Posted on 09/17/2017 5:15:40 AM PDT by Kaslin
Yes, it would be wonderful if Jesus returned for His people next week, but it’s not going to happen. Count on it. The Second Coming will not take place this year on September 23.
How can I be so sure? The Bible tells me so, and not in some ambiguous, mysterious language.
Instead, Jesus told His followers what had to take place before He returned, and those things have not yet happened, nor can they happen in just a few days. That’s why I’m quite certain that His return is not scheduled for September 23, 2017.
What, then, do I think about the claims of Christian numerologist David Meade, who argues that “verses in Luke 21:25 to 26 are the sign that recent events, such as the recent solar eclipse and Hurricane Harvey, are signs of the apocalypse”? And what do I think of the alleged correspondence between Revelation 12 and the alignment of Jupiter, the sun, and the moon?
Actually, I don’t think about these things at all, any more than I thought about the claim that Jesus was coming back between September 11-13, 1988, or the claim that Judgment Day was coming on September 6, 1994, or the claim (made by the same author who predicted the 1994 date) that Jesus would return on May 21, 2011.
There was not a shred of scriptural evidence to support these claims, and there was a mountain of evidence against them. Why, then, bother to give them any thought?
“But,” you ask, “didn’t Jesus say that no one who knew the day or hour of His return? If so, how can you be so sure He’s not coming on September 23?”
First, the fact that He says no one knows the day or hour of His return (Matthew 24:36) means that it’s utter foolishness to predict a specific day. If Jesus says no one knows the day, we should quit predicting specific days. Simple.
Second, Jesus said we could not know the specific day or hour when He would return. He never said we could not know when He would not return.
Put another way, if I get on a boat to sail across the Atlantic from New York to London, you might not know the exact time of my arrival. But you can certainly know that I will not be arriving in one or two days. It takes longer than that to cross the ocean by boat.
So, Jesus spoke of great world upheaval that would take place (far greater than anything we have yet witnessed) and of great cosmic signs (again, of unprecedented nature), while Paul wrote of major world events that would transpire before the Lord’s return (see, for example, Luke 21 and 2 Thessalonians 2).
The Old Testament prophets also painted pictures of what we could expect before the end of the age, and it is clear their words have still not come to pass (see, for example, Zechariah 12 and 14).
But this doesn’t mean that we should grow complacent and say, “The Lord delays His coming” (see Luke 12:45). God forbid.
Instead, we should always live with readiness to meet the Lord, and we should labor with all our might to make an impact for Him, since we have only one life to reach our generation. As one of my colleagues once said, “I don’t know if this is the last generation. But it is our last generation.”
As for those who believe that there will be a secret rapture that could happen at any moment, when hundreds of millions of Christians are suddenly and stealthily removed from the earth, that will allegedly happen without any definite signs. In other words, it could happen today as well as any other day, since the timing of it is unpredictable. Why, then, are we bothering to make predictions?
By all means, we should understand the times in which we are living and know what we should do (see 1 Chronicles 12:32). And we must be sober and alert lest we fall asleep in the light.
But let us stop making foolish predictions. Not only do they make us look like fools in the eyes of the world. But they rob us of a multi-generational perspective, since we’re always thinking, “Jesus is coming any moment,” rather than thinking and planning in the long term.
Little wonder, then, that we’ve lost so much moral and cultural ground in recent decades. While our ideological opponents are planning ahead, we’re planning our escape.
In the last few years, I’ve spoken to leaders and believers about the importance of developing a multi-generational mentality, and the impact of those messages has been very deep.
Sadly, this message is foreign to many Christians today, which is why I devoted a whole chapter to the subject in Saving a Sick America: A Prescription for Moral and Cultural Transformation. If America is to be changed for the good, it can only be through multi-generational thinking.
As I look back on my own journey, I came to faith in 1971 at the age of 16, and we were told that Jesus was coming at any moment. The signs of the times were all there! Little did we think that, in 2017, we’d still be here and my wife and I would have a 16-year-old granddaughter.
Let’s not repeat the same mistake today.
Instead, let’s live with readiness, with urgency, with focus, with purpose, and with a long-term, multi-generational plan. And if the Lord chooses to interrupt our plans along the way with His return, that would be a welcome prospect.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus! We long to see Your return. Until then, we’ll stay busy and pass the torch to the generations to come.
I hope He waits till I finish my speech that night. Some Freepers would be upset.
