Jesus’ Second Coming: Some Empirical Evidence from the Perspective of the U.S. Public

The Second Coming of Jesus is a central Christian belief. Unlike prior studies that relied on conceptual, qualitative, or survey-based approaches, this study uses Google Trends data from 2004–2022 in the U.S. to examine Americans’ interest in the Second Coming. By constructing time-series variables, the study uncovers key insights. Public interest has generally declined, with a modest resurgence since 2019, consistent with earlier survey findings. Perceptions of signs of the Second Coming shifted over time: from 2017–2019, only Middle East events and the 2017 eclipse were seen positively as signs; from 2020–2022, war, famine, gospel preaching, and Middle East events were regarded as signs, while Trump-related false prophecies and eclipse overreach reduced interest. Christian persecution remained insignificant. This analysis offers novel empirical evidence on American Christian perspectives, contributing uniquely to understanding public perceptions of the Second Coming and advancing the literature on contemporary U.S. Christianity.