Could the tribulation start this year?
- Thread starter Blain
- Start date
-
Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.
If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!
To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
I see the Bible using numbers, as symbols, and as a form of reference to things associated with those numbers. For example, the number 5 could refer to a hand with 5 fingers, or the number 4 could refer to the 4 points of a compass. 12 referred to the 12 tribes of Israel, etc.
But I don't see numerology. I don't see secret codes to be discovered as tools of prediction. Plain language conveys information to be believed in. If parables appear secretive, it is only because evil people don't want the application to expose their own evil.
No, the Tribulation cannot start today. In reality, the "Great Tribulation," as Jesus defined it, began with the fall of Jewish religion, which was in the time of Christ. Within a generation, Israel fell into chaos, and came under divine judgment. The ensuing exile of the Jewish People is what Jesus referred to as the "Great Distress," or "Great Tribulation." It lasts as long as the Jewish People remain in exile, or in diaspora. It will end only at the return of Messiah.
Now if you ask if the reign of Antichrist can begin today, I would also say no for different reasons. The reign of Antichrist lasts only 3.5 years, followed by a short period in which Armageddon is mobilized and executed.
Antichrist cannot immediately appear and take the reins of power in a single day. He has to establish himself as political leader in Europe, and then challenge the established order there, which must consist of 10 major powers. He must defeat 3 of the 10 leaders associated with those 10 powers. All this takes time.
The Reign of Antichrist will not be recognized by the evil world, who will embrace his irreligious ways. But Christians will certainly suspect that he is the Antichrist, when he begins to accomplish these things. Trying to guess who he is now is an exercise in futility, and runs counter to Jesus' advice to his apostles, that they not try to anticipate the times and the seasons.
I'm not Pretrib, and think the Church should be aware of these things, because we will have to experience them, if we live long enough. But relatively speaking, I don't believe the time could be very far off. Post WW2 Europe seems precisely the occasion for the rise of Antichrist, who will take control of a new post-Christian culture. As Paul indicated, before Christ returns for his Church, the apostasy must take place first, with the rise of Antichrist. His destruction will take place when Christ returns from heaven.
But I don't see numerology. I don't see secret codes to be discovered as tools of prediction. Plain language conveys information to be believed in. If parables appear secretive, it is only because evil people don't want the application to expose their own evil.
No, the Tribulation cannot start today. In reality, the "Great Tribulation," as Jesus defined it, began with the fall of Jewish religion, which was in the time of Christ. Within a generation, Israel fell into chaos, and came under divine judgment. The ensuing exile of the Jewish People is what Jesus referred to as the "Great Distress," or "Great Tribulation." It lasts as long as the Jewish People remain in exile, or in diaspora. It will end only at the return of Messiah.
Now if you ask if the reign of Antichrist can begin today, I would also say no for different reasons. The reign of Antichrist lasts only 3.5 years, followed by a short period in which Armageddon is mobilized and executed.
Antichrist cannot immediately appear and take the reins of power in a single day. He has to establish himself as political leader in Europe, and then challenge the established order there, which must consist of 10 major powers. He must defeat 3 of the 10 leaders associated with those 10 powers. All this takes time.
The Reign of Antichrist will not be recognized by the evil world, who will embrace his irreligious ways. But Christians will certainly suspect that he is the Antichrist, when he begins to accomplish these things. Trying to guess who he is now is an exercise in futility, and runs counter to Jesus' advice to his apostles, that they not try to anticipate the times and the seasons.
I'm not Pretrib, and think the Church should be aware of these things, because we will have to experience them, if we live long enough. But relatively speaking, I don't believe the time could be very far off. Post WW2 Europe seems precisely the occasion for the rise of Antichrist, who will take control of a new post-Christian culture. As Paul indicated, before Christ returns for his Church, the apostasy must take place first, with the rise of Antichrist. His destruction will take place when Christ returns from heaven.
The word for rebellion is literally falling away or departure.
