And what I say unto you I say unto all: Watch
Is the day of the Rapture intended to be a known or an unknown day to believers? Let’s use Logic, and then let’s use Scripture.
Logic
Why did Jesus (and Paul, and Peter) tell us to watch? What is the purpose of watching? Stop and think about that for a minute.
There are only two reasons I can think of for a watchman to watch.
One: to ensure preparation is done in time
Two: to avoid being taken by surprise
As believers waiting for the rapture, there is nothing we can add to Christ’s blood to become eligible for it. While Christ’s return may motivate us to work more for the Lord, this does not and cannot add to our state of preparation--Phil 3:9-11. The preparation is done.
This leaves reason number two.
“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…” Matt. 24:43-44
Notice the ideal goodman would watch because he knows. He is not surprised. Christ says we don’t know; so how do we get to the state of knowing? We watch… because we need to become ready like the goodman. More below on what it means to watch.
Another question: Did Jesus expect the Jews to know the time of his first coming?
Yes, he did.
“The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” Matt 16:1-3
“For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” Luke 19:43-44
It has been said there are eight prophesies of the Second Coming for every one of the First Coming. If the Lord expected the Jews to know when his first coming was to occur, they certainly don’t have excuse to miss the second.
So even if one believes the rapture is mysterious, there is good evidence that we can figure out when the Second Coming is. After that, all we need to do is a little math. (The Bible indicates no gap between rapture and trib; the Day of judgment and of rescue is the same day: I Thes 5:2-4, Luke 17:26-29, Luke 21:34-35. This is a key point in understanding end times.)
Scripture
Now let’s look at some verses and see if they lean more toward rapture surprise for the believer, or non-surprise:
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as 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. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” I Thes 5:2-4
“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.” Heb 10:25
“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.” Luke 21:34
“The Lord of that (evil) servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of…” Matt 24:50
“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.” Rev 3:3
Who is surprised in these passages, the believer or the unbeliever? The faithful or the ungodly?
One more question: Who was surprised in the rescue typologies in the OT?
The Main Objection
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Matt. 24:36
This verse is quoted all the time in relation to the timing of the rapture. But let’s notice some things.
First, is this verse even referring to the rapture? It actually isn’t clear from the context. The preceding verse is not speaking of the rapture, but the following verses do seem to be. This ambiguity makes it a shaky place on which to pin all one’s dogma.
Secondly, since the Olivet Discourse where this statement was made, we have had the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ to the Father as well as the sending of the Holy Spirit (key!). We have the establishment of the church and the completion of revelation in the Scriptures. Consider these verses:
“Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” John 15:15
“I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.
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.” John 16:12-13
“But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” I Cor 2:10
“…who are kept through the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” I Pet 1:5
“For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie…” Hab 2:3
“…searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.” I Pet 1:11-12
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7
“But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets…” Dan 2:28
“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” Prov 25:2
“Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” Isa 45:11
“Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know Him not see His days?” Job 24:1
So place the no-man-knows verse (which application may be questionable) on one side of the scale, place all the other verses in this document on the other side, and which way does the evidence lean? It is wise to ignore or nullify a number of Scriptures on the basis of one that we may not understand completely?
What does it mean to “watch?”
If you combine the thoughts above on the purpose of watching (to avoid surprise) with the verses in I Thes 5, you can come to some reasonable conclusions:
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as 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.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore, let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.” I Thes 5:2-8
Notice how the awareness is a result of light. To what does the Bible equate light?
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psa 119:105
“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” Psa 119:130
“But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.” Prov. 4:18-20
“We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:” 2 Pet 1:19
It appears that “watching” may be searching and studying prophecy in the Word of God. Read again the passages that instruct us to “watch” with that definition in mind and see if they now make sense. Including the confusing one about the goodman!
Hab 2:1 says, I “will watch to see what he will say unto me…”
In both the I Thes 5 passage and in Luke 21:34 the opposite of watchfulness is drunkenness, with Luke adding the descriptor of “cares of this life.” Remember how Jesus said cares of this life will choke the Word! This contrast of carnality vs. watching is also found in Phil 3:19-21:
“Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”
“But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.”
Maranatha
Children of the Day 