Date of 2nd Coming Revealed

Bible scholars have struggled with the idea that the disciples asked Jesus a question that He seemingly did not know the answer.

On the morning of Wednesday April 1st, 33 A.D., Jesus was in the Temple preaching. The Pharisees arrived to ask Him yet more questions that were purposefully composed to cause Him to answer in a way that would upset the religious leaders, or the authorities of Rome, or hopefully both. Instead, Jesus said He first wanted to ask them a question.

He said to them, "What do you think of the Christ {Messiah}? Whose son is he?" They responded simply, "The {genetic} son of David" (Matthew 22:41-42). Then Jesus quoted from the Book of Psalms in which King David gave a prophecy that the priesthood considered doctrinally troubling, so therefore undecipherable. Jesus said, “David quoted while in the Spirit {prophesying} calling him {the Messiah his son} Lord. This would mean that David was prophesying that his son would be both the Messiah and the Lord {God}. Jesus then went on to quote the next prophecy verse by David. He said, "The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my side {Throne} until I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalm 110:1). The issue for the religious leaders was straightforward. David was plainly revealing that there were apparently two Lords or a Godhead conversing between each other. The Jews had suspected this as the Hebrew word for God Elohim is in the plural tense. And, that the Messiah would be both his son {human} and God {Divine}. But even David did not know how this was possible. Jesus then finished by asking the Pharisees, "If David then calls him {his son} Lord, how is he {also} his son?" (Matthew 22:41-45). The Priests huddled for a meeting but knew that any way they answered this question, it would cause a public controversy. Either David was in error when he prophesied, or God consisted of two separate entities creating a Godhead or Dyad. Also, David was plainly stating that the Messiah would be both a man (son) and God (Lord). Therefore, they refused to answer this question and never asked Jesus another question from that day forward (Matthew 22:46).

Jesus then left the Temple for the last time. He will return at His Second Coming. Jesus walked with His disciples to the Mount of Olives. On the way up the Mount, Peter, James, John and Andrew asked Him to consider the beauty of the Temple. Jesus then prophesied that the Temple would soon be completely destroyed (Matthew 24:1-3). This happened in 70 A.D. when Rome burned the Temple to the ground. Rome then began a multi-year and effective 'scorched earth policy' in which they pulled down every Jewish stacked stone home and building across the entire nation. This is why, if you visit Israel, you only see the foundations of first century Jewish homes and buildings. Interestingly, the only sacred sites that remain in Nazareth are the childhood homes of Mary and Jesus. This is because they were created by excavating into the native limestone. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Rome executed approximately one million Jews and took millions as slaves that were deported to foreign lands. Those who escaped eventually migrated to the four corners of the earth. The destruction of Jerusalem occurred exactly 40 years after Jesus began His 40 month ministry.

When Jesus arrive atop the Mount, the same four disciples asked Him three questions. When would the Temple be destroyed? What would be the sign of His {Second} coming? And, when would the End of the Age of the Rule of Mankind on earth occur? Jesus then began to prophesize, citing incredible details in order to answer these three questions. However, concerning the exact date and time of each Jesus said, "But of that {exact} day and hour knows no man, no, not the Angels of Heaven, but My Father only.” (Matthew 24:36)

So right here we have Jesus telling His disciples, at that time, that only His Father knew the day and hour of each of these three events including the End of the Age and His Second Coming. While many have read this quote and deduced that Jesus did not know the dates, this is obviously completely untrue. This seemingly simple straightforward answer by Jesus is filled with information concerning a variety of historical events that were preordained to occur. Jesus would later give Paul and the Apostle John a way for us to accurately deduce the exact date to the day of His Second Coming. We now need to unpack this wealth of information one word at a time.

First, Jesus was telling His disciples that, only His biological father {God} knew the date. This did not mean His Father would never release this information publicly, but only that at this particular time only He knew the date. So, this statement implies that the date is set and known by God. Therefore, because God is Triune in essence, all three entities (God the Father, God the Word and God the Holy Spirit) would all have known the date. Thus, Jesus as the physical Word of God knew the date. However, by Jesus saying only God knew the date, and the disciples not understanding at this time that Jesus was part of a Triune Godhead, Jesus both told a truth, and at the same time, ended the discussion about them receiving the dates at that time.

