A laymans commentary on Matthew 24. No man knows the day or the hour. Matthew 24: 36.

Because many, like those who say King James only, will get literal and demand that the examples we use are exacting. Perhaps you need to be reminded that any English translation started as a lost Hebrew version, Septuagint Greek, and Latin long before they became an English version. 

The section title in most Bibles goes like this:

No One Knows That Day and Hour

CONTEXT –

Jesus is talking to Jewish disciples about a time when He will come back as the Jewish Messiah they expect and finally rule over the earth, as they anticipate.

At this point in time, this has nothing to do with the church.

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
Matthew 24:36 NKJV

“But of that day” is the Greek word hēméra. It has meanings of the time from one sunrise or sunset to another, an occasion, and a time in general.

This verse could easily be read, “Of that occasion no one knows,” and still understand its meaning. It is especially important as Jesus knew that none of these men would see this moment in time from the earth, and this applies to their Jewishness as all but one of them (Judas Iscariot) eventually accepted the price that Jesus paid on the cross, as the payment for their salvation, making them followers of Christ.

Having learned about the Galilean wedding ceremony, which Jesus gave credence to when He went to the marriage in Cana - a Galilean community where He performed His first public miracle, I have come to understand that it is the father that tells the groom, now is the time to go collect your bride.

“Hour” is the Greek word hṓra; It means an hour, a time, a season, or a definite space or division of time.

The word hour is a common word, yet it can also mean a variety of things, such as a season.

As I try to explain what is coming, I frequently allude to the Baseball World Series, where teams endeavor, for months, to obtain the title of Champion. Once the two teams make it to the World Series, they play a best-of-seven games series within an established time frame in September.

A team can sweep the series by winning four straight games. Combinations of wins and losses can determine the champions, but there will never be a tie. We know that each game will cycle through nine innings, but the amount of time spent playing the game is difficult to control, as ball games have gone on for hours as they try to break the tie.

How does any of this relate to the end?

The events that lead up to the seven years of God's wrath have peaked. For me, that means we are either in or at the World Series. Some will say that we are in the World Series now. Each game is a roller coaster of emotions as we watch incredible plays and errors being made. All the while, the crowd screams and yells as they pull for one side or the other. Quickly, there is the realization that we have no control over how long the individual innings, which make up the games, will last, just as we have no control over when the Father will say, Son, it is time to go get your bride – the church.

With the Gaza war, a situation has developed in which there is no way that Israel will come out looking good; that is an uncomfortable thing for me to say, seeing as they are God's people and nation, and yet Scripture tells me that two-thirds of Israel, at some point, will be ravaged and killed. October 7^th has already demonstrated what it means to be ravaged. Whether this massive attack happens after the events in Gaza come to an end or during, I, nor anyone else, knows. I just know that the entire world will turn on Israel. Ask yourself, with the idiotic rioting on the university campuses, is this scenario so difficult to picture?

Since America decided to deny that Islam is taking over this nation, just as they have been doing in every other “civilized” nation, it is easy to see how or why we used to be one of the greatest nations on earth, will soon be gone from the picture or rendered incompetent.

Nobody paid attention when former President Barack Obama repeatedly stated that “they” were working hard to bring this nation down to a third-world level. I see that happening now.

I can't tell you exactly where we are in God's timeline, but I can tell you that because the church is still here, the seven years of death and destruction, which will exceed every form of death and destruction, you could think of, has not yet begun.

Pay close attention to Israel, as it is the barometer that tells us how close we are to the catching away of the church.

As we move forward, I again ask, What is the context of Matthew 24:36?

He is talking to Jewish disciples and the church was yet to be formed, so we can't attribute this to the church. This is the same thing we see in Acts 1:6-7.

“Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.”
Acts 1:6-7 NKJV

If Jesus is talking to Jews, then what rules apply to the church?

Strangely, John speaks about the time in which the Holy Spirit would come upon everyone in two ways: 1. He comes when you ask Jesus into your life. Think about the logic behind that process. Since the three are one and Jesus is removed from the earth, then it only makes sense that the Holy Spirit, a part of the trinity, would come and fill the void left when Jesus left. 2. The other is when you ask the Holy Spirit to come into your life and fill you; this is empowerment.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who 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.”
Acts 1:8-11 NKJV

What are we told happens when the Holy Spirit comes?

John 16:13-15 KJV “ Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.  14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.  15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

• “He will guide you into all truth;”

• “for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak;”

  Speaking on behalf of the Father.

