“But of that day and hour, no man knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Matthew 24:36-37). These verses are in reference to an event known as the Day of the Lord which will come upon the earth in the last days. Matthew, a Jewish tax collector and one of the original twelve disciples, wrote these words in AD 60. He heard the exact quote decades earlier from the lips of Jesus himself. The question from part 1 of this article still remains: Was Jesus talking about his 2^nd Coming in Matthew 24:36-51 or was he referring to the Rapture of His Church? I hope to answer this question completely in the remainder of this article.

Mark, a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ, and companion of Paul and Barnabas, wrote similar words in his gospel of Mark. “But of that day and hour, no man knows, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. Take heed, watch and pray: for you know not when the time is” (Mark 13:32-33). Mark relied heavily on Peter’s testimony in his writing of this gospel. Peter was an eyewitness to these words spoken by Jesus at the Temple. Mark wrote these words (approximately AD 58) some 25 years after Jesus first uttered them

Luke, a Gentile physician, was a Christian believer who traveled and ministered with Paul during his third missionary journey. He had fellowship with the other disciples and could interview them as well. He also had access to other historical and reliable accounts at that time. Luke was an eyewitness to the birth and growth of the early church. He wrote his gospel in about AD 60 and wrote Acts about two years later.

Luke’s version of the “coming of the Son of man” is recorded in two different places: Luke 12:35-48 and Luke 17:20-37. Luke 12:35-38 is a parable that compares Jesus’ return to a wedding where the groom has left a wedding to prepare a place for the bride, and no one knows when exactly he will return. “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he comes shall find watching.” Luke 12:39-40 compares the timing of Jesus’ coming to a thief that breaks into one’s house: “Know this, that if the owner of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be you therefore ready also: for the Son of man comes at an hour when you think not.” Verses 42 through 48 describe another parable where the master of the house is on a long trip and no one knows the day or hour when he will return.

In Luke 17:20-37, Jesus is talking to his disciples about the coming of the Kingdom of God and his 2^nd Coming to the earth. He compares those future days to the evil days of Noah (also recorded in Matthew 24:34-37) and Lot when the heathens were destroyed by God. “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (Luke 17:30). In this verse Jesus is referring to the start of the Day of the Lord. The narrative then shifts to the middle of the Tribulation (in verses 31-33) and describes the aftereffects of the antichrist’s Abomination of Desolation and subsequent persecution of the Jews (also mentioned in Matthew 24:15-22 and Mark 13:14-20). The narrative shifts again in verses 34-37 (also in Matthew 24:40-41) back to the very beginning of the Day of the Lord…the Rapture.

The exact phrase, the “Day of the Lord,” is used 28 times in the Old Testament and five times in the New Testament. It is always referred to as a time of judgment and punishment by God against ungodly sinners who worship false gods. The day of the Lord is a term used by Isaiah, Jeremiah, Solomon, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Malachi, and others. Sometimes it is referring to the end days (such as Isaiah 2:12 and Joel 3:14), and sometimes it is referring to a near future event when God would judge their enemies at that time in history (such as Amos 5:18-20 concerning the Assyrians and Obadiah 1:15 concerning the Edomites).

In the Old Testament, The Day of the Lord can refer to the actual 24-hour long day of the 2^nd Coming or the entire 7 years of the Tribulation, otherwise known as Daniels’ 70^th Seven or Jacob’s Trouble. Joel 2:11 is an example of the actual day (24 hours) of the Day of the Lord: “And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executes his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?”

An example of the alternative 7-year-long Day of the Lord is found in Isaiah 13:9-22: “Behold the day of the Lord comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners out of it” (Isaiah 13:9). In the remaining verses, Isaiah describes the conditions of the earth during the Great Tribulation and of the slaughter of mankind during that period. Babylon, the evil ancient city mentioned so many times in the Bible, is especially in focus for total destruction. Chapter 18 in Revelation reinforces this prophecy.

In the Old Testament the term “Son of man” is used in reference to mankind. It is most often used in Ezekiel and is the name God called him. In the New Testament it is nearly always used in reference to the name/description Jesus gave himself. Even though he was the Son of God, he was also born of a woman, thus the Son of man. This term is mentioned in all of the Gospels of the New Testament as well as in Acts, Hebrews, and Revelation.

