Monday, December 20, 2021

No One Knows

  


This is an excerpt from a project I am working on. I thought I would post it online for my readers.


 

Matthew 24:36-44

“But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left: two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left. Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh” (ASV).  

(Parallel passages: Mark 13:32-37; Luke 12:39-40; 17:26-30, 34-36[i]; 21:34-36)

 

If you go back to chapter eleven, Noah and Lot, you can read again what I wrote there about why the day and hour of the rapture of the church is similar to the days of Noah and the days of Lot. What I wrote there is not the traditional perspective that the church usually hears but nonetheless the likenesses are similar. The generation of both Noah and Lot had strikingly similar social environments like the generation that witnesses the end of the church-age—this generation is the final generation of the church-age, because the generation that witnessed the rebirth of Israel on May 14, 1948 will also witness the Messiah’s second appearance on the very last day of the seven-year Tribulation Period (Matt.24:32-34; Mk.13:28-30; Lk.22:29-32).  

Noah’s escape from the Great Flood is usually thought of as an event symbolic to the rapture of the church. Noah a righteous man, compared to the people of his generation, was without blemish;[ii] he was a man that was in communication with Yahweh (Gen.6:9). His relationship with Yahweh is symbolic of the body of Christ. The church is sanctified in Christ and called to be holy (1 Cor.1:2), the church is to be without spot or wrinkle, holy and without blemish (Eph.5:25-27). Noah was warned that Yahweh was going to judge the earth because of its corruption by its inhabitants, the Lord said he would establish a covenant with him so that Noah and his family could escape this judgement by building an ark, and when finished they were to enter it (Gen.6:13-14, 18). Because God has established a covenant with the body of Christ, he promises a way of escape for the church by snatching us out of the world (1 Thess.1:10; 4:16-17) before he judges the world for its disobedience (Rom.2:5; 5:9; Eph.5:6; Col.3:6). The flood came once the ark was built that saved Noah and his family, they escaped the wrath of God that came upon the inhabitants of the earth at that time. The rapture is coming to snatch away the body of Christ before God releases his wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth during the seven-year Tribulation Period.

The rescue of Lot and his family out of the city of Sodom by the two angels before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah can also be compared to the rapture of the church.  The rapture of the church is meant to redeem the body of Christ out of the world before the wrath of God will be released upon the inhabitants of the earth (Gen.19.1-25; Rev.6-19). The apostle Peter said that Lot was a righteous man, who was sickened by the perversion of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Pet.2:7). He may have been the person that cried out to Yahweh about the lascivious behavior of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen.18:20-21). Lot is a picture of the body of Christ, Sodom and Gomorrah is a picture of the world in this generation; the last days of the church-age.

Both Noah and Lot were warned by Yahweh and his angels of the impending judgement that was to come upon the people of their respective generations (Gen.6:13; 19:12-13), and likewise the body of Christ living in the final days of the church-age have been warned through Scripture of the forthcoming judgement about to occur upon the inhabitants of the earth during Israel’s seventieth-week period. (Rom.2:5; 5:9; Eph.5:6; Col.3:6; Rev.6-19).  

As I pointed out in chapter eleven, this passage and the parallel passages above do not refer to Christ’s second appearance at the end of Israel’s seventieth-week period. Some people believe that and just cannot move off that error. To be fair to these people, Luke 17:22-24 & 31-33 do refer to the Tribulation Period, the time period after the church is raptured. There is a mixture of both Tribulation and pre-Tribulation information blended together in Luke chapter seventeen which could make it confusing to some people. It is the same in Matthew chapter twenty-four as I wrote in chapter thirteen, where there is a mixture of pre-Tribulation information (Matt.24:4-8, 32-51), and Tribulation information (Matt.24:9-31). In Luke chapter twenty-one there is also a mixture of pre-Tribulation information (Lk.21:9-10, 29-36), and Tribulation information (Lk.21:8,11-28).  In Mark’s gospel the mixture is as follows; pre-Tribulation information (Mk.13:7-8, 28-37), and Tribulation information (Mk.13:5-6, 9-27).