Next, we need to understand what Jesus meant by the words “knows no man”. God has made man in four ways. Adam from the soil of the earth, Eve from Adam's flesh or DNA, children the way they are ordinarily made, and the body of Jesus. The Book of Mathew tells us the Angel Gabriel explained to Mary how the body of Jesus would be uniquely made. He explained that God the Father would send the Holy Spirit to indwell her and cause her to conceive. This was necessary because Joseph, a son of Adam under the curse of sin, now contained a genetic predisposition to sin as do all men. While Mary’s egg contained 23 genomes, she would need the 23 genomes of a male to create a viable pregnancy. Therefore, God and not a sin cursed man {Joseph} would provide the needed 23 genomes to insure the body of Jesus was not infected {unblemished} by the genetic curse of mankind. Because Jesus was fully human from Mary yet fully Divine from God, He was a one off creation and thus more than an ordinary man. So, He could truthfully say to the disciples that "no man" or ordinary sinful man, would know the exact date of His Second Coming at that time. But this did not and does not mean that Jesus as Divine {God incarnate} did not know this date.

We can also know for a fact that Jesus knew this date because of an attribute of God. Put simply, God is omnipotent. God is outside of the time space continuum of mankind and is in eternity. God knows the timeline of the rule of mankind from the end to the beginning (Isaiah 46: 9-11). And, the dates of Jesus birth, ministry, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection were all decide before the foundations of the earth were created (Revelation 13:8). So this means that these events, including His Second Coming, were also fixed in the timeline of the history of the rule of the earth by mankind. Therefore, from His incarnation to His Second Coming, all were included in this timeline known by the full Godhead.

But what the disciples did not understand at this time was that Jesus was more than a brilliant charismatic Rabbi who could prophesize and heal.

They assumed that the Messiah would be what the Temple rabbi’s had taught them. This is why Jesus confronted the Temple priest on this exact issue just hours earlier. He was making it clear that the Messiah would be both fully human and fully Devine. The disciples believed that the Messiah would be born in the lineage of King David, a charismatic leader who would raise up an army, and with the hand of God at his side, drive out the pagan Romans. Then he would establish a theocracy in Israel and start a family dynasty. They had no idea at this time that Jesus was literally the Word of God incarnate and as such, the visible incarnation of one member of the Triune Godhead. Again, this was why Jesus quoted King David who prophesied that the Messiah would be both human and Divine. Jesus would explain this to the disciples Thursday night during the Last Supper (John 10:30; John 14:9; John 17:5; John 17:21-23). And they would finally understand the full scope of who He was Sunday morning April 5th when He arose from the dead. John explained this when he wrote, "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among Mankind. Light shown in the darkness of mankind but mankind did not comprehend it." (John 1:1-3) Therefore Jesus, as the Word of God, knew all the dates associated with His mission just as well as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit knew these dates. So why did Jesus not just tell the disciples the date?

First and foremost, the Godhead must have agreed that it would not be prudent to give the exact date. They would have decided this based on four reasons. First, not knowing the date caused the disciples and other followers to assume that the date was imminent. Paul even wrote that He thought the date was soon because he included himself in the Rapture event (I Thessalonians 4:16-17). This caused an urgency within the Jesus as Messiah movement to spread the good news of salvation or the Gospel as quickly as possible. Second, if Jesus had said the end time would occur in two thousand years, His followers would have become lackadaisical. Why hurry when you have a two thousand year time frame to work within? Third, and most importantly, it was the will of the Godhead that their family of followers be grown to consist of as many people as possible. So the longer the wait, the bigger the family of God grows. And last, but not least, just imagine the wide spread panic throughout the world as the date He gave grew nearer. More on this subject later in this paper. So no, it was best that Jesus not give the date to His disciples.

Scripture is also tells us that while Jesus’ conception was supernatural, His birth and childhood were completely normal (Luke 2:40). He was an obedient child to His parents and elders. He also apparently was a child prodigy when it came to a profound understanding of Scripture. This would explain His ability to debate the meaning of scriptural text with the Temple's leading rabbis at the age of twelve (Luke 2:41-50). So we can know for certain that at least by the time Jesus was twelve years old, He was receiving Scriptural understandings and mission information supplied by God the Father by way of God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Jesus must have had an understanding with God the Father about not revealing the exact date of His Second Coming. Yet He was allowed to give an extremely detailed End of the Age timeline so that the people experiencing the Tribulation Period would have hope for a future.

Jesus publicly ascended back to the Throne of God forty days after His resurrection and ten days before the Feast of Pentecost. But He was not finished imparting yet more pertinent information about His Second Coming. Jesus also gave detailed information to the Apostle Paul concerning the Rapture of His followers (I Thessalonians 4:16; I Corinthians 15:52; I Thessalonians 4:17). While we are not told when the Rapture will take place, there is nothing more that needs to happen for the Rapture to occur. But we do know it will be the Rapture that triggers the seven year Tribulation Period. And, Jesus tells us through the prophet Hosea that His Second Coming will occur when the Jewish race repents of their sin of pride in their own accomplishments, and begs God for protection against the Antichrist (Hosea 5:15). Jesus also showed the Apostle John in a vision, actual scenes in real time of the last days of the Age of the Rule of Mankind on earth. So we can say that John saw a portion of the timeline of mankind!