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
Let’s discuss what these demons teach. First, they will negate the necessity of faith in Jesus to be saved. As long as you do what you think is good then that is OK. Second they will undermine the faith in one God and Father. Since God is the God of all then “all Gods” are referring to this God. This is a direct contradiction to the word of the Lord that He is the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Him. They will deny specific commands and laws in the Bible like capital punishment. This is arrogant and opens the door for anyone to treat God’s word in a way that you can pick and choose what you will receive and what you will reject. They will teach people to commit fornication. They will teach ecumenism as a way to short circuit preaching the gospel. On the surface ecumenism sounds good, the oneness of all Christians. But when someone denies the faith once for all delivered to the saints, that is not something you can tolerate. So what they are really teaching when they say “ecumenism” is to tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and teaches my servants to worship idols and commit fornication. That is what these teachings are doing. Also, instead of referring to preaching the gospel as preaching the gospel they call it “proselytizing” and condemn it as unfriendly. This is a big deal, you must not share the gospel with atheists, you must respect the “freedom of religion” of every person. So preaching the gospel is now “disrespectful” of someone’s freedom not to believe. Along these lines they teach you to worship in silence, just like Paul said, they worship dumb idols that make you dumb. They will teach there is no hell, that Islam and Judaism and Christianity all worship the same God. Again, blurring the lines of the gospel in an attempt to deceive the elect. They will undermine the faith by referring to certain passages in the Bible as “magic” and “God is not a magician”. They will confuse and distort what the Lord did on the cross. Jesus bore our judgement for sin on the cross. He didn’t commit sin, but He bore the full judgement for the sin that we have committed. In that way He has paid the full price for our redemption. But they will distort that and say Jesus became a sinner for us, it isn’t our sin, it is His. In this teaching liberating us from sin becomes liberating us to sin. They will undermine marriage and reject God’s condemnation of homosexual acts.
I have seen some excellent expositions that show the Catholic church and some other denominations have done exactly this, to the letter.
1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
Let’s discuss what these demons teach. First, they will negate the necessity of faith in Jesus to be saved. As long as you do what you think is good then that is OK. Second they will undermine the faith in one God and Father. Since God is the God of all then “all Gods” are referring to this God. This is a direct contradiction to the word of the Lord that He is the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by Him. They will deny specific commands and laws in the Bible like capital punishment. This is arrogant and opens the door for anyone to treat God’s word in a way that you can pick and choose what you will receive and what you will reject. They will teach people to commit fornication. They will teach ecumenism as a way to short circuit preaching the gospel. On the surface ecumenism sounds good, the oneness of all Christians. But when someone denies the faith once for all delivered to the saints, that is not something you can tolerate. So what they are really teaching when they say “ecumenism” is to tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and teaches my servants to worship idols and commit fornication. That is what these teachings are doing. Also, instead of referring to preaching the gospel as preaching the gospel they call it “proselytizing” and condemn it as unfriendly. This is a big deal, you must not share the gospel with atheists, you must respect the “freedom of religion” of every person. So preaching the gospel is now “disrespectful” of someone’s freedom not to believe. Along these lines they teach you to worship in silence, just like Paul said, they worship dumb idols that make you dumb. They will teach there is no hell, that Islam and Judaism and Christianity all worship the same God. Again, blurring the lines of the gospel in an attempt to deceive the elect. They will undermine the faith by referring to certain passages in the Bible as “magic” and “God is not a magician”. They will confuse and distort what the Lord did on the cross. Jesus bore our judgement for sin on the cross. He didn’t commit sin, but He bore the full judgement for the sin that we have committed. In that way He has paid the full price for our redemption. But they will distort that and say Jesus became a sinner for us, it isn’t our sin, it is His. In this teaching liberating us from sin becomes liberating us to sin. They will undermine marriage and reject God’s condemnation of homosexual acts.
I have seen some excellent expositions that show the Catholic church and some other denominations have done exactly this, to the letter.
