APPEAL TO THE CHRISTADELPHIAN COMMUNITY

The Bible says: “But of that day and hour no one knows…” Based on this verse, the Christadelphian community believes and teaches that Jesus will return, but no one knows when He will come. The Christadelphian community also believes that Jesus himself doesn’t know!

There are many prophecies in the Bible that have occurred when they were predicted, however, there are many more prophecies yet to be fulfilled. A most remarkable feature of prophetic interest is the Christadelphian’s conviction that we are living “in the shadow of the second coming,” and we are in a countdown to Armageddon. 

The Christadelphian community still study the end-times prophecies, though carefully avoiding date-setting because Christadelphian history shows that their predicted dates change every generation so that the end is always “very soon”. Today, a majority of Christadelphians are suppressing and banning the date setting because the Christadelphian community believes that there is no way to predict the Lord’s Second Coming.

The “No man know the day or the hour” doctrine appeared to be an impregnable Christadelphian stronghold.

Truth is that is not what Jesus means!

Don’t jump the gun just yet! 

My friend, will you please let me explain what it means and why?

According to Daniel 9:26 – “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary…..”

“after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off” – This has direct reference to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ in A.D. 30.

After his resurrection, then Jesus Christ has ascended to heaven and is now at God’s right hand, ALL angels, authorities, and powers have been subjected to him and under his control.

Proof:

 ^“who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.” – 1 Peter 3:22

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.” – Matthew 28:18

Now back to Daniel 9:26 – “And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary”–

“the people of the prince” – The prince is the Lord Jesus! The people of the prince [the Roman armies] were the instruments of judgment in the hand of Jesus. Clearly, Jesus was the one who brought Rome attacked Jerusalem and the temple to destroy them and eliminate the daily sacrifice for their rejection of him as Messiah. Deut. 28:49; Matt. 22:7.

“the people of the Prince” explains the meaning of “an army being commission for that work; and no doubt, though invisible, superintended the operations of the siege. Hence the coming of the Roman eagles against Judah’s carcass (Deut. 28:26), as Moses had predicted (Matt. 24:27-28; Deut. 28:50), was also the coming (Matt. 10:23), though not the appearing, of the Son of Man.

This was the prince, and the Romans were his people in the same sense in which Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldees were the Deity’s. When Yahweh sent Nebuchadnezzar and his forces against Judah and other nations to destroy them for their wickedness, they were the sword of Yahweh. Speaking of this conqueror, he styles him, “Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant”: and in overthrowing Tyre, Yahweh says, “The Chaldeans wrought for me”; and in their operations against Egypt, he says, “I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hands”. It was so with the Romans, although they knew it not. They wrought for the Prince Royal of Israel against rebellious Judah, who refused to acknowledge him as their king. See the parable comparing the kingdom of the heavens to a certain king who makes a marriage for his son. After he is raised from the dead, messengers are sent to invite Judah to the marriage; but they took his servants and slew them. “But when the king heard thereof he was wroth; and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city” (Matt. 22:7).

Jesus Christ, using the Roman Army as His instrument, brought a fiery judgement upon the Judah’s Commonwealth in A.D. 70. THEN HOW DID JESUS ACCOMPLISH HIS MISSION IN A TIMELY MANNER IF YOU SAY JESUS DOES NOT KNOW THE DAY OR THE HOUR? 

Furthermore, Daniel 9:24-27, is completely in line with Matthew, Mark and Luke. 

I simply ask you to re-examine your beliefs about Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 which the Apostles references frequently applied to the outpouring God Judgement upon Judah’s Commonwealth in A.D. 70. The coming of the Lord at the last days of the Judah’s Commonwealth in A.D. 70 is an important theme of the Bible which certainly shows the Apostles to be completely consistent in the teaching and expressions they used.

We must first observe the whole context of Matthew Chapter 22, 23, and 24. Jesus has repeatedly predicted that a time is coming when God will punish national Israel for her sin and rebellious rejection of the Messiah – Matthew 21:33-43; Matthew 22:1-14; Matthew 23:29-39.

