No One Knows When..Mt, 24:36-44

Let's go ahead and turn into the passage here. We're in Matthew 24 as Josiah read for us, verse 36. From our earlier studies of the book of Revelation, just a few weeks back, we began a brief but intentional detour to the end of the 23rd and then into the 24th chapter of Matthew. And just to refresh our memories here, Our Lord is with the disciples and he's going over the details of his second coming It's a kind of a momentous time because here they are there on the Mount of Olives looking back Towards the Temple Mount in Jerusalem This is probably late in the day. It is Passover week and not only that but It's but a matter of days from this time until the time when our Lord would be crucified and then buried and then resurrected, all within that week. So this is a very momentous time, a very scenic view. Now, as you might expect, this view has changed a little bit since that time.

There used to be, right here, there used to be a bridge across this valley, and so that bridge has been taken out. This gate, this eastern gate that you see here, was open, and it was sealed up a little over 500 years ago. There are a bunch of Muslim graves in front of it, and the Muslim graves and the sealing over the gates to prevent the Jewish Messiah from coming, if you can imagine that. That's what they put that there for. But those weren't there at the time. The church was not here, so there are several things that have changed, and the biggest thing is what you see now as the Muslim Dome of the Rock, At that place there was the Jewish temple.

So here's our Lord with the disciples and He's explaining these things in the scenery laid out before Him about what is going to happen in His second coming. So let's proceed here into verse 36, okay? But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven nor the Son, but the Father alone.

Now, I have to tell you, and you probably already know, the misunderstanding and neglect of this one verse has had an impact for about 20 centuries. People have repeatedly tried to establish a date. Have you noticed that? Just again and again and again, they keep trying to put one up. Not only for the Lord's coming, but also for the rapture. People keep trying to set a date, and another one, and another one. Don't know what what it is about it But people just cannot resist the temptation to try to set a date in spite of what we just read Our Lord conveyed basically the same message again to the disciples less than two months later It went in Acts chapter 1 verses 6 and 7 This went on so when they had come together that is the disciples and our Lord They were asking him saying Lord is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel and he said to them It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority."

Now, given what we've just read, isn't it amazing how people think that they're supposed to do it anyway? It's just phenomenal. Here's some examples of date setters. And actually, I've got a computerized catalog at home with hundreds of examples of people setting dates. It just seems like it goes on and on.

Obviously, someone in Thessalonica came to the Christians there And as Paul's writings, the Thessalonians, clues us in, there had to be this correction. You know, hey, the Lord hasn't already come. And today we have this teaching called preterism that actually is based on this, hey, the Lord's already come message. Same mistake.

Or there have been numerous Jews over the centuries that have said the Messiah is going to come now. And obviously those didn't come to pass. And as it turns out, Today we have liberal Judaism in which they actually don't hold to even their own Old Testament scriptures. A lot of that resulted from people setting dates and setting dates and setting dates and having it not come true. So eventually they just started setting the scriptures aside and even setting aside the idea of a Messiah.

Martin Luther actually took a stab at setting a date, set a date just beyond his life. John Wesley was another one, set a date just beyond his lifetime in the 1800s. William Miller was one, he was a Baptist minister, set a time in 1844, and this seems to be the classic response, sell everything, wear white clothes, go stand on a mountain, right?

That's what he did. Led a bunch of people, called the Great Disappointment, and I can't say I'd be disappointed too. So here's one event. The Jehovah's Witnesses is another group. I feel badly for them, but they've set about eight different dates, and none of them have happened. So anyway, the Branch Davidians is another one.

Roughly a decade ago, you remember the big conflagration, how that ended up down in Waco, Texas. And then various ones about Y2K. You've heard some of those, right? All this Y2K stuff. Yeah, Ben? The computers always remember, don't they? This Y2K mania was something that, boy, people bought all kinds of stuff, right? And I think a lot of people have an awful lot of that stuff still to sell. Do you have any for sale?

I think the thing to focus in, and we could go forever on who guessed wrong. Oh, I've got to add one more thing. In checking this out, I found another one on the web. The 7th of this month was supposed to be the rapture. So a person had nailed it down. I found out about that on the 6th, so I got to watch it real carefully. It didn't happen, obviously, unless we're not a part of the crew.