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him,
These are two things, the Lord’s coming and our being gathered to Him, what we refer to as the rapture. It appears that the Lord comes secretly immediately before the rapture.
we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
Everyone should be very clear that a rebellion occurs first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. There has been some wonderful exposition of Isaiah that the US is the transplanted vineyard of the Lord, the vineyard He surrounded with hedges to the East across the sea. Some have even overlaid the pattern of the temple and the items in the temple over the US and the pattern is quite fascinating. So let’s look a little closer at this, the antichrist who is to come, the “man of lawlessness” will be “impudent and brazen”. To a lesser degree we saw this with Hitler, but it will be on full display with the man of lawlessness. Second, he will be a master of intrigue. You would have to be to make a puppet president that you control from behind the scenes. But then Daniel says that he will destroy the mighty but not of his own power. The antichrist is used to destroy Jezebel. She was the wife of the King, if we were to use a modern example she is the first lady, or you could say she is the VP or even you could say she is the "speaker of the House" as most people will say the wife is in charge of the house. That is the rebellion that must take place first, it was Jezebel’s corruption that the Lord is going to judge. The antichrist destroys the mighty, destroys Jezebel and all of her confederates, but not of his own power. This is weird, one would think that Antichrist and Jezebel are on the same team, but this is a team where the protege eats the mentor. Just like what we saw happen to Cuomo. It will be the Lord Jesus with his saints as His army. They are the ones who are restraining the evil Jezebel. According to the type she hired 400 prophets of Baal, she controlled the media. Meanwhile a hundred prophets of the Lord were hidden in a cave. So it is the Lord that destroys Jezebel, but it is the antichrist who takes credit for it and as this unfolds he is revealed. The way I see it he destroys her because it is expedient.
4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
We just shifted from past tense to future tense. Before the day comes the rebellion takes place and the man of lawlessness is revealed. That takes place before we are gathered to the Lord, i.e. raptured. But in the future, after the rapture, He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped. It does not say that he does this prior to the rapture. That is not how he is revealed. He is revealed because he is uniquely impudent and brazen, because he is a master of intrigue, because he destroys the mighty, and finally, because he receives a head wound and is resuscitated, allowing an evil spirit to enter into him. However, after he is inhabited by that evil spirit he will oppose God, even setting himself up in the temple and proclaiming himself to be God. He doesn’t destroy the mighty with his own power, but he does take full credit for it.
So there is a falling away, a rebellion among Christians with an apostasy, but there is also a rebellion that is more "political". Antichrist is very satanic, but that is not revealed until after the rapture, prior to the rapture he may come across as a great guy, in fact the verse "when they say peace and security" suggests that when he comes to power initially the whole world thinks and proclaims "peace and security". Who knows how they would do it, maybe he gets a Nobel Peace prize just for being him. But then there is sudden destruction, he is a master of intrigue, manipulating some feeble president from behind the scenes. What is sudden destruction? Maybe this feeble president just starts rubber stamping executive orders like it is some kind of cartoon. Wouldn't be surprised if he started on day 1, that would be "sudden".
These are two things, the Lord’s coming and our being gathered to Him, what we refer to as the rapture. It appears that the Lord comes secretly immediately before the rapture.
we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
Everyone should be very clear that a rebellion occurs first and the man of lawlessness is revealed. There has been some wonderful exposition of Isaiah that the US is the transplanted vineyard of the Lord, the vineyard He surrounded with hedges to the East across the sea. Some have even overlaid the pattern of the temple and the items in the temple over the US and the pattern is quite fascinating. So let’s look a little closer at this, the antichrist who is to come, the “man of lawlessness” will be “impudent and brazen”. To a lesser degree we saw this with Hitler, but it will be on full display with the man of lawlessness. Second, he will be a master of intrigue. You would have to be to make a puppet president that you control from behind the scenes. But then Daniel says that he will destroy the mighty but not of his own power. The antichrist is used to destroy Jezebel. She was the wife of the King, if we were to use a modern example she is the first lady, or you could say she is the VP or even you could say she is the "speaker of the House" as most people will say the wife is in charge of the house. That is the rebellion that must take place first, it was Jezebel’s corruption that the Lord is going to judge. The antichrist destroys the mighty, destroys Jezebel and all of her confederates, but not of his own power. This is weird, one would think that Antichrist and Jezebel are on the same team, but this is a team where the protege eats the mentor. Just like what we saw happen to Cuomo. It will be the Lord Jesus with his saints as His army. They are the ones who are restraining the evil Jezebel. According to the type she hired 400 prophets of Baal, she controlled the media. Meanwhile a hundred prophets of the Lord were hidden in a cave. So it is the Lord that destroys Jezebel, but it is the antichrist who takes credit for it and as this unfolds he is revealed. The way I see it he destroys her because it is expedient.