John wrote that He actually saw Jesus at the Throne of God and His Second Coming to the earth. He saw the destruction of the unrepentant wicked and His entrance into Jerusalem accompanied by His Saints to begin His one thousand year earthly reign. Much like today's sneak preview of a coming motion picture, John was actually allowed to preview a part of this God's timeline for mankind. He was told by Christ to write down what He saw (Revelation 1:1-2, 19). This information in the Book of Revelation, combined with the information in the Book of Matthew chapter 24, is a survival guide from Jesus to the Jews, and His latest followers that came to have faith in Him during the Tribulation Period. So the idea that Jesus did not know the actual date would be at odds with His position within the Godhead and all the detailed information He has given us.

And last but not least, according to the King James Version and the New King James Version, Jesus never said He did not know the time. He only answered their question by saying that, "...no man nor the angels of Heaven know but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36 KJV). And again, since Jesus stated that He and the Father were one, it is obvious that if God knew the date, Jesus also knew the date (John 14:9).

Other translations of this verse include the phrase. “…nor the Son…”. But even in these cases, Jesus did not say if He was at that time referring to Himself as the Son of Man, or the Son of God. The disciples, at this time, did not think of Jesus as the biological Son of God the Father. Instead, He was the biological human son of Mary (man) in the human lineage of King David. According to the Book of Matthew, when Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was, Peter said, “You are the Christ {Messiah}, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). However, the Book of Mark quotes Peter as only saying, “You are the Christ ” (Mark 8:29). And even if Matthew's recollection is correct, Peter may have only meant that Jesus was the Son of God because He was a grown and gifted child of God. Remember, Peter was not expecting Jesus' resurrection. And even after he visited the empty tomb, while John believed, Peter remained confused as to what had actually happened (Luke 24:12; John 20:6-9). So it is doubtful that Peter's remark in Matthew was a statement that he believed that Jesus was God incarnate. But in either case, the disciples at this time all saw Jesus as the human Messiah or Anointed Son {One} of Man {David} blessed by God with Divine abilities. Remember, these were the same men that saw Jesus buried, and were sure that the Jesus as Messiah movement was over. They were all astounded to find He had actually risen from the grave. So the phrase “nor the Son” would be Jesus referring to the title He most often used about Himself as the human Son of Man through Mary. Therefore, as the human Son of Man, He would not be expected to know the date as only God knew. However, if He had been addressed as the Word of God incarnate, His Divine nature did know the date.

This is not semantics or splitting hairs. Jesus regularly questioned those looking to receive a miracle from Him who they thought He was and did they have faith in Him. Those that had faith in Him as the anointed one {Messiah} from God were healed. Those that thought of Him as just another itinerant rabbi, like the village of Nazareth, were not (Matthew 13:57-58). That said, Jesus could heal those that had no faith in Him, proving He could heal with or without an admonition of faith. Martha, the sister of Lazareth, had no faith that He could raise her brother's rotted corpse from the dead, but He did (John 11:21). The cripple man laying by the pool of Bethesda made no pronouncement of faith, but was healed (John 5:6-9).

THE EXACT DATE OF THE SECOND COMING

As for how Jesus gave us the exact date of His Second Coming, we have to start with the revelation of the Rapture event that He gave to Paul. According to Paul, the Rapture will remove the current estimated 2.3 billion living Christians from the earth. According to the Torah, the Age of Accountability is all those under the age of twenty (Exodus 30:14; Numbers 32:11; Deuteronomy 1:39). Therefore, we could expect that the current 2.2 billion children of the earth will also be raptured. This total is approximately half the world’s current population. This incredible supernatural event will definitely cause the start of the Tribulation Period. Then the Book of Daniel tells us that 1,260 days (3.5 years @ 360 days per year) into the Tribulation Period, the Antichrist would commit an "abomination" in the Third Temple at Jerusalem by declaring himself worthy of worship (Daniel 7:25; Mark 13:14). And finally, that the Second Coming of Christ would occur exactly 1,260 days (3.5 years) after the abomination event. So, followers of Christ on earth will now know the exact date of His Second Coming after all. There is a second geographical problem with Jesus giving the exact date that is explained later in this paper.

Next, Jesus stated that, “… not the angels of heaven {know} …”. This piece of information confirms that the angels, although dear to God, are creations and as such they are not involved in God’s decision making, and do not know the timing of God’s ever unfolding eternal plans for all of Creation. They have powers, ranks and duties, but only learn of God's plan through observation. They, like mankind, are watching as God’s plans unfold.