I think if you look at it, there's two problems with this whole setting dates, and the problems are these. One is it tends to undermine the perceived credibility of the Scriptures. People think, well, gosh, if you keep getting that out of the Bible and it keeps being wrong and wrong and wrong and wrong and wrong, how can this thing be right? Furthermore, I think there's something else, and that's that our message to the world needs to be about the gospel. By setting a date, you distract from and undermine the real message.

Isn't that true? It creates a problem in that way. We need to have people looking, because they first need to make a decision about Jesus Christ. If we're distracting with what really ends up being kind of headlining here, we're creating a problem that is unnecessary. Okay.

Enough of date setters. One of the things to take a look at here is the Lord has spelled out that certainly, and we've been studying this since the beginning of this year, about this tribulation period, and there are lots of details that we have, aren't there? Lots and lots of details.

But what He's spelling out is while there are many things that are certain, and the Lord's coming is certain, what is uncertain is the timing. And that's what people can't seem to get. The Lord's coming is certain. The timing is uncertain. And I think that's important to look at. You've seen this timeline here before. Here's this tribulation period. We've got a rapture. We've got the beginning of the tribulation. It's got kind of a three and a half year break in the middle. The second coming at the end. All those are certain things and we've been given lots of details of what happens in between.

But there are uncertainties. Here are some of these uncertainties, and it's reflected in your handout as well. He's here telling us and confirming it that the timing of these events is not something we're intended to know. Now, we know, for example, that there's no sign preceding the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ for His Church. That is an event that will be a surprise. We're told repeatedly that the rapture will be like a thief in the night. It doesn't mean that there's a negative connotation to it. It just means that there won't be some kind of a warning. You aren't going to be able to say, it's this date. You're not going to be able to do that, no matter how many people think so.

There is also, and that shows up in this timeline, there is also the possibility of a time gap between the rapture and the start of the tribulation. Now, why would I say such a thing? The reason is this. We have these kind of points in logic. The Tribulation will start, remember when we studied Daniel chapter 9, the Tribulation will start with the signing of a treaty with the Antichrist and Israel involved. There will be that treaty. That will be the starting point. We know that from Daniel chapter 9, verse 24. That's point one. We know from scripture that the church will not enter the tribulation period.

That's from 1 Thessalonians 1.9, 5.10, and Revelation 3.10. So we know that that is in place. The third thing is the church will be taken out of the world raptured before the tribulation period. But there isn't an absolute lock that says the rapture starts the tribulation period.

There's a possibility of a gap in there. I wouldn't expect based on the descriptions of scripture that that's a long gap, but there's a possibility of a gap. So there is an uncertainty there. Now, there is in fact other uncertainty, and that is most of the tribulation judgments give us a description, but not a time frame. We know the sequence, but we don't know the duration of those. See the difference? We'll know the sequence, but not the duration.

There's one exception of that that comes to mind, and that is the fifth bowl judgment. Excuse me. One exception to that is we'll have the infestation, if you will, of these locusts slash scorpions that will come for five months. Now, John Doyle is not allowed to dream about that again, okay? But for five months, we'll have that judgment.

Most of the judgments, however, are not given a time frame. Say, we're not given a, this will last this long, this will last this long. So that tells us while we have a sequence, and in this one instance we've given a duration, most of them do not have a duration that allows us to say how long things are. So there's that uncertainty as well. Again, it's not an uncertainty, will it happen? It's just an uncertainty with regard to the duration. Let's take a look at a little bit more there.

Some of the tribulation judgments are going to remove the natural timing indicators that are there. We naturally operate by the sun, and then even the moon, and the moon goes through its phases, right? And we have the stars, and the stars have their own clock, so to speak. Some of the tribulation judgments, and most explicitly, the fifth of the bold judgments, where the whole earth is darkened, That takes out a timing measure.

And furthermore, we don't know how long it does so. So there is that uncertainty as to time. There is not an uncertainty as to will it happen, but there is an uncertainty as to the time. The next thing in there is, as we looked at previously just a couple weeks back, when the Lord comes again will also be a time when the sun, moon, and stars will be taken out of the picture, so to speak. so that the coming of the Lord will stand out. Well, we also there have an indication of now our timing indicators, the natural timing indicators will be taken out. So now you have all these various factors about which we have uncertainty as to timing. So everything from the rapture up to the second coming, although we have some things that are quite certain and some things where we're even given a duration.

There are other aspects of it. where it will be difficult for those living on the earth, especially in the midst of the distraction of all this that's going on. Those folks living on the earth at that time will have a difficult time nailing down the timing of this sequence of events. Now, notice something else.