How do I know that Matthew 24:36-44 above, and the parallel passages that accompany them refer to the rapture of the church and not the Lord’s second appearance into the world to redeem Israel? I know because of what these passages clearly prophesy. These Scriptures say that when the day and hour of the Lord’s coming occurs no one will have precise knowledge of its timing, nobody will know the exact day and hour this event will occur (Matt.24:36,42,44; 25:13; Mk.13:32-33,35; Lk.12:39-40)[iii]. But at Christ’s second appearance the bible predicts the exact day that it will happen. It will happen on the final day of Israel’s seventieth-week period, on day 2,520. I mentioned in chapter nine how long Israel’s seventieth-week period will be to the day, and on the last day Israel’s Messiah will be anointed by the Jewish people that make it through alive to the end (Dan.9:24). I wrote in that chapter that on day 2,520 of the seventieth-week period, Jesus Christ will be seen dressed in a garment dipped in blood as he comes out of the eternal realm on a white horse ready to judge the fallen angels and their earthly followers (Rev.19:11-15). On this day he appears a second time to the nation of Israel to present himself as their king, this is why they then anoint him this time as is prophesied, unlike the first time he presented himself as their king and instead they rejected him (Lk.19:28-43, 44). 

In chapter seven I wrote that Jesus presented himself as their king right on the very day prophesied by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Daniel (Dan.9:26a). On day 173,880 of Israel’s sixty-ninth week Israel’s religious leaders rejected their Messiah, they cut him off.[iv] That was Palm Sunday, the week he was crucified. Just as Israel’s Messiah’s first appearance was prophesied correctly to the day, so also is the day of his second appearance to Israel is prophesied correctly to the day. To have knowledge of the precise day of his second appearance one must understand that Israel’s seventieth-week begins the day the Antichrist forces Israel and the Palestinian government to sign a covenant (Dan.9:26b-27a). From the day Israel signs the covenant with the Palestinian government there is a total of 2,520 days until Judah then anoints the Most Holy, their Anointed One. But the day and hour of the rapture of the church is not prophesied to the day, only the season of this event is prophesied as I have already written. This is why the church was warned before it was even born to be alert, watch and pray, because it does not know the hour it will happen. The church is to keep watch and not be found sleeping (living a worldly lifestyle) when the rapture of the church occurs.             

Because the church does not know the day and hour of the rapture, we have to be careful not to be like the world, living a life of intoxication, being overpowered by the troubles of this life, in other words acting as the world does, because the rapture will happen all of a sudden without an immediate alert signal giving the church a five-minute warning to get ready to be snatched out of the world. There will be no emergency alert sound off on the Christian’s mobile phone to snap the sleepy Christian out of his worldly behavior just before the trumpet sounds. Therefore, we must be ready beforehand and work continually at being like our God, walking in righteousness and true holiness (Eph.4:24).  We must work at being imitators of God so that we can walk in love (Eph.5:1-2). The rapture will affect everyone that is alive at the time it occurs because the seven-year Tribulation Period is then approaching (Lk.21:35). The person that believes in Jesus Christ must pray that he will be ready when the rapture occurs so that he will escape the Tribulation Period. The Christian must watch for the rapture to happen and pray that he can stand when he meets the Lord in the air (Lk.21:36).

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[i] Some Greek manuscripts omit verse #36

[ii] Noah wasn’t considered righteous because he was a perfect man, but rather the image of God in him was not corrupted like the rest of the world by the fallen angels. I wrote this in chapter eleven: “During Noah’s day, the fallen angels had compromised the image of Yahweh in the whole earth except Noah and his three sons. Noah did not have the image of God impaired in him and this is why the Scripture says he was a righteous man. He was not righteous because he acted perfect, but because his soul and spirit were not destroyed by his mother sleeping with a fallen angel. Noah’s father was Lamech, who also would have not been compromised by his mother sleeping with a fallen angel. Lamech’s father was Methuselah, who also would have not had the image of God jeopardized in him by his mother being impregnated by a fallen angel. And then there was the father of Methuselah, his name was Enoch. He also would have not been an offspring of a fallen angel because the Scripture records that Yahweh raptured him.” (Gen.5:23) 

[iii] “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night” (1 Thess.5:1-2, ASV).

[iv] If you need to; go back and read chapter seven again to get understanding of the seventy weeks decreed upon the nation of Israel.


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