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Three weeks ago, I was talking to a friend. He told me that a pastor friend had spent a long time studying the “end times” in the Bible and that the Lord was going to return the next weekend.
That was three weeks ago!
Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” Matthew 24:36
Hmmmmhhhhmmmh!?
Since the start of the church 2,000 years ago, those who have “spent a long time studying”, have predicted exact days and hours of the return of Christ. I spent a “few minutes” just now studying the Greek, and Matthew 24:36 basically says:
A Pastor, or anyone else studying scripture in 2020 (or any other year), will not know the exact day and hour because only the Father knows. OGV
In 1987, I received a book in the mail by Edgar Whisenant entitled 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. The book was sent free to 300,000 ministers across America and sold over 4.5 million copies in bookstores. Whisenant had revised versions of his book published in 1989, 1993, and 1995.
The 89, 93, and 95 versions did not sell as well.
Probably, since the first coming of Jesus, every day and every hour has been predicted to be the day and hour of Jesus’s return. Many scholars and students who “study a long time,” in that lengthy study somehow miss Jesus’s statement, “No one knows…”.
I say this humorously, but someone will predict the day and the hour because every day and hour has and will be predicted by someone.
Jesus’s point? It is not important to know the day and the hour, just that we should be prepared.
Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Matthew 24:32-33
The day and the hour are closer than a hundred years ago. While Jesus does not give the exact day and hour, He does teach that we can watch a fig tree and know the seasons, recognizing that He is right at the door.
My two “major” seasonal indicators of the return of Jesus:
One… The establishment of the nation of Israel in one day in 1948 (Isaiah 66:8)
Two… Preaching the gospel to every nation and then the end will come (Matthew 24:14)
Let me repeat: History is closer to the return of Jesus than it was 10 years ago, or 200 years ago, or 1,000 years ago. Of the hundreds of prophecies concerning the return of Jesus, a high percentage have been fulfilled.
It is accurate to say that even those who have not “studied a long time”, get a sense that the season of the Lord’s return is upon us.
Pastor Grant’s absolutely-accurate-prediction of the return of Jesus is – soon, very soon!
Do not worry about the day and hour, just be prepared.