One thing we need to realize is that the concept of "delay" is in our own minds. God appointed the timing of the Rapture before He created the world. He is perfect, and the day He appointed long ago for the Rapture is rock solid. Nothing that happens in this world is going to cause Him to reschedule the Rapture date or anything thing else He predetermined. We just tend to let our yearning to leave cause us to desperately grasp at anything that even remotely resembles an end time event, and assume He intends for us to see it as a communication from Him about exactly how near we are to the Rapture. And most of us have been doing this for years and even decades. 

It's our own fault that we allow our desperation and impatience to lead to our misjudgments when it comes to Rapture timing. And we tend to want to "blame" God for keeping us down here when He had the perfect opportunity(s) to take us out whenever this or that random end time event occurs. When all the seemingly perfect times for the Rapture come and go, we always assume He has, once again, delayed our departure. We assume that He has changed the pre-appointed moment of the Rapture because things in the world aren't quite bad enough to come rescue us. 

What we should realize is that He is not waiting on what's happening in the world to determine when He should act. The Rapture is not a last-minute rescue, when He sees that world events are becoming too overwhelming for us. Rather, He has timed the Rapture according to the effect it will have on the world. He is orchestrating the whole scenario exactly as He predetermined it to all come down. NOTHING is being delayed!! It's all going according to plan. It just seems like He keeps delaying because of our misunderstanding and misinterpretation of end time signs and events.

The angel told Daniel that, when the Return of the Lord gets closer and closer, He will

shed more and more light on things so that as we watch, we can understand more and more how close we are. If we understood the fig tree parable, and the length of a generation, and Shemita cycles and Jubilees back in the 80's, we would have realized that it was too soon for the Rapture/Tribulation/Second Coming to begin. But now it has become common knowledge that we are at the end of the Fig Tree generation AND at the end of a Shemita cycle. And it's not just coincidence that world events and the situation in Israel and the Middle East are like ripe figs ready to pick. 20 years ago, only a few watchers thought things were ready for the Rapture and Tribulation to start. Today, MOST watchers are discerning that the time has finally come. And Jesus said that if we watch, we (not just a few of us) will know.

Chooch is correct that the Bible doesn't specifically say that the Tribulation has to start at the beginning of a Shemita cycle. But it's not just coincidence that the Trib. and a Shemita cycle are both 7 years in length. Nor is it coincidence that the 10th Shemita cycle since Israel's rebirth is ending and the11th one is beginning at the Feast of Trumpets this year. 10 is the number for government, and 11 is the number for judgment. Israel's governing of themselves is over and their judgment is about to begin. It all fits perfectly!! And the Lord is revealing to us how perfectly it all fits together. 

We just have to keep our faith in His promise that we can and will know when He's coming. And I am EXTREMELY confident that the Trib will commence at the beginning of a Shemita cycle. Does anyone of us truly believe that the Trib could possibly begin 7 years from now?  Doubt becomes more and more tempting the closer we get to the Feast of Trumpets, but if we let it grow., then our remaining days down here will be unnerving to say the least.