If the "day and the hour" of Jesus' coming are unknown, how can we know when it will happen?
If the Rapture happens at an unknown time, how can it happen, as you state, during the 7-year Tribulation when even a poor mathematician could figure out when it was coming, based on Scripture and on the very detailed description of the tribulation period? You have it placed in your chronology diagram at a specific place and we could figure out close to the day on which it would take place.
Ted’s Response:
Most Christians do not understand or realize that Jesus fulfilled the four main Spring Jewish feasts/holy days upