"No one knows the day or the hour." Really?
This is one of the most oft quoted verses in the Scriptures that Yeshua spoke. He meant what He said and said what He meant ... but what exactly did He mean?
There is a first century Jewish idiom that will shed much light on what Yeshua was saying to His followers 2,000-years-ago, and to us today.
The Hebrew calendar is based upon the lunar cycle and consists of twelve 30-day months; with the month officially beginning with the sighting of the first sliver of the new moon.
All Jewish holidays always fall on the full moon of the month - except one. Rosh HaShanah (Head of the Year) is the only holiday that occurs on the first of the month, during the month of Tishri.
Before science understood the cycles of the planets and the solar system, the Jews knew that there was a two-day window for the sighting of the new moon.
The new month could not officially begin until two witnesses reported to the High Priest that they had seen the sliver of the new moon. Once the first two sightings were confirmed, the priests would sound the shofar to declare the start of Rosh HaShanah.
Watch this amazing video from El Shaddai Ministries. It shows Revelation 12 coming to life in the night sky over Jerusalem. This only happens on one night of the year - on Rosh HaShanah. bit.ly/jiuAd7 (Full Screen)
But until these two witnesses came forth, the response from the priests would always be "no one knows the day or the hour" of when the holiday would begin. Thus the words of Yeshua become significant here with this understanding. (Matthew 24:36)
Yeshua was saying that He would come for His bride at Rosh HaShanah (Feast of the Ingathering or Feast of Trumpets). His disciples would have understood immediately what He meant. But the meaning has been lost over the centuries as the Scriptures have been separated further and further from its Hebrew roots.
Yeshua was saying that we would not know which [of the two] days or at what hour [which watch during that night (Mark 13:35)], or which year that He would come. However, He did insist that we know the times and the season. This is why He gave us so many signs to look for.
Yeshua said to 'Watch!' (Matthew 24: 42-43) Are you?
Dawn
Thank you for an interesting post. I'm going to comb through my Scripture on this. Shalom!
ReplyDeleteMany people especially the Roman Greco religion preachers like to pick here and there the verse. Please go back one verse. He was referring to heaven and earth pass away that no one knows this hour.
ReplyDeleteI agree......Seems like he was talking about the destruction of heaven and earth, also the question must have pertained to the destruction of the temple.
DeleteOh heck no. Heaven and earth? I don't get where you guys see that from these verses.
DeleteThis view pays little attention to the literary context, where the coming of the Son of Man is compared to the days of Noah, at which time the flood suddenly came and swept away all the unsuspecting. His coming is also likened to the unexpected breaking in of a thief. There is nothing in the context itself that even remotely mentions this idea of Rosh Hashanah being the time of the Lord's return. While background information is always helpful, it must always remain incidental to the literary context, which is the number one principle of hermeneutics. By the way "day nor hour" is an idiom which means, "no one knows the time." It is not to be pressed too far literally.
ReplyDeleteBut believers who are watching will not be overtaken as a thief. Only those on the dark. The text must be read in context and in light of all cotexts.
DeleteJesus fulfilled the spring appointed times to the day and hour. Paul wrote that the feasts are shadows of what is to come. There is a strong biblucal basis for the Day of the Lord beginning on the 1st of Tishrei, the Feast of Trumpets.
I think that you are right on the mark! The people that are not watching are those that will be surprised as if a thief came. It is also interesting that Jesus would choose the idiom that is directly connected to the 1st of Tishri. That narrows down the Day to that holiday. Jesus often gives clues to deeper things because He wants us to dig. It shows that we love Him and desire deeper things of Him, and those that are alive and watching at that time are the ones that will be changed, not those that are asleep. Reference the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins. Many people's minds go right to the old thought that this shows who will go to heaven and who will not go to heaven, but not so! It refers to who will enter the Kingdom and who will have to wait to enter. We are not going to heaven, except to be presented to the Father as Jesus' Bride, and then comes the work of changing a corrupt world so that the world can be presented to the Father at the climax of the Millennium, as Paul explained.
