A Prophetic Door, Left Open?

One of the most well-known prophetic statements is:

‘…But of that day and hour no one knows,

not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.’

Jesus speaking in Matthew 24:36.

 

For many believers, that assertion has become a blanket prohibition against trying to understand the timing of The Lord’s third (not second!) coming to Earth, and also of any pending prophetic event. Yet both the Old and New Testaments are chock full of veiled and concrete admonitions and examples of how people missed opportunities to discern the signs of their times, and paid severely for it. In Matthew 16:1-4, Jesus chided the Pharisees for their failure to ‘discern the signs of their times!’ While His phrase is unique, the expectation that His saints should learn to discern where we are within His unfolding plan, is woven throughout The Bible.

Contextual Reading

 

We compound our error when we conflate and merge the event to which Jesus explicitly referred—the resurrection and rapture of all bona fide 4th age saints—with a somewhat similar event Apostle Paul predicted about the resurrection and rapture of all bona fide 3rd age saints. Not only do we generally fail to perceive the distinctions between these two events, but we DEEPEN THAT ERROR by thinking His return will signal ‘the end of the world’! Clearly it won’t, unless He cancels His long-promised Millennial Reign age—the 5th Biblical age, and also the post-Millennial Reign age—the 6th Biblical age of our history! ¹

 

In Matthew 24:29–31, Jesus describes His dramatic, visible return in power and glory at the end of the apocalypse in the tribulation age—the 4th Biblical age of our history. 

In stating no one but The Father knows the day or hour of that event, He, the most strategic mind in creation, omitted any other ‘time determinants’, including the signs of the times during which that event will occur. But I assure you, spiritually-attentive and intuitive, persecution-hardened saints who remain alive during the last half of the tribulation age, will likely know when His return will be imminent! How? 

 

If Bibles remain available, 

they should be able to track, not only the predicted aspects

of the apocalypse, but also its unfolding duration—about 42 months, 

unless it is shortened, per Matthew 24:22.

 

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17, Paul describes The Lord’s bona fide 3rd age saints being caught up to meet Him in the clouds. That passage does not say He will be visible, or will descend onto the Earth. Rather, it describes a possibly hidden, atmospheric  meeting. Conflating/merging these two, different events has confused and possibly distorted the understanding and faith of countless saints. Paul affirms God is not the author of confusion, but of peace. So may The Spirit of Peace so seeds of enhanced comprehension among us regarding these aspects of The Lord’s plans for us. 

 

Bottom line: Context matters, both the context of specific passages, and the broader context of The Bible, as a whole.

 

Reading Signs of Our Times

 

The Bible signals each of the 6 Biblical ages of our history on this current version of Earth is following a rather clear, repetitive pattern:

    •  Three stages unfold—a start, middle and end stages during which righteousness is, respectively, small, grows, then steadily declines until it’s ‘figuratively hanging on by a thread’;

    •  Warnings and examples of major judgments are given, but ignored until they pounce;

    •  Faint pre-echoes of the next age are manifested; 

    •  The age-transitioning judgment is released, involving a GREAT earthquake of various intensities, and a ‘harvesting-type’ event for The Lord’s age-relevant saints;

    •  A relatively short ‘hinge period’ unfolds between the ending and the pending ages, during which relevant events must unfold; and

    •  The subsequent age begins, and repeats this general cycle. ² 

 

 In Matthew 24:3, Jesus’ disciples, interested to know the signs of the time, asked Him a complex, 3-point question:

  1. When will the temple be destroyed?

  2. What will be the signs of His return?

  3. What will be the signs of the end of the age?

 

Jesus foreknew, and we now know:

    •  The 2nd temple would be destroyed by Rome in AD 70;

    •  He had ordained 6, unique, Biblical ages of human history, each of which would end. 

    •  From Heaven, He would give further revelation (a) to Apostle Paul concerning His plan to resurrect/rapture all bona fide 3rd age saints; and (b) to Apostle John concerning the ends of the 4th, 5th and 6th ages of our history. 

 

Rather than ‘tip His hand’ on such details that His disciplews would not be able to comprehend, He strategically addressed their complex question in the most-informative manner relevant to them, and to us today. He structured His reply around their 2nd question—His most relevant, 3rd return to Earth. Mind you, I didn’t say His next return, because that would have been the one noted in John 17:19-21—His 2nd coming to Earth! (Yes, such strategic details really do matter!)

 

To you, what does our proclivity

(a) to miss what is meant between those verses, and then

(b) to lump together both New Testament references to His returns,

signal about our willingness and ability to read the signs of our times—

of the ‘prophetic door’ He may have intentionally left open re. His hidden return?

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¹ Ditto on other key topics, such as who is The Bride of Christ, who were also resurrected with Jesus, and to whom was He referring in Genesis 12:3?

² For more, see: Human History Ages (Series), Bible Raptures – Types and Timings (Series), and The 6th Seal, Civilization’s Reset? (Series).