Ready or Not Here He Comes

By Chad Pritchard

Why would I write about this subject when so many have already covered it?

Because God has charged me to write it.

You have not read my version with my research.

There are Christians and nonbelievers that need to hear this message. This is one of my ways I hope to reach out to encourage and educate Christians and non-Christians alike on the return of Christ Jesus.

According to research done by Mark Hitchcock, close to one-third of the Bible is prophetic (Mark Hitchcock, The End, 4). If you are studying or examining anything, you don’t skip out on almost thirty-three percent of the material. This is why study of biblical prophetic signs is so important. With God focusing this much of His Word on this subject, I feel prophecy and its accompanying signs are a must study for Christians.

So why believe and teach in a literal return of Jesus Christ?

He promised to return for me and all the rest who truly believe in Him.

The prophetic accuracy concerning Christ’s first visitation to all of us was faultless.

He is faithful; His name is Faithful and True.

Besides these main points, the benefits of being part of God’s kingdom now are enormous, but there are future benefits that far outweigh our earthly sufferings. Those benefits await true believers in Christ when He comes to collect His bride, The Church. If I do not meet you here on earth, I hope to meet you in Heaven.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639619054

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Ready or Not Here He Comes

Chad Pritchard

Copyright © 2022 by Chad Pritchard

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

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Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Why the Return?

The Signs of Christ’s Return

Lessons and Promises: The Revelation Letters The 

Revelation Letters

Without Spot or Wrinkle

The Two Returns: For and With For and With

Between Christ’s Returns

Daniel’s Contribution

The Government Upon His Shoulders: The Millennial 

Reign of Christ The Millennial Reign of Christ

Post Millennium: New Heavens, New Earth and New 

Jerusalem New Heavens, New Earth and New 

Jerusalem

Until The Rapture

Contents

Preface 7

Why the Return? 9

Conditions to escape 9

Saved from the coming wrath 10

Reasons for Christ’s literal return 13

Summary 18

The Signs of Christ’s Return 20

Prophecy 20

Signs 22

Israel as major prophetic sign 24

This generation 26

The priceless question 27

The Olivet Discourse 30

The fig-tree analogy 36

Summary 38

Lessons and Promises: The Revelation Letters 41

The audience for the letters 41

Lukewarm Laodiceans 43

The breakdown of the Laodicean letter 43

Significance of Laodicean letter 50

Summary 52

Without Spot or Wrinkle 54

The context and breakdown 54

The Bema Seat or Judgment Seat of Christ 55

Summary 56

The Two Returns: For and With 58

Rapture: Midair return FOR His bride 59

The significance of the trumpet 60

The order of things 61

The speed of change 63

Glorious Appearing: touchdown return WITH his bride 63

Scriptural proof of pretribulationalism 64

Rescues us FROM the coming wrath 64

Keeps us FROM the hour of trial 65

God’s personal dealings with Israel 66

The warrior-bride of Christ 67

Summary 68

Between Christ’s Returns 70

Earthly scene: The Tribulation 70

Earthly scene: The Gog-Magog attack 74

Heavenly scene 77

The Response 81

Your Response 84

Daniel’s Contribution 88

Daniel: esteemed 88

A particular contribution 90

Breakdown of the statue parts 90

An empire comes back 92

The rock 93

Accuracy in Daniel 95

The Government Upon His Shoulders: The Millennial Reign of Christ 97

The millennial demographic 97

The millennial setup 97

Change is in the air 101

Celebrations 102

Our nature persists but doesn’t prevail 104

Fulfilled promises 106

Summary 107

Post Millennium: New Heavens, New Earth and New Jerusalem 108

Satan’s demise 108

The great white throne judgment 108

The New Heavens, New Earth and New Jerusalem 109

Our new home 112

Simply heavenly 114

Summary 116

Until The Rapture 118

Expectantly watching and waiting 118

Continual preparation 120

Noah and The Rapture 122

Closing remarks 125

Bibliography 129

Preface

Thank you for reading my book. Why do I feel you have made a good investment of your time and resources? Because I have felt impressed upon by God’s Holy Spirit to write on subjects that are near and dear to my heart but that are also needed for biblically understanding the crazy times we are living in today.

