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NASB | Matthew 24:36 ¶ "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 24:36 ¶ "But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son [in His humanity], but the Father alone. |
Subject: Are we now in start of end times? |
Bible Note: The doctrine of last things and the accompanying 'signs' that point toward them (the theological term is 'eschatology') runs the gamut from solid biblical teaching to wildly speclulative. The Scriptures certainly do provide a great deal of information about the signs of the end of the (church) age and the 'last days' (in which we live" is the time interim measured from the first advent to the second advent of Jesus Christ. Scriptural prophecy, although it is crystal clear about the absolute certainty of our Lord's return and the end of the age, it gives us no calendar or clock, no day or hour, when these things will take place. It is therefore vain to speculate about God's timing: He has His own clock and has not chosen to let man look at it. It is equally foolish to interpret every specific world event in light of scriptural prophecy. For instance, someone on this forum saw the destrucion of New York City's World Trade Towers as a direct and specific fulfillment of a certain prophecy in Daniel, I believe it was. As another example I cite an instance that happened a few years ago in my home state. A little band of misguided people got it in their heads (through some arcane chronological calculation) that the world would end at a certain hour of a certain day. In preparation for the event they donned themselves in white robes, went to a peak in the Ozark mountains and waited. Nothing unusual happened that day. The world continued as before, the little band dispersed, each to his own home, and hasn't really been heard from since. But this does not mean, of course, that we should pay no attention to Jesus' command to watch and to be prepared for His coming. Christians in the early church lived in expectation of the Lord's imminent return and so should Christians in our time. In this Christians by no means err. They err when they mark their calendars or set their stop watches. And they also err when they read more specificity into biblical prophecy than what it actually reveals. --Hank |