I read the two posts TDW but they back reference other posts, which I did not read.
My understanding of the return of the Lord is very simple.
While he has gone he has given us the Holy Spirit, which leads us into all truth
and allows us direct access to the throne of Father and Son. In fact the Holy Spirit is what
defines the true Church, as it is a gift from God that he only gives to his people.
The parable of the 10 Virgins seems to be saying that while the Lord is not here, we remain,
as a Church, under the Covenant of the Holy Spirit, (Jeremiah 31:33). I don't what the alternatives are
- maybe a return to legalism - but until the Lord returns, we are to remain in the Holy Spirit.
According to my understanding of Olivet, the sign of Jesus's return is 'The Son of Man in Heaven'.
The disciples asked for the sign, and that is what Jesus replied.
After that the world mourns.
We can discuss what they mourn, but there is no time limit put on their mourning.
I knew of a woman who lost her husband in the 1st World war and she mourned her whole
life, another 70 years.
All I know is that at some point during the mourning, Jesus returns.
Regarding Noah and the 120 years.
Can we give Paul the last word:
1 Thessalonians 5: 5 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
If you are about God's business like Noah, there is nothing really to worry about.
But the Noah analogy is not meant to mean that we know exactly as Noah did the time of Christ's return;
the analogy is more about Spiritually awake and spiritually dead, the prepared and the unprepared, the wise and the foolish, Kingdom workers and Kingdom shirkers.
Besides, if Noah knew exactly when the flood was coming, he would have shut the doors, but in fact it is God
who shut the doors.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the Lord shut him in.