I know the date of the Rapture

[Mike]

http://www.thepropheticyears.com/reasons/rapture.htm

Try the link above it will answer allot of your questions very good article.
Yeah there is a lot of good stuff there about the rapture, but unless I overlooked it, I didn't see anything that tells us why we can't know the timing of the rapture.

[Mike]

Im no expert but it seems to me that the scripture you are quoting is talking about the rapture and not the second coming. I dont think the second coming is going to be simply an hour of a day in time but a real event that will last more than just a day. That will be the time that Jesus returns to defeat the AC and rule the earth if I understand correctly. Does that make any sense?
The verse in Matt 25 is part of the parable to the virgins about being ready. But the virgins are not the bride the are the bridesmaids. So when He tells them to "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" He is not talking to the bride ( Church ) but rather the bridesmaids (Israel)

Then the one in Mark is the parable of the fig tree which also represents Israel.

[Mike]

If we look for the reason for the rapture, maybe we would understand why the timing of the rapture is secret.
Could you elaborate? Are you talking about the fact that the Church is the bride of Christ and He is coming for His bride at the rapture. If so then yes would have to agree, but would still like to see a verse.

[Veillifted]

Yeah there is a lot of good stuff there about the rapture, but unless I overlooked it, I didn't see anything that tells us why we can't know the timing of the rapture.

We know the timing.. it is a generation that saw Israel restored, The Sermon On The Mount :) We do not however know the day or hour.(Matthew 24:36).

It will happen in a twinkling of an eye. 1 Corinthians 15:51,52 distinguishes the events of the rapture and the 2nd coming as well( among other much more important events). Even simple verses can help distinguish

36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,[e] but My Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
40 Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left.
41 Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left.
42 Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour[f] your Lord is coming.
43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.
44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2024;&version=50;

We wont ever know with precision because not even Jesus knows the day or hour. If Christ nor the Angels know, we certainly will never be privvy to that information. As those in Genesis in the time of Noah, the day of His harvest is likened to. Like a thief in the night.

Discern the times because we are admonished to be watchmen as Ezekiel and the prophets were, but to set a date would be foolish because God is the only being to know of the return of the bridegroom!

[Veillifted]

Could you elaborate? Are you talking about the fact that the Church is the bride of Christ and He is coming for His bride at the rapture. If so then yes would have to agree, but would still like to see a verse.



You gave the exact verse:) He speaks of the gathering (Rapture)with this verse.

Matthew 25
The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them,

4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming;[a] go out to meet him!’

7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.

11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’

12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour[b] in which the Son of Man is coming.

[blitzkreig]

The "rapture" can not appear in the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke as these books are ministry accounts which are "pre-cross". Pre- church. "Old Testament" if you like. Under the Law the ministry of the time was to Israel ... until Israel rejected her King.

The "church" never started until after the cross. So the "church" and her "rapture" will not appear in the accounts of the Jewish era of the offer of the Kingdom by her King.

As a result any accounts of the return ... in Mathew, Mark and Luke ... aare of the return of the King for His Israel ... his earthly chosen peoples.

When the two ... Israel and the church ... are confused one with another it damages the promises made to each.

Israel will indeed receive her King and her long promised Kingdom ... on earth ... in the Land. He will reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years.

The church on the other hand has no promise of Land in the Middle East ... but her reward is that of consort to the King ... in heaven. Joint heir no less.

:)

[ChayilWoman]

Mike,
Thank you for bringing this up. I have struggled with what you are saying for months. Every reputable eschatology teacher says all these verses (Matthew 24:36, Matthew 25:13, Mark 13:32, 1 Thess 5:2) apply to the rapture, even though the context of every passage is the Second Coming or the Day of the Lord. It has never made sense to me why it is that way. I'm not trying to set a date but I can't figure out why these verses are all interpreted this way. And like you, I read the articles...they are great articles...but they don't answer the question you're asking.

[ChayilWoman]

Here's some further thoughts:

In Matthew 24:36 & 25:13 and Mark 13:32 the verb for "know" is in the perfect tense. This particular verb/tense combination makes it in what we would call the past tense. See explanation here. (http://http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/tense.pl?book=Mat&chapter=25&verse=13&strongs=5778)

Jesus, speaking to the Jews of His day, said "You have not known the day..." This is seen in Young's Literal Translation which says, "Watch therefore, for ye have not known the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man doth come."

This would make sense because all the number timelines that had been given were in Daniel which God ended with (12:9), "And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words [are] closed up and sealed till the time of the end." This verse cross references Isaiah 29:11-12, "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which [men] deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it [is] sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."

BUT, at the end of Revelation, after all of the Word had been revealed, God said in 22:10, "And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand."

[OldFella]

The "rapture" can not appear in the accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke as these books are ministry accounts which are "pre-cross". Pre- church. "Old Testament" if you like. Under the Law the ministry of the time was to Israel ... until Israel rejected her King.

The "church" never started until after the cross. So the "church" and her "rapture" will not appear in the accounts of the Jewish era of the offer of the Kingdom by her King.

As a result any accounts of the return ... in Mathew, Mark and Luke ... aare of the return of the King for His Israel ... his earthly chosen peoples.

When the two ... Israel and the church ... are confused one with another it damages the promises made to each.

Israel will indeed receive her King and her long promised Kingdom ... on earth ... in the Land. He will reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years.

The church on the other hand has no promise of Land in the Middle East ... but her reward is that of consort to the King ... in heaven. Joint heir no less.

:)
Good post - it has to be viewed this way otherwise confusion reigns :cool

[Aliya]

When the two ... Israel and the church ... are confused one with another it damages the promises made to each.

Israel will indeed receive her King and her long promised Kingdom ... on earth ... in the Land. He will reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years.

The church on the other hand has no promise of Land in the Middle East ... but her reward is that of consort to the King ... in heaven. Joint heir no less.

:)

Amen to this. I've known there was a difference between Israel and the church since being saved, but I had never rightly divided the scriptures to understand the promises. Now that I see it, it feels like lights and bells and whistles have gone off. :)