The angels have not been told of the exact time of the Second Coming for two reasons. First, God does not reveal His plans concerning mankind to the angels ahead of schedule (I Peter 1:12). Second, by Jesus stating that God has not revealed this timeline to the angels of Heaven, He is implying that this includes the angels in the earthly heavens and in Sheol or Hell. So, even the fallen Cherubim Satan also does not know the time of the Rapture and Second Coming. He was not aware of the timing of Jesus’ First Coming and He does not know the timing of the Second Coming. But he does know that 3.5 years after his son the Antichrist declares himself worthy of worship, Jesus will appear. And he is singularly focused on this one event and will try to stop it from occurring as it will culminate with his being thrown into the Pit and later into the Lake of Fire for all eternity.

As for the information given by Jesus in His prophecy, “But of that day and hour, no man knows …” , we need to look at this last phrase in two very different ways. As previously stated, had Jesus given an exact date, civilization would start to unravel as the date grew nearer. The second problem with giving an exact date and time is the fact that time is relative to where you are on earth.

To better explain this, let's suppose that Jesus stated that He would appear on say April 3rd, 2026. Now, consider the effects that date would have on people over time as it drew nearer and nearer. Some would reason, why work when you know the date He will arrive and make everything new. Some people would stop paying bills and run up their charge accounts thinking there would be no harm and a personal benefit as they awaited Jesus’ appearance. This would be prematurely disastrous for the world's economies. Rogue nations such as Russia, China, North Korea and many others would see the growing chaos among the nations as an opportune time to invade and seize land and resources. People might also stop having babies as they would see the imminent coming of Christ as not allowing them the time necessary to rear them. People would absolutely start to commit crimes of robbery, assault and battery and murder. The assumption will be that they will escape punishment due to authorities inability to deal with mass civil unrest. Young people would drop out of school as what would be the use of continuing their education. Drinking and illicit drug consumption would skyrocket as people would simply began to stop working and just find ways to kill time until Jesus arrived. Although Jesus warned people against this, mankind has a spotty record of following God’s words of wisdom, but have instead gone their own ways (Matthew 25: 14-30).

But most importantly, if Satan were to get advanced notice concerning the Rapture and associated Tribulation Period dates, he would immediately focus on an Antichrist candidate. It will be through him, as his son, that they initiate a plan to completely annihilate the Jewish race. Satan believes that if he can eliminate God’s chosen people, then Jesus will have no reason to return to the earth and destroy him as prophesied (Revelation 20:10). And in this way, he will achieve his ultimate goal of having the earth as his kingdom and be worshipped by mankind who was created in the image of God.

And finally, fewer and fewer people would care anymore about anything but themselves. They would live hedonistic lives of complete indulgence with little or no concern for others. They would cease caring about the repercussions of their actions on society. They would follow the old adage, 'live for today for tomorrow we may die'. Jesus put it best when He said, "...as it was in the days of Noah, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be...they were eating and drinking and were unaware until the flood came and took them all away; so will the {Second} coming of the Son of Man be." (Matthew 24:37-39).

There is a second and more practical reason Jesus said, “… of that day and hour no man knows..” The earth rotates on its axes as it rotates around the sun. This gives us night and day, time zones and seasons. So, while it might be March 5th in the US, it is March 6th in the far eastern part of the earth yet March 4th in the far western part of the earth. Remarkably, three days are always occurring on the earth at one time. There are also 24 different time zones around the earth to consider. Therefore, while Christ will arrive in such a way that the entire population of the earth will see Him simultaneously (Revelation 1:7), the calendar date and time zone that one group sees Him will be different from the calendar day and time zone that another group in another part of the earth see Him. So truly, there is no way to give the exact day and hour as it will vary wildly between three different days and 24 different time zones. Thus, Jesus' statement, “… of that day and hour no man knows …” is completely true.

But then everything Jesus said was true. It was just that mankind could not stand hearing the truth from Him because it was, and still is, inconvenient to the act of sinning. Remarkably, Jesus was sentenced to death for telling the truth. He told the High Priest He was the Son of God and Pilate He was a King with a Kingdom. Both of these statements were true, but they were seen as inconvenient truths by the religious and governmental leaders.

On a closing note, it was Jesus who spoke Creation into existence ((((((. As such, He obviously knew the earth was round and rotated around the sun creating three different days and twenty four time zones. He may have been hinting that this is why no man could know the time of his Second Coming as it could occur all at once, but at the time of day when the earth is experiencing three different days and the ever present twenty four different times. However, He did not declare this knowledge as He wants people to believe in Him through faith, and not be proven through scientific declarations. So yes, Jesus definitely knew the time of His Second Coming. But, He did not declare it because, at that time, mankind was temporarily blinded as to who He was, and His two part earthly mission on their behalf and at His expense.