An Hour Ye Think Not

Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 

Matthew 24:1-3 (my emphasis)

The What

One of the most common reprimands used to discourage Christians from studying prophecy, particularly the Rapture of the Church, is from a passage taken out of context from Jesus Christ in His Olivet Discourse. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus states, "but of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only." Paradoxically, two extreme positions have formed regarding this passage, both pointing in opposite directions. Ironically, both are, in fact, incorrect.

The first is a more modern contrivance in that the “no man knows the day or hour” is really a Jewish idiom, which, according to this theory, served as a subtle wink to the Feast of Trumpets as being the feast where “no man knows the day or hour,” since its commencement required two witnesses for the first sighting of the new moon. The only problem is that the use of this as an idiom for the Feast of Trumpets in the first century was either completely unknown or cannot be validated, since we have no ancient documents supporting this particular claim.

The second is a much older idea, and implies that Jesus was trying to dissuade His disciples (and you and I) from ever trying to figure out when all these fantastical things He described in the Olivet Discourse would happen. However, if Jesus was really trying to dissuade them (and us) from knowing, why explain in such detail all the things He does concerning the original questions they asked? Why does Jesus reserve some of His harshest criticisms for the religious leaders of His day for NOT recognizing the prophetic times in which they lived? (Matt. 16:1-4, Luke 19:37-44) Moreover, why give us a whole Book of Revelation if we weren’t meant to know anything about how the end happens?

But we have to remember something: it's super easy for us, today, to superimpose our own ideas of what the disciples might have been thinking (or not) regarding the end. We kinda act like they should have known everything that was both about to befall them, as well as how the rest of history should play out. At the time of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus had not yet been arrested, tried, crucified, or resurrected, so even the events surrounding that very week were not clear to the disciples.

At His arrest, the disciples were scattered. Peter would go on to deny Christ three times. They would watch in agony as their Messiah was publicly and humiliatingly tried, beaten, flogged, and paraded to Golgotha, where they nailed Jesus naked to a cross. Even after His resurrection and subsequent forty days when the resurrected Christ walked amongst them, the disciples were still confused as to what was to happen next.

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:6-8 (my emphasis)

The When

Today, we have the luxury of reading these events in neatly chaptered and versed Bibles, supported by two thousand years of theological, historical, and archaeological insight, along with the vast commentary and collective wisdom the Church has preserved along the way. However, we must keep in mind that the disciples did not have a New Testament explaining all this to them. It wouldn't even be for some time after Christ's ascension that these future things would even begin to be revealed to them.

There are, however, two ‘revelatory’ illuminations in scripture that either hint or quietly point to the timing of the end. However, these would not be obvious until that appointed generation arrived, simply due to the necessity of time to play out first. The first is found in Luke’s Gospel, and in his version of the Olivet Discourse, and the second is in Paul’s address to the Romans in chapter 11.

1. “Times of the Gentiles”

And they (the Jewish people) will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Luke 21:24 (my note)

Describing the end, Jesus told His disciples that the Gentile kingdoms (as foretold in Daniel 2, 7-12) would continue to dominate the planet until Christ returned. However, what is of note is what Jesus told them:

1. Their Temple would be destroyed, their cities and peoples laid to ruin

2. They would be scattered in diaspora for an indeterminate amount of time

3. The Jewish people would persist until the end as a distinct people group

4. Their temple would be rebuilt

5. The Gentiles would not always trample down Jerusalem.

   
   

The fact that Israel was miraculously regathered and then reborn as a nation on May 14, 1948 (see also Deuteronomy 28:64-65, Isaiah 66:8, Amos 9:14-15, Ezekiel 37), should have been a massive wake-up call for the Church that Israel's scattering was at an end, the regathering was occurring, and the end of the age had finally arrived.

But it wasn't.

The year 1948 found a church that had overwhelmingly succumbed to a variety of heretical and erroneous doctrines that had begun creeping into the church as early as the 2nd century. These poisonous and corrosive ideas include replacement theology, amillennialism, the Hebrew roots movement, post-millennialism, and varying conspiracies, such as the highly antisemitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Nevertheless, the miraculous and only rebirth of an ancient nation was either ignored outright or dismissed as some furtherance of some kind of Luciferian agenda.

2. “Fullness of the Gentiles”

Paul had shared with the church in Rome…

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Romans 11:25 (my emphasis)

Paul, the self-described “apostle to the Gentiles” (Rom. 11:13), was entrusted with the task of revealing and explaining seven divine mysteries, including the enigmatic “partial blindness of Israel,” which would endure until the “fullness of the Gentiles” was complete. He teaches in this chapter that Israel’s blindness will culminate when a divinely known number of Gentiles are brought into the corporate body of Christ. The Church—conceived at Pentecost by the giving of the Holy Spirit and wholly unique in its nature—will continue to grow until that fullness is reached.

