Could Jesus come back tomorrow? Is the Lord’s Return Imminent?
Matthew 24:36
No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Matthew 24:42
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come.
Matthew 24:43
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known in which watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
Matthew 24:44
For this reason, you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.
Matthew 25:13
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
Mark 13:35
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return–whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.
Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.
1 Corinthians 1:8
He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 5:4
But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief.
2 Peter 3:10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be dissolved in the fire, and the earth and its works will not be found.
Could Jesus come back tomorrow? Is the Lord’s return imminent?
The Bible says we need to be ready at all times because we do not know the day or the hour that Christ will return.
Pretribulationists argue that if Christ returns at the end of the Great Tribulation then his return will not be imminent or like a thief.
The reference point for God is Jerusalem. With all that is going on in the Middle East it is quite possible that the Great Tribulation has started and we have missed the signs that Jesus talked about on the Mt of Olives (Matthew 24).
The Western Church is relatively spared from overt hostile persecution. It tends to be persecuted more by atheists, evolutionists, moral decay and the general Godlessness of society. The Western Church is more likely to be the Woman who sits on the beast in Revelation Chapter 17 than the persecuted Church of Revelation Chapter 13.
The Bible says that Jesus will not come back until the man of lawlessness has been revealed. (2 Thess 2:3) But can we be sure that we have not missed the antichrist’s coming?
We are called to be watchful so that the day of the Lord will not surprise us.
The fact that God does have a schedule for the second coming of Christ does not mean that Christ could not come back tomorrow. We cannot know for sure where God is up to in his schedule. He may not have even started to open the seals but maybe he has and is close to the end.
In Matthew 24, the Olivet discourse, Jesus lists the signs of his coming. These harmonize well with the signs associated with the seals of revelation.
As Jesus told us to watch for these signs, it is unlikely that the rapture would occur before these signs take place. Otherwise, the people who are told to watch out for the signs (the believers) would never get to see them if the rapture took place before the first seal.
In any case, we need to be awake and sober minded so that the Lord’s coming will not surprise us.
In times of such suffering and persecution we need something to encourage us to persevere. The degree of suffering and persecution itself will be a sign that the Lord’s coming is near.
The Western Church should not be complacent and think that the Lord’s coming is not near just because it is not being persecuted and put to death like the Church in the Middle East.
1Thess 5:4 says: ‘But you, brothers, are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief’. So the Lord coming like a thief applies to those who are in darkness.
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day on which your Lord will come. (Matt 24:42)
http://www.truthinlove.com/References/144000JewsSealed.html
http://www.truthinlove.com/References/seven_seals_trumpets_bowls.htm
The rapture of the church takes place just as the seventh trumpet sounds
Diagram showing the three groups of people who will be on earth during the great tribulation: The Saints (Born Again believers), The Gentiles (Pagans) and the Woman (Israel).
The 144000 taken from the 12 tribes of Israel are intimately related to the Woman in Revelation chapter 12.
The 1260 days that the Dragon pursues the Woman (time times and half a time) is the same 1260 days that the 2 witnesses prophesy. This also corresponds to the 42 months that the saints are persecuted and the 42 months that the Gentiles trample Jerusalem.
The Trumpets sound at the same time the seals are opened with the seventh seal being simultaneous with the seventh trumpet.
The Church is Raptured at the end of the 1260 day Great Tribulation
God then pours out his wrath on the Nations who are left behind. The seven bowls of God’s wrath are poured out in the next 75 days – this is the third woe which is part of the seventh trumpet.
The 144000 from the 12 tribes of Israel are also sealed and protected during this time.
Christ will lead an army of believers to strike down the Nations and defeat the Beast and the False Prophet. (Rev 19)
God will separate the sheep from the Goats during the 75 days that follow the rapture of the Church.
http://truthinlove.com/References/seven_seals_trumpets_bowls.htm
The seventh seal: The Church is raptured and 144000 Jews are sealed and then God pours out his wrath upon the Nations
The Church is raptured before God pours out his wrath at the opening of the Seventh Seal
The Seventh Trumpet announces the second coming of Christ to redeem his Church and the Day of the Lord
The Seventh Trumpet announces the second coming of Christ to redeem his Church and the Day of the Lord when God pours out his Wrath upon the pagans
The bowls of Gods Wrath are the Third Woe and are part of the seventh Trumpet
The Bowls are part of the Seventh Trumpet. They are the Third woe. The Bowls are for the unbelieving nations who are left on the Earth after the Church is Raptured. The Church is raptured as soon as the seventh trumpet is sounded (1Cor 15:52). The seventh trumpet signifies the end of this age and so it continues to sound until all of the Bowls of God\’s Wrath are poured out.
Nested Trumpets (between seals 6&7) and Nested Bowls (between trumpets 6&7) is messy and cannot be right because the Bowls are not for the Church and the Church is raptured at the Last Trumpet
Nested Trumpets and Bowls - Could this be the Order of the Seals, Trumpets and Bowls?
Remember, the rapture of the church occurs at the last trumpet (1Cor 15:52)
Does the Church suffer the Bowls of God's Wrath?? Surely not!!
A post tribulation / Prewrath view
God will Rapture the Church before he pours out his Wrath
http:www.truthinlove.com
The Prewrath Rapture of the Church and the Pre-Millennial Return of Christ (with synchronous seals and trumpets)
There will be a small number of believers who are raptured before the great tribulation starts. These are the firstfruits of the harvest and are raptured pretribulation.
The Great Multitude are raptured before God pours out his wrath on the nations.
The seventh seal, the seventh trumpet and the seventh bowl all co-incide with with end of this age and the beginning of the millennium.
The bowls of God’s Wrath are poured out after the church has been raptured which is between the sixth and the seventh seal and trumpet.
Christ’s return is Pre-Millennial.
The Rapture of the Church (or the Harvest) is Pre-Wrath but not Pre-Tribulation.
About this site
Christ's return is premillennial
The Church is raptured prewrath - the Great Multitude of Believers will have to go thru the Great Tribulation and will be persecuted by the antichrist
Only the firstfruits escape the tribulation (there are two groups of 144000)
144000 Jews are sealed and protected from God's wrath
Christians will reign with Christ in Heaven during the Millennium
A remnant of Jews and Pagans survive God's wrath and repopulate Earth during the Millennium
At the end of the Millennium, the pagans are judged and God makes all things new
The Post Tribulation / Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church 
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