Yes, no, or never are the poll choices.
I would have chosen the first option but I believe it will be in the NEAR future.
Please share and comment why you believe in any one of those choices and your reasoning based on scripture, thank you for a moment of your time!
I believe that people are waiting for something that has already taken place. Jesus already returned over 100 years ago.....
When his disciples asked him about his comments regarding the Temple being completely destroyed...."not a stone left upon a stone", he went on to give them a "sign" in a series of world events that would demonstrate his "presence" (parousia). This is not his "coming" to judge the world because that is a completely separate event. Jesus' "presence" signals the beginning of the "time of the end" and his "coming" heralds the end of the present system of things.
What did Jesus tell his disciples to look for?
Matthew 24:1-14....
"Now as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciples came to show him the temple buildings. 2 And he said to them, “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!”
3 As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Watch out that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will mislead many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. Make sure that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 For nation will rise up in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these things are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name. 10 Then many will be led into sin, and they will betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will appear and deceive many, 12 and because lawlessness will increase so much, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the person who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come." (NET)
Was he just speaking about the fall of Jerusalem that would occur in 70 CE? NO! He associated these things with "the end of the age".....but look at Strongs Concordance for the meaning of the word rendered "coming" in that verse.....
And as He was sitting G2521 on the Mount G3735 of Olives G1636, the disciples G3101 came G4334 to Him privately G2596 G2398, saying G3004, “Tell G3004 us, when G4219 will these G3778 things G3778 happen G1510, and what G5101 will be the sign G4592 of Your coming G3952, and of the G4930 of the age G165?”
This is
"parousia" and it means....
"presence". If you are invited to a gathering, and you see a friend, they are already
present, but you did not see them "come" to the gathering.
"Coming" is "
erchomai" which we can see is not the same as "
parousia" but which can include their arrival because you can plainly see that they are already there.
Because Christ's "parousia" is the beginning of "the last days" of the present system of world government, the first sign that Jesus gave was unprecedented war. The Great War of 1914 coincides with Daniel's prophesy on the "time of the end" narrowing down the timeframe to the rulers of the present day. We have barely known periods of peace since then as major wars have been fought all over the world from that time onward. Increasingly heinous weapons have been developed increasing the carnage and destruction.
The war produced famine as workers on the land were conscripted to fight, and resources were spent on armaments and the war effort....and so what little food was available was rationed. The Spanish Flu pandemic followed and took more lives than the war did. Major earthquakes have also featured in this time period. And who can deny the increasing of lawlessness, and also the fact that love of neighbor has also vanished, as people cloister themselves away and entertain themselves at home with a steady diet of violence and immorality on their giant TV screens? We are living in unprecedented times with unprecedented events......fires, floods, earthquakes, and disease epidemics. And now the war in Ukraine where we see so many displaced and distressed about what is happening. Who knows what will happen next? We are all starting to feel like Job...with one disaster after another.
I believe that we are deep in to "the last days", (2 Timothy 3:1-5) but no one knows when they will end. However, Jesus also said that at the time of his return...it would be "just as the days of Noah", people engrossed in their own lives and not giving heed to the warning that was being given by Noah. (Matthew 24:36-39)...."the preaching of the Kingdom" would be done "in all the inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations"...."and then the end will come."
Sooner rather than later I think.....
