No One Knows the Day and the Hour
Matthew 24: 3 "Tell us, when will these things be, and what is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Matthew 24 records the answer to these three questions that the disciples asked Jesus after He said to them that there will not be left one stone upon another, speaking of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. In most people’s minds, the answer to the question when the end of the age will be, is that no one knows the date when Jesus will return, for Matthew 24: 36 states: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
However, this answer was not given in respect of the end of age. In the verse just prior to that, Jesus said that heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away. Clearly, the next verse, then should be seen as an answer to this statement. The day and hour when heaven and earth will pass away, is the day and hour that no one knows, not when the end of the age is.
Matthew 24:21, states that there will be a Great Tribulation prior to the time when heaven and earth will pass away. This is followed by the second coming of Christ. The event described in Luke 21:24, the reverse of Matthew 24:21, indicates that it will be after the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. It states the following: They will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. This verse is the key to unlocking the timing of the end of the age. The fact that the scriptures in Matthew and Luke are reverse numbers, link the content of the verses in a contextual manner. The Great Tribulation and the cessation of Jerusalem being trampled underfoot, are therefore two events and are intrinsically linked to the times of the Gentiles.
The date that initiated the times of the Gentiles is 70 AD. The second temple was destroyed on the 9 Av 70 AD. Using this historical marker, 70 AD, and applying it to events in the history in Israel, it unlocks the answer to the question, when was, or will the times of Gentiles be fulfilled.
Jeremiah prophesied that at the end times Israel will be return to her land. “Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in My anger and My wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety, Jeremiah 32:37. The regathering of Israel started with the first Zionist Congress. Tabulated below, are the first three significant dates in the process.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1897 | First Zionist Congress held in Basel, Switzerland, convened by Theodore Herzl. |
| 1917 | Balfour Declaration – establishing a political home for Israel in Palestine. |
| 29 November 1947 | The United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 181, the Partition Plan for Palestine. |
By using the number 70, which was the year the temple was destroyed, and adding this to the dates in the above table, then mark other another set of historical dates in the process of Jerusalem being liberated from the trampling underfoot by the Gentiles.
| Date | Plus 70 AD | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1897 | 5-10 June 1967 | The Sixth- day- war. Israel recaptures Jerusalem. |
| 1917 | 1987 | First Palestine Intifada. |
| 29 November 1947 | 2017 | Trump declares Jerusalem the capital of Israel on 6 December 2017. |
One other question needs to be addressed. How long will this pattern, of one historical date pointing to another historical date, continue. The answer is found in Genesis 6:3 “My Spirit will not remain in humankind forever, since he is indeed flesh; yet his days will be one hundred twenty years.” From the starting point of this design, 1897, plus 120 years, is 2017. This suggests that the pattern terminated on this date.
But, not only does one historical landmark date in the history of Israel determine the next, but another significant pattern emerges from other landmark dates, using the addition of the number 70. The Knesset passed the Law of Return, granting people with a Jewish ancestry to return to Israel in 1950. It was called Operation Magic Carpet which was based on two passages from the Old Testament: Exodus 19:4 and Isaiah 40:31. This is a fulfilment of the prophesy in Ezekiel 34:13. ”And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.” Adding 70 to the year 1950 is the 2020. In this year on the 15th September, the Abrahamic Accords was signed. This is a set of agreements that established diplomatic normalization between Israel and several Arab states.
| Date | Plus 70 AD | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 2020 | Abrahamic Accords |
Another historical date in the history of Israel was 1956. Egypt closed the Suez Canal from October 1956 until March 1957 during the Suez Crisis. The Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, was aligning himself with the Soviet Union and nationalised the Canal. The fighting over the Suez began October 29, 1956, with the Israeli invasion of Egypt; it ended November 6, when the UN declared a ceasefire and ordered the withdrawal of British and French troops. Without elaborating on the complexities that were created, it would suffice to say that the closure led to the Rottem crises. The Rottem crises, often historically neglected, was the most serious crisis to Israel’s doctrine of deterrence.
Nasser in his address to the United Nation’s Assembly on 27 September 1961, said: “that the only solution to Palestine, is that matters should return to the condition before the error was made, .... the annulment of Israel’s existence”. The error, referring to the establishment of an Israeli state.
On the 7 October 2023, Israel declared war. This war paved the way and created the opportunity which can possibly lead to the next historical landmark in the history of Israel. A peace agreement. This agreement is already being discussed. In Christian eschatology, the next Biblical event after the peace agreement is the 42-month rule of the Antichrist which will then start in 2027, as shown in the table, based on the premise that adding 70 years to a historical date, will determine the next historical date.
| Date | Plus 70 AD | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 27 September 1961 | 2027 | ? Rule of the Antichrist |
Should this transpire, from the date in the table above, it can easily be ascertained that 42 months from the rule of the Antichrist, the fullness of the Gentiles would then be 2030. In this year, the Feast of Tabernacles is from 11 to 18 October. This is the date of the Jewish Feast, generally accepted in Christiaan circles, Jesus will fulfil when He returns.
Ecclesiastes 1:9.
What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.
