We are going to open up with a reading in Matthew 24:36-37, familiar verses. We are going to take a look at the two and talk about them today. Verse 36 opens:
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
We will end our reading there. So in verse 36 we read, “of that day and hour.” What is “that day”? Well, it was answered for us in verse 37:
… so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
So “that day and hour” is referring to the coming of the Son of man, Jesus Christ, otherwise known as the second coming. And if you are out there at all talking about May 21, 2011, being the end of time, or certainly the day of the rapture, October 21, 2011 being the ultimate end of this universe, you are inevitably getting the gainsayers to respond, especially someone who is familiar with the Bible, and obviously, all those that are in churches today, their first comeback when you talk about that we are near the end of time, is that no man knows the day or hour. Is that not right? I mean all of you probably faced that from friends, to strangers, to family members. And yet are we well versed in the answer to that question? Are we capable of answering that? And whether you are or not, today I certainly want us to go through the Scriptures and find some logic to answer that question affirmatively. Can someone know, can a man know the day or hour of the Lord’s return? Even if you are not that well versed on the answer, maybe if this study is any help, you can send someone to the website to get a copy of the message so that they can understand.
Perhaps we can know the day or hour of the Lord’s return. Well, how do you answer the question then, no man knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of man? The first thing I think we have to approach that answer with is this, that things in the Bible that seem to be 100% clear, are not. Do not those verses seem clear that we just read, no one can know the end? You are not going to know the day or hour. I mean, it is pretty obvious just on the surface, verses 36, and 37, of Matthew 24 appear to indicate if you know nothing else from the Bible, and you just read them, there is no other way to interpret that, but you are not going to know the day or hour. So, how can you say May 21, 2011, which is a specific day, how can you say that is the day of the rapture? Well, we have to recognize, and I think a lot of us here do, that the Bible, taken a word or a verse by itself, isolated, may seem 100% clear, but it is not—that is not how God wrote the Bible. He did not write it that plainly and clearly. Let us give three quick examples to prove that point, because we have to build a foundation that verses 36 and 37 of Matthew 24 are not as obvious as they appear. And the way you do that to begin, is to say there are other Scriptures that are equally as seemingly obvious, but they are completely opposite in truth to what we appear to read.
Let us go to Acts 16, that is our first example out of the three that we are going to look at here that 100% clarity apparently in the Bible is not always 100% clarity. You need to look at other things to come to truth. Acts 16:30-31, I am going to break right into the middle of a story here, but you know it well:
And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
So, there is a huge issue there with what I do to become saved. How would you answer that today? Verse 31, if that was talking about you today, you would probably say, “there is nothing you can do to be saved.” That would probably be one of the first things you would answer. What does verse 31 say?
And they said, …
The Apostles here said:
… Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
That seems 100% clear does it not? What must I do? Well, you must believe. But we know from other Scriptures that is not the case. It is “the faith of Christ” that saves us, so it is nebulous, you know it is not as easy as it appears. And that is one example of the Bible that shows that something that seems apparent and obvious, clear and simple, is not always the case. That is the first example.
Now, let us go to example #2, that 100% clarity apparently is not always as it appears. Matthew 5:48, that verse says, Jesus is speaking here in His earthly ministry, and He says in verse 48:
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
That is a clear command, be ye perfect. But what does Romans 3:10 say?
… There is none righteous, no, not one:
So, it is impossible to be perfect, yet Christ says, be ye perfect. So if you just read verse 48 of Matthew 5, you might think that you could become perfect. There are some people who lock themselves up in a monastery who think that is possible, and through history have thought that, it was capable of being achieved. But the Bible, in other verses clears it up that it is impossible to do that.
How about a third example of what seems to be clear, but it is not always the case. In 2 Peter 3:9, this is our third and final example of these not so clear verses that otherwise might seem a little clear. In 2 Peter 3:9, just one verse, it is talking about the end of time. The whole chapter is talking about the end of time. If you are familiar with it, you know that. And in verse 9, after this discussion of Noah’s day, and the flood, and what we have as far as the end of this world coming. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read:
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, …
In other words, He is very patient.
… not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Let us zone in on that phrase, the Lord is “not willing that any should perish.” What does that seem to indicate? It is pretty clear, the Lord does not want anyone to perish. So, He is hoping that everyone comes to repentance, you have free will in other words to choose Christ. It appears to insinuate that, He is “not willing that any should perish,” He does not will that. If God wills something, is it not going to be done? But somehow He must have given us the free will to choose on our own. But yet, in John 17, remember when Jesus before He went to the Cross in John 17, with that great prayer, before all these events took place on the Passover, when He was crucified. In John 17:9, Jesus said, He was speaking to the Father:
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
So Jesus is not praying for everyone. So, if God willed that none would perish, would He not have at least be praying for everyone? You see how it is not as clear as it appears. If you read 2 Peter 3:9, you would think you have free will, and that God wishes everyone would turn to Him and repent. And yet in John 17:9, Jesus specifically does not pray for the people that are not given to Him, the non-elect, He is not even going to pray for them, and He says it, I am not praying for them, “I pray not for the world.”
So let us go back to our premise here. Can any man know the day or hour of the second coming of Christ? Matthew 24:36-37 seems to indicate no, but yet we are showing here that there are other verses and passages in the Bible that also seem to indicate clear things on the surface at first read but they are not, when you go dig elsewhere, you find out that it is not as easy as that. And you have to dig really hard to find truth and study.
Well then, let us go to the next issue about can any man know the day or hour of the Lord’s return. Are there other reasons to believe that you could know the day or hour, now that we know it is not always clear in the Bible what we read? So now Matthew 24:36-37 about no man knows the day or hour may or may not mean that. We know that that is not very capable of being the case, I have just proven it through three examples, there are many others. But are there other reasons to believe that you could know the day or hour, to countervail the seeming meaning of Matthew 24:36, that no man could know? Well, I say yes, because the Bible indicates that you could know. And there is a lot more verses and passages that talk about what you could know, then not knowing. Let us go to a few of them. Start with Revelation 3:3, let us go there and let us see if you can follow with me. You have to stay sharp here, we are going to hit a couple of different verses. We are not going to spend a lot of time in each one, we are just going to really bring out the basic emphasis of each of these passages we refer to. Turn with me if you would to Revelation 3, let us skip down to verse 3:
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Let us pick that apart. If verse 3 is saying, if you shall not watch, what is going to happen if you do not watch? When Christ returns, how will it be to you? Robin? You will not know, because He is going to come on you as a thief, and you will “not know what hour I will come upon thee,” that is what we just read, if you do not watch. If this is an SAT question analogy, what is the opposite then? If I do watch what is the insinuation? I will know, if I do watch, I will know. If I do not watch, I will not know what hour He comes He will be like a thief. If I do watch I am ready to open the door, because I am expecting Him and I will know. So that is one.
Let us go to another one. I said there was a couple of passages, so let us take a look at the second. 1 Thessalonians 5. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3, we will read a couple verses here:
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
There we have that same theme again, “a thief in the night.”
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
What does that mean? When you are pregnant you may have an expected delivery date given by the doctor, but that is not always the case, obviously, it is not always going to be that day. But all of a sudden you might be happily going about your business one day and then boom, you start going into labor and there it is, “as travail upon a woman with child.” So that is what the Bible is saying here, that He is coming as a thief and you are going to be going about your business, and then all of a sudden, wow! there it is, He is going to return. But verse 4 says, let us keep reading:
But ye, brethren, …
So there is a contradiction here.
… are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
So what are you then? You are a brethren, you are also, verse 5:
Ye are all the children of light, …
If you are saved you are a people who are “the light of the world” as Jesus. So you are saved by His substitutionary Atonement. And here it says you are:
… the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
So it is comparing and contrasting darkness and light, darkness is like a thief, it is also like the woman who is pregnant, and all of a sudden labor comes instantly. But you are as the light, you are as the day, He is not going to be a thief when He returns to you. You will be totally prepared and expect that day. So, there is another passage that we have to weigh in the balance with the ultimate question of this message, does any man know the day or hour because Matthew 24 said, no man knows the day or hour. But is that the case? We are saying, we are showing, we are proving that you have to dig deeper than the mere surface of a Scripture.
Let us go back to Matthew 24 for a third example, and we will look at verse 42. Matthew 24, beginning in verse 42. We are going back to this great theme that we have been on for the last two passages, watching:
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We know that is going to be the period of time of that five months of hell on earth. So let us look again at the end of that passage I just read there. If someone is not watching, verse 42 said, “Watch,” Jesus said “Watch.” But then at the end, He talks about if you are not watching, and you say, “My lord delays His coming.” What is going to happen to that person who is not watching? He is going to come how? As a thief again, even though we did not read that in these verses, it is the same idea. “When he looks not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of,” He will “cut him asunder,” so that person is going to be judged. So what is it insinuating about the people who are not going to be judged? That they are not going to be caught by surprise, back to that same contrast again. Does it make sense?
