Question:
Aug.30, 2002 I heard on your radio program that Matt.24 (and the parallel passage Mark 13) was for the Messiah’s visible return to this earth to judge this planet (this is not the rapture). The same chapter (also in Mark 13) says that no man or angel knows when Messiah is coming back. I take it that this is in reference to His coming back to reign (and not for the Rapture). My question: Is there a Bible verse that says that no one knows when Messiah is coming back for the “rapture” of the Church? I believe Messiah is coming at the next appointed “feast” (mentioned in Lev.23). We don’t know which year He is returning, or even the “day” or the “hour”; because the “Feast of Trumpets” occurs at the “head” of the month, or “new moon”, where the moon crosses the sky with the Sun. You can’t see the moon at this time because of the glaring brilliance of the Sun. The only time that one would know that there was a “new moon, head of the month” is a day or so when one would see the very thin crescent moon just after sundown. I hear preachers say that no one knows when Messiah is coming back, and they use these verses to prove it.
Answer:
No, not at all. We can know the ‘times and seasons’ I Thessalonians 5:1. Also I Thessalonians 5:3-5 tells us that we are not in darkness that that day should overtake us like a thief. The Lost will be surprised like a thief coming unexpectedly. We should not be surprised at all. The passage in Matthew and in Mark should read, “But of that day and hlur knoweth no man, no, not angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, IF NOT THE FATHER.” The verse is actually showing that the Father and the Son share equal knowledge. If the Father doesn’t know, then the Son doesn’t know. See Mark 13:32.