The Story of Jesus’s Failed Prophecy

By Meir Gold

Overview: A major issue for Christian theologians is a certain prophecy of Jesus, a prophecy which, by an honest reading,results in the inescapable conclusion that the prophecy failed. While this is usually thrown under the rug, this is a major issue with Christianity.

There’s yet another problem with Christianity.

Jesus is regarded as a Prophet of God by his many followers. Well, does Jesus pass the Prophet Test? To find out we’ll need to take a look into the only prophecy which was already meant to happen and be witnessed by everyone which all parties involved agree that Jesus actually said.

In our earliest Gospel^[1] Jesus tells his followers

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power.”^[2]

The meaning of this is quite clear; he claimed to his disciples that he^[3] will reveal himself as the Messiah in their very generation. This would of course invalidate his claim to be the Messiah as that never occured. Paul additionally claimed that Jesus would come imminently in 1 Thessalonians. There he writes:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.^[4]

1 Cor. 7 is also very apocalyptic. It’s worth quoting to give the reader an idea of how serious Paul was with this whole “everything is ending” thing:

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am. But if they are not practicing self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to be aflame with passion. To the married I give this command—not I but the Lord—that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. To the rest I say—I and not the Lord—that if any believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. And if any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so; in such a case the brother or sister is not bound. It is to peace that God has called you. Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife. However that may be, let each of you lead the life that the Lord has assigned, to which God called you. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything. Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called. Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. Even if you can gain your freedom, make use of your present condition now more than ever. For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord, just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of human masters. In whatever condition you were called, brothers there remain with God. Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. I think that, in view of the impending crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life,and I would spare you that. I mean, brothers the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord. ^[5]

Paul also tells us how he wanted to present the Corinthians as a “chaste virgin” unto Christ. (2 Cor. 11:2). There are further examples. The above cited case is not the only case in the gospels where Jesus mentions this. During the trial account Mark writes:

 Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.’”^[6]

Jesus’s first recorded words are even:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”^[7]

Because of this there is extremely widespread agreement among scholars about this. We will quote a mere sampling here:

“[Paul] advised his followers not to marry, begin a new business, or worry if they were slaves, since everything in the world was about to be turned upside down and all social relations were terminal.”^[8]

“[The phrase “Come Lord” in 1 Cor. 16:22 reflects] consciousness of living in the final period of time that had begun, as demonstrated in their expectation of the impending coming of the glorified Lord.”^[9]

“Paul taught his converts that the Lord would return so soon that they would live to see the day… Death was not expected.”^[10]

“[Paul taught that] the second coming of Jesus will occur in the immediate future… the vast majority of Christians would be living witnesses to Christ’s return from heaven.”^[11]

“[Paul’s teaching] is uncharacteristically clear and consistent throughout his letters. Believers whether living or dead will receive a new, glorious body, like Christ’s at his resurrection – and this will happen very, very soon…Paul and his communities are troubled by the death of believers before Christ’s Second Coming: they did not expect this and do not know what to make of it.”^[12]

“The earliest Christians were Jews who believed that they were living at the end of the age and that Jesus himself was to return from heaven as a cosmic judge of the earth[.]”^[13]

“[In the letter to the Thessalonians] we learn [that] Paul’s converts were shaken by the fact that some members of the congregation had died; they expected the Lord to return while they were all still alive. Paul assured them that the (few) dead Christians would be raised so that they could participate in the coming kingdom along with those who were still alive when the Lord returned.”^[14]

“[Paul] writes about the coming of the Lord Jesus, who will meet the saints in the clouds… the point for us is that 1 Thes. 4:13-18 does not readily lend itself to being understood as metaphorical language… Paul expected Jesus to come on the clouds.”^[15]

“The earliest document we have from Paul is his letter 1 Thessalonians. It is intensely apocalyptic, with its entire orientation on preparing his group for the imminent arrival of Jesus in the clouds of heaven…[Paul] expects to live to see Jesus visibly in the clouds.^[16]

“The chief theological question [in 1 Thessalonians] seems to concern the recent death of someone in the church at Thessalonica; the members are worried about the eschatological implications… It is clear from their concern, as well as his own summary statement in 1:9-10, that in his earlier preaching Paul had stressed apocalyptic themes[.]”^[17]

“[The Christians] are eagerly expecting the immediate return of their Master…[the Corinthians] were perplexed, like the Thessalonians, by the death of some of their fellow converts.”^[18]

“Paul made no recorded attempt to explain Jesus’ teaching, to prove from his words and deeds that he was the messiah… he made no reference to… any salient incident in Jesus’ ministry… Paul was an apocalyptist, believing the end was rapidly approaching. He imagined himself carrying the gospel as one of the messengers promised for the end times.”^[19]

“[T]he assumption that Jesus anticipated the arrival of the Kingdom in the very near future has lost little momentum. With but few exception, studies of Jesus’ teaching continue to include a near expectation of the Kingdom as one of the primary ingredients of his message.”^[20]

This was obviously quite the problem for later Christians when Christ neither came nor appeared in the clouds. At the end of the first century some Christians still held out this hope (Didache 16, 1 Clement chapters 23 and 45) however the author of 2 Peter has an ingenious explanation:

First of all you must understand this, that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and indulging their own lusts and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!”  They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless. But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.  The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.^[21]

Ah yes. The prophecy didn’t happen because people didn’t repent. The problem here is that there’s no condition to the prophecy.

