WHEN CHRIST RETURNS TIME WILL CEASE by Jeffrey A. Wingo

For almost two thousand years theologians, false prophets, and various prognosticators have tried to predict the day of the Second Coming of Christ. All have failed because they did not heed the words of Jesus that no one will know the day and the hour of His return.

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matt. 24:36).

“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt.25:13).

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mk.13:32).

It is very clear that no one will know the day or the hour of the Second Coming. But did you ever wonder why Jesus said that you could know season of the return?

“Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors” (Matt.24:32-33).

We will not know the day or the hour but we can know the approximate season because of the prophetic hints that are in the Bible. I am not going to give you a list of the “hints” as it were at this time, that is for a future post; but I would like you to search the Scriptures and see if you can find the budding fig leaves that He mentions here.

We cannot know the day or the hour but we can know the season or the approximate time frame of His return. The day or the hour of the return is impossible to know, and for a very good reason.

The information I am going to reveal here I have only previously revealed to others in private conversation to make sure I am not off track as it were. In other words, I wanted to discuss this with others who are more knowledgeable to make sure that I am not going beyond the Scriptures, and now I feel that it is the appropriate time to publicly reveal my understanding of this.

I as wrote in my book, Alien Antichrist, I previously held and taught the pre-tribulation rapture position. Because of my study of the Scriptures I have moved beyond that to a position that I consider to be a more biblical view of the rapture and the sudden appearance of Christ. I do not believe the Bible teaches a secret rapture, or a two-part Second Coming (and that is what the pre-tribulation position basically is; a two-part return–the secret rapture of the church and then the publicly visible return, where every eye shall see Him return).

When the Bible discusses the Second Coming it is always spoken of as an event that is sudden, quick, and very visible. In other words, every eye shall see Him, and all of the tribes (people) of the earth shall mourn because of Him. Christ will not come in secret for the church or anybody for that matter. When He returns everyone alive on the earth will witness the event. Notice that the time of His return is at the end of the Great Tribulation.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt.24:29-31).

Notice that it says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days…” The return of Christ is after the Tribulation of “those days” which of course refers to the Great Tribulation which He spoke about at Matt.24:15; this is when the Antichrist Beast commits the Abomination of Desolation by entering a rebuilt Jewish Temple in Jerusalem and proclaims himself to be the God of the earth (2 Thess.2:4).

After the tribulation Christ will send His angels with the sound of a great trumpet (vs.31) and they shall gather His elect (those saved or born-again) from one end of heaven to the other. THAT IS THE RAPTURE OF THE CHURCH. The trumpet here is the trumpet of the seventh angel of Revelation (Rev.11:15 ), and the last trump that Paul wrote about in relation to the rapture of the church (1 Thess.4:16-17). That is the rapture because at that moment the church is caught up by the angels and then “there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev.11:15).

TIME SHALL CEASE

The point of all of this is that before Jesus makes His VISIBLE appearance time shall cease; the clock will stop ticking off the seconds, the hour hand will no longer move,, and time will standstill. In other words, the entire mechanistic movement of linear time will come to a complete halt in the entire universe. How do I know this?

The Scriptures say that “immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from the heavens…” (Matt.24:29).

Time stops and the amazing thing is, it is impossible to know for how long–a day, a week, a month, a year? A second, a minute, an hour, a day; one day, two days, thirty days? Do you see what I mean? Time will stop, it will cease to move forward on its ever onward course.

As a result the sun and stars are shut down, and since the sun does not send forth its light the moon will also cease to reflect light and become dark as well. Everything will be dark, and for how long????

That is the reason that Jesus said that no one would be able to know the day or the hour–BECAUSE TIME WILL STOP! At that moment there will be no time! Think about that for a few moments. No more time. That is why you cannot know the day or the hour of His return!

Then when God the Father decides that IT IS TIME–

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt.24:30).

When Christ returns time will stop for an undetermined period. The entire universe will be dark, and then a sign appears, the sign of the Son of Man. What is that sign? While I am not entirely sure, the Scriptures may hint that it is the Glory of God as the dimensional veil between our reality and the spiritual dimension is breached. Because Revelation 6:12-13 seem to indicate that when the sky goes dark, and the universe is turned off, that the heavens will depart like “a scroll when it is rolled together..” Isaiah 34:4 also seems to agree here that the heavens will “be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.”

Both Testaments seem to indicate that time will stop, the lights in the universe will be extinguished, and the heavens, the sky, will roll back in a scroll like fashion to reveal the Son of Man in all of His Glory–the Glory of God will shine on the earth and the sign of the Son of Man will be the sudden appearance of the Glory of God and the Second Coming of Christ!

I look forward to the return of Christ; our planet is filled with sin and death and all kinds of evil. But when Jesus returns He will set everything right, He will bring healing, peace, and justice; and the earth and the universe will finally find rest.

Have a good Sunday, and find rest in the Lord.
Thanks for visiting.
Jeff Wingo