Let us go on to a fourth example, Mark 13. We are trying to prove that the Bible does show that we can know the timing of the end of time. In Mark 13:32, this is a different proof, here but it is nonetheless valuable. Verse 32:
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
Right away. What is the difference between that and our opening verse in Matthew 24? There is one slight difference. Did anyone catch it? About not knowing the day or hour? Tony? “The Son,” this is the first time we saw that “the Son” is mentioned. So before we read, no man knows the day or hour. Now, it is going to be if seemingly clear Scripture is true, now not only will no man know but “the Son.” Christ Himself does not even know the timing of the end of when He is going to return. Well, if that is the case, what does that mean? You are right Mary, Jesus does not know. Let us bring it to it’s logical conclusion with a verse in Titus 2. Because again we are trying to prove to a gainsayer who says, “no body knows the end, the day or hour, and Christ Himself does not know the day or hour. Right?” But you are saying, “No, that is not right, and here is why.” Here is another example why that is not true, it could not be true that the Son would not know. Titus 2:11-13:
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing …
What is this talking about in verse 13? What is “the glorious appearing”? Anyone? Christ’s coming, His second coming. “The glorious appearing” is that incredible day when He appears on the clouds for the rapture. Verse 13 in Titus is telling us we are hoping, we are looking for that glorious appearing of Christ:
… of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Could it be any clearer? How is He being described? The appearing of who? Is it just the Son? While it is reemphasizing here that He is God and Saviour Jesus Christ. So how is it possible that God would return and not know when He is going to return? He is the one who created the world, He is the one in charge of this whole thing, He knows exactly when it is going to end. Christ is God. So how is it possible that the Son would not know the end of time? It is impossible because Titus says here, when we look for:
… the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
That means that God Himself is reappearing, and that is Jesus Christ. So again you cannot just say, “the Son does not know the day or hour.” Titus 2:13 logically would say the other, the opposite that He would know, He has to know, He is God.
Let us go on to another proof text. Luke 21, there are a lot of them, so let us look at some of them and build the case. Luke 21. Does any man know the day or hour? Can Christ know the day or hour? Well, a lot of people who are obviously familiar with the Bible, and anyone who is in a church today is saying this to you when you, say the rapture is going to be May 21, 2011, and they will say, “No man knows the day or hour. How can you know that?” We are trying to prove that you can know. Luke 21:34-36:
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
So this passage is emphasizing watching that you are going to be able to escape that. So we are just reemphasizing the idea that God is telling us to watch, because what is the next thing that someone says after they say, “No man knows the day or hour?” They then logically follow, at least with me, I have heard this hundreds of times in the last five years. “Then why are you bothering to look then. If no man knows, why are you even looking?” Well, we have seen over and over and over again today that Jesus keeps saying, watch, watch, look, watch, study. In other words, I am going to use my own synonym for that, study, be careful, look, analyze, research, dig.
Luke 12 another one, there are so many. Luke 12:35-36:
Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
No surprise, you know He is coming, you are ready. Verse 37:
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
So watching, being ready. How are they ready? They are ready immediately, no surprise. If you are ready, you are watching, you are not going to be surprised on May 21, 2011, you are going to be anticipating it, you are going to be immediately ready as soon as He appears.
Well, Revelation 16 is another one. I think the Bible does tell us that we could know the end, the timing of the end. Revelation 16:15, the contrast of a thief versus the watcher:
Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Jesus is saying, again the contrast, He is coming as a thief on many of those who are not watching. But, He says to you, watch, watch because I am coming as a thief, but you have to watch, because then it will not come upon you that way.
Hebrews 10:25, another one. These are proof texts for suggesting that the Bible does teach that I can know about “the coming of the Son of Man,” even though Matthew 24 and Mark 13 seem to indicate that no man knows the day or hour, including the Son. Those two passages seem to indicate that, but we are looking at a whole lot more than the two that are showing otherwise. Hebrews 10:25:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
How are you going to “see the day approaching” if you are not watching? If He is just going to come whenever, then there is no such thing, as “as ye see the day approaching.” Would that not disprove the validity of that verse? It would insinuate that there is an impossibility of seeing the day approaching, because it is going to come on you “as a thief,” instantly, like “a woman in travail” who is pregnant and suddenly the labor pains hit. So Hebrews 10:25 says, that, you are going to “see the day approaching,” if you are the end time generation, and we are saying that we are the end time generation. Many of the children in school here today are not going to graduate. That is a reality. Most if not all of us in this room today are not going to see physical death before the end. We are the end time generation, we are seeing “the day approaching.” And that is what that command in Hebrews 10:25 is saying.
