Kingdom Disciples

The arrival of Jesus will mean the resurrection of the dead, the commencement of the New Creation, and the final judgment . Several Greek terms are applied by the New Testament to the return of Jesus, including ‘ Parousia ’ (“arrival”), ‘ erchomai ’ (“coming”), ‘ apokalupsis ’ (“revelation”), and ‘ epiphaneia ’ (“appearance”). Regardless of which one is used, it is always singular in number, it always refers to only one future “arrival,” “appearance,” “revelation,” or “coming.”

Just as unprepared men were destroyed by Noah’s Flood, so unrepentant men and apostates will be overtaken by destruction when Jesus arrives . Jesus compared the final years before his return to the days before the Great Flood. “ Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be ” when the “ Son of Man ” returns. Some interpreters take this as a prediction of the return of the same conditions that existed in Noah’s day, including the moral anarchy and violence that prompted God to send the floodwaters.

Did Jesus command his followers to know end-time chronologies, the “ times and seasons ”? Must they decipher key “signs” and use them to calculate the time of his return so they may prepare in the nick of time for that day’s arrival? Did he and his apostles leave us with a comprehensive list of signs whereby we can decode God’s prophetic timetables?