When Will You Return?

“Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you."

 [outline and notes]

Apostles asked Jesus this while walking near the temple. Jesus said to look for this - “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. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, - before His Return. Note that the Return is not the same as the Coming (Rapture) or the End. The Coming is to get the Saints. The Return He brings the Saints with Him. The End is end of the tribulation right before He returns. The Coming happens like a thief in the night. No warning. Kicks off the Day of the Lord.

 

Don’t Look For Signs & Wonders in the Sky for the Rapture

In fact, the Antichrist and the Beast will deceive and dazzle people with signs and wonders, not Jesus. (We have a problem with people chasing signs & wonders rather than signs & wonders following those preaching the gospel.) Any dramatic events in the heavens wrought by God are destructive and judgmental in nature. They do not happen prior to the Coming/Gathering/Rapture. Especially the 4 blood moons prophecy associated with Joel.

 

E.G. Matthew 16:1 - The Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. But He replied to them, “ When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

The Scroll is Opened - (Literally) Rev 5

We now arrive at the opening of the seven-sealed scroll by Jesus Christ which includes the false christ, war, famine, death, martyred remnant, anarchy. Prior to the seventh seal, 144,000 Jews as well as an unnumbered amount of Gentiles are sealed to keep them from the harm of the 7th seal composed of seven trumpet judgments (Rev 8-9).  

vv.1-4 - The scroll represents the title deed to the earth. In Jewish culture the title deed to property had 1 seal applied upon purchase (Jer 32:6-29). Upon foreclosure 7 seals were applied and the redemption conditions are written on the back of the scroll, and the 7 seals put on it. When in default you have up to 7 years to redeem, or up to the Jubilee. See Lev 25. 

These seven seals will be removed by Jesus. “Finally, the devil took Jesus to a very high mountain, showing Him all the splendor of all the world’s kingdoms.  Satan, being the temporary ruler of this world, told Jesus, “All this I will give you...if you will bow down and worship me” (Matt. 4:8,9)”.  (Remember, Satan was given the “title deed” to the earth by mankind through Adam and Eve.) 

Jesus is the only One in creation worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. 

God’s law requires that a next of kin redeem that which a family member has lost (Leviticus 25:25).   According to the law a son could redeem what his father had lost, but in the transaction Adam had become a sinner, disqualifying all of his sons from ever redeeming him. The coin of redemption was the blood of a sinless man, and all of Adam’s sons were sinners, having been born in their father’s likeness. (Gen. 5:3) Adam was a son of God (Luke 3:38) so only another son of God would suffice.

Since the sins of the fathers are visited upon the sons (Exod. 20:5) a woman could give birth to a sinless man, but only if she could do so without the aid of a husband. Thus, in the garden God announced that the seed of the woman would redeem what Satan had stolen, (Gen 3:15) a prophecy of the virgin birth. In due time, the Son of God, born of a virgin, gave His life to pay mankind’s debt of sin and redeem Adam’s stolen property, Planet Earth. (Romans 5:12)