration. Kairos is about the right moment, so the stress falls on God's timing being apt, not on how many years went by.

  • χρόνος chronos (χρόνος)

    Time as a span or duration. Galatians 4:4 speaks of 'the fullness of the chronos.' Acts 1:7 pairs chronos with kairos.

    Drift: English uses one word for both ideas. The Greek can separate 'how long' (chronos) from 'which moment' (kairos).

  • πλήρωμα plērōma (πλήρωμα)

    Fullness, completion: what fills something up. In Galatians 4:4 the image is a measure of time that has become full.

    Drift: 'Fullness of time' is sometimes read as 'finally, after too long.' The word points to completion and readiness, not lateness.

  • βραδύνω bradunō (βραδύνω)

    To be slow, to delay or hang back. 2 Peter 3:9: 'The Lord is not slow.'

    Drift: The KJV renders it 'slack,' which now sounds like laziness. The verse is denying that God is dragging his feet.

  • μακροθυμέω makrothumeō / makrothumia (μακροθυμέω / μακροθυμία)

    Literally 'long-tempered': patience, forbearance, holding back anger for a long time. Used in 2 Peter 3:9 and 3:15, Romans 2:4, Romans 9:22 and James 5:7-8.

    Drift: KJV 'longsuffering' has gone out of use. Modern 'patience' can sound passive, whereas the word describes deliberate restraint by someone who could act.

  • παρουσία parousia (παρουσία)

    Presence, arrival. It was used for the official visit of a king or dignitary. It is the standard word for Christ's 'coming' (Matthew 24:3, 1 Thessalonians 4:15, 2 Peter 3:4).

    Drift: 'Second coming' is not a biblical phrase, though Hebrews 9:28 says he will 'appear a second time.' Parousia carries the sense of a royal arrival, not just a return trip.

  • קָוָה qavah (קָוָה)

    To wait for, to look eagerly toward, to hope. Used in Psalm 130:5 and Psalm 25:5. It is related to the word for a cord or line, something stretched taut.

    Drift: English 'wait' sounds idle. Qavah is tense, expectant leaning toward something, and is often translated 'hope.'

What the Bible doesn't say

The Bible never gives a complete reason why God chose those particular moments. It doesn't say why it had to be then, under Rome, and not earlier, or why the return hasn't happened yet beyond patience and mission. It also gives no date for the fall. Calculations from the genealogies differ widely (the Hebrew and Greek Old Testament texts give different numbers), and the genealogies may not have been meant as complete timelines. Explanations you often hear, such as Roman roads, a shared Greek language, or a world "ready" for the gospel, are later reflections and not statements of scripture. Jewish tradition reads the same scriptures and does not accept that the Messiah has come. For Jewish readers the question is not "why the delay of a return" but "why the Messiah has not yet come."

Key verses

  1. Galatians 4:4

    But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

    Jesus' coming is framed as timed: 'when the fullness of time had come.'

  2. 2 Peter 3:9

    The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

    The Bible's own direct answer to the delay of the return: patience so that people may repent.

  3. 2 Peter 3:8

    Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

    God's sense of time is not ours: 'a day is like a thousand years.'

  4. Matthew 24:36

    No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

    No one knows the day or hour, so the timing is deliberately hidden.

  5. Acts 1:7

    Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.

    Times and seasons belong to the Father's authority.

  6. Matthew 24:14

    And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

    Links the end to the gospel reaching all nations.

  7. Hebrews 1:1

    On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.

    God spoke through the prophets throughout the 'wait' before speaking by his Son.

  8. Luke 20:13

    ‘What shall I do?’ asked the owner of the vineyard. ‘I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’

    Jesus' parable pictures a long history of messengers before the son is sent.

  9. Romans 3:25

    God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood through faith, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.

    God's forbearance toward sins committed before Christ.

  10. Romans 2:4

    Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

    God's patience is meant to lead people to repentance.

  11. Romans 8:24

    For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?

    Hope is by nature about what is not yet seen, so waiting is part of it.

  12. Psalm 130:5

    I wait for the LORD; my soul does wait, and in His word I put my hope.

    A model for waiting: hope resting on God's word, not on a timetable.

Common points of confusion
God was absent or did nothing between the fall and Jesus.
Hebrews 1:1 says God spoke 'at many times and in many ways' through the prophets. The Old Testament records covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses and David, and Luke 20:9-13 pictures messenger after messenger being sent.
No one before Jesus could be right with God.
Romans 4:3 says Abraham was counted righteous through faith, and Romans 3:25 speaks of God's forbearance toward sins committed beforehand. Hebrews 11 lists people commended for their faith.
2 Peter 3:8 is a formula ('one day = 1,000 years') for working out the date of the end.
The verse echoes Psalm 90:4 to make one point: God isn't bound by human sense of time. Jesus says no one knows the day or hour (Matthew 24:36).
The delay proves the return will never happen.
2 Peter 3:4-9 anticipates exactly this argument and answers it by saying the delay is patience, not failure. Whether you accept that answer is up to you, but the delay isn't a problem the authors overlooked.
Faithful believers should be able to predict when Christ will return.
Acts 1:7 and Matthew 24:36 explicitly withhold the timing. What believers are told to do is watch and be patient (Matthew 25:13; James 5:7-8).

Sources: Berean Standard Bible (verse quotations) · Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (Hebrew and Greek word numbers) · Bauer–Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (BDAG): entries for kairos, chronos, plērōma, bradunō, makrothumia, parousia · Brown–Driver–Briggs Hebrew Lexicon: entry for qavah · Masoretic Text and Septuagint chronologies of Genesis 5 and 11 (on differing dates for early history)

Discussion

What do you make of it? Agree, push back, add a verse.

Loading…