In verse 36, it says specifically that the angels don't know the time of His return. Isn't that interesting? Not even the angels know. Of course, these days, if you notice, about roughly the last decade, there's been real focus on angels. Angel TV shows. Some larger cities even have angel knick-knack shops. The whole shop is focused on angels. You've got angel artwork and things of that sort. I mean, some folks are really into it. There's even been a TV special covering all the people who are really focused on angels.

And the Lord just says flat out, they don't know. They don't know. And then notice this, our Lord, at least in His earthly role at the time, He disclaimed any knowledge. This is not the Son. Even after He was resurrected in Acts 1, 6 and 7, just as we just read, what's His response? The Father alone. That's given to Him. Now, let's read verse 37.

For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah, Our Lord said that the time preceding his return will be like the days of Noah. There will be some similarities there. Some things that are comparable, as we'll see in a little more detail shortly. Basically, these are the activities that he lays out. People are going to be trying to get on with their lives. People are going to be proceeding there with just the normal kinds of things that they do.

There was a warning of God's judgment here. It's been largely unheeded. Noah warned them back in his day. Think of it during this tribulation period. There will be the rapture. There will be two witnesses. I won't put up 144,000 fingers, okay? 144,000 of these Jewish men who are sealed. There'll be a gospel angel.

There'll be plenty of warnings, and that's comparable to the warnings that those who were living in the time before the flood also had with Noah, constantly warning them about what was coming. There were those who were taken away by the judgment. Remember in the flood of Noah's time, even despite the warnings, except for those eight that were in the ark, all the rest of them were taken away. And then during the tribulation period, there will be the great mass of people taken away by the judgment. The judgment will take them away similar to what the flood did.

Okay. Notice here, if you take a peek at this chart, just as in the days of Noah, here is this alert, this warning that they had. Here's Noah. He's a preacher of righteousness, he's called in scripture. Here, the alert, this warning that they have, basically they've got the rapture as a warning, if you're willing to take a look at that. Those witnesses in the middle of the tribulation period. Then comes this judgment. There are those who are taken away by the judgment And here's another comparison between the flood of Noah's time and the coming judgments and the tribulation.

There will be those that survive and continue on. In this global flood judgment, there was Noah and his family, basically the eight that went on the ark, and the animals that were on the ark with them. In the same way, the tribulation period will have those who survive as well. Noah and his family went on to populate the earth, and in fact, everybody sitting in this room here is descended from Noah and his family, right?

In the same way, those who survive these tribulation judgments will continue on to populate the Millennial Kingdom, this time when our Lord will reign on the earth. See that? So here there are several parallels between Noah's flood, if you will, and this coming tribulation judgment. So our Lord makes an appropriate comparison here.

Now, if you look at it, they've got a sequence of activities, these things that they're doing, this eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, men in the field, tomb and grinding. If you look at it, those aren't some list of evil things, are they?

They're just normal everyday things. If any of us were doing any of those, we'd say that's normal. I hope some of you had something to eat and drink this last week, right? Maybe you didn't get married this last week, but it happens, okay? Men in the field, women grinding is basically the typical activities. That's the normal thing that you would expect, okay?

So what our Lord is saying here is people are going to be trying to just get on with life. They'll just be continuing on as if everything is normal, at least trying to get that way. And that'll be the same way when this tribulation judgment comes upon people. And when our Lord comes, they just simply won't expect it.

Now, let's take a look at each one of these activities that he lists just a little bit more closely. This is a bride and groom eating and drinking at a wedding ceremony of the time. They would typically have these wedding ceremonies, and the Lord lists them together here. Of course, people can just be eating and drinking, and that would be an everyday activity, but the eating and drinking was frequently associated with a wedding activity. They would even have weddings that would last for days, sometimes a couple of weeks in the follow-up celebration. How many of you have been to weddings that last that long? How many of you have been to weddings where the preacher talks that long?

Okay. Alright, just checking. Okay. We'll try not to do that this morning, by the way. But if you think about it, here they are proceeding with what's basically normal. Anything wrong with the wedding? No. The wedding is fine. But it's just, they'll be proceeding with the usual things of life, as if nothing abnormal is about to take place. That's his point. Let's take a look at another point in detail.