The phrase “coming of the Son of man” is only used in three of the Gospels of the New Testament: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Another term that is used for Jesus’ return is the “coming of the Lord” or the “coming of the Lord Jesus Christ: It is mentioned in the following books of the New Testament: 1 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, James, and 2 Peter. This phrase is used mostly in regard to the Rapture.

Long-time president of Dallas Theological Seminary and one of the most prominent evangelical scholars and biblical prophecy experts of his generation, John F. Walvoord, had this to say on the subject: “How does the Coming of Christ for his church relate itself to the Day of the Lord which precedes the second coming of Christ by a number of years? This Day of the Lord will come suddenly and unexpectedly. What is the point? The point is that just as the translation (rapture) of the church is the end of the day of grace, it also marks the beginning of the Day of the Lord. In other words, the one event seems to do two things: it serves as the closing of one day and the beginning of the other.” {1}

Day 1 is the Age of Grace. It started with the giving of the Holy Spirit to Jesus’ disciples at Pentecost (start of the Church) and will end with the Rapture of the saints (end of the Church). Day 2 is the Day of the Lord. It will start with the Rapture and will end with the 2^nd Coming of Jesus to the earth. Day 3 consists of the 1,000-year reign of Jesus Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords over all the nations of the earth.

“Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for he has torn, and he will heal us, he has smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his site. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth” (Hosea 6:1-3).

The prophets who spoke regarding the Day of the Lord only knew it was to be a time of great judgment and punishment for the inhabitants of the earth, and then their Christ would come and set up his kingdom on earth. The prophets and authors of the Old Testament knew nothing of the Rapture or the Eternal Order. When Jesus came the first time and delivered his word as recorded in the gospels and later revealed to Paul the secret of the Rapture, the Day of the Lord was expanded. It now included the Rapture itself and the gap of time between the Rapture and the start of the Tribulation (confirming of the covenant).

Matthew 24:37-39 compares the Rapture to the time of Noah and the great flood. Notice verse 37: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Notice verse 37 says days, not day. In other words, it is talking about the days/years before the flood, not the day of the flood itself. This verse is comparing those Antediluvian days to the days before the 2^nd Coming, not the exact day (24 hours) of Jesus’ return. The Rapture is included in those days and is essentially the start of the Day of the Lord (but not the start of the Tribulation). The Day of the Lord is a day of judgment. Those left behind after the Rapture will either die or have to endure the terrors of the Tribulation.

Regarding the “hour” in Matthew 24:36, here are some interesting verses that contain this word:

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself; and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth” (John 5:25-27). The Book of John was written in approximately AD 85. This was after the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and before John’s exile to the island of Patmos.

Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians more than 30 years earlier than John wrote his first book. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, Paul first describes this hour mentioned much later by John:

“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead) that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then those which sleep in Jesus God will bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

This is, of course, a reference to the Rapture. The Rapture is the day and hour (minute, second, micro-second, etc) mentioned in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and is the beginning of the Day of the Lord. So the question that was originally asked is now answered. Matthew 24:4-8 is describing the time we are in now, the day before the start of the Tribulation. Verses 9-26 include the entire Tribulation: start, middle, and end. Verses 27-31 describe the 2^nd Coming of Jesus. Verses 32-35 explain which generation would see the Day of the Lord. Just as Jesus answered his disciples questions out of order, so did he describe the Day of the Lord. He described the very first part (the Rapture) last in Matthew 24, verses 36-51. The Rapture is the supernatural sign the Jews (and Gentiles) will receive before the 2^nd Coming of Jesus to begin his 1,000-year reign on earth.

If the Rapture doesn’t convince you that Jesus is coming again to the earth, I don’t know what ever would!

Amen. Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus…in the twinkling of an eye.

Randy Nettles

nettlesr@suddenlink.net

Endnotes:

{1} https://bible.org/seriespage/5-day-lord

 

1 John 5:6-13: “The Witnesses of Jesus’ Divinity”

“This is He who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood, and it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. For there are three which bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on Earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three agree as one. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.

“He who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:6-13, NKJV).