In Matthew 24, verse 1, as Jesus and the disciples depart from the Temple, the disciples were impressed by the beauty of the Temple and marveled at its sizable stones, however, Jesus then addressed the horrific judgment that would come upon the city of Jerusalem, and in doing so He again speaks as God in saying in Matthew 23:38, “Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!” To what does the house refer? In the context of this passage it must be a reference to the Jewish Temple.

The words of Jesus, “Your house shall be left to you desolate,” still burned in disciples’ ears. That lead the disciples asked for more information.

Now, let us look at the disciples’ question to Jesus in verse 3 of Matthew 24. Matthew 24, commonly known as the Olivet discourse, is by far the most full and explicit of our Lord’s prophetic utterances regarding the events prior to the A.D. 70. Verse 3 is the most important verse in this whole chapter. If you don’t understand their question, you will never understand Jesus’ answer. We must be sure we understand the questions.

When the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And What will be the sign of thy presence as King?, and the end of the Aion (the age of Judah’s Commonwealth) ?”

The disciples were asking three questions. First, they wanted to know when the destruction of the temple and the city of Jerusalem would take place. Second, they wanted to know when Christ’s presence in royal visitation would come against the wicked nation of Judah’s Commonwealth.** Third, they also wanted to know the sign of the end of the Aion (the end of Judah’s Commonwealth) would occur.

** [(Moulton and Milligan, in The Vocabulary Of The Greek Testament, claim that it was used in the sense of being presence as royal majesty, authority, arrival, or official visit of a royal or king. They state: “with the NT usage of parousia is the quasi-technical force of the word from Ptolemaic times onwards to denote the “visit” of a King, Emperor, or other person in authority, the official character of the “visit” being further emphasized by the taxes or payments that were exacted to make preparations for it.” Evidence from papyrus documents is cited to show that the word was frequently used to denote the presence of a ruler in his official capacity, and that the early Christians understood and used the word in that way.)]

The disciples did not ask Jesus about the end of the world in the Gentile sense. It is clear from the gospel records that Jesus predicted his own death and resurrection, and the disciples still didn’t understand. If they did not understand that Jesus must die, rise and ascent to heaven, then it must follow that, whatever they meant when they said, “what will be the sign of your coming”. They were not asking about what we refer to as the second coming of Jesus. Rather, their question was rooted in the language of the Old Testament prophets and in the teaching of Jesus concerning the judgement against the wicked nation of Judah’s Commonwealth.

Jesus said, “This generation shall not pass…”. He was speaking to the generation that had gathered with him and the disciples, the generation that had crucified Him. Jesus’ prophetic warning about the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple occurred around AD 30. That generation would be 40 years in duration, which would bring it right to the time of AD 70 when that generation would pass with the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. This prophetic scenario applies to “this generation”. The word ‘generation’ is used elsewhere in Matthew and the other gospels to refer to those who lived during the days of Christ’s first advent.

Therefore, all of these things that Jesus had just talked about will have already come to pass. So, that is it for them. Jesus said, “This generation shall not pass until all these things are fulfilled.” The prophecy must have ended at that time as it was fulfilled. 

It is so important to keeping in whole context what Jesus is intending to talk about.

According to Luke19:41-44 – “Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “if you had know, even you, especially in this your day……. you did not know the time of your visitation.”

“The time of your visitation” is referral to the timing of the Daniel’s 70 “weeks” and Daniel 8:8-12 prophecy that Jesus prophesied the events lead up to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.

Gabriel told Daniel that he was to know and discern this date. Unfortunately, Jesus wept because they, the Jews, failed to understand the “Seventy weeks” prophecy of Daniel and Daniel 8:8-12! The precise day that God had fixed in Daniel’s prophecy, but the Jews did not know or discern the day! The Jews had not recognized the time of their visitation.

In fact, Jesus and angels understood the prophecy that when will the terrible judgment that would come on Jerusalem! Remember who told Daniel the seventy weeks prophecy and Daniel Chapter 8? The angel Gabriel and angel Palmoni!!!!