DeleteThat is not what the 5 virgins without oil means. It wasn't speaking of the rapture imo. They didn't have oil. I understood they tried to get into heaven on the coat tails of true believers. If he didn't know them it couldn't have been because they didn't BELIEVE in the rapture, that is so shallow. I take it to mean they were not saved period. Oil represents the Holy Spirit.
DeleteThe thief in the night is a metaphor about the High Priest coming to check on the priests performing their duties at night to make sure they were not sleeping. It is a caution against not being watchful.
ReplyDeleteIt is also directed at those not being watchful when used in -1 Thessalonians 5, where we are told in v.4 that we are NOT of the dark that this day should surprise us like a thief. No one wants to read that far because it undermines the notion that the timing of the rapture can't be known.
As to the worthiness of the idiom in hermeneutics, I would say it's crucial to understand not only what Jesus said, but what His audience would have heard, had He been speaking with a common figure of speech. If I told you "it's raining cats and dogs" you would know exactly what I meant. But if our conversation were translated into another language, a reader, years later and far removed from a culture that would have quite readily recognized my idiom for heavy rainfal, would not have understood what I meant, and probably assumed I meant something that I did not intend.
The "no one knows the day nor hour" idiomatic name for the Feast of Trumpets is tough because it also has a more easily understood meaning in its strict English translation - unlike the cats and dogs example. And while there may be nothing in the direct context linking this idiom with the Feast of Trumpets, I think it's fair to ask, why there would be if Jesus' audience implicitly understood the idiom without any context. There's no need to unpack the figure of speech if everyone understands it. If I told a crowd of people that it was raining cats and dogs, there would be no need for me to further contextualize the idiom, as my audience would already understand it.
There is context elsewhere that supports a Rapture on the Feast of Trumpets, however. Without listing them all, I will point you to 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52. In this quintessential Rapture passage, Paul not only mentions a trumpet twice, but he specifically calls out "the last trump". The last trump is a very specific reference to the Feast of Trumpets. Paul is referring to the Tekiah Gedolah - the last of the 100 blasts on the shofar that are blown to commemorate the Feast. This was the final blowing and was held for as long as the trumpeter had breath, rising in volume and intensity - and it was commonly known as the last trump. It was as plain as Paul could make it. Yet no one wants to connect anything remotely resembling a timeframe for the Rapture despite both idiomatic and direct contextual evidence to the contrary.
Revelation 3:3 is another reference to Jesus coming as a thief, but if the full context is examined, it's obvious that He only says He comes as the thief to those who are sleeping and will not wake up. But as the same thief analogy in 1Thessalonians would support - if we are awake and watching we will not be surprised.
It's time we wake up!
Well said!
DeleteWow....very well explained! Thank you for taking the time. Your explanation is so concise and clear that many who doubt the rapture occurs on a Rosh Hashana/Feast of Trumpets will have a reason to believe it does!
DeleteContext and audience are EVERYTHING!
DeleteThe END was NEAR, 1 Per 4:7 therefore everything Jesus said was to THEM, those living while the old covenant world order with it's Holy City, temple and cultic form of religion existed. All the old types and shadows were fulfilled in Christ Jesus. 'There be some standing here who will not taste of death until they see me coming in my kingdom.'
ReplyDeleteWhen we see Palestines and Israel sugh a "peace" treaty ... look up!
DeleteI feel kind of sad for Jesus' disciples in those days. Little did they know He would not come back for 2,000 + more years. That is like telling us now that he won't be here for another 25 yrs yikes. I guess he didn't tell them bc they would have felt so sad and defeated knowing they had to wait that long. Unless Jesus has only been gone 2 yrs since 1 day to Him is like a thousand years?
DeleteDawn Shachar - What was the source of your understanding that the Priests would traditionally and repeatedly use those particular words, please?
ReplyDeleteI always wonder that too. Do we have proof of that Jewish idiom?