Here’s a question for consideration. If Christianity is just another religious belief, then why have people, rulers, and nations fought against it, outlawed it, killed those who believe its teachings, burned the Scriptures, tortured its leaders, slaughtered them by the thousands in the past few years while the world did nothing, attempted to discredit its authority, and taught people co-ignore or hate it, especially as we see this occurring more and more in this day and age?

Why are lawsuits filed against it? Why are schools banning it? Why are some church leaders ignoring it in favor of psychology, entertainment, self-esteem seminars, and are praising the teachings of people who would have been labeled as heretics just a few years ago?

All I can say, after being a follower of Jesus Christ for over forty years is, He must be right and all the other religions are wrong. I don’t see an organized campaign of persecution against Muslims, for example. The hard fact is that Satan doesn’t bother with the religions he established in response and rebellion towards God and His absolute standards of obedience, worship, and devotion that He has declared in His Word. Jesus Christ Himself declared that He was the ONLY way to the Father (John 14:6). I find nowhere in Scripture that this declaration had to be declared null and void by either His disciples or the generations that were to come, often at the expense of their lives.

John was dealing with satanic forces disguised as “alternative” forms of Christian belief, and there has not been a time in the history of Christianity that the enemy has not attempted to sell us viewpoints and teachings about the person and work of Jesus Christ that sounded reasonable, yet were in direct opposition to the teachings of the men who had been with the LORD during His ministry on Earth.

The letters of the apostles not only deal with the doctrines of the faith, but also address the problem of false teaching and belief that Jesus Himself said would occur (Matthew 24:4-5; Mark 13:5-6; Luke 21:8), and is also repeated by the Apostle Paul (Acts 20:29-30; Galatians 1:8-9; 2 Timothy 3:1-5), Peter (2 Peter 2:12-17), John (1 John 2:18-23), and the LORD’S half-brother Jude (1:12-19).

John was dealing at this time with a group of heretics known as the Gnostics, who taught that while the soul does need to be redeemed, the physical body was to be treated as something evil and abhorrent. They taught that as long as your soul was secured, one could do whatever they wanted to with their body.

This subject has been discussed in previous studies, but bears repeating for the fact that much of gnostic ideology is eerily similar to that of what is referred to today as “New Age” thought. Followers of this movement often present terms as “the Christ spirit” or “the divinity within you” as they present the belief that we can come to understand God in terms of mysticism, meditative practices, spirit-channeling, and becoming one with the avatars, or “Enlightened Ones” or “spirit guides” that include their concept of Jesus as one of these numerous “teachers.” It is a means by which man can become “one with God” on one’s own terms, relying on his self-effort and ignoring his or her sinful behavior that prevents them from coming to God in the first place.

The Gnostics taught that since the body was evil, they emphatically denied that Jesus was God in the flesh. The “Christ spirit” came upon Jesus at His baptism, but left Him when He was put to death on the cross. They taught that Jesus only appeared to be human and therefore did not rise bodily from the dead. As a result, they denied both His divinity and humanity and nullified the message of redemption altogether.

Gnosticism still rears its ugly head, often coming in the form of “direct revelation” from God, a practice that is all too often found in the “Word of Faith” ideology championed by far too many “teachers from God.” Some, in their declarations, have outright denied Jesus’ position as the Son of God, deny His power as God, who teach that God can do nothing without human interaction, and that we can “write our own ticket with God,” according to some in the movement who get a lot of this “inspiration” from New Age philosophy. This is nothing but pure, vile, demonic blasphemy, and will be addressed on the Day of Judgment, where they will be terrified to hear what the Lord Jesus thinks of them, their teachings, and their “ministries” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Why does stuff like this still find its way into society?

The answers are found in the Scriptures that many tend to have a copy of somewhere in their house, collecting dust, but don’t bother to open and read that this overt evil behavior is a stinging indictment against their self-conceived notions that they aren’t so bad and that “all roads lead to God,” content with teachings that make them “feel good” at the expense of their immortal soul (Matthew 5:19, 15:9, 15:14, 23:16; Luke 6:39, 11:52, 17:23; 2 Corinthians 11:4, 13; Galatians 1:9, 5:8; 1 Timothy 1:7, 4:2, 6:3; Revelation 2:2). This problem will only accelerate as the days to the LORD’S return draw near.