4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
We just shifted from past tense to future tense. Before the day comes the rebellion takes place and the man of lawlessness is revealed. That takes place before we are gathered to the Lord, i.e. raptured. But in the future, after the rapture, He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped. It does not say that he does this prior to the rapture. That is not how he is revealed. He is revealed because he is uniquely impudent and brazen, because he is a master of intrigue, because he destroys the mighty, and finally, because he receives a head wound and is resuscitated, allowing an evil spirit to enter into him. However, after he is inhabited by that evil spirit he will oppose God, even setting himself up in the temple and proclaiming himself to be God. He doesn’t destroy the mighty with his own power, but he does take full credit for it.
So there is a falling away, a rebellion among Christians with an apostasy, but there is also a rebellion that is more "political". Antichrist is very satanic, but that is not revealed until after the rapture, prior to the rapture he may come across as a great guy, in fact the verse "when they say peace and security" suggests that when he comes to power initially the whole world thinks and proclaims "peace and security". Who knows how they would do it, maybe he gets a Nobel Peace prize just for being him. But then there is sudden destruction, he is a master of intrigue, manipulating some feeble president from behind the scenes. What is sudden destruction? Maybe this feeble president just starts rubber stamping executive orders like it is some kind of cartoon. Wouldn't be surprised if he started on day 1, that would be "sudden".
You can rest assured that those who make predictions about exactly when the Rapture will take place are off the wall. They were warned not to do this, and yet they persist in doing it anyway.
Our focus is to be on ministry. We should not let ourselves be distracted by these kinds of diversions.
Our focus is to be on ministry. We should not let ourselves be distracted by these kinds of diversions.
-
1
- Show all
What 2 Thes 2 actually teaches is not just that the apostasy must precede the Rapture, but also that Christ comes for the Church at the same time he comes to destroy the Antichrist, who leads that apostasy. In other words, Paul taught that Christ comes on the last day of the present age, just as Jesus himself taught.
Matt 24.23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.
Acts 1.
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Rev 16.15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
It is not that the Church will be caught unaware by Christ's coming. We fully expect him. But the world will not be given warning, except by the call to be righteous. There is no way for the world to recognize its own evil, and then prepare for a set date. The indicators of God's call to righteousness are all around us. We just need to respond to them.
Making predictions of when Christ will come is purely a distraction from ministry, which Jesus said should be our focus. Insisting on making such predictions is a form of rebellion, because Jesus said not to do it.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven.
Acts 1.
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Rev 16.15 “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”
It is not that the Church will be caught unaware by Christ's coming. We fully expect him. But the world will not be given warning, except by the call to be righteous. There is no way for the world to recognize its own evil, and then prepare for a set date. The indicators of God's call to righteousness are all around us. We just need to respond to them.
Making predictions of when Christ will come is purely a distraction from ministry, which Jesus said should be our focus. Insisting on making such predictions is a form of rebellion, because Jesus said not to do it.
We may over-complicate things. It really isn't complicated if you do as I do, and just track backwards to the beginning of Paul's teaching in 2 Thes 2. He derives his information from Dan 7, which is the only place in the Jewish Bible that instructs us about the Antichrist.
Paul is just saying the same thing, that the Son of Man comes down from heaven, having been given a heavenly mandate to establish God's Kingdom on the earth. To do so, he first destroys the Antichrist, who leads a European coalition of 10 nations and 7 "kings."
The Church will have little trouble recognizing this when it happens. The wicked world will see nothing wrong with the Antichrist, except that as a superpower nations will likely revolt against him after 3.5 years.
Paul is just saying the same thing, that the Son of Man comes down from heaven, having been given a heavenly mandate to establish God's Kingdom on the earth. To do so, he first destroys the Antichrist, who leads a European coalition of 10 nations and 7 "kings."
The Church will have little trouble recognizing this when it happens. The wicked world will see nothing wrong with the Antichrist, except that as a superpower nations will likely revolt against him after 3.5 years.
