QUESTION: Could Jesus Christ return at any moment?

This very important question is commonly asked by those who are genuinely interested in and perhaps longing for Jesus to come again. Of course God knows the answer,but we believe that He wants us always to be prepared. Some say other events must happen first. The three main areas of contention are:-

  1. When is Jesus going to return?
  2. Will His return mark the end of the world?
  3. Is He going to come FOR before He comes TO?

The short answers to these, webelieve, are:-

  1. We do not know when He will return and should emphatically not be trying to calculate dates. However we believe that so many of the Signs of the Times coming together globally and dramatically means that it will be very soon indeed.
  2. No, this will not be the end of the World. After His return, Jesus must reign with a rod of iron for a thousand years, a period stated six times inRevelation chapter 20. There are hundreds of lovely unconditional promises, particularly in the Old Testament, which make perfectly good sense without their being allegorised, which await that future time for their fulfilment.
  3. Yes, Jesus’ unambiguous promise in John 14:2-3 assures us that He is coming for us to take us to the place He has gone to prepare, together with the fact that when He returns in power and great glory He will be followed by His already resurrected saints.

Not all Christians agree with these answers, which are the perspective of Pre-Tribulationists like the Bible Prophecy Foundation. Exceptions are to be found within each category I am about to list; but I believe that the following is a fair general classification.Continuing with the above three questions and answers, they are as follows:-

  1. Some, who are called Post-Millennialists, see Christ’s return as still being distant, because they believe that the world must be “Christianised” and made fit for Him before He will come back. We do not have to be very observant to notice that we seem further from such an objective than we were at the turn of the Century! They believe that this apparently far distant return will mark the end of the world
  2. Some, who are called Amillennialists, believe that we are already in the period described in Revelation chapter 20, that Jesus is already reigning with a rod of iron and that the Devil is currently bound, despite massive evidence to the contrary. They believe that Christ’s return will occur at the end of this world. This view dominated the Dark Ages and has been slow to admit error. It is still widespread and is characterised by a love of allegorisation and frequently by a lack of interest in Bible prophecy.
  3. Pre-Millennialists agree that Christ will return before the thousand year righteous reign, and that It will be achieved not by steady progress, but by the direct visible intervention of Jesus Christ in judgment at earth’s blackest hour, a time when all earth’s life will be on the brink of extinction (Matt 24:21-22). But only two of the four main Pre-Millennial sub-groups believe that Jesus will come FOR believers before He comes TO the earth; these are Pre-Tribulationists and Mid-Tribulationists. In other words they believe that Christ’s return will be a two stage event. Post-Tribulationists believe that it will be a single complex event.

The Coming FOR we usually call the Rapture, from a Greek word meaning ‘catching up’: “The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 – all quotes are NKJV). It is the answer to the promise of John 14:2-3,and is in stark contrast to those prophecies which describe His later Return in Power.

All of these Pre-Millennial sub-groups believe that Christ’s return to earth will be preceded by a period of around seven years of intense end-time tribulation, culminating in the Great Tribulation. Satan’s emissary, often referred to as the Antichrist, will rise to power, and by the end of three and a half years will prove to be the most diabolic tyrant in human history, imposing his life or death Mark of the Beast ultimatum. It will be a time of ever-increasing divine challenge to repent or to suffer unprecedented judgment.

Now the very reasonable question is sometimes asked as to whether, after almost two thousand years of waiting, a difference of so few years in our expectation of Christ’s return really matters. Well, actually we believe it does, because it is a question of whether we first expect to see the Christ or the Antichrist. and whether we should constantly be in a state of preparedness for our Lord’s return or should be preoccupied with enduring end-time Tribulation faithfully.

There were certain specific prophecies given for the early Church up to the 70 A.D. sack of Jerusalem, of which Jesus said “"And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). These times are not yet fully elapsed. Since 70 A.D. no further specific prerequisite is set for the Rapture, although expectations have often been heightened.

Much is made of what the early Church believed, but this really has very limited relevance. One can find in the 2nd and 3rd Century Churches evidence of all three main Pre-Millennial views. Daniel 9:2, 12:9-10 and Luke 24:25 all demonstrate that only when prophesied events are about to happen or are actually happening is when full light will be shed upon them.

There are some Bible truths which to the natural mind appear contradictory or illogical. Intertwined in Christ’s great Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24-25, Mark 13 and Luke 21) are warnings constantly to be readyfor the Lord’s potentially ever-imminent Coming, and also unconditional prophecies of momentous events which have to be fulfilled almost immediately prior to the Lord’s visible Return in Power. The two seem to be contradictory until we perceive that Jesus’ warnings refer to a prior event which had been promised, namely the Rapture, which was expounded only later in Paul’s Church epistles. These throw fresh light on Jesus’ statement: "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near" (Luke 21:28 NKJV). We can expect Jesus to come for us at any moment! Romans 8:2:3 confirms that our redemption, although already purchased, is complete only at our resurrection.

Jesus said: "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:44). The Greek words for day and hour in the Olivet Discourse are not confined to 24 hours or 60 minutes. The Mid-Tribulationists have problems here, because they expect the Rapture at a very carefully specified mid-seven year point, while the Post-Tribulationists expect it at the end, when the Battle of Armageddon is raging."Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).