Stewart
had mentioned " no one can know the day
or hour " several weeks ago so I
thought I should explain my (peculiar)
understanding of Mt 24:36. I
understand the Lord to be expanding on
Daniel's prophecy in chapter
24. Daniel asked the same two questions that
are asked by the
disciples. When is Messiah coming ( back, your
return in Mt.) and when
is the end ? "No one can know" is part of the
Lord's response and he
references "the prophet Daniel ( whoso readeth
,let him understand)"
in verse 15. Daniel's answer is that the
prophecy time is "sealed"
(can not be known) until the "time of the
end"...Dan 12:9. (Then it
will be known)
The evidence that the Lord is confirming
Daniel is several, I think.
First, both Daniel and Revelation list
extensive day counts... 1260
days, 1290 days, 1335 days, 10 days. If the
"day" can not be known ,
why are all these day counts listed ? And how
do you separate the day
from the event as events are tied to dates ?
Second, the Lord uses two different words
meaning "know" in Mt 24:33
(ginosko , meaning to know by study or with
effort) ..."when you see
these things, know(ginosko) it is near even at
the doors" v. 33 and 3
verses later……
(eido or oida , meaning to know intuitively,
to perceive) v. 36 "of
that day and hour knoweth no man". Why has the
Lord changed words
between verse 33 and 36? The second word
meaning is knowing without
study, without effort, to perceive. Like , I
know the sky is blue. No
study needed. I think the next verse following
36 "of that day and
hour knoweth (eido) no man...." confirms by
several examples...
Third, examples illustrating that the day will
be known. Verse 37,
immediately after saying "no man can know
(without study, effort) is
Noah..."as in the days of Noah so shall the
coming of the Son of man
be." And verse 40, 41. two men in the field
and two women grinding at
the mill --- one of each example taken and one
left behind. So Noah is
a perfect match to correspond to Daniel's
answer. For years he knew no
date while building an ark. I am sure he
desired to know. Then ....The
Lord says in " 7 days I will cause it to rain
upon the earth...". Gen
7:4. Noah knew the day at the time of
the end. Likewise, I can not
imagine all 4 of those taken/left behind will
not know the day they
were either taken or left behind. Imagine
facing a co-worker in the
field and suddenly he vanished. His shoes,
socks, clothing, underwear,
watch , and eyeglasses are all in a heap on
the ground. His body is
gone. How would you not know the hour and day
? All the examples point
to knowing the day. But it might require
study. (Study begins with an
interest , a hunger to know the Truth)
.
Finally Doves , I just noticed : Verse
42 says “Watch therefore for you know not
what hour your Lord doth come. “ Matthew 24:42
. Bible verse 24,000.
“24 read forward and backwards. And one day is
like a 1,000 years to
the Lord. 24 hours in a day. And this year is
24…..
John Tng and Jim Bramlett have (
https://www.fivedoves.com/luke2136/tng411-1.htm
"Can we know when ?) " both have
expounded some other reasons... v 36 is
present tense not
future tense, the theology of watching,
etc/......I think there is
growing interest in the subject partly due to
the publication of Isaac
Newton's notes and studies ** in Daniel.
** Isaac Newtons studies on Daniel's Prophecy
telling of the time of
Messiah's first (and second) coming can be
found at
www.theseasonreturn.com/articles
around page 44, I think
God Bless !