When he was on earth, Jesus told his disciples that he would return a second time. In John 14:28, Jesus said, "You heard that I said to you, ′I am going away and I am coming back to you.′ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am." By going away, he meant that he was going to die, but he acknowledged that fact and coupled it with another fact: that he would return. Jesus also referred to this in Matthew 24, when he was describing the final days of the world that John described as "lying in the power of the wicked one" (1 John, 5:19). This was in verse 30, "Then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." This promise was that there would come a time when Jesus would return and cleanse the earth of wickedness and usher in a new system. Jesus also had referred to this previously in Luke, 21:26-27 "People will become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But as these things start to occur, stand up straight and lift up your heads, because your deliverance is getting near."

So, when will this happen? The bible does not say. In fact, Jesus told us that nobody knows the day nor hour. Even he does not know, only Jehovah himself knows. Jesus told us this in Matthew 24:36, "Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father." And Paul tells us in 1 Thessaloniand, 5:2, "For you yourselves know very well that Jehovah′s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night." The whole goal of a thief in the night is that what is done is done without announcing it, that is, unexpectedly.

However, we are not completely uninformed. Jesus described to us the conditions on earth leading up to "Jehovah′s day". It is found in

Matthew chapter 24, and I encourage you to read the whole chapter as Jesus gave a series of signs that would identify the general period of time. These signs are remarkably similar to the events occurring around the world in our present time. He described these signs in response to a question from his disciples, found in verse 3. "While he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples approached him privately, saying: ′Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?′". The signs he gave indicate that we are living in that time!

In verses 37-39 Jesus describes the conditions during this time and his description indicates that he is referring to an extended period of time, rather than an event suddenly at the end of it. Jesus said, "For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they took no note until the Flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be." Note that Jesus says that it would be like Noah’s days, and they were an extended period of 120 years with Noah present for all of it.

Please read verses 3 and 30, while keeping in mind that the question Jesus was asked was, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?". In verse 3 he gives several signs indicating that he is present, and in verse 30 he specifies that there would, in addition, an end brought to this system of things — the way the world of human activity functions — when he restores the earth to the condition Jehovah originally intended. The signs he gave indicate a period of time leading up to the cleansing of the earth.

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