Paul wrote of the reality of spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:10-18, and John affirmed it by standing strong in the face of this devilish proclamation by the Gnostics. He was the last living eyewitness of the work of His Master, the Lord Jesus, and he was not going to let this poison spread without a fight. John was in no way “tolerant” of any belief or teaching that contradicted the message of the Gospel, and he would never associate with anyone who did. There was no concept of “inter-faith dialogue” with the followers of the devil and his false religion. If need be, he would rather die than to allow these perpetrators of deception anywhere near the church. He was not one to compromise or be diplomatic where the souls of men were concerned. It was Jesus or nothing. No grey areas for him.

It is my conviction that our LORD and His true preachers of the Word would not be welcome in most places of worship today because of the bold, unapologetic stand for the authority of the Word and the unbending Sovereignty and Authority of the living God, who will not allow anything to deter or thwart His message or meaning, and who will put all wickedness away at the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:11-15). The church, as it stands now, has no fear of God (Hebrews 10:31; Matthew 10:28) save for a remnant. I need to let that sink in as much as you do who are reading this, and to take time to ask the LORD to have mercy on us, to repent, to forgive us of our wickedness, and to cleanse us by the sinless blood of Christ Jesus the Lord.

John expects his readers to adhere to the standards set forth by the LORD and to hold fast to the truth. He rebukes the false teachers by presenting the fact of both the LORD’S Divine and human natures. First, in verse 6, he presents the testimony of His humanity through common observations. He speaks of water, symbolizing His baptism at the Jordan by John the Baptist, by His Spirit, representing His divine nature, and through blood, symbolized by His death on the cross.

In verses 7 and 8, John goes on to make his case for the divinity of the Lord Jesus by the testimony of God the Father, who sent Jesus, the Son Himself, who died as a sacrifice for our sins, and the Holy Spirit, who was sent by the Lord Jesus on the Day of Pentecost to encourage and teach the church. John affirms the fact of the Trinitarian nature of God, being one in Three Persons (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22; Matthew 28:19; John 14:26, 15:26; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2).

The Doctrine of the Trinity is a basic teaching of the faith, although it is often a topic that needs to be approached with the fact that there are some concepts of God that we cannot fully understand, but accept in faith, knowing that at the right time in His omnipotence and will, that it and other issues will be made clear to us in eternity (Deuteronomy 29:29; Psalm 25:2; Daniel 12:9). It, and other doctrines, need to be studied and made a part of our walk with the LORD so as to counteract any false or suspicious teachings that will occur in these last days. There is no excuse whatsoever for biblical illiteracy by those who claim to follow the teachings of the LORD (Deuteronomy 6:1-9; Acts 17:11; 2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 4:12).

John concludes his teaching by presenting the testimony of Divine Witness (vv.9-14). He writes that the Scriptures are God’s witness and are greater, even more so, superior to what men may say or think. Nothing has ever come close to the majesty and worth of the Holy Word of God, and to deny or dismiss it only demonstrates its truth and assessment of man’s self-imposed intellectualism (Psalm 2:1-6, 14:1-7, 53:1-6; Romans 1:18-32, 3:10-18; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25). The believer himself is a witness in that he can attest to the fact that the promises made by Jesus to redeem the world of its sin is true and trustworthy.

The Scriptures say much about the power of a testimony:

It relates to personal experience founded on Scripture (Psalm 66:16, 71:15, 119:13, 46).

It recounts God’s blessings (Isaiah 63:7).

It bursts forth from an inward fire (Jeremiah 20:9; Daniel 4:2; Jonah 1:9).

It is an everyday duty of God’s children (Malachi 3:16; Matthew 9:31).

It is inspired by the Spirit (Acts 2).

It cannot be repressed (Acts 4:20, 5:32, 26:22).

It is an outgrowth of faith (2 Corinthians 4:13; 1 Peter 5:12).

The Gospels themselves are a direct testimony of the life, ministry, and message of the Lord Jesus Christ, who offers us eternal life (John 3:16).

As John comes to the conclusion of his letter, he presents both comfort and encouragement to his readers, both then and now. We will finish our study of this letter by examining verses 14-21. Afterwards, we will look at John’s second and third letters, and then look at what Jesus’ half-brother Jude had to say about the false teachers of his time. Until then, may the Lord Jesus Christ and His Word bless and encourage you.

drwhitchard@aol.com

www.donaldwhitchard.com