The Bible says:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29–30)
Behold, I come as a thief. (Revelation 16:15) At midnight there is a cry, “The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!” (Matthew 25:6)
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20) For as lightning, which shines out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven, so will be the Son of Man in his day. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. (Luke 17:24–25)
If you do not watch, I will come on you like a thief (Revelation 3:3).
These are the ones who have not defiled themselves with women; they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were redeemed from among men, firstfruits to God and the Lamb. No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless (Revelation 14:4–5).
Behold, he is coming with the clouds! Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will wail because of him. (Revelation 1:7)
Question: How will the Lord come?
Options
A. 
Glorious, public, and visible to all
B. 
Sudden, as swift as lightning
C. 
Accompanied by trumpets and accompanied by angels
D. 
Bringing judgment and salvation
E. 
Coming like a thief
The above are all descriptions of the Lord’s return in the Bible.
Please feel free to share your thoughts.
In Matthew 25:11, the virgins who see the other virgins who are with the Lord, then say unto the Lord to also open for them. My question is how do these virgins recognize the other virgins with the Lord, while they themselves remain out?
Matthew 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
The Christ does not come with bells and whistles. He comes in quiet, hidden from sight.
Virgins mean youth. Vitality. Life.
The Lamp is the Light of Life. Awareness. Sight. Vision not clouded by darkness. Illumination that allows one to see in the dark. A knowing.
There is a Light that allows Life to move. Flow. To be free. Darkness stagnates the flow.
Messiahs always come from low places. Joseph was made a slave. Moses was a murderer who ran away to live with the shepherds. David was a shepherd boy, maybe unwanted by his father. Jesus came from Nenevah, with suspicion of being an illegitimate son.
They come hidden, unwanted, undesired. Sometimes death nips at their heels when they are born. There is nothing in their appearance that speaks of beauty, or lust. The Spirit guards them by keeping unwanted attention away so they can learn from God and grow in the understanding they will need. Angels guard their steps. You will not find Him. He will find you.
When the Ministry begins, God calls them to Him. Disciples, Attendants, those who will be called Apostles, Teachers, Counselors, Healers, Saints in His Name. He will know you before you know yourself.
The Spirit of the Lord is with Him. The qualities of that Spirit abound. Appearances will lead you astray, but the heart will never fail you if you know what to look for.
The cause will always matter more than Him. And He sacrifices all so none are lost. That is who He is. When the Lord moves, He does not hull away in a bunker and build communes and store weapons. He does not teach about who He is or His importance to you. He always points to God. And fame means so little that he always disappears when the crowds surround, when the lesson is done. When the healing is done. When the Ministry is done.
The minds of man are made dull. To prevent hindurance. To be illuminated by His Light. Ever seeing but never knowing until the Work is done.
I wonder, if he comes in secret, how can we recognize him as God?
We are told that at Jesus’s 2nd coming Every eye will see him decending, accompanied by a host of angels.
His coming will not only be visible to all but it will be terrifying as non Christians will be calling on rocks, mountains etc to fall on them to hide them from him.
The answer is in the virgins seen with the Lord. The Lord who returns, spiritually marries with the faithful virgins. The unfaithful virgins (as well as the rest of humanity) will see the Lords Spirit within the faithful virgins in the acts they will do. Micah 5 refers to this, as does Isaiah 60:1-3, as well as many other scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments.
Eschatology is the branch of theology that studies the “last things” (from the Greek eschatos, meaning “last” or “final,” and logos, meaning “word” or “study”). It deals with God’s ultimate plan for history, the final destiny of humanity, and the consummation of His kingdom.
In Scripture, eschatology includes themes like the second coming of Christ (parousia), the resurrection of the dead, final judgment, the establishment of the new heavens and new earth, and eternal life or eternal separation. Jesus Himself preached with an eschatological edge, calling people to watchfulness and endurance because “the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44).
There are both individual aspects (what happens after death, the believer’s hope of resurrection, the fate of the wicked) and cosmic aspects (the renewal of creation, the defeat of evil, the final reign of God).
At its core, biblical eschatology is not speculation but motivation, it calls the believer to live in holiness, readiness, and hope, because history is moving toward the triumph of Christ on the cross being revealed to all creation.
Welcome to this forum.
J.
Very colorful @MaryJohnson and welcome to this forum.
J.
@anon75384934, now, Jesus comes “hidden from sight.” However, when he makes his second appearance, everyone will see him:
Mat 24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
Mat 24:25 See, I have told you beforehand.
Mat 24:26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Mat_25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
Mrk_8:38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
Luk_9:26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
Luk 17:24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
Joh 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Joh 5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
Joh 5:27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
Act 1:9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.
Act 1:10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,
Act 1:11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
1Th 4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
Rev_1:7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
I’m a little like you, @rexgore, but I do have one view of the end time that will all happen at the same time: the second coming, the resurrection of believers and other people, the final judgment, God’s burning off with his fire of this old heavens and earth, the creation of the new heavens and new earth, and our entrance into that new universe as our final home.
However, I’m also a pan-millennialist; it’ll all PAN out! 
I like that
So He is Here
And I think that’s important. Knowing He is Here is a reward?
Knowing you have life means you are in a relationship with Him, wouldn’t you think.
And if you have that when He comes you are ready.
God is the God of the living.
He’s the giver of life. So He will not destroy The life that is His own.
I am a post-tribulation premillennialist.
