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“A somewhat confused post there unlearner. Hard to tell what you are arguing for or against or whether you’re just contentious.”

Does telling the truth make me contentious? Would it be fair to claim you are contentious for disagreeing with my view?

I’m not straining at gnats. Critical issues are at stake. Whether people accept what I share or reject it, I’ve done my job of not hiding it.

“There are no precise signs which scripture says must come first, but there are a lot of signs that tell us the day is fast approaching”

Christ answered this question to His disciples in the Olivet Discourse. There are 6 signs (generally speaking) of His imminent return. His return is the final sign (of 7) that the “End” or “Day of the Lord” has come.

They asked specific questions that He answered:

Matthew 24:3 (NKJV)
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

He answered the signs part. The “when” part He said is not for them (and presumably us) to know. I’ve heard people say we can’t know the day or hour, but we can know the year. No, we can’t. At least not until the signs Christ gave us have happened.

“We SHOULD know the times and the seasons which Paul spoke of specifically regarding the return of the Lord (1 Thess 5:1).”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 (NKJV)
But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.

“Your passage (Acts 1:7) is in regards to the prevailing interest among Jews at the time - the restoration of the nation of Israel, not His second coming.”

You can’t interpret the meaning of a passage by starting with a conclusion and working backwards to make it fit. It is about BOTH the restoring of Israel AND His second coming. Many scriptures show this connection, and the passage under discussion specifically mentions His return to those asking about restoring the kingdom, thus, MAKING this connection.

Acts 1:10 (NKJV)
[The angels] also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”

Regarding the timing of Christ’s return, we do not know the day, hour, or times and seasons. That is straight out of scripture, word for word. The Thessalonians passage does not say they knew the times and seasons. Did they know that the rapture would not take place for two-thousand years? No. Of course not.

People who say we are supposed to know the times and seasons mean well and probably ARE really talking about the signs. But the problem I’ve seen over and over is that there is the tendency to start setting dates. Until the specific signs Christ gave us happen, He is not coming back. Period.

Yes, war is one sign. Yes, global pandemic is a sign. But these are not THE signs in isolation. They should get our attention, but it is not time to quit our jobs and wait on our rooftops, like some of the Thessalonians did. We are commanded to watch expectantly AND wait patiently. His return will be sooner than some expect. But it will also come later than others expect.

“We are supposed to watch and scripture gives us many signs regarding the approach of that day and those signs are not confined to the stars regardless of you pet doctrine.”

There are many signs, true. But other signs of the end times may or may not be connected with the timing of Christ’s return. For example, some believe the configuration of sun, moon, and stars depicted by John’s vision in Revelation 12 (which is specifically called a “sign”) happened a couple of years ago and is the only time such a configuration ever happened in human history or ever will. But does it mean Christ is about to return? I don’t see evidence for that, but it certainly is attention getting.

Indeed another MAJOR sign of Christ’s soon return and the End of the world will be the abomination of desolation. The Olivet Discourse and 2 Thessalonians 2 include this event as a sign that will come BEFORE the End/Day of the Lord.

But the solar and lunar eclipse is not my “pet doctrine”.

Isaiah 34:4 & 8 (NKJV)
All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as fruit falling from a fig tree...
For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance,
The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Joel 2:31-32 (NKJV)
The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
BEFORE [emphasis added] the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

Matthew 24:29 (NKJV)
Immediately AFTER [emphasis added] the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Revelation 6:12-13 (NKJV)
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.

The celestial signs are the all one and the same. They mark the end of the Great Tribulation and the imminency of the Day of the Lord (which begins with the rapture).

Otherwise, these would have to be 3 separate events, AND each of the passages that contain them would be unrelated. We can see from the context of each of these passages that they are not different events.

“Don’t be like those Peter spoke about who scoff at the idea the day is fast approaching.”

You’re referring to this passage:

2 Peter 3:3-4 (NKJV)
Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Peter is not talking about the Day of Christ fast approaching but the reason for what some might feel to be a long delay. He explains that the extended time is so more people can come to Christ.

But Peter does talk about the Day of the Lord coming as a thief, which is also another way of saying Christ will return as a thief.

Contrary to the ever-popular pre-trib rapture theory, Christ’s return (specifically the rapture), like the arrival of the Day of the Lord (because they are the same thing), is accompanied by sudden destruction. Daniel’s 70th week does NOT begin with sudden destruction. It begins with a false peace. Even the war that ends this false peace is not the type of sudden destruction that Christ and the apostles connected to the Day of the Lord and Christ’s return. The sudden destruction is specially holy angels pouring out the destruction of fire on the earth as they did on Sodom.

The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord can be clearly distinguished in scripture. The rapture will occur at the end of the first, and it marks the beginning of the latter. Without understanding this it is impossible to understand the “times and seasons” and their relationship to the rapture.