Let us look at two final proofs that the Bible does suggest you can know the timing of the end. Now let us go to the Old Testament for these last two. Daniel 12:4, we will look at the first passage. Daniel 12:4:
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
He is sealing “the book, to the time of the end.” What does that insinuate? That at the time of the end it would be unsealed. Does that make sense? Well then, let us go to verse 9 of the same chapter:
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up …
He is reiterating it:
… and sealed till the time of the end.
Now notice the other one in verse 4 was, “to the time of the end,” and now “until.” And what is going to happen when you get “to the time of the end”? They will be opened, they will be unsealed. And he said in verse 10:
Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
What are the wise going to understand? Science,? How to put airplanes in the sky? The wise are going to understand what the wicked do not understand, which is the unsealing of the book at the end, that is the context here. Does that not make sense? Is that not logical? The wise will understand the unsealing, because the unsealing is happening before the whole world. This message is being shouted out and broadcast all over the world, but the wicked are not understanding it. They are saying, “What are you talking about, the timeline of history? That does not make any sense to me? How can the rapture be May 21, 2011? What about these 8400 days? I cannot follow that, I do not want to look at that, it does not make any logical sense to me.” “But the wise shall understand” the unsealing.
And what do we know in Ecclesiastes 8? Ecclesiastes is the book right after Proverbs. “A wise man’s heart discerns” what? “Both time and judgment.” Good, many of you know that. So there is the “wise” that Daniel 12 was talking about. The wise are going to understand what? The unsealing of the book. “A wise man’s heart understands” what? “Time and judgment,” and that time is the timeline of history. Hopefully, you got a handle on some of that, and understand that the Bible does show us that. So we tried to say, “Does any man know the day or hour?” The gainsayer says, “No man knows the day or hour.” And we showed through three quick examples that the Bible is not always clear as it appears to be on other issues. And then we showed through a multitude of verses and passages here, and logic, that there are far more verses that say watch and be ready and you will know, and the wise will understand. Then there are those two verses that seem to suggest that no man knows the day or hour. So I am saying the Bible does say that you can know, because you have to dig to find out the truth, whether you can or cannot know. And finally, the final, final proof for the last few minutes here would be what? A final issue would be how has God behaved, acted, displayed His mercy in the past? When He has judged people and nations has He warned them? He really has:
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Let us look at His past and see how He acted in the past, to see if we can predict how He is going to be about the end of time. Three quick examples, let us go to time alerts that He gave in history. Genesis 6:3. These are obvious ones, but we are going to repeat them because we need to understand this, because if you are in school and they ask, “What are you going to do when you graduate?” And you answer, “I do not think I am going to graduate, (and you are an “A” student). Well, I think the world is going to end.” If it is a church goer they are going to say, “No man knows the day or hour.” This is why we are doing this study today so you can have something to answer, or point them to this study and let them listen to the forty minutes or so that we talk about this, to be able to see that there is logic to suggest, you can know the timing of the end of the world. Genesis 6:3:
And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
So God was getting fed up with how men were living. And what kind of time reference did He give here for the destruction? He said “an hundred and twenty years” countdown. That is a pretty long time, a pretty good warning is it not? More than any of our life spans. But back then it was relatively short, Noah was living 600 years old and things like that so “an hundred and twenty years” was a good warning that He gave. Then what did He finally do in Genesis 7:4,? He fine tuned it. Once they got to the year, if He said they got “an hundred and twenty years” to go, and you do the countdown, and then all of a sudden, January 1 rolls around, and you are like, alright well, He is going to come one of these 365 days. I wonder which one it will be? He warned us, “an hundred and twenty years” He is going destroy it. In Genesis 7:4, God finally fine tuned it. He said:
For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
All right, there you have it, “seven days” warning, He finally zeroed in on the day. Does any man know the day or hour? God here gave the day of the destruction of the flood coming and destroying everything that He made, except for Noah, his wife, his three sons, their wives, and the animals that were spared. Now go to Hebrews 11:7. We are still in this first example of Noah and the flood. Hebrews 11, in the New Testament, in verse 7:
By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
What is the take away from this? This is the practical take away, other than the proof that you can know the day or hour of the Lord’s return. When Noah was warned of God “of things not seen as yet,” and we have not seen this hell on earth that is going to begin May 21, 2011, we can only read about it in passages like the book of Revelation and in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. But here it said. What did Noah do? What are the marching orders for us? “Moved with fear.” Are you moving with fear? You kids that are in school, are you guys fearful of the end coming? How about us adults who have been around a little longer. Are we moving with fear? Or, are we just taking each day? “Oh well, 2 1/2 years to go.” Be like Noah, he:
… moved with fear, … … to the saving of his house; …
So it is a good healthy fear.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom:
So, that is something we want to take away from that lesson.