Modern Christians also realize the conondrum they’re in.  C.S Lewis for example wrote:

“‘Say what you like we shall be told’, ‘the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things
be done’ And he was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.” It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the Bible.^[23]

R.C Sproul, the Reformed theologian wrote:

One of the most critical issues that the church faces today and has been facing for some time, and that is, a serious crisis…in the area of eschatology… a wholesale attack on the trustworthiness of the Bible and of the truth of the Scripture concerning the Person and work of Jesus Himself…I have never been satisfied that the evangelical community has dealt with the problems of the time-frame references that are set forth in the New Testament about the near-term expectations and things that were to happen within the first century.^[24]

Contemporary Christians will claim that this prophecy refers to the transfiguration a few days later. This is completely untrue. Kent Brower put it well when he said that, “Few scholars, if any, consider the connection between the logion of [Mark] 9.1 and the pericope of 9:2-13 to be the original context… nor is it likely that anyone could actually say with a solemn expression like [“truly I say to you”] that some people who are listening will actually be alive in six days’ time… In sum, the crucial logon in Mk 9:1 can best be understood as a combination threat/promise that the [kingdom of God] would come in power in the lifetime of at least some of the hearers.”^[22] The issue with the other interpretations (eg. that it’s referring to the resurrection or that it’s a parable) is that this is an eschatological statement in a time when such statements were constant and ALWAYS intended literally which those interpretations just neatly ignore.

[1]              That is Mark. See Joseph A. Weaks, Limited Efficacy in Reconstructing the Gospel Sources for Matthew and Luke in Raymond F. Person Jr., Empirical Models Challenging Biblical Criticism,331: “[A] near consensus of gospel scholars conclude that Mark was written first among the canonical gospels and that Matthew and Luke are both dependent on Mark as a source.”

[2]              Mark 8:34-9:1

[3]              While this uses the third person there’s widespread agreement even among critical scholars that he’s referring to himself here. Bart Ehrman, for example, says that what Judas betrayed was Jesus’ secret teaching to his disciples that he was the Son of Man he so often spoke of.

[4]              1 Thes. 4:13-18

[5]              1 Cor. 17

[6]              Mark 14:61-62

[7]              Mark 1:15

[8]              James Taboor, Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012),16.

[9]              Wemer Georg Kummmel, “Futuristic and Realized Eschatology in the Earliest Stages of Christianity”, Journal of religion 43.4 (1963) 310

[10]           E.P Sanders, Paul: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford University Press,1991),32-33

[11]           Gerd Ludemann, Paul: The Founder of Christianity (Amherest, New York:Prometheus Books,2002),14,49

[12]           Paula Fredricksen, Jesus of Nazareth, King of Jews: A Jewish Life and the Emergence of Christianity (New York:Vintage Books,1999),58

[13]           Bart Ehrman, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium, (New York: Oxford University Press,1999),139

[14]           E.P Sanders, The Historical Figure of Jesus, (London: The Penguin press,1993),179

[15]           Dale C. Allison, Jesus of Nazareth: Millenarian Prophet, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press,1998),159-160

[16]           James Taboor, Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity, (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012),233-234,115

[17]           L. Michael White, From Jesus to Christianity: How Four Generations of Visionaries and Storytellers Created the New Testament and Christian Faith, (New York: Harper Collins,2004),175-176

[18]           Charles Gore, Jesus of Nazareth, (London: Thornton Butterworth,1930),119,214 (Emphasis in the original.)

[19]           William H.C Frend, The Rise of Christianity , (Philadelphia: Fortress Press,1984),92-93,97

[20]           Barry S. Crawford, “Near Expectation in the Sayings of Jesus,” Journal of Biblical Literature 101 (1982), 226

[21]           2 Peter 3:3-13

[22]           Kent Brower, “Mark 9:1: Seeing the Kingdom in power,” Jounral for the Study of the New Testament,6 (1980),23,41

[23]           C.S Lewis, The World’s Last Night and Other Collected Essays,97-98 available at https://archive.org/details/worldslastnighta012859mbp/page/n109/mode/2up

[24]           Quoted at http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/solution.html