Two men working in the field. This shows them winnowing where they take the grain crops and they cast them up in the air and they let the wind carry away the light stuff. The idea is the grain would drop down below and then they'd collect that up. But two men might be working in the field plowing, planting, harvesting, gathering things in, taking it. The idea is that it would be a couple of men working in the field. This would be normal, and in the biblical times, roughly 90% of the population was agricultural, so this would be just typical, everyday, normal activity.

Another instance that he gives there is two women grinding at the mill. There were two sizes of millstones in those days, and there was a larger millstone that was really big, and then there was a small one used for grinding. This is an example of the larger one. They would have one where there would be one stone grinding on top of another, and you'd have kind of like a funnel type effect here, and then the grindings would come out. And that would be one kind that was used.

Another kind would be like this, Either one of them would be powered by a donkey or an ox, and that's the large millstone. For example, you've heard where Jesus says it would be better if a millstone were hung around his neck? That's the big millstone. And were thrown into the sea, then to cause one of these little ones to stumble?

That's one of these. What he describes here is two women grinding, and that's what this would look like. It was real common to have a couple of women working together at this grinding process. And there would be a few reasons why they would do that. One is it would be a great time to talk. Aside from that though, not every household might own such a mill. So it might be something where I've got one and we'll share as long as we work together. That would be one reason.

The other thing is sitting there turning this thing is a lot of hard work. You've got this little wooden handle and you're going like this. And they didn't have all the ball bearing, you know, type connections that we have available now. So this is just a lot of hard work. You're going to fight an inefficient connection plus you're just sitting there grinding. Tiring work.

And you've got to grind enough for the whole family. And so one woman would grind and then the other one would be available to continuously pour the grain in the middle. Too much at once and it's not going to grind. They end up just kind of rolling over each other. So you pour the grain a little at a time to grind it. So one woman would pour while the other would turn it and then because of the fact that it was tiring then they could switch off. Because one person wasn't having to go like this and the other one trying to keep... the same person trying to keep pouring was more efficient too. So they'd be grinding away at the mill. So two women at the mill was common, everyday experience. Everybody knew. Oh, I've seen that all the time. That's what my mom did. My sisters did. Grandmother. Everybody had seen this. Real common, everyday event.

Okay. Verse 42. Let's take a look at it. Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. Now I have some good news for you. Being on the alert does not mean that you are not allowed to sleep anymore. Okay? That's good. Isn't that good to know? I thought so. Anyway.

Turns out that this being on the alert, this being on the alert here is something that is not only spoken of just about the time of the Lord's coming, it is something that the church Believers of the church age are implored to do as well. As a matter of fact, it's repeated.

In Acts 20.31, for example, it says, therefore be on the alert. In the exhortation there, here is Paul speaking to the elders at Ephesus. He's talking about them. Being alert means watch out for the false teachers. Watch over yourselves and for the flock.

1 Corinthians 16.13, be on the alert. This has to do with the church at Corinth being on the alert regarding spiritual and moral matters and to stand firm in the faith.

Then again, Ephesians 6.18 says, be on the alert. That has to do with an exhortation to prayer and spiritual warfare based on our position in Christ.

And Colossians 4.2 talks about keeping alert. And there, that exhortation is again about prayer and thankfulness. In 1 Thessalonians 5-6, he says, let us be alert. Paul's exhortation there is about our position that we have in Christ. And finally, 1 Peter 5-8, be on the alert.

Peter exhorts the believers regarding our casting our cares upon the Lord and standing in our position against the threats of Satan. So this being on the alert doesn't mean that you're constantly wired, okay? Instead, it has to do with our standing with the Lord, our position with Him, and our fellowship with Him. That's the point. That's what being on the alert is all about.

So you don't have to drink ten cups of coffee every morning. Okay? Alright. Verse 43, But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, He would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will." Okay.

It's helpful, this may seem a little strange, it's helpful to know a little bit about the criminal problem at the time of Christ, okay? And that has to do with what was it like, since he keeps Actually, the New Testament keeps referring to this analogy, so it's good for us to know about it. Thievery in the time of Christ. Now, the first thing we see is that according to Jewish law, and this is based on Exodus, it says, it allowed a homeowner to be free from guilt for his killing of a thief who came to the house at night. If they came at day, it was different. But if a thief broke into the house at night, they were actually permitted, according to law, to kill the thief. So this is something serious, right?