DeleteThe last trump is clearly a reference to the time Jesus returns and how this also relates to the trumpets that were regularly blown to announce various things, including certain times of year. There were two types of trumpets; the common rams horn called the shofar and a long silver trumpet used in temple for special announcement. The most well know time when both trumpets were used were on new years day known as Rosh-Hashanah. This is on Day 1 of month 7 on God's Lunar calendar. However, every 50 years was the year of Jubilee and on this year the trumpets were delayed being blown till day 10 of month 7 which is the day of Atonement. The day of Atonement is the most holy day of the year and on a Jubilee year is the most most holy day in a life time. This is because like Passover and Pentecost were fulfilled by Jesus, the day of Atonement is waiting for Jesus to fulfil when Jesus returns on the clouds. If you want to know more about why Jesus returns at this time please just click here: https://guidetothebible.wordpress.com/but-no-one-knows-the-day/
ReplyDeleteBut that is like saying we are just going to skip the Trumpet Feast altogether and go right to Atonement, which we know can never happen.
DeleteThe coming of the son of man pertains to the whole end time event. Before Yeshua returns, the Christian west will be destroyed. Christianity, teaching lawlessness in the name of the son of man, or the scarlet colored beast, Roman Christian principality, will be destroyed by the kings of the east. The first 4 trumpets and bowls of wrath are upon the US, the whoring kingdom. A kingdom is the most powerful as found in Daniel, and the Roman west is the clay mixed with iron feet, with 10 toes. 10 is significant and represents the whoring 10 tribes of Israel. Revelation should be called 2nd Hosea, a last warning to the tribes of Israel to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Yeshua. They are all whoring Christians and judgment is coming upon them, and the Roman western nations. You can forget about the Christian interpretation of Revelation, its all false. The US will be nuked, then the Asians will begin taking back all westernized nations in the east, and will siege and conquer all western army bases in the east. Men will want to die, but death will flee from them. The Asian nation will take 5 months to make it to Europe. The European nations will go to fight with Yeshuas armies, and be destroyed. Yeshua opened the seals to bring judgment upon the west using his name in lawlessness. So, we have seen signs in the sun, moon and stars for years now. Last Pope elected in 2013. Blood moon tetrad in 2014 and 2015 on Passover and Tabernacles both years. First and last. Great solar eclipse over the US and the sign of Israel in 2017. Blood moon on 15th of Av, summer season and a warning to be dressed in white because the grapes will be cast into the winepress of Gods wrath. The bride did not whore with the Roman doctrine of lawlessness, she was faithful to the commands of God and the faith of Yeshua. The mighty whoring nation placed its embassy in Jerusalem after the 70 year anniversary of Israel becoming a nation. Over the years these events happened. Distress of nations over the past months has caused great enmity between east and west along with Syria, and N Korea, and the South China Sea. The day which no man knows the day or hour lands on the peak day of Hurricane season this year. This is the end of the Summer season when grape harvest and fig harvest season ends. September 10th is peak day from all statistics going back to 1851, for hurricane season. Feast of Trumpets just happens to land on this day, this year. The sea and waves roaring. I found it interesting that the new moon rises on the feast of trumpets this year, using Stellarium, at 7:00 am. The time in New York will be 0000, or 1200 am, Roman time. Years, Months, and day and hour. Signs in the sun, moon and stars, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and waves roaring.
ReplyDeleteHoly smokes. What Bible do you read? You are so off the mark! The USA has nothing to do with the East going after Israel. Yes, they hate us for loving Israel but that is where it ends.
DeleteYay were going home , out of this corrupt wicked fallen world
ReplyDeleteSource???
ReplyDeleteThis same point could be made about EVERY Jewish feast. They were ALL based on the lunar calendar, and thus, for every feast, "No man knows the day or hour." This is a misleading argument. Yes - We all want Christ to return and to be alive at the time of His return. However, at most, your argument simply states His return could be at any of the seven feasts. It can be argued that Christ sequentially fulfilled the first four feasts through the period of His death through Pentecost, and thus, the next feast on the calendar is the Feast of Trumpets. While that would be a valid argument, it does not provide that His return is the event that occurs on some Feast of Trumpets. I applaud your enthusiasm to predict the return of Christ. However, your logic falls short.
ReplyDeleteTechnically, the rapture isn't a return if His feet don't touch the ground. Ppl get so confused between the rapture and the 2nd COMING.
ReplyDelete