There will be two times when Jesus returns. When He first comes it will be at the rapture when He comes through the clouds to snatch or lift up Christ’s followers instantaneously. He will not touch the ground. Those left behind will go through the great Tribulation, which will be the worst of times. There will have never been anything so severe and devastatingly disastrous before in the history of the world.

After the Tribulation Christ will return to earth and rule for a 1000 years. He shall rule a righteous government from Jerusalem. During this time Satan will be chained for those many years. Those who will rule with Jesus are those coming from Heaven and those having been raptured.

Following are signs that are not necessarily in the order that they will take place. There are additional signs besides these. But God has made it very clear what we might expect should we go through the Tribulation. However, my best guess is that believers will meet Christ in the area prior to the disasters described below.

Matthew 24:3 – “As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

Luke 21:31 – 32 – “Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.” The Apostle John lived into his 90s. Many have different ages for determining the length of a generation. The generation started May 14, 1948. In the year 2011 it was 63 years ago.

Matthew 24:6 – 7 – “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.”

Mark 13:8 – “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.” Luke 21:11 – “There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven. Verse 26 – “People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” The earth was shaken off its axis on March 3, 2011. There will be a time when the earth’s shaking will be felt everywhere and fear will come on the world.

Joel 2:28 – 29 – “And afterward, (in the end times) I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” This Scripture is now being fulfilled.

Revelation 6:8 – “I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

II Thessalonians 2:3 – (Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ) “Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.”

Revelation 13:2b – 4 – “And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority. I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?” A one-world government

Revelation 13:7 & 8 – “And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation. And all the people who belong to this world worshiped the beast. They are the ones whose names were not written in the Book of Life before the world was made—the Book that belongs to the Lamb who was slaughtered.”

Revelation 13:11 – 17 – “Then I saw another beast come up out of the earth. He had two horns like those of a lamb, but he spoke with the voice of a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast. And he required all the earth and its people to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. He did astounding miracles, even making fire flash down to earth from the sky while everyone was watching. And with all the miracles he was allowed to perform on behalf of the first beast, he deceived all the people who belong to this world. He ordered the people to make a great statue of the first beast, who was fatally wounded and then came back to life. He was then permitted to give life to this statue so that it could speak. Then the statue of the beast commanded that anyone refusing to worship it must die. He required everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on the right hand or on the forehead. And no one could buy or sell anything without that mark, which was either the name of the beast or the number representing his name.” One-world religion

Revelation 11:3 – 13 – “And I will appoint my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” They are “the two olive trees” and the two lamp stands, and “they stand before the Lord of the earth.” If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. They have power to shut up the heavens so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want. Now when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city—which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. But after the three and a half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.”

Matthew 24:17 – 18 – “Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak.” The beginning! Zechariah 4:1 – 2 – “A day of the LORD is coming, Jerusalem, when your possessions will be plundered and divided up within your very walls. I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.” We believe this to be the war of Armageddon that is the end.

Before all this takes place God will give all humans a chance to accept Christ as their personal Savior and be saved from what will happen. I described this in my blog: “A Christian Revival in the Middle-East”. Millions are now being saved as believers of Christ annually.