When Will Jesus Return?

When will Jesus return? Will he come for His own before the tribulation? Mid-tribulation? Post-tribulation? (Will there be a seven year tribulation at all?) I once read or heard someone say that they held a Pan-tribulational view...(because the subject was so confusing and uncertain in their estimation) they were going to wait and see how it all panned out!!! I always enjoyed that and thought it was very humorous and creative:)

It seems Paul warned the believers in Thessalonica not to be deceived into thinking that Christ's return was imminent. (2 Thess. 2:2) Paul goes on to tell them that certain things had to happen before Christ would return. A falling away must first occur and Antichrist must be revealed.

Some will object that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. This is a very interesting point. In 1 Thess. 5:2 we are told plainly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. The verse that follows tells us that when "they" say Peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them. But notice especially verse four of 1 Thess. 5: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."

Are we living in the falling away? That may well be. Has the Antichrist been revealed??? Not the many antichrists that the apostle John spoke of but the precise Antichrist that Paul describes in 2 Thessalonians 2: 3-4 and 8-9.

This matter of the time of the return of Jesus is an importat thing. The apostle Paul, under the completely perfect inspiration of the Holy Spirit warned us not to let any man deceive us about this matter. (2 Thess. 2:3a) Have we heeded his solemn and important warning??? Are we rightly dividing the Word of Truth or are we going with the flow?