Matt 24:36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man
Here is the iconic warning that no one knows the day or hour and says it is "as the days of Noah". So think about that. Noah was preaching the Lord's coming destruction on a daily basis. The very fact that he was building this massive ark was a testimony of God's coming destruction. The days of Noah include the day he entered the ark, one week before the rain came. So the story of Noah is illustrating what Jesus means by "no one knows the day or the hour". It certainly doesn't mean that we don't need to watch, it doesn't mean we don't need to prepare, and it doesn't mean we won't know the Lord is returning a week before the flood.
Here is the iconic warning that no one knows the day or hour and says it is "as the days of Noah". So think about that. Noah was preaching the Lord's coming destruction on a daily basis. The very fact that he was building this massive ark was a testimony of God's coming destruction. The days of Noah include the day he entered the ark, one week before the rain came. So the story of Noah is illustrating what Jesus means by "no one knows the day or the hour". It certainly doesn't mean that we don't need to watch, it doesn't mean we don't need to prepare, and it doesn't mean we won't know the Lord is returning a week before the flood.
Mark 13:
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert[e]! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Here is another example. Many people use the "we don't know the day or the hour" as an excuse for not needing to watch, on the contrary the Lord uses it to say this is why you need to watch. So then, what exactly are we to watch? Jesus uses the term "watch" three times and the word "sleeping" once. To be sleeping when the Lord comes, that is the real rebuke, to not be watching that is the real rebuke.
So then, what are we to watch?
32 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert[e]! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Here is another example. Many people use the "we don't know the day or the hour" as an excuse for not needing to watch, on the contrary the Lord uses it to say this is why you need to watch. So then, what exactly are we to watch? Jesus uses the term "watch" three times and the word "sleeping" once. To be sleeping when the Lord comes, that is the real rebuke, to not be watching that is the real rebuke.
So then, what are we to watch?
Luke 12:35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
Here is a third example. The Lord comes at an hour we don't know so He can see what you are doing. Are your lamps burning? Are you ready to open to the Lord immediately when He knocks?
Now what wedding is the Lord coming from? Certainly not His. Can you imagine on your wedding night you tell your bride to wait while you dress yourself so that you can serve your servants? Is this a marriage of the church with the world, the apostasy, which has to come first?
Wherever you find the iconic "no one knows the day or the hour" it comes with the warning to watch and don't sleep, don't get drunk on the world's wine, don't become befuddled. That is the true warning.
41 Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
42 The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43 It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45 But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
Here is a third example. The Lord comes at an hour we don't know so He can see what you are doing. Are your lamps burning? Are you ready to open to the Lord immediately when He knocks?
Now what wedding is the Lord coming from? Certainly not His. Can you imagine on your wedding night you tell your bride to wait while you dress yourself so that you can serve your servants? Is this a marriage of the church with the world, the apostasy, which has to come first?
Wherever you find the iconic "no one knows the day or the hour" it comes with the warning to watch and don't sleep, don't get drunk on the world's wine, don't become befuddled. That is the true warning.
Romans 13:11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
1John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
Revelation 3:10 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
1John 2:18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
Revelation 3:10 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
However, your explanation didn't include the "coming of our Lord". What does that refer to?
As to "rebellion", the Greek word is:
apostasia: defection, revolt
Original Word: ἀποστασία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: apostasia
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os-tas-ee'-ah)
Definition: defection, revolt
Usage: defection, apostasy, revolt.
Under "HELPS", is this: properly, departure (implying desertion); apostasy – literally, "a leaving, from a previous standing."
So the "departure" isn't literally leaving a geographical place. It's leaving a previous standing.
Throwing in 1 Tim 4:1 isn't helpful, since the focus is 2 Thess 2:1-3.
You didn't answer my question.
As to "rebellion", the Greek word is:
apostasia: defection, revolt
Original Word: ἀποστασία, ας, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: apostasia
Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os-tas-ee'-ah)
Definition: defection, revolt
Usage: defection, apostasy, revolt.
Under "HELPS", is this: properly, departure (implying desertion); apostasy – literally, "a leaving, from a previous standing."
So the "departure" isn't literally leaving a geographical place. It's leaving a previous standing.
Throwing in 1 Tim 4:1 isn't helpful, since the focus is 2 Thess 2:1-3.
You didn't answer my question.