At first glance, it may seem that the “tribulation” will come after Jesus returns:
At first glance, Matthew 24:15-22, Mark 13:14-20, and 2 Thessalonians 2 describe a future ruler setting himself up as God in the Temple. According to Matthew 24:15-22 with Mark 13:14-20, the sight of “the abomination that causes desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel” in Daniel 9:27 marks the start of tribulation unparalleled “from the beginning of the creation that God created until now” - a tribulation that will continue for about three and a half years (Daniel 9:27; cf. 12:7, 11-12).
Furthermore, at first glance, 2 Thessalonians 2:7 could hint at the removal of the church before “[the man of lawlessness] is revealed,” and the revelation of the man of lawlessness could be the sight of him “tak[ing] his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2:3-4). In Revelation 3:10, Jesus tells a church, “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” In other words, it is possible to imagine a removal of the church by Jesus before the tribulation.

However, Jesus will return at the end of this tribulation...
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29a; cf. Mark 13:24a) there will be changes in the heavens “and then” (Mark 13:26) “will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31; cf. Mark 13:26-27)
Luke 21:11 states that “fearful sights and great signs (σημεῖα) shall there be from heaven” after Jerusalem is “surrounded” (21:20) and “trampled… until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (21:24). Luke 21:25-28 adds, “And there will be signs (σημεῖα) in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
In addition, according to Revelation 13:5 and 13:7 (cf. 14:9-13), “the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months….” and “was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.” Furthermore, Revelation 13:10 adds, “If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.” Cross reference the preceding passages in Revelation with Daniel 7:25 and 12:11-13.

...and, actually, that tribulation has already come.
Matthew and Mark’s “abomination of desolation” refers to a past “desolation” from “Jerusalem [being] surrounded by armies” (Luke 21:20) around 70 A.D.
Here is evidence from the text in favor of this conclusion:
Matthew and Mark’s “the abomination of desolation” (τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως) is an allusion to the text of 1 Maccabees 1:54: “Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year,[“167 b.c.”] they erected a desolating sacrilege (βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως) upon the altar of burnt offering.”
When Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 insert “let the reader understand,” it emphasizes that the reader might not understand. In contrast, Luke 21:20 does not include that insertion.
Now, while Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 refer to the time “when ( Ὅταν) you see (ἴδητε) the abomination of desolation (ἐρημώσεως) spoken of by the prophet Daniel,” Luke refers to the time “when ( Ὅταν) you see (ἴδητε) Jerusalem surrounded by armies…. desolation (ἐρήμωσις)... to fulfill all that is written” (Luke 21:20, 22).
In other words, while Matthew and Mark used the allusion of “the abomination of desolation” (e.g. “9/11”), Luke explains the allusion with “Jerusalem surrounded by armies” (e.g. “the next terrorist attack”).

In other words, Jesus’ return is “near.”
There is no event predicted between right now and His return...
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:32-35)
“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Mark 13:28-31)
“And he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’” (Luke 21:29-33)

...and He could come at any moment (cf. Revelation 3:3; 16:15):
36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,[b] but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant,[c] whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 47 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow servants[d]and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know 51 and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:36-51)
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps[e]and went to meet the bridegroom.[f] 2 Five of them were foolish, and five werewise. 3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” (Matthew 25:1-13)
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake.[a] For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants[b] in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows,[c] or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” (Mark 13:32-36)
“34 But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” (Luke 21:34-36)
“1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires.4 They will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you,[q] not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies[r] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.[s] 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.” (2 Peter 3)

In conclusion, remember the words of Solomon:
“What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us. There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after…. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.[c] For God will bring every deed into judgment, with[d] every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11; 12:13-14)
For this quotation in context, examine Ecclesiastes and Eternity: Digging Deeper.






Appendix I: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a] 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c] 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Observations
The words “the man of lawlessness” could be the description of a type of person, just as the words “the antichrist” is the description of a type of person (1 John 2:22): “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.”
It is just as true to say that “the mystery of lawlessness is already (ἤδη) at work” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) as it is to say that “even now many antichrists have come” (1 John 1:18) and “the spirit of the antichrist… now is in the world already (ἤδη)” (1 John 4:3).
It is just as true to say that “[t]he coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders” (σημείοις καὶ τέρασιν) (2 Thess 2:9) as it is to say that “the coming of the antichrist” (1 John 2:18) is parallel with the coming of the spirit of the antichrist (4:3); this spirit is associated with false prophets (4:1), who, as the Old Testament warns, may have “a sign or a wonder” (σημεῖον ἢ τέρας) (Deuteronomy 13:1).
In the context of the coming of the lawless one, the texts refers to “what is false” (ψεύδει) in 2 Thessalonians 2:11; in the context of the coming of the antichrist, the text refers to “lie” (ψεῦδος) in 1 John 2:21 - and the liar is the antichrist (1 John 2:22-23).

