What was Jesus’ promise of hope to the disciples?
 

John 14:1-3 1     "Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2     "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3     "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. Acts 1:6-11 6     And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7     He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

8     but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." 9     And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10     And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; 11     and they also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

Will Jesus return be a secret? Who will witness it?
 

Rev 1:5,7 5     and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, 7     Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so. Amen. 1Thes 4:13-17 13     But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. 14     For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15     For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16     For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17     Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.	1 Cor 15:51-53 51     Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52     in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53     For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 2 Pet 3:9-12 9     The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10     But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11     Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12     looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
	Rev 16:18-21 18     And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19     And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20     And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21     And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe . Matt 24:27 27     "For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be."
Rev 6:14-17 14     And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15     And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16     and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17     for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?" Ps 50:3-5 3     May our God come and not keep silence; fire devours before Him, and it is very tempestuous around Him . 4     He summons the heavens above, and the earth, to judge His people: 5     "Gather My godly ones to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice."

Who will come with Jesus when He returns?
 

Matt 24:31 31     "And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

Matt 25:31 31     "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

The bible clearly states that Jesus return will be the most glorious event in history. He will descend in the clouds with the great shout of the Archangel, and the trumpet of God. There will be tremendous upheavals in nature. He won’t come alone. He will be attended by the entire heavenly host of angels, "thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand", who will gather the resurrected righteous dead and the transformed righteous living together in the clouds. "Every eye will see Him and every ear shall hear."

How will Satan try to deceive the world in regard to Christ’s return?
 

Rev 16:13-14 13     And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14     for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. Matt 24:24 24     "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Matt 24:5 5     "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many. Matt 24:11 11     "And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many.

Rev 13:11-15 11     And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon. 12     And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. 13     And he performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14     And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life. 15     And there was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast might even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Satan, himself, along with his evil angels will come to the earth, pretending to be Jesus and angels of righteousness, in order to lead men astray. They will perform many miracles just as Jesus did when He came the first time. Satan’s delusions will be powerful, but he will not be able to imitate the biblical account of the manner of Christ’s coming.
 

II Th 2:8-12 8     And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9     that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10     and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11     And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false,

12     in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. 2 Cor 11:13-15 13     For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14    And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15     Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness ; whose end shall be according to their deeds.

How does Jesus counsel us to avoid being snared by Satan’s deceptions?
 

Matt 24:23-27 23     "Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or 'There He is,' do not believe him. 24     "For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25     "Behold, I have told you in advance.

26     "If therefore they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness,' do not go forth, or, 'Behold, He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them. 27     "For just as the lightning comes from the east, and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

Are the righteous secretly raptured up before Christ’s return, giving the unrighteous an additional seven years to repent?
 

Matt 13:24-43 24     He presented another parable to them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25     "But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away. 26     "But when the wheat sprang up and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27     "And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?' 28     "And he said to them, 'An enemy has done this!' And the slaves said to him, 'Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?' 29     "But he said, 'No; lest while you are gathering up the tares, you may root up the wheat with them. 30     'Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but [then] gather the wheat into my barn."'"

36     Then He left the multitudes, and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37     And He answered and said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38     and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39     and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40     "Therefore just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41     "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42     and will cast them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43     "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

Matt 13:47-50 47     "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; 48     and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. 49     "So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth, and take out the wicked from among the righteous, 50     and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matt 25:31-32 31     "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32     "And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another , as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

What does it mean that Jesus will come like a thief?
 
 

Matt 24:37-50 37     "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38     "For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39     and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. 40     "Then there shall be two men in the field; one will be taken, and one will be left. 41     "Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken, and one will be left. 42     "Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43     "But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44     "For this reason you be ready too; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. 45     "Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46     "Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47     "Truly I say to you, that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48     "But if that evil slave says in his heart, 'My master is not coming for a long time,' 49     and shall begin to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50     [then] the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know,

Luke 17:26-30,34-37 26     "And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27     they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28     "It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29     but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30     "It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 34     "I tell you, on that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken, and the other will be left. 35     "There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken, and the other will be left. 36     "Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left." 37     And answering they said to Him, "Where, Lord?" And He said to them, "Where the body is, there also will the vultures be gathered." 2 Pet 3:10 10     But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

Luke 12:35-40 35     "Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight. 36     "And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37     "Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them. 38     "Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves  39     "And be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 40     "You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect." 1Thes 5:1-6 1     Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2     For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3     While they are saying, "Peace and safety!" then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4     But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; 5     for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6     so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.

The phrase "like a thief" describes the unexpectedness of Jesus coming, not that He will steal His people from the world. Through parables, Jesus taught that the wheat and the tares would grow up together until the harvest time and likewise that he would separate the sheep from the goats at his coming. Notice also that in the parables, Jesus always says that the wicked will be gathered up first, not the good. This happens because the wicked are slain by the brightness of His coming, just as the man of sin is, and also by the natural disasters of the seven last plagues. The righteous are then gathered together to meet Jesus in the air. Because His coming will be unexpected, Jesus counsels us to be alert, be vigilant, to watch for the signs, and to be ready. God's people will not be surprised when Jesus returns. They will be found watching and waiting and doing God's will.

What are some of the signs of Jesus' soon return?
 

Matt 24:3 3     And as He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" Matt 24:32-33 32     "Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; 33     even so you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, even at the door . 2 Tim 3:1-5 1     But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2     For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3     unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4     treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; 5     holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these.

Matt 24:6-8, 9, 12 6     "And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. 7     "For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8     "But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. 9     "Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. 12     "And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.  Matt 24:29-30 29     "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, 30     and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.

Joel 2:31 31     "The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. Dan 12:4 4     "But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase." 2 Pet 3:3-4 3     Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4     and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." Matt 24:14 14     "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come.

Many of these signs have existed throughout the ages. There have always been wars, famines, earthquakes, and lawless people. The prevalence, frequency and intensity of all these things is certainly on the rise. Yet the most definitive sign of Jesus' return will be when the Gospel has been carried to every group of people on the earth. God Himself will intervene and cause this to happen with great rapidity in these last days.
 

How will God's people survive the Great Tribulation [the 7 Last Plagues] just before Jesus' return? Ps 91:5-10 5     You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day; 6     Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. 7     A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not approach you. 8     You will only look on with your eyes, and see the recompense of the wicked. 9     For you have made the LORD, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place. 10     No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. What should our attitude be as we see the signs of Jesus' soon coming? Isa 25:9 9     And it will be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation." Luke 21:25-28 25     "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, 26     men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27     "And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28     "But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."