God’s mechanism for transferring His attention and purposes from the largely Gentile Church back to Israel is known as the Rapture of the Church. This event accomplishes several things, the first of which is fulfilling a promise Christ made to them (and us) in the Upper Room Discourse (John 14:1-3). That if He went away (He did), that He would return and take us to be where He is (He will). Then God would return His focus solely back upon the nation of Israel to finish that final week of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks of which He determined (chathak) to them that He would complete the six items listed below.

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people (the Jewish people) and for your holy city, (Jerusalem)

(1) To finish the transgression,

(2) To make an end of sins,

(3) To make reconciliation for iniquity,

(4) To bring in everlasting righteousness,

(5) To seal up vision and prophecy,

(6) And to anoint the Most Holy.

Dan. 9:24 (emphasis mine)

These things MUST happen, because God is not a man that He should lie (Num 23:19), nor does He shrink away from revealing specific things to us and for us (Amos 3:7).

On one hand, we have God revealing to Daniel, via the Angel Gabriel, the exact timing of Christ’s First Advent to the earth as the God-Incarnate. This ended exactly at the 69^th week with the Messiah being cut off at His crucifixion.

At this point, what is not revealed to Daniel (or even later to the disciples) is that there would be a 2,000-year pause between that 69th Week and the 70th. This pause/gap is what we now refer to as the Church Age, and it will reach its 2,000th anniversary in the year 2033.

The 70th Week will then resume and finish what was determined (by God) to bring a full culmination to Israel’s story that began with Abraham and will end with Christ’s Second Coming to the Earth. This is the final week of years (The 70th Week), which is exclusively for the Jewish people and Jerusalem, has ZERO to do with the New Testament church.

This now almost 2,000-year gap/pause is also a unique time for a new harvest of believers who would come from every tribe, tongue, and nation, and join into a beautiful mosaic that will make up this singularly corporate body of Christ (i.e., many parts, one body). The conclusion of this global drawing is what Paul referred to as the fullness of the Gentiles in Romans 11:25. It is a fulfillment and culmination of what Jesus stated in two passages within Matthew’s gospel.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Matt. 28:17-19              

Assessment

Having nearly two thousand years of church history behind us, we can see with crystal-clear clarity that the Gospel has indeed gone out into all the nations. This is not to say that the Gospel has been embraced by every nation and taken root, but you can bet there are believers in every nation on earth, and believers of every ethnicity on earth. Satan has worked very diligently to blanket the earth with antichristian governments and religions (i.e., communism, Islam, atheism, humanism, Mormonism, paganism, etc.). This brings me back to the original issue regarding Matthew 24:36; can we know when Christ will return at His Second Advent?

The answer is absolutely yes. It will be seven years from the start of that final 70th Week.

What we can’t know specifically is when that final week of years will begin. That final week will not begin until after the Church is removed at the Rapture, triggering or allowing for the Gog-Magog War (Ezekiel 38-39) to commence, as well as a covenant to be made by Israel with the many (Dan. 9:27, Isaiah 28:15). What's puzzled so many for so long, is this idea that God would supernaturally deliver them in Ezekiel 38-39, but then allow them to enter into a covenant with death (the many), which almost destroys them. My theory on this is that the reason they enter into the covenant is that, since the Jewish people don't have or believe in the New Testament, they will likely view Ezekiel 38-39 as the final war they face (adding Zech 12-14 into it). If they'd read the New Testament, especially Matt 24:15-22, Luke 21:24, 2 Thessalonians 2, and Revelation 19, they'd know the actual last battle is what we commonly refer to as “Armageddon”.

In other words, after Gog-Magog's defeat, they think they are done, and what would follow Ezekiel 38 is for them to finally arrive at the kingdom stage (Ezekiel 40-48), where the Antichrist will appear as their messiah (a human political figure). While I don't believe President Trump is the Antichrist, he is a pseudo (in place of) messiah figure to many in Israel right now.

Perhaps Trump, like Cyrus, Truman, and Nixon, is just another in a long line of pro-Israel leaders who will condition the Jewish people into believing their 'messiah' is also just a political figure. We have to remember that the Jews don't believe in the Trinity, nor that their coming messiah is God-Incarnate, but rather, simply a 'Messiah-ben David', a benevolent political/military figure who will lead Israel as the head of nations.

Moreover, both the Church and subsequently the Church Age were mysteries both to Daniel and the other Old Testament Prophets, as well as to the disciples early on. The disciples, as mentioned previously, asked Christ when He would restore the Kingdom to Israel, not when the Rapture would happen. They were still thinking in terms of the Old Testament prophecies and promises which had been made to Israel. It would not be until the Apostle Paul later reveals that the Church has a different timeline and destiny than that of national Israel that things begin to make sense. Speaking to the believers at the church at Ephesus, Paul writes…

…having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. Eph 1:9-10 (my emphasis)

Conclusion

Jesus said that 'no man knows the day or the hour,' but note a couple of things He doesn't say or even imply: He doesn't say 'no man knows the year or the month'. I'm not splitting hairs here, but the implication is, at face value, that while we can't know specifically (day nor hour) when the end will come, we can and should know generally when the end will come because we know the season of His return (Matt 16:1-4, Mark 13:37, Luke 12:35-48, Rev 3:3).

