Ask NT Wright Anything

Episode Title: Still waiting… for Jesus’ return?
Date: February 1, 2026
Host: Mike Bird
Guest: N.T. (Tom) Wright
Produced by: Premier Unbelievable

Episode Overview

In this episode, Mike Bird and Tom Wright respond to listeners’ questions about living out faith in the everyday world, why the incarnation was necessary, and the challenging issue of the apparent delay in Jesus’ promised return. The show is marked by warm, thoughtful exchange and seeks to connect robust theology to real-life concerns—particularly as listeners wrestle with questions about purpose, hope, and the long wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Building for the Kingdom: Faithfulness in Everyday Work

(Starts at 00:49)

• Listener Question: Yujun Chung (Singapore) wonders how ordinary “mundane” jobs like being a data analyst can contribute to God’s kingdom, referencing encouragement from Wright’s book Surprised by Hope.

• N.T. Wright’s Response:

  • Distinction between “building for” rather than “building” the kingdom.
    • "We are building for the kingdom. The illustration I use is the stonemasons who are carving stone which is to be used in a cathedral...they are working for the cathedral, which eventually the master architect will build, gathering up the bits and pieces..." (Tom Wright, 02:55)
  • Even routine, seemingly unspiritual work (like data analysis) participates in the divine task of “bringing order to the world”—a core human vocation since creation.
  • References Psalm 8 and the Genesis mandate to “order God's world.”
  • Highlights humility: This perspective applies not just to creative, “high status” vocations, but to all honest, faithful, and even “humdrum” jobs (sweeping, farming, etc.).
  • Quotes George Herbert: If somebody is sweeping a room, if that’s done out of service to God, then that’s great, that’s part of the work of God.
  • Hopes God gathers the “energy, goodwill, prayer, humility, faith and hope” of ordinary labor into His New Creation, “in ways we cannot possibly imagine.” (05:18–06:47)

• Mike Bird’s Addition:

  • The mundane has “a sanctifying effect upon our world.” What matters is “bringing creation to the ends for which it was intended.” (06:52)
  • “God doesn't want us to live in a mess where it’s unhygienic and unhealthy. So sweeping the floor is a good idea. I hope my children are listening.” (Mike Bird, 07:00)
  • Data analysts or anyone enhancing human flourishing, order, and the conditions for goodness, reflect the “goodness of the new creation.”

2. Incarnation: Why did Jesus need to be both God and Man?

(Starts at 07:50)

• Listener Question: Richard Morris (Tambourine Mountain, Australia) asks why the atonement required Jesus to be divine—why not simply another martyr, as seen in Jewish tradition?

• N.T. Wright’s Reasoning:

  • If salvation could be achieved by any “righteous and devout” human, as sometimes implied in the Maccabean martyr stories, then:
    • “You would have to say that...it wouldn’t be ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only son,’ it would be ‘God so loved the world that he gave somebody else entirely.’” (Tom Wright, 09:04)
    • The cross would merely be God’s “provision,” not an expression of God’s own love.
  • Big Story Arc:
    • Genesis 1: God makes humans in His image because “God wants to come and be a human being, a man among men…already in the creation of image-bearing humans we have an advance promise of incarnation.” (09:35)
    • Genesis 12: God calls Abraham to bless the whole world; Israel is God’s means for world rescue.
    • 2 Samuel 7 and the promise to David show intent of God becoming king in and as a human.
  • Israel is not bypassed in God’s plan:
    • "God doesn't say...I'm going to do something quite different...God becomes incarnate because from the call of Abraham onwards, God created Israel to be the salvation-bringer of the world in order that he could himself become the bringer of salvation to the world by becoming human in and as Israel's representative." (Tom Wright, 10:19)
  • Temple as Foreshadowing:
    • Jesus draws to himself the significance of the temple—the place where “the divine presence came to dwell and place of sacrifice and atonement,” now a person, not a building (12:43).
    • In the New Creation, “there is no temple...because God himself is there.” (Tom Wright, 12:40)
  • Summary: This was always God’s plan—not a backup. The incarnation is the “high point” of God’s determination to unite Himself with His creation. (13:49)

• Mike Bird's Addition:

  • “God’s plan was always to unite Himself with His creation through the word become flesh.” (13:49)

3. Still Waiting: The Delay of Jesus’ Return

(Starts at 14:47)

• Listener Question: Gene Burke (Oakview, California) asks why we should keep believing Jesus will return, given two millennia without his return, and whether urging patience instead of acknowledging possible failure is a mistake.

• Mike Bird’s Framing:

  • “It’s a long time between drinks...Do you have a date you want to assign?” (15:10)

• Tom Wright’s Deep Dive:

  • Jesus Himself Admits Uncertainty:

    • “Of that day and that hour, nobody knows, not even the Son. Which is an extraordinary statement, by the way…” (Tom Wright, 16:01)
    • This saying is authentic precisely because it’s awkward for later believers; Jesus genuinely didn’t “know the day” and neither do we.

