The return of Jesus Christ and the associated judgment are central to the prophetic timeline discussed. Christ's coming, often referred to as the "coming of the Son of Man," is linked to the Day of the Lord, a year-long period of great wrath and vengeance on His enemies, occurring as the final year of the time of Jacob's trouble. At the end of this Day of the Lord, Christ returns to rule, His wrath spent, and assumes the throne of David. At this time of His revealing, He will establish Jerusalem as a city of worldwide acclaim, regather scattered Israel, draw all peoples to Himself, and teach the law from Zion. His reward is with Him, and His work is before Him upon His return, marking the beginning of the Millennium, a time of peace distinct from the destruction of the Day of the Lord. In the Olivet Prophecy, Christ speaks of a future destruction of Jerusalem, not the AD 70 event, emphasizing the days of vengeance when all written prophecies will be fulfilled. The imagery of clouds and apocalyptic rhetoric points to the year of the Lord's vengeance, the Day of the Lord, as the true fulfillment of His coming. Additionally, in Matthew 26:64, Christ addresses the Sanhedrin, indicating they will see the Son of Man in a future event after the Day of the Lord, not tied to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. The Parable of the Unjust Judge in Luke 18 also connects to this theme of judgment and vengeance, aligning with the Day of the Lord's prophetic fulfillment.

Christ describes the Great Tribulation and the end-time events which would lead up to His return. In this respect the end time will be like the days of Noah. People will be living their usual lives, working in the fields, grinding at the mill, and so forth when end-time events fall upon them unexpectedly. This will be a time of such death and destruction that, unless God intervenes in world affairs, no one would survive. At the beginning of Matthew 24, Christ's disciples specifically ask Him for a sign of His return and the end of the age. Verses 40-41 can be taken to mean that at Christ's return a separation will take place between those who attain to the first resurrection and those who do not. However, a secret rapture is nowhere contemplated in either Matthew 24 or Luke 17, as some teach.

In Jesus' foretelling of the time just before His return, He describes a period of great tribulation unlike any since the beginning of the world, so severe that unless those days were shortened no flesh would be saved, yet they will be shortened for the elect's sake. Parallel prophecies in Jeremiah and Daniel employ similar language of unparalleled trouble and Jacob's trouble, confirming that the coming days will be the worst of times. Although human technological advances such as nuclear weapons, genetically modified pathogens, and artificial intelligence appear to threaten civilization, the biblical record points instead to a different overarching peril. Luke's parallel account of the Olivet Prophecy situates the turmoil in Jerusalem and Judea, where Gentile armies will surround the city, leading to desolation, flight, captivity, and trampling of the holy city until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. This passage explicitly identifies the period as the days of vengeance in which all things written will be fulfilled, paralleling the warning that no flesh would survive unless the days were limited. These days of vengeance fulfill long-standing divine warnings rooted in the covenant, particularly the promise in Leviticus to bring a sword that executes the vengeance of the covenant against unfaithful Israel and Judah. Throughout Scripture God has repeatedly sent Gentile nations as instruments of judgment against His people and then judged those nations in turn, a pattern that will culminate when iniquity fills every nation so completely that all flesh would deserve annihilation. Prophecies in Isaiah, Zechariah, and elsewhere depict God gathering the nations against Jerusalem, after which He fights against them, treading the winepress of His wrath. New Testament passages reinforce this sequence: Christ will return from heaven in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God or obey the gospel, and Revelation repeatedly portrays the outpouring of the wrath of God and of the Lamb through seals, trumpets, and bowls until the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ. Jesus' own synagogue reading of Isaiah 61, stopping short of the day of vengeance, indicates that this aspect of His ministry awaits His second coming. Although such vengeance may appear inconsistent with divine love, it arises from the Creator's desire to halt mankind's destructive rejection of His way and to settle accounts so that the righteous receive comfort while the wicked face everlasting destruction.