Now the flip side of that is you're not going to do anything to that thief if you're caught by surprise. The next thing, thieves in those days, we tend to think of breaking through a window or a door. In those days, the windows were typically too small, you couldn't get through them, and the doors, they would bolt them real solidly. So thieves would typically break through the wall. Why? Because the walls were made of clay and rock. So all you had to do was find a soft spot or even wet the wall. Just pour water on it and you just start breaking a hole through it. And so the thief would dig through the wall in the average peasant house and especially if they wet the wall it was quiet. And so the person who was inside, the head of the household inside, didn't know what was going on until the thief broke in.

The other thing, and this is, I think, important for us to keep in mind, in the typical household in those days, what they would do is they would set a mat on the floor and the whole family would bed down together on that mat. And typically the father would be right in the middle of them. So trying to deal with anything means I've got these kids around and the wife next to me, and it would be a real hassle, a real disruption, especially if you're trying to get up and be ready by surprise. And so that whole pattern, this is one of the reasons why in Luke 11, 5 through 7, there's this fellow who comes and says, hey, I've got some friends coming, give me something.

And this guy comes in the middle of the night, remember, and the response there is, Don't bother me. The door has already been shut. And my children are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. Okay? And it's because of that they would basically be all bedded down together. It would be terribly disruptive and kind of getting untangled from all these family members would be real tough.

Now, there's one other thing and that's that you think of this situation trying to confront this Thief in the night, they posed a physical danger, obviously. He's the one that's awake, you're the one that's just trying to pry yourself awake. There was also a concern among the Jews, and some of them even wrote about it, I don't want to be caught, you know, kind of underdressed, running down the street, chasing some guy. It's just a bad scene, okay?

And so that was something they would be concerned about. And then, of course, there's the obvious property loss risk there. So what does this warning have to do with us? Even though we aren't Jews, even though we're not going through the tribulation period, even though we'll already be with our Lord when He returns, we are called, as we've seen several verses, we are called to be alert, even now in this church age.

So what does that mean? Does that mean sell everything? Does that mean stand up on top of a mountain with white clothes until he comes? Does it mean live at the church building until he comes? Maybe not. Does it mean stay up all night? Does it mean get really, really, really busy? Is that what he's talking about?

Now, looking at the things that Scripture connects with alertness, we come away with a different idea than those questions I just asked. alert means beholding Him. Being alert means beholding Him. Even now, before we get through heaven's gates, it means that we are to believe. It means we are to put our faith in the spiritual facts as revealed in scripture. That's being alert. Putting our faith in the spiritual facts means being spiritually alert. It means that even though on the outside, and you remember the list of things?

Eating and drinking and getting married and working. Those are normal things. On the outside, we're going to look like other people in one way. And yet, being alert means that there's going to be something very different happening. We're going to be resting in our position. remembering that we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, which this world doesn't know and cannot touch. On the outside, we might look the same. We'll have the same clothing, buy our clothes at the same place, but that's just the exterior. Being alert will put us in a very different place spiritually. Being alert means that we speak to the Lord not out of religious obligation, but out of the fellowship that we have with Him, based on His life, which He is constantly giving to us.

In John 10.28, the Lord says, you know, I am giving them life. And the Greek text there is, I am right now constantly giving them life. Okay? Living based upon His life, the life that He gives, that's being alert. That's what being alert means right now to you and me.

Therefore, since that's what being alert is, we will be ready for that blessed instant when He comes to take us home. Whether it's at a time when we're here on planet Earth, living, or whether we have died, both those who are living and those who have died will be raptured if they're believers. Rapture just isn't for those who are here on planet Earth living. All believers of the Church Age will be raptured.

And we can be alert. We can be ready by beholding Him. And He wants us to be ready because it's going to take all eternity for Him to reveal all that He has for us. All eternity. Ephesians 2.7. The bottom line is, being alert is resting. Resting in who He is and what He has done.

If you can stand it, I'd like to sing you a short song. Can you handle that? Okay. Alright. Rest Rest in Him Your work is through. Lean back on His great power. He'll work through you. Rest in Him. Your work is through. Lean back on His great power. He'll work through you. Let's pray.

You've called us repeatedly to be alert. And Lord, boy, we can get real tempted to get real busy. We can be tempted to be wired. We can be tempted even to give up thinking, oh Lord, but it's such a long time to be alert. And yet that being alert is really just trusting and resting in you and being confident in who you are and what you have already done and the blessings that you've already given us. And so we ask, Lord, that you would teach us moment by moment, day by day, what that means. We just thank you for that marvelous gift that we can rest in you, even now, while we wait for your coming. In Jesus' name, Amen.