Coming Again

Jesus came once. Scripture indicates Jesus will come again at the "rapture" when the dead and living Christians shall be taken up with him. At that time, Jesus doesn't set foot on earth but brings Christians to him. Regardless, I see that as his "second coming". His third coming, then, would be when he gathers the true Church and comes back to reign. Theologians call the latter "the second coming."

Mat 24:3 ...what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)

Those desolation are these: 

Dan 9:27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Dan 11:31  And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. Dan 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

Continuing on with the timeline:

Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 29 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: 30 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. 31 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.  But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51  And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Let's look at these things in order for the signs of the end of the world:

1.  Hatred, persecution and death. Hated by all nations. (verse 9).
2. People offended by Christ, betray one another. To whom? Likely the Church/Government. And of course, hate one another (verse 10). Severe hatred of Christ and Christians even by friends and neighbors is a sign. Children will even betray their parents, and the wives, their husbands. Christians will be betrayed even by their church.
3. False prophets will deceive many (verse 11). Even the elect will be deceived. This is the false church. People will become blind and deaf to truth, and believe the lie.
4. The love of many will wax cold (verse 12). This is not only for each other but for Christ. People will be so into themselves and the world, that God and others will be shunned. This verse describes division. Most will continue with the world, and few will be steadfast in the faith.
5. The "hope of salvation" shall be fulfilled. "...he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" (verse 13). When does salvation occur? At the end. For those alive when these signs occur, if they remain steadfast in faith until the end, they "shall be saved." This would apply also to those who die before the end of time, as death is their "end". Thus, faith is more than first believing, but enduring.
6. What is the precursor for the end? "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world" (verse 14). It would appear that near the end, as the gospel is continually preached, those who hear will reject it. However, once all the world hears about Jesus, the end of time shall come.
7. Remain holy through the desolations of Daniel (verse 15). And those desolations are the "one week" tribulation. This is seven years because half of it is 1290 days - 3-1/2 years. Thus, Christians must remain faithful through the tribulation period. it would seem here that Christians remain throughout the tribulation period. However, since the sacrifices and oblations (communion) cease midway through the seven years, it is interpreted by many that the Christians will be take away before the desolation occurs. That "desolation" is tribulation. The "consummation" is those married to the groom - Christians. These verses seem to point to the tribulation as the desolate who remain. This is where the "mid-tribulation viewpoint is derived as was mentioned earlier (http://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2018/02/behold-him.html). Since these are not all the scripture pertaining to the apocalypse, do not let this timeline be the final word.
8. The period of desolation above is called "the tribulation (verse 21). The first half seems to be that the ministry ends, and the last half  tribulation as the world has never seen before, or will see again. We can see from these verses that persecution grows until a crescendo is reached at the second half of the tribulation period. When does the persecution start? Near the end of time. It would appear that we are now in step 4 but are not yet in the tribulation; step 7.
9. The false church shall arise, and even the "elect" shall be deceived (verse 24). I would question how "the elect" would be deceived if the church had already been raptured, either before the tribulation, or in the midst of it. That is answered by the 144,000 - 12,000 from each Jewish tribe who would be born-again during the tribulation (Rev 7:4). I hesitate to say "saved" because their salvation has yet to come.
10. Immediately after the tribulation period "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" (verse 29). The end has come, it may be. It seems that while the destruction is occurring, Jesus comes to "save" his elect. This  "the hope of salvation" ends with salvation of the entire Church.
11. The sign of Jesus shall appear in the heavens. (verse 30). No one knows for sure what that sign is. However, it's not earthly signs but heavenly. It would seem that God's Glory would announce the arrival of His Son; perhaps a great light on Calvary. That makes sense since the earth was darkened at his death, that God's Light would shine forth at his return. Being somewhat pragmatic, if this is Shekinah Light, it was introduced by darkness (verse 29). Perhaps, the heavens were not destroyed but merely darkened to allow only God to light the world. (This will be revisited later on).
12. The tribes of the earth shall mourn. (verse 30). People will realize that they are doomed. This is much like in  Noah's time when people finally realized that the end was near, and they missed the boat!
13. "They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" verse (verse 30). In the Light, the world finally sees Jesus in His Glory. At this time, God returns the Light just as it was in the beginning, and everyone finally sees the Light. However, it is too late for those who prolonged their unbelief.
14. The trumpets shall play and Christians gathered from all over the earth (verse 31). When? No one knows the time except God. It's God's surprise party for the living and dead in Christ! (1 Thes 4:15-17 "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.") This would be the view of those who accept the "post-tribulation rapture". Regardless when, it will certainly happen! It is at this time all Christians, living and dead will be glorified - in the presence of God with His Light transforming them into new "flesh": (1 Cor 15:51-53 "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
    In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.") It would seem that at the Garden - Jerusalem, Jesus will return, and mankind will be placed back into the original habitat at his Creation. Many believe that the point of Jesus's return would be in Jerusalem, which is "the foundation of peace", and a likely sight of the Garden of Eden. (I have written much on that earlier).
15. When shall these things be? Chronologically, verse 37 precedes verse 30 (step 11).  "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (verse 37). During the tribulation, the iniquity will be the same as before the flood. There will be just a few righteous people living. If one thinks about it, the 144,000 apportioned to the population would be about the same as the eight people on Noah's ark. The iniquity, again, will not commence in the tribulation period but exponentially increase as time passes. We are already in the days such as was the tribe of Cain in the beginning. During that time, we learn from the Books of Adam and Eve that the world (Cain's line) was sinful, and only when Seth's line came off the Holy Mountain to join them in sin, did the end come. Thus, when the modern Church becomes dens of iniquity is when the tribulation starts. The first 3-1/2 years will tempt even the Christians to succumb to temptation just as the righteous on the Holy Mountain did. Once Satan has them off their "mountain" with pleasantries, then they will be tested. Most Christians will worship the Antichrist, and take his number. I believe that is an Islamic Caliphate, and some Imam who claims to be Isa - their "Jesus" who will be the Antichrist. Their method of persuasion will be beheading (Rev 20:4 "And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus...")
16. And then, punishment comes for the wicked (verse 51).

I hesitate to assign the order in which things occur. One can see from Matthew 24 that all three views are supported.  I have no esoteric knowledge to insist on the order of things. I do know that if God says it will happen, it will! Why are we confused? Because God didn't reveal the day nor the hour (verse 50). If God had put things in order man would surely put a time on it. Remember, God's Plan was made in the beginning; thus linking the ontological with the eschatological. Just as the beginning was "the mystery of God", so is the ending. However, from the first day until the last, everything has always been about Jesus!