Let us go to Abraham with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 18 that was another example where God gave a warning. Genesis 18:17:
And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;
What was He going to do? The context of this chapter, and the next. He was going to rain down fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah because of the sin of homosexuality and the wickedness of those cities. He was going to just wipe them all out. And He said, am I going to hide that from Abraham? No, He did not hide it from Abraham. And then from Lot, He did not either. In Genesis 19:12-14:
And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? …
These men were the angels that God sent, the messengers to deliver Lot:
… son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. …
Are you saying the same things to your friends and family? If you are, guess what you should expect?
… But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.
You are going to get the reaction of others that mock and say, “Come on, the end is not coming.” 2 Peter 3:4 says:
… all things continue as they were from the beginning …
Are not men going to say that? So expect it, do not be disappointed. Obviously it probably already happened to all of you, or most of you. But if you keep witnessing to your friends, new friends that you develop and run into, and other family members that do not know yet or have not heard yet, they are going to mock. But God told Lot, He told Abraham, I am going to destroy it, now, it is happening right now. Look what happened in 2 Peter 3, it summarizes the history we just read in Genesis. In 2 Peter 3:3-4 God says here:
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after 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 the creation.
Sounds just like Lot’s sons-in-law does it not? Exactly the same, men do not change. The same reaction Lot got when he tried to warn his sons-in-law. Remember his daughters were married, and nope, nothing, they mocked him. And the Bible is telling us the same thing is going to happen before the coming of the Lord on His second return to the earth, the end of time, the same thing is going to happen.
Also, as we look at this second example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, look at one more passage in Luke 17. It is important to really look at all these to bring it all together. In verses 26-30:
And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Remember I said earlier:
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
This proves it. In applying it to the end of time, I said to you in the flood of Noah’s day and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah with fire and brimstone that God warned people ahead of time. He warned Noah, He warned Abraham, He warned Lot before the Sodom and Gomorrah destruction. In the New Testament, Luke 17:30 says:
Even thus …
We just got done talking about Noah and Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah, we just read about that in Genesis. Luke 17 talks about it again:
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
So He is saying that it is going to be the same. So guess what? I expect Him to warn before He returns and gives a time clue, and He has, and we are ready. I hope you are ready, May 21, 2011, the rapture, the last day, that it is possible to be saved and have eternal life. Otherwise you are just going to be annihilated, go through a lot of pain for five months if you do not die the first day, and just have nothing afterwards.
The final, final example was of course the destruction that Jonah was told to talk about, which was of Nineveh. In Jonah 3, and this will be our last reference and example. In Jonah 3 remember Jonah tried to run and did not want to do this, he did not want to tell people, he knew he was going to be mocked and nobody would believe him, or at least he did not think anyone would believe him. In Jonah 3:1-4:
And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
So God gave him a clue, and not only a clue He gave him the exact time, in “forty days” it would be overthrown. Interesting word He used there, “overthrown.” What are we warning today about the overthrow? Let us take a look at Matthew 24, because it is the same thing, and that is why it is so similar, and that is why God is warning us just like He did with Jonah to tell Nineveh, I am going to destroy you. Matthew 24:2-3 remember this?
And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
In the Greek it is the same meaning as the Hebrew in the book of Jonah. Remember he said, in “forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” And here Jesus is saying:
There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
That is what He was talking about, the temple and the building, the stones were an example, and He was talking about the overthrow of those stones. And what are we saying in Revelation 18:21, our final, final reference today? Revelation 18:21:
And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
Are we not acting just like Jonah? I hope you are. Remember he said, in “forty days, Nineveh shall be overthrown.” And what are we saying? May 21, 2011, Babylon will be thrown down, “and shall be found no more at all.”
You see how these words tie in together beautifully. I think today proved that it is not as easy to just read Matthew 24, or Mark 13, when it says, no man knows the day or hour, not even the Son, you cannot just look at those two verses and isolate them. We have looked at a lot of things today that I believe prove that you can know, not only does Jesus know the day and hour of His return, I am convinced of that. I believe also that men, us, living today, we know, men, women and children are aware of the day of the Lord’s return, and thank God He has given us enough proof in the Bible to build a case that we can feel confident that He is ready to return. Amen.