I’m still going to worship this morning.
No, we won’t know the day or hour, but we will know the season.
I hate to tell you...
The deeper I dig into the September 23rd, 2017 story, the more it seems likely. The coincidences are a rabbit-hole multi-verse. The most often heard objection? NO MAN KNOWS THE DAY OR THE HOUR. This misunderstanding of Christ’s warning would preclude anyone from ever reading Revelations at all. Yes, the FEAST OF TRUMPETS never has a set starting day, it only begins when the new moon is first noticed in the sky, which can be variable. Therefore no man actually knows the day or the hour in the past, but today we KNOW because of science. And besides, Christ’s admonition was before Revelations was written, therefore it can logically be discounted.
Yes, it’s definitive for the time that he said it. He said it before his Revelation. And if you don’t understand Jewish festivals, and specifically how the Feast of Trumpets begins, then you might also be fooled. Christ was a Jew, better start thinking like he did.
I already knew that! John had already been called up to Heaven when he saw the sign.
I seriously doubt that the rapture will happen on the 23rd as well... However, the revelation 12 sign is clearly prophetic, and clearly includes a reference to the rapture. The child which is “caught up to heaven” is the church, but exact timing is NOT given in this passage. The first event mentioned in this passage is the appearance of the great red dragon... NOT the birth. The dragon stands before the woman poised to devour the child AS it is born. Also mentioned BEFORE the child is “caught up” is the tail of the dragon sweeping a third of the stars to the earth.
SOMETHING is going to happen on or about this date... if nothing else, the astronomical sign which occurs only ONCE in earth history as it was perfectly described in scripture over 2000 years ago. This sign clearly signifies the end of an age, and the beginning of a new one. Will it happen on the 23rd??? Doubt it... but all of the other signs which this author mentions as prerequisites are sure to follow in very short order.
By the way... we have astronomical representations of everything mentioned in this passage except for the great red dragon. The stars representing the woman are there, the crown of 12 stars (Leo+3planets) is there, and we have the sun and the moon there. Where is the red dragon? It does not make much sense to me for God to place a sign in the heavens like this with the piece representing a primary figure totally missing. What do you think it is?
Whatever it is, I think we are going to see it on or soon after this date. That is for sure... and “men’s hearts will fail them from fear.”
God hung the stars, the moon, and the sun to FIRST be for SIGNS and SEASONS... (Check Genesis.) And realize that the SEASONS he was talking about weren’t Spring and Summer etc., they were the FESTIVALS that were created by God.
Yes, even on Free Republic.
>>we won’t know the day or hour<<
Have you done any research into the Hebraic figures of speech? Have you looked into the Jewish appointed “feast days” and how Christ fulfilled the first four (Spring feasts) in succession? His next feast or appointed time to fulfill is called the Feast of Trumpets. On that day there is a “last trump” (100th); known also as the day the gates are opened; the day of hiding; and the day no man knows the day nor the hour. And on that day there is the well-known anomaly in the skies.. The “twinkling of an eye” is also a Hebraic figure of speech which encompasses more than “real quick!” It is the figure of speech which means when one day ends at sunset and the next day begins.
But I refuse to discuss it with all the worldly wise Freepers on this thread who are getting their jollies. (rofl/s)
Big mistake, “The Sign”, not “the one”. Sorry,
As should you. Live by your beliefs.
Be so kind as to read my post #30. You are not a scoffer and mocker, so thanks for a considerate attitude.
A cursory look at the Revelation 23rd sign puts the time within a 48 hour period... Pick a day, and Christ’s admonition seems very prophetic indeed.
Also, the recent eclipse would qualify as a herald aiming millions of eyes into the sky. The next eclipse? Seven years from now, cutting completely across the U.S. yet again, forming an X on the New Madrid fault in the Midwest.
God is not sneaking up on us, he is loudly proclaiming his return. IMHO of course.
I see that NASA is talking about an event on the 23rd. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR1ckPow4Ig
Yes, I agree with everything you said. I would ask my fellow Freepers to quickly learn about the Bible’s true ‘seasons,’ which are the Jewish festivals. Christ was Jewish, to read the signs in the heavens you had better think like he did and begin to understand Jewish idioms.
Good idea to be ready anyway. Every day.
“The next eclipse? Seven years from now, ...”
That is not correct. The next full lunar/solar eclipse is in 2018 and will cover by far more people than the recent one.
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/list.html
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