END TIMES?

Chapter 1 - Know the Day or Hour?

"No man knows the day and hour":

This phrase shows up in three different passages:

Matthew 24:36,

Mark 13:32,

And in a bit of a different (yet related) context - Luke 12:46

Now most commentators assess that the meaning of this, is that no one knows the day and hour; as well as no one will ever know the day or hour. Is this true though?

One thing contextually we have to ask ourselves about this phrase and the passages it's contained in; is that Jesus states that he "doesn't know the day and hour". Now do we make the same assumption about Jesus never knowing the day and hour as we make about no one else knowing the day and hour? Contextually speaking; to say Jesus (God incarnate as now having ascended into heaven) will never know the day or the hour, doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

So this brings up the next question. Is this phrase contextually linked to the time of it's speaking; seeing how Jesus (obviously) at some point will know the day and hour. This appears to be the case, seeing how the construct of the Greek verb "to know" in this verse, is in the "present indicative active" voice. The "indicative" is the only verb construct that can be tied to the time the speaker is speaking.

This also makes sense in the context of what Jesus says following this phrase. Because you (people I'm speaking to standing before me in the flesh) are not going to know the day and hour; be ready that it might come whenever.

Acts 1:6-7

This is the next verse concerning knowing "times and seasons". This statement is made by Jesus just before he ascends back into heaven post resurrection. He says "It's not for you to know times and seasons that the Father has put in place by His own authority."

Now in this phrase we see the "present indicative active" but also the "aorist infinitive active". "It is (present indicative active) not for you to know (aorist infinitive active) times and seasons that the Father has put in place by His own authority." Now the "it is" related to the "you" who Jesus is speaking to, is connected to the time he's speaking; but the "know" of times and seasons, is not connected to the time of speaking. So what this does grammatically, is it opens the door for the possibility that this knowledge will be obtained later by people who come after them.

Note too what Jesus is NOT saying in this particular interchange.

Jesus is not saying that he/He doesn't know "the day and the hour" at that point.

Remember this is post resurrection; after Jesus's soul and spirit had already ascended to heaven when he died. Although his body was still in the grave when his soul and spirit ascended into heaven; this does not mean these things were not revealed to him while in heaven. So, upon rising from the dead, it seems apparent that he would have retained that knowledge.

So what knowledge had Jesus attained that he'd "come back with" in the flesh? I'm not sure, but my hypothesis would be - the rest of the revelation of the New Testament Scriptures. What ever information reveled in the remainder of the New Testament (which hadn't been written yet) is what Jesus (still being a incarnated again back into the same body that had been killed) would have "came back" with.

Now the next question becomes: given only the Scripture we have (Old and New Testaments) what can we learn about the end of time?

1 Thessalonians 5:1-10:

Now this passage makes a distinction between the children of light and the children of darkness. The children of light are able to "discern the times" and the children of darkness are not. The children of light will be prepared, for they know Jesus comes "as a thief in the night" and the children of darkness are not going to be prepared.