Furthermore, Paul could be using an allusion to Antiochus Epiphanes, just as Matthew and Mark were using an allusion to Antiochus Epiphanes. In other words, the activity of “the man of lawlessness” could be an allusion to an historical event - an allusion that helps describe the nature of this type of man, just at Matthew’s and Mark’s “the abomination of desolation” is an allusion to an event in history - an allusion that helps to describe the nature of this desolation.
With reference to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, consider the activity of Antiochus Epiphanes:
“[Anti′ochus Epiph′anes] went up against Israel and came to Jerusalem with a strong force.21 He arrogantly entered the sanctuary and took the golden altar, the lampstand for the light, and all its utensils. 22 He took also the table for the bread of the Presence, the cups for drink offerings, the bowls, the golden censers, the curtain, the crowns, and the gold decoration on the front of the temple; he stripped it all off. 23 He took the silver and the gold, and the costly vessels; he took also the hidden treasures which he found. 24 Taking them all, he departed to his own land.” … 41 Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people, 42 and that each should give up his customs. 43 All the Gentiles accepted the command of the king. Many even from Israel gladly adopted his religion; they sacrificed to idols and profaned the sabbath. 44 And the king sent letters by messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah; he directed them to follow customs strange to the land, 45 to forbid burnt offerings and sacrifices and drink offerings in the sanctuary, to profane sabbaths and feasts, 46 to defile the sanctuary and the priests, 47 to build altars and sacred precincts and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and unclean animals, 48 and to leave their sons uncircumcised. They were to make themselves abominable by everything unclean and profane, 49 so that they should forget the law and change all the ordinances. 50 “And whoever does not obey the command of the king shall die.” 51 In such words he wrote to his whole kingdom. And he appointed inspectors over all the people and commanded the cities of Judah to offer sacrifice, city by city. 52 Many of the people, every one who forsook the law, joined them, and they did evil in the land; 53 they drove Israel into hiding in every place of refuge they had. 54 Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year,[d] they erected a desolating sacrilege upon the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding cities of Judah, 55 and burned incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. 56 The books of the law which they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. 57 Where the book of the covenant was found in the possession of any one, or if any one adhered to the law, the decree of the king condemned him to death. 58 They kept using violence against Israel, against those found month after month in the cities.59 And on the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar which was upon the altar of burnt offering. 60 According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised, 61 and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks. (1 Maccabees 1:20-24, 41-61)

With reference to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, consider the persona of Antiochus Epiphanes.
The following data, if accurate, would have been unnecessary for Maccabees to repeat:
“Antiochus IV (175-164 BC), was the 8th ruler of the Seleucid empire. He gave himself the surname ‘Epiphanes’ which means ‘the visible god’ (that he and Jupiter were identical). He acted as though he really were Jupiter and the people called him ‘Epimanes’ meaning ‘the madman’. He was violently bitter against the Jews, and was determined to exterminate them and their religion. He devastated Jerusalem in 168 BC, defiled the Temple, offered a pig on its altar, erected an altar to Jupiter, prohibited Temple worship, forbade circumcision on pain of death, sold thousands of Jewish families into slavery, destroyed all copies of Scripture that could be found, and slaughtered everyone discovered in possession of such copies, and resorted to every conceivable torture to force Jews to renounce their religion. This led to the Maccabaean revolt, one of the most heroic feats in history.”
Read more at “Antiochus IV Epiphanes Coin” on Bible-History.com. Accessed 12/1/2015.
<http://www.bible-history.com/archaeology/greece/1-antiochus-iv-epiphanes-bb.html>


“Head of Antiochus as Zeus, laureated. Reverse: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΝΤΙΟΧΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΕΠΙΦΑΝΟΥΣ ΝΙΚΗΠΟΡΟΥ. Zeus seated on throne, holding Nikē.(After Gardner, ‘Catalogue of Seleucid Coins.’) ...On Kislew (Nov.-Dec.) 25, 168, the "abomination of desolation" (, Dan. xi. 31, xii. 11) was set up on the altar of burnt offering in the Temple, and the Jews required to make obeisance to it. This was probably the Olympian Zeus, or Baal Shamem.”

Read more at “ANTIOCHUS IV., EPIPHANES” by Louis Ginzberg in the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. Accessed 12/1/2015. <http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1589-antiochus-iv-epiphanes>

Finally, read 2 Thessalonians 2 in the context of 1 Thessalonians 5, which was written first:
“1 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, ‘Peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)