We cannot know the exact day or hour of the Rapture because the Pre-Tribulation Rapture does not require signs. However, since the Rapture inaugurates the “Day of the Lord,” which includes the 70th Week (full of many signs) and the Millennial Kingdom, we recognize those signs and understand our deliverance is all the sooner. Thus, what we are seeing is not signs for the Rapture of the Church, but for the coming 70th Week of Daniel.

Interestingly, the symbolic language used by Jesus and Paul referring to the culmination of the Church Age is that of childbirth: “beginnings of sorrows,” “birth pangs,” and so on. And pregnancies are not open-ended or indefinite; they have a clear beginning and a well-defined end. (Matt 24:8, Rom 8:22, 1 Thess 5:3)

At present, we (the Church) exist as the kingdom in its mystery but not revealed permanent form. This is why I concluded back in 2017 that the Church wasn't born on Pentecost (Acts 2) two thousand years ago, the Church was conceived at Pentecost, and we (the Church) have been in a kind of spiritual utero until the time of our divine deliverance arrives. Referring back to the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit onto Mary in the incarnation, she didn't immediately give birth to Jesus, rather, she went through the normal stages of pregnancy (Luke 1:30-35, 2:5-7). Likewise, the Church wasn't overshadowed on Acts 2 and immediately born, but rather, would go through the normal stages (trimesters) of pregnancy.

The Church, as the very body of Christ—has a future role as adopted heirs and the object of His affection—will continue to grow in utero until the fullness of the Gentiles is complete. Like childbirth, that culmination will be nothing less than the Church’s birth into glory. A baby stays in the womb until birth because of the genetic, hormonal, and developmental signals which maintain pregnancy until the right point of maturity. Nine months is the “sweet spot” — long enough for survival outside, but short enough to allow birth through the mother’s body.

This fullness of the Gentiles serves as a book-end of sorts, capping the age of the church from Pentecost until the Rapture. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to earth spectacularly (Acts 2:1-4). At the Rapture, those Spirit-sealed believers are also spectacularly removed from the earth (Ephesians 1:11-14; 1 Cor 15:51-55).

The Church is the singular, corporate, multi-membered body of Christ. In the Tribulation, we know that many more will come to Christ according to Rev. 6:9-11, 7:9-17, 13:7, 9-10. But these in the Tribulation are NOT the Church. As one keen eyed watchwoman pointed out to me in the Rockwall Prophecy Conference, was that:

If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

Rev. 13:9-10 (my emphasis)

Seven times this admonition was given to the Church in Revelation 2-3 by Christ, and each time, it was written as: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

If the Church were still present in the 70th Week, Revelation 13:9 would be written in the same fashion as to each of those churches in Revelation 2-3. Things that are different, are not the same.

In truth, the Gospel to be spread into the Tribulation by the witness of the Rapture itself, the left behind letters and materials many are already making ready now, the foreknowledge of the Rapture event itself (what we are vocalizing at present to lost and dying world), the 144,000 Jewish male virgins (Rev 7), the Two Witnesses (Rev 11), and with the angelic proclamations in the Heavens (Rev. 14:6-7). However, those who come to faith after the Rapture are not Church-Age saints. They have their own unique identity and rewards. Some might argue with this point, but considering all the variations we plainly see within humanity, within the angelic ranks, and within creation itself, speaks volumes to the idea that within the redeemed, there is also variation and distinctions.

In closing, consider these points:

• The Old Testament Saints SHOULD have known when their Messiah would arrive, because Daniel's 70 Weeks prophecy was a clear outline for the timing of His arrival.

  
  

• The Church-Age Saints, CAN'T KNOW since we are in utero and aren't capable of knowing when we will be born into our glorified form.

  
  

• The Tribulation Saints SHOULD KNOW when their deliverance because the Tribulation (the 70th Week) is broken down into two, 1,260 day segments equalling 2,520 days, and will be chock full of signs and judgments so they can know precisely when the 2nd Coming will occur (2,520 days from Dan 9:27, or 1,260 days from the Abomination of Desolation).

Those who come to faith after the Rapture will have more knowledge revealed to them, but they will be plunged into the darkest period of human history mankind has ever known. Thus, the Rapture completes the fullness of the Gentiles as all the right ingredients come together at the perfect time, that creates the perfect body, and ensures both the survival of the child and the mother.

What follows, will be a time of supernatural lying signs and wonders, and divine judgments so severe, the world will be rocked unlike anything before it. Those who come to faith after the Rapture, will have witnessed the Rapture event and will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was true and from God. Israel will be trampled by the Antichrist and his beastly kingdom until Christ returns at His Second Coming and destroys them all. This will end the times of the Gentiles.

Maranatha!

Pete