(Matthew 24:36) “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
At the end of the Tribulation, Jesus will return with His holy angels to fight the battle of Armageddon...
(Matthew 16:27-28) For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds.”
(Mark 8:38) For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”Either during or after the battle of Armageddon, the angels will help gather all believers together for the judgment of nations. This is when they will be separated from the unbelievers, and all those who have become believers during the Tribulation will enter the Millennium...
(Mark 13:26-27) Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. 27 And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven.
(Matthew 25:31-33) “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
From this we see:
- angels do not know when Jesus' second coming will happen (at the end of the Tribulation), therefore they do not know when the rapture will happen (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32)
- Jesus will come again with His holy angels to fight the battle of Armageddon at the end of the Tribulation (Matthew 16:27, Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26)
- all of the angels will be with Jesus when He returns to earth (Matthew 25:31)
- either during or after the battle of Armageddon, the angels will help gather all believers together for the judgment of nations. This is when they will be separated from the unbelievers, and all those who have become believers during the Tribulation will enter the Millennium (Mark 13:27)
Personal experience: angels do not know! NOT even Jesus knows!!! Only God the Father knows!
Now, that verse is talking about Jesus' second coming. Not the rapture. But if one knows when Jesus is going to return, then one just has to count backwards 7 years; because there are seven years left of the Jewish Age (which is also called the Tribulation).
I'm always dismayed when people think they can figure out when the rapture is going to happen. Is that time getting nearer? Of course. Time keeps ticking away. The more it ticks, the closer it will be! But - - -
WE ARE NOT TO KNOW!!!
What I've observed with people who make predictions of when the rapture is going to happen - and then it doesn't - they stop going to church. In fact, these people usually avoid church before that point as well, thinking they know better than everyone else.
When no one listens to them, they feel ostracized. And/or they feel they know so much more than anyone else, that they don't need to do "church" anymore.
OR they begin to believe that because they know so much - they should be running their own church. And this is how many cults are formed.
Today's takeaway: if we knew when the rapture was going to happen, there would be a motive of part fear and desperation in telling people the good news! We either procrastinate and then at the very last minute we rush in a frantic scramble, or panic, or sometimes even freeze and become ineffective as a poignant deadline looms up towards us.
The only fear we should experience is the fear of the Lord. Our motives are to be pure! Everything should be said and done with God's love. And we are to live each day as if the rapture (or anyone's earthly death) could happen at any time!...
(James 4:13-17) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” 16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
(Psalm 90:1-17) Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
2 Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.
3 You turn man back into dust and say, “Return, O children of men.”
4 For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night.
5 You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; in the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; toward evening it fades and withers away.
4 For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or as a watch in the night.
5 You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; in the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew.
6 In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; toward evening it fades and withers away.
7 For we have been consumed by Your anger and by Your wrath we have been dismayed.
8 You have placed our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
9 For all our days have declined in Your fury; we have finished our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away.
11 Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
8 You have placed our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
9 For all our days have declined in Your fury; we have finished our years like a sigh.
10 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away.
11 Who understands the power of Your anger and Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?
12 So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
13 Do return, O Lord; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants.
14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, and the years we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants and Your majesty to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands.
14 O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, and the years we have seen evil.
16 Let Your work appear to Your servants and Your majesty to their children.
17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands.
(Ephesians 5:16-21) Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 21 and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
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