• “and He will tell you things to come;”

• “for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you;”

  Why? Because “...He will tell you things to come.”

It is fairly easy to ascertain that the church is associated with the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and it is the job of the Holy Spirit to inform you about things to come. So it is NOT a secret and the Father is the one that makes it known to you.

I know that the events we have seen rapidly emerging on Earth are a lead in to the church being caught away to be with Jesus.

Paul had much to say about the catching away of the church.

“But as it is written: "EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-12 NKJV

Paul, in writing to the church in Ephesus, spoke about the mysteries. The Words of Scripture are the mysteries.

“if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:”
Ephesians 3:2-5 NKJV

We are the apostles and prophets. Paul prayed over Timothy that he would have an understanding.

“Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.”
2 Timothy 2:7 NKJV

You can whine and say, I don't know, but you will have no sympathy from the Father.

“But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.”
1 John 2:27 NKJV

This next set of passages demonstrates one of the triggers associated with the launch of God's wrath and the antichrist.

“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. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.” 1 Thessalonians 5:3-5 NKJV

Several translations use the terminology “Peace and security!”

Why tell you this? 

Because many, like those who say King James only, will get literal and demand that the examples we use are exacting. Perhaps you need to be reminded that any English translation started as a lost Hebrew version, Septuagint Greek, and Latin long before they became an English version.

The World Economic Forum and the UN are calling for peace and security. 

A portion of a UN web page tells us this.

In 2 Thessalonians, Paul speaks of the removal of the church as the event which releases the antichrist upon the world.

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.”
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 NKJV

Daniel chapter nine indicates that the antichrist will confirm or make a covenant or agreement for seven years, depending on what translation you use. This agreement is then broken halfway through the seven-year length of that covenant.

Daniel 9:27 NAS95  "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

Here, “he” is the reference to the antichrist. Make is the Hebrew word gâbar, and means to confirm or strengthen. So it is safe to assume that he will give a powerful affirmation to an existing covenant/treaty. When it says many, it does not necessarily include Israel. And one week equals seven years.

Is it possible that He is talking to the church?

Only if you can see that the church was formed and initiated by the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and it is the church, more than anyone else, that should understand what is going on around us and, therefore, know and understand how close we are to going home.

I know I have covered many of these reasons lately, but they are vital to the hope that we cling to.

• Israel became a nation on May 14, 1948.

  Why is that important?

  Because Israel is the fig tree that is producing fruit.

• When Jesus told His disciples about the events surrounding His return as the warring Messiah, He warned them about the events leading up to that event.

  So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors!”
  Matthew 24:33 NKJV

  That means that the catching away of the church and the releasing of the antichrist upon the world would have happened 7 years previous. We, the church, are not looking for the Messiah to return. He is our beloved and our groom.

  The things are detailed in Matthew 24, and though we are getting glimpses of those things, they are NOT the things until Jesus releases the Father's wrath upon the earth after the church is gone.

If you are one of those who have let some fool strip your hope away from you by telling you that we have to endure God's wrath, then you need to understand what 1 Thessalonians is telling us.

“and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
1 Thessalonians 1:10 NKJV

Both Noah and Lot are examples of righteous men being delivered from wrath and they are meant to encourage us.

God sent two angels to rescue Lot and his family.

Genesis 19:13-22 NKJV  “For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it."  14  So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law, he seemed to be joking.  15  When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, "Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city."  16  And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.  17  So it came to pass when they had brought them outside, that he said, "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed."  18  Then Lot said to them, "Please, no, my lords!  19  Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life, but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.  20  See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my soul shall live."  21  And he said to him, "See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.  22  Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.”

So the angels removed Lot, his wife, and the two daughters and set them outside the city. Lot did not feel strong enough to run all the way to the mountain, so they let them go to the town of Zoar. Note the words they said to Lot, we cannot do anything until you arrive there. “There” was safety.

In the case of Noah, having finally finished building the Ark, God put them in the Ark and closed the door. Why? Because the deluge that was to come was meant to cleanse the earth of genetically modified “people” who had only one thing on their minds

Genesis 6:5 NAS95  Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

I am NOT telling you to be a false prophet, but use your brain, read your Bibles – Daniel would be a good start, and pay attention to what is going on in Israel, all while listening to the Holy Spirit. Actions such as this will give you insight into how God is moving forward as He fulfills the end-times narrative. We are there, and that is why I listen daily for the trumpet blast that calls us home.