We can find the time of Jesus coming for His Church or rapture, in Matthew 24, Mark 13:26-27 & Luke 21:27-28.
3 As He sat 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?”
4 Jesus answered them, “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. For all these things must happen, but the end is not yet.
7 For (Therefore, because, indeed) nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows (=G5604 =birth pangs).
9 “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. And you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 Then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will rise and will deceive many. 12 Because iniquity will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. . . 21 For then will be great tribulation, such as has not happened since the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be.
22 “Unless those days were shortened, no one (flesh) would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe it. 24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 Listen, I have told you beforehand. . . .
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days,
‘the sun will be darkened,
the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’** 30 “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. Matt.24:3-31
Remember the birth pangs intensify & become closer to each other when the birth is near. I believe the difference with other past wars, pestilences, famine, persecutions, etc. will be that this time we’ll see them at a global scale.
Daniel mentions abomination of desolation, see Dan. 9:27, 11:29-31 & 12:11 This give us more insight. The temple doesn’t exist today, but we believe the Word of God & we know it will be constructed soon.
This abomination starts at the middle of the 7 year covenant. The abomination is something or someone that is set up in the sanctuary of the temple. “His armies shall rise up and desecrate the sanctuary fortress. They shall abolish the daily sacrifice and set up the abomination that makes desolate” Dan.11:31. Because what 2 Thess. 2:4 says “ who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself as God.” Then we believe it is the antichrist himself who sits as God in the temple, causing the abomination (G946=something detestable, pertaining to idolatry) which will cause the desolation. Desolation means destruction (G2050) “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. ” Lk.21:20
The abomination of desolation happens in Judea, where the 3er temple should be constructed & Jerusalem is located. And like the time of Antiochus (2nd century B.C), it probably involves a sacrifice that desecrates the temple.
I was taught, & I believed for many years (let us have into consideration that the Church has been infiltrated by false teachers that cause much confusion), that this paragraph was talking about the Jews only, but many things didn’t add up to me, e.g. 2 Thes. 2:1-3.
According to Revelation 6:16-17 the ‘wrath of God’ (judgment to the earth) starts after the 6th seal. During the 5th seal, Rev. 6:10, this hasn’t happen yet. For this reason the 7 seals should not be considered part of the Wrath of God, & for that reason we Christians could still be here at the time the seals are opened.
We find in the books of Revelation 7:14, Matthew 24:21, & Mark 13:21 that the time of the persecution of the saints or 5th seal, is called the Great Tribulation, (G2345=persecution) ‘such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be‘. In other words there is only one ‘great’ tribulation/persecution.
Also notice Jesus comes in the clouds (Acts 1:9-11, Thess. 4:17, etc), no white horse is mentioned, He stays up there & His angels gather His elect from around the world. (When He comes in the white horse at the end, He comes down to earth with His elect & not to gather them). A trumpet sound, like mentioned in 1 Thess. 4:13–18 & 1 Cor. 15:50–54.
We believers in Christ are also the elect, (not in the Calvinistic way) see Matthew 20:1-16; 22:1-14, Luke 18:1-7, Col. 3:11-12, 1 Thess.1:4, etc. The 144 of the tribes are marked so they wont be harmed, but are not taken to heaven right away.
- I believe there is a possibility we have already entered, the time of the beginning of birth pangs mentioned on Mat.24:8. Its possible that the peace treaty signed on Sept. 2020 (3 &1/2 yrs ago & it was celebrated),may have started the 1st seal, or that it was just a precursor & a confirmation of that treaty will be signed soon. Israel is already at war but it will become a global war, then 3rd horse is hunger & 4th horse is death, we are already seeing them in Gaza, but will expand globally & intensify like all birth pangs do. Then persecution is the 5th seal. And after the persecution we have the cosmic disturbances which is the 6th seal, after this (still we don’t know day or hour) our Lord Jesus comes for His Church & the rapture occurs.
Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and concerning our gathering together unto Him, we ask you 2 not to let your mind be quickly shaken or be troubled, neither in spirit nor by word, nor by letter coming as though from us, as if the day of Christ is already here. 3 Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For that Day will not come unless a falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction. 2 Thes. 2:1-3
Meaning we will witness the falling away from the faith or the apostasy, mentioned on Matt.24:10, caused by the great tribulation/persecution & by being deceived by the false prophets. But also we’ll see the man of sin revealed (G601) to the world, since at first many people will think he’s a hero that brings peace & freedom to the world & the Jews. So this disclosure of who he really is will happen 3-1/2 yrs. after he confirms a Peace treaty, when he sits at the temple as god, (the Abomination of Desolation).
Right after this abomination (in Judea) I believe we’ll see the 6th seal or cosmic disturbances & the Lord will appear to rapture/take up His church.
Some pre-wrath proponents situate the ‘great tribulation’ after the mid point, but I think it could well be the same persecution mentioned on Matt.24:9 & 29 & Rev.7:14, since the Greek word for ‘tribulation’ used there, Strong’s # G2347 also means persecution, affliction, distress, etc. & which duration is shortened because of us (Matt.24:29). But time will tell.
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these clothed in white robes, and where did they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great tribulation (G2347) and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev.7:13-14
My view is very similar to this timeline, except I draw an arrow going down after the 5th seal, marking ‘the abomination of desolation‘ at the mid point of the week of years (Dan.9:27), & next to it I draw an arrow going up for “Rapture” on top of the 6th seal, before the wrath of God. Since I don’t think this seal will last too much time.
Same topic videos:
INTRO / The Basics – 7 Pretrib Problems and the Prewrath Rapture
THE PRECURSOR PROBLEM – 7 Pretrib Problems and the Prewrath Rapture
THE OLIVET DISCOURSE PROBLEM – 7 Pretrib Problems and the Prewrath Rapture
You can find more videos here.