Biblical Proof for angels’ knowledge of the times and seasons: In Daniel 8:13 is a conversation between two saints, which in the time of Daniel is referencing the angelic. We do know that one of these saints is the angel Gabriel. (Daniel 8:15-16).

Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint (פַּלְמוֹנִי Palmoni) which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? -Daniel 8:13

That certain saint is called “Palmoni.” Palmoni signifies the numbered or the numberer of secrets or the wonderful numberer.” Daniel hears two angels speaking with each other. One of these angels is Palmoni, the wonderful numberer, who undoubtedly appointed by God to controls the time table of God’s overall plan, knows all secrets, and the number of times and seasons, to further elucidate on the detail of the time, so to speak.

There are angels assigned to different roles. Some angels direct and dispatch other ‘lesser’ angels. Palmoni is dispatched and assigned angels to carry out missions to accomplish certain tasks for the times and seasons! There is nothing left to chance in God’s universe. There is a set time to favor Zion, Psa. 102:13. There is also a set time for Christ’s second coming and the establishment of God’s kingdom in this earth.

Indeed, Daniel is told about the future as the angel Gabriel describes 70 prophetic “weeks” (490 years) as God’s timetable for the Jewish people and the city of Jerusalem (Daniel 9:24-27). Gabriel explained that the city of Jerusalem and its people would be given another opportunity. The city, temple and walls would be rebuilt. At the very end of this period (Seventy weeks (490 years)), God would even send Messiah the Prince who would make a final urgent appeal to Israel. But this appeal would fall upon deaf ears and as a result the theocracy would come to an end, Jerusalem would be destroyed, the temple demolished and the people scattered among the nations.

The prophecy of the Seventy Weeks and Daniel Chapter 8 were critically important for the people of Israel to understand. It foretells the coming of the Messiah, and details His benevolent work. The prophecy pinpoints the very time of Jesus’ crucifixion. This is actually the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy against the people of Israel. 

In contrary to the Magi (wise men), the religious leaders and people of Israel should have known the EXACT timing in history when Jesus was to be presented as their Messiah according to the timetable, but they missed him totally! They failed to understand the seventy “weeks” prophecy and Daniel 8! If they were to know the time through the study of Daniel at the fulfillment of the prophecy written in Daniel, they were to escape (Matt. 24:15,16). The Jews misinterpreted and misapplied the word of God. Finally, it reveals the disastrous consequences of rejecting the Son of God. Many died because they knew not the time of their visitation. 

Now, Jesus answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” (Matthew 12:39, Matthew 16:4, and, Luke 11:29) – The Lord Jesus treated the book of Jonah as both parable and historical. Ask yourself the question! Why Jesus mention “the sign of Prophet Jonah”?

Jonah was preaching to the Ninevites as a foreshadowing of Jesus was preaching to Jerusalem. Jonah warned Nineveh of certain destruction in 40 days if they didn’t turn from the imaginations of their evil hearts to the true, living God. They repented and the city was spared. In contrast, Jesus came preaching the gospel of the kingdom to the Jewish nation, but unlike the Ninevites, the Jews, as a whole, rejected the good news of Jesus Christ. This led to His crucifixion in 30 AD. 40 years later in 70 AD, the city of Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed thus fulfilling the prophecy found in the Book of Jonah.

Clearly, it gave us the hint as we are able to look back in the history. In our well-documented history proved that Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, therefore, Christ’s death was in A.D. 30. (40 years as the sign of Prophet Jonah).

Thus, Jesus understood the prophecies of Daniel and Jonah! Jesus already knew about his death and the events prior to the AD 70!

H.P. Mansfield from the Story of the Bible – “The life and mission of the Lord Jesus was predicted in the Old Testament Scriptures to a very detailed extent; and as he was steeped in the knowledge of these prophecies, the record of his own biography was laid out before him, from beginning to end, before it came to pass. As he studied the Psalms, the Prophets, and the writings of Moses, he would be able to discern his mission, his sufferings, his death, his resurrection, his glorious destiny as the world’s future king. Thus he was able by “beginning at Moses and all the prophets” to expound unto the disciples “in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). 