Disciples asked Jesus when the Kingdom would come:
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sign is Abomination of desolation stands in the temple
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Great tribulation begins
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Immediately after the tribulation Jesus will return in glory and will raise the righteous from the dead.
The oldest and most educated person on the earth, who is acclaimed by the world to be the most prudent and mature human in the world at any given time is still a wee unlearned child in the eyes and mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord God who created him and all others physically and spiritually. The Lord God has said that his ways are not our, human, ways, and our ways are not his ways. His spiritual physics and laws of heavenly nature are not in any way related to the human physical physics and the laws of earthly nature. What we know is minuscule to what is known by God. The problem with such a low meager status is the profound arrogance of mankind to presume that the knowledge that we possess really matters. The oldest and supposedly wisest are still like four year old children anticipating a birthday party that is yo be given by the supreme sugar daddy. We can liken the birthday party to the return of the Lord Jesus to the earth. Eschatology is a fancy word for the study of things that humans are not to know. Elaborate seminaries like to conduct courses in eschatology to make it seem that the knowledge of the end times is important. But what did the Apostle Paul tell the Corinthians about what he knew about Jesus Christ? Didn’t he say that he came unto them proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified? He didn’t mention the return of Christ except to say that the Lord’s return was sure and that we would know that day when we would see it, as he did to the Thessalonians. Paul, Peter, James, and John all said that Christians should dwell continually on the reality of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and on pursuing righteousness. We should not live in the future, but in the here and now, seeking to pursue our sanctification by working out our salvation by grace with fear and trembling. We should pray without ceasing and continually listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit to instruct us in ALL things, both mortal and spiritual.
We should not impetuously concern ourselves with the end times and the big birthday party about which no human knows, the coming of Jesus to reward the righteous and condemn the evil doers. We are told by Jesus in Matthew 24 that we are to have faith in him and not to worry in the end times if we are obeying him and being righteous. In essence, Jesus is telling his disciples in Matthew 24 to be prepared and watchful in the latter-days and to prudently discern the signs of the times, but not to obsess about things, eschatology, which are in the exclusive control of the Father, the day and hour of the return to Jesus to the earth. This would also refer to the month and year of the return.
When it comes to the return of Jesus, the most honest and faithful answer is that we do not and cannot know the exact time or manner as Christ Himself said, “about that day or hour no one knows” (Matt. 24:36). Terms like “Gog and Magog” or “Babylon” in Revelation and other apocalyptic texts have been interpreted in many ways throughout history, from literal nations and historical empires to symbolic representations of evil powers and systems opposed to God. Scholars, theologians, and traditions differ on these details, but focusing too much on identifying them with specific modern countries or political entities can distract from the deeper purpose of the text. The ultimate aim of Revelation is not to provide a geopolitical roadmap but to strengthen and sustain believers, especially those facing persecution, by assuring them that God’s justice will prevail, that evil will not have the final word, and that Christ will return to make all things new. God’s plan is unfolding and His victory is certain. In that sense, speculation about modern fulfillments is far less important than the call to perseverance and the confident hope that Christ will indeed return in glory.
I love this. Right-on @Samuel_23, Now you’re speaking plainly, and I can even hear your heart.
K
Thanks brother @Kpuff I’m just grateful we can share these truths together and encourage one another in faith.
Your eschatology is a direct test of your hermeneutic. If you are somebody you reads scripture from a literal textual perspective then you will tend to be a premillennialist. If your someone who views most scripture as mostly allegory or metaphor you are probably an a-millennialist. And some hold a post-mill view although I cannot see how anyone can defend that position.
Look at how you interpret scripture for non-eschatological passages and you will generally figure out how you will view eschatology.
Within the protestant world I think the most prevalent view is more of a literal interpretation, unless it’s obvious that it’s metephor the words mean what they say. So we must use the SAME standards for eschatology.
And it is from this perspective we can take away a few things:
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Jesus has not returned yet, although he tells us the conditions for his return
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The millennium is a literal 1000 years on this earth and is in the future.
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The tribulation is a literal end of the world tribulation and will be BAD.
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There is a new heaven and new earth that will come after the tribulation.
Read Matthew 24 and listen how Jesus tells us directly what we are to look out for:
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The temple will be destroyed, but then says when the abomination of desolation stands in the temple a tribulation like has never been known before will happen. Clearly this hasn’t happened because we are all here, so was Jesus exaggerating?
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He says immediately after the tribulation the Son of Man will appear with angels and they will gather the saints from the four winds. No one has seen Jesus return.
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He says the days will be like Noah, like Noah we will know what is coming, but the world will be oblivious. Paul says we are children of the day not of the night, we will know when Jesus is coming back.
When you take all the return passages together it is clear (Zachariah 14, Revelation 6, Matthew 24), Jesus returns to END the tribulation, punish the nations and establish his physical kingdom on earth. A new age for 1000 years where Satan is literally bound, and the saints co-rule the earth with Jesus.
Zechariah tells us that Jesus will not kill everyone, some will survive. And they will repopulate the mortal human race. Who do you think will help lead those people in the knowledge of the Lord? It will be the saints who will be immortal.
Is this a dispensational site that will punish, belittle and ban anyone who even questions any doctrine of dispensationalism?
No, not at all, brother. Take a look at the FAQ.
What is your view on Jesus’ return?
I don’t have or need a view of the end. It is Jesus who tells you not to concern yourself with the end of time, only be ready.