  • Misunderstandings about “the Coming”:

    • Many assume Daniel 7’s “Son of Man coming on the clouds” means a future descent to earth (Second Coming proper), but Tom argues it’s more about vindication and enthronement “within a generation,” especially through the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. (16:35)
    • Matthew 26’s “from now on you will see the Son of Man” (16:45), and Matthew 28’s “all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me” (17:05) show present reality, not just a deferred hope.

  • Redefinition of the Kingdom:

    • The kingdom is inaugurated in Jesus—He already “rules the world from his ascended position and through his Spirit.”
      • “What it looks like is you lot receiving power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and then you going off, you know not where...The gospel going to the ends of the earth.” (Tom Wright, 17:35)
    • Instead of God “sending in the tanks,” He sends in “the pure in spirit, the meek, the mourners, the hungry for justice”—empowering kingdom work through service and witness (18:10).

  • History as Proof:

    • “By the end of the second century...the majority of the Roman Empire was becoming Christian, even though Rome had been trying to stamp it out. That is an unforeseeable prospect from the point of view of the first disciples.” (18:40)
    • The mission of the Church was and is launched—Jesus truly enthroned, the kingdom growing even amid delay.

  • Delay Has Biblical Precedent:

    • 2 Peter: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, a thousand years as one day. So get used to it, guys, and learn how to be patient…” (21:30)
    • God's patience = more people have a chance to join in his purposes.
    • “We’re not simply sitting around twiddling our thumbs. We have a job to do which genuinely anticipates that final day.” (23:08)

• Mike Bird (Perspective and Humor):

  • “Cleopatra VII is closer to us than she is to the original pyramids...in the year 10,000 A.D. they will look back on the year 2025 as part of the early church.” (23:50)
  • We’re closer to “the beginning” than to “the end”; waiting doesn’t equal stagnation.
  • Emphasizes that the early church period is still unfolding, and that longing for Christ’s return is not negated by ongoing kingdom work.

• Concluding Notes:

  • Tom Wright: "We’re not expecting that the world will just gradually incrementally get slightly better. There are no signs of that...But that doesn't mean either that Jesus can't come very quickly or that we are just bumbling along without any good things happening." (24:37)
  • Both agree: We wait in hope, and we work as “building for the kingdom” people.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Tom Wright on the value of everyday work:
  “Bringing order to the world is actually one of the primary human responsibilities…if they're working honestly and if they are bringing the potential for order and beauty into God's world, then in ways we cannot possibly imagine…God will gather all that up…” (04:30–06:47)

• Mike Bird’s household wisdom:
  “Sweeping the floor is a good idea. I hope my children are listening.” (07:00)

• Tom Wright on the incarnation:
  “God wants to come and be a human being, a man among men, if you like, or a human among humans. And I take that very seriously...already in the creation of image bearing humans we have an advance promise of incarnation.” (09:35)

• Tom Wright on Christ’s reign:
  “He is already ruling the world from his ascended position and through his Spirit. But this is something which has taken me all my lifetime, really, even to begin to get my head around.” (17:20)

• Tom Wright on eschatological patience:
  “Get used to it, guys, and learn how to be patient, which we’re all rather bad at.” (21:42)

• Mike Bird on perspective:
  “In the year 10,000 A.D. they will look back on the year 2025 as part of the early church.” (24:02)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:49 – Introduction and “Building for the Kingdom” question
• 02:55 – N.T. Wright explains “building for” vs. “building” the kingdom
• 06:52 – Mike Bird on mundane work and sanctification
• 07:50 – The necessity of the incarnation: why Jesus had to be God and man
• 09:04 – Tom Wright: “If you take John 3:16…”
• 12:17 – Temple as a signpost to incarnation and God’s presence
• 14:47 – Question: Why the “delay” in Jesus’s return?
• 16:00 – Tom Wright addresses chronology and the “unknown day”
• 17:05 – Matt. 28: “All authority…has been given to me.”
• 18:13 – Redefining God’s kingdom and how it advances
• 21:30 – 2 Peter: “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.”
• 23:50 – Mike Bird on deep-time perspective
• 24:37 – Tom Wright: No “incremental improvement” guarantee
• 26:02 – Episode wrap-up

Summary

This episode navigates some of Christianity’s most practical and profound questions with honesty and hope. Tom Wright and Mike Bird encourage listeners that every honest labor “for the kingdom” participates in God’s cosmic renewal; affirm the ancient, robust reasons for the incarnation of Christ; and provide theological, biblical, and pastoral wisdom for enduring the “delay” in Jesus’s return. Above all, listeners are left with both reassurance and challenge: we do not merely wait for God’s future—we prepare and anticipate it through steadfast, faithful, hope-filled living today.