Jesus had a better understanding of these prophecies than anybody else. Being the antitypical Joseph, he knew that his betrayer’s name was Judas; being the Lamb of God he knew the very time he would expire on the stake; being familiar with Daniel’s prophecies (see chapter 9:26), he would know the very year it would take place. From the Scriptures, therefore, he knew the very hour, the day, the month, and the year, he would die upon the stake! He was thus able to warn his disciples of these matters and speak of the “hour” when they would come to pass (see Matthew 26:18,45; John 2:4; John 7:30; John 8:20; John 12:23).

It is profitable to search the Old Testament Scriptures for further prophecies of the Lord’s first advent, to learn how completely this had been set forth by Yahweh, his heavenly Father.“

Now, What does “that day or hour no one knows” actually indicate?

No one knew (WITHIN THAT GENERATION in the first century) exactly what time the Temple would be destroyed and the Jewish age of sacrifice finished. But those people of understanding and faith within that generation did have parameters for about when it would take place. Therefore, people of understanding and faith will already be gone by the time the Abomination of Desolation happens.

The obvious conclusion from what Jesus described is that it would be best to pack a bag with your coat, your cloak, some frozen mother’s milk, and leave early, in faith, rather than wait until you actually see the Abomination before you get moving!

John Thomas in Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, May 1855  – “But of the precise time when the temple should disappear, and the Mosaic Economy “vanish away,” the Father only could tell…”

If we want to understand Matthew 24, we must not take things out of context. We must not choose some verses randomly and think that they are the teaching of the Bible!

This practice are twisted to say things that are not accurate by just take one verses out of Matthew 24 without even poring over its whole context and at times not going through the whole Bible! It is a dangerous thing to take a single verse from scripture and make a doctrine from it. When you take bits and pieces of the Bible and rearrange them to make a different picture of what’s going on, you can make the Bible say just about whatever you want. Misunderstanding a portion of the bible can lead to teaching wrong to others.

It is not a good idea to use a single verse in isolation just to come up with a doctrine of “No one knows” that contradicts everything in the scripture. The truth is the doctrine of “No one, included Jesus and the Angels, knows the day or hour” refers to events prior to A.D. 70, NOT TODAY! It’s the most misunderstood Bible verse and the most damaging due to that misunderstanding. 

False teaching swerves anyone away from the truth which is only way man can be saved. The stakes are eternal!

Do not take someone else’s word for it. Read the Bible for yourself. In this picture, I strongly encourage all Christadelphians to read this several books in order to understand the whole context of Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21.

Now, we can see from Scripture that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of His day for not understanding the times that they were living in, for not knowing the time of His first coming. Jesus Christ emphasized how important it is to understand the significance of the times we live in. He told the religious leaders that they were good at reading the weather signs in the sky but they couldn’t read the obvious signs of their times. Can we today read the obvious signs of our times?

If He called these people hypocrites and expected them to understand the times that they were living in and what they were going through prophetically at the time, what does He expect of our generation today and the times that we are living in? Are we hypocrites for not heeding Bible prophecy concerning the timeline that revealed when exact the second coming of Christ will happen?

Even more, God always gives the time to his people.

God told Abraham that his descendants will be slaves for 400 years.

God told Joseph that there will be seven years of plenty and seven years of famine in the land of Egypt.

God told Moses that unfaithful people got punished for 40 years in the wilderness.

God told Jeremiah that Israelites will be captive and stay in Babylon for 70 years.

A prophecy was given to Daniel by God to specify the exact time of the Messiah’s arrival. Then Daniel taught the Magi (wise men) the timing of the Messiah’s first advent and the sign that would lead them (wise men) to find Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews. 

God gave us the exact day when Christ was crucified. Jesus was crucified on the 14th day of Nisan, AD 30 (Passover).

God provided us with the chronological order of events to illustrate important historical and prophetic events through the books of Daniel and Revelation. 

It is clear through the scripture that God wants us to know the time! God is a date setter! God’s purpose is running to a plan, to a predetermined schedule and time is of the essence. God was punctuating the reality of his 7,000 years mater time plan which He had foretold from the beginning in the 7 days Creation and the rest of the Bible. The time cannot be hastened nor delayed. It is a SET PROPHETIC TIME!