This book was prompted by God as a major project between the two of us. I have always loved the topic of Christ’s return and its details. The Holy Spirit simply used that love and impressed upon me to go the extra mile and not only share my enthusiasm but share His Word and my research on the subject.

Why would I write about this subject when so many have already covered it?

Because God has charged me to write it.

You have not read my version with my research.

There are Christians and nonbelievers that need to hear this message. This is one of my ways I hope to reach out to encourage and educate Christians and non-Christians alike on the return of Christ Jesus.

As you read my research, I will be quoting from the New International Version of the Bible, unless otherwise noted. I have chosen this rendering because I found the translation to be most closely aligned with the original Hebrew and Greek text.

During 2020, I was not able to execute my calling, which is to sing for the Lord with my church choir and praise team due to COVID-19 placing severe restrictions on social interactions. I could sing to the Lord and about the Lord around my house, but to serve Him and sing for the Lord in front of the congregation or abroad was put on hold.

Thankfully, the Holy Spirit not only nudged me, but He shoved me into this homework, this project, this labor of love that I hope catches your attention, arrests your heart and makes you say by the end of the reading, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus (Revelation 22:21).

Why the Return?

Conditions to escape

Why do Christians hope for a return of Christ Jesus? Society keeps deteriorating, future predictions are not good, doubters are everywhere, and nothing or nobody seems to be changing for the better.

Allow me to paint you a picture from Scripture of the severity of the matter. People are…

Lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and having an air or form of godliness but denying its power. (2 Timothy 3:2–5)

True, these conditions have plagued people throughout history since Paul wrote and warned Timothy about these characteristics many years ago. However, these ingredients have been growing in intensity and frequency, especially in the last century and certainly last decade. The key to studying the above listed characteristics of people is understanding.

But mark this: there will be terrible times in the last days. (2 Timothy 3:1)

The time frame for the last days by some scholars has been noted as beginning at Christ’s Ascension and ends when He gloriously returns on His white horse and with His bride (The Church) and all His angels to set up His millennial kingdom on earth. As those conditions continue to worsen, the later history is in those last days.

Even with our technology, great leaders and the reliance on self, the world and its systems are on the brink of doom. Unfortunately, the condition of world governments, global economy, spirituality, society and nature is predicted to only corrode, hence, the terrible times in the last days. This will be glaringly obvious when Christ raptures The Church to His side and takes them home to Heaven.

Saved from the coming wrath

When this happens, when Christ raptures believers to Him one day soon, a huge reason will be to save Christians from the coming wrath. Paul delivers this awesome message:

To wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

This coming wrath has a double prophetic fulfillment. The final wrath administered to those who reject Christ Jesus is the eternal Lake of Fire. Because of Christ’s sacrificial death upon The Cross and resurrection from the dead, Jesus is Savior to those who would accept Him as such from this default destination.

There will also be a wrath on earth known as The Tribulation Period with many judgments to endure for those who have not confessed Christ as their Savior and for God dealing with Israel.

First Thessalonians 4:13–18 portrays rescue from both wraths for those who declare Christ their Savior now and live for Him. Christians commonly refer to this event as The Rapture, a resurrection and catching away of the dead in Christ into midair to meet the Lord and those believers still alive to join immediately afterward. Paul encourages the believers in Thessalonica and down through the ages:

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. (4:13–18)

If you are left behind to experience The Tribulation, then you still will have a chance to repent of your fallen nature and accept Christ as your Savior, but life is not going to be worth living during this time. The restraining power of the Holy Spirit found within the church on earth that keeps evil at bay will be gone due to The Rapture (2 Thessalonians 2:6–7). However, the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry will still be active. The martyrs found under the altar in Revelation 6:9–11, people who made the decision for Christ during The Tribulation and gave the ultimate price, testifies