Invisible Return of Christ

Christ's return was predicted by the Miller movement...a predecessor to the LHMM. He didn't come at that time so they revised their predictions and came up with 1874. After there was still no evidence of Christ returning, they changed their position and realized that he DID return...only invisibly!

See the Wikipedia articles on William Miller and Great Disappointment

"Jonas Wendell, an Adventist preacher, experienced periods of weak faith after 1844. After studying Bible chronology, he came to the conclusion that the Second Coming would be in 1868, and in 1870 he published a booklet concluding it was to be in 1873.
Charles Taze Russell was in turn influenced by Jonas Wendell (as well as by the Millerites in general). One-time Millerite ministers George Storrs, George Stetson, and Nelson H. Barbour were also influential in Russell's doctrinal development. Like Wendell, Barbour had also predicted Christ's return in 1873, and when that failed, he revised the prediction for 1874. Soon after that disappointment, Barbour's group came to believe that Christ had returned in 1874 but invisibly. Russell met Barbour in 1876 and accepted the teaching of an invisible presence of Christ from Barbour. Russell developed an elaborate chronology with 1914 being viewed as the end of a forty year "harvest period." A schism in the movement occurred after Russell's death. In the early 1930s, the leadership changed the date of the Second Coming to 1914. The main branch of that movement came to be known as the Jehovah's Witnesses, while many members refused the change; Bible Students today still hold that the Second Coming was in 1874."

Two points on the Scriptures concerning this point of an invisible return of Christ:
(1) No one knows the time or date of the return of Jesus. If anyone predicts the date, it can't be the right date.
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
No-one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. - Matthew 24:, 3,36

(2) "Like a thief in the night" can mean unexpectantly or without notice. It doesn't need to mean quietly or invisibly. In fact, thieves are not invisible...especially if you turn on the light.
1Th 5:2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Date setting diverts people's attention from Jesus to a date. It builds expectations that will be shattered by disappointment. That disappointment will, in turn, produces embarrassment and disillusionment.