God do not leave us in the darkness.

Don’t buy into the lie that we can’t know the date!

We are very well be the Final Generation to be alive before the return of Jesus Christ!

Each day we draw closer and closer to what will be the most extraordinary event in history – transition from the Kingdom of men to the Kingdom of God by Jesus and the Saints!

We are blessed that Yahweh has shared many details concerning the times and seasons through the pages of the Holy Scriptures. Let us re-examine the Scriptures and to refine our understanding given the prophetic events which continue to unfold right before our very eyes. I suggest you to take a look at all articles at my website that will enlighten us on the Biblical revealed timetables. In this way, we will realize that we are undisputedly on the verge of closing out the 6th millennial day on Earth! It is an inescapable and unavoidable fact! And we will know exactly when Jesus will return! It surely will encourages us to remain vigilant and prepare for Jesus return, now more than ever. The time is short!

Lexicon:

As you go through your Bible reading or studies, it is critical to understand how Greek verbs are used in the New Testament in order to accurately understand and interpret what is being communicated.

Greek verbs have five aspects – tense, voice, mood, number, and person, with the major aspects being tense, voice, and mood.  A Greek verb is placed in a sentence, you can tell who is performing the action, when the action is done, whether it is just one or more than one person performing the action, whether it is a single event that is being described or a process that continues, whether it is an actual happening, a command, or something wished for, or whether the subject of the verb is active, passive, or both.  A single Greek verb typically needs a sentence or more to convey the same idea in English and other languages. Tense plays a very crucial role in the study of New Testament exegesis.

Failure to understand how verbs are used in the Greek language can and will resulted in improper scientific rules for interpretation, which will almost certainly produce faulty critical explanation of the text.

Lexicon for “No one knows the day or the hour……”

DAY –  (G2250) – Greek word – “hēméra” means day, i.e. (literally) the time space between dawn and dark, or the whole 24 hours

HOUR – (G5610) – Greek word – “hora” means a definite point of time, hour

YEAR –  (G1763) –  Greek word –  “eniautós”  means year

MONTH – (G3376) Greek word – “men” means month

The “day and hour” is a very specific point in time.

Now the word “knows” (οἶδεν (oiden) in the Greek) which is technically the perfect active verb tense in Matthew 24:36 and Mark 13:32. The perfect tense denotes an action as already finished at the present time, as, I have written; my writing is just now finished. It also expresses the continuance of the result down to the present time; as the formula “It is written,” is literally, it has been written, and implies that it now stands on record; the door has been shut, that is, it so remains till now. In summary, the perfect tense is something that was true or completed in the past and is still presently true, but not necessarily true in the future.

Let me emphasize that in Greek corresponds to the perfect tense in English, and describes an action which is viewed as having been completed in the past, once and for all, not needing to be repeated. Jesus’ last cry from the cross, TETELESTAI (“It is finished!”) is a good example of the perfect tense used in this sense, namely “It has been accomplished, completely, once and for all time.” Certain antiquated verb forms in Greek will use the perfect tense in a manner equivalent to the normal past tense.

Christ says no man know the day or the hour when the Son of Man come. Did Christ speak this as a general principle throughout all generations? Oh no, he spoke in the present tense no man that was then living knew the day or the hour but he did not say that there was no man throughout all generations that should not know the day or the hour.

So clearly Jesus spoke of them in a plain discourse (Luke 21; Matthew 24) delivered to his disciples while they were seated on the Mount of Olives, and overlooking the city and temple. On that occasion, he told them that WITHIN THAT GENERATION at what particular day and hour he could not tell them the “DAY OF VENGEANCE” written of in the prophets would arrive. There would be great distress in the land and wrath amount the people; that Jerusalem would be surrounded with armies and laid in ashes and the temple utterly demolished, and the nation destroyed by the edge of the sword. 

Please exploring further the article “Understanding the times – Yahweh’s 7000 years plan” that will give you an overview of the timetables of God’s 7,000 years plan and when Jesus will return to Earth from the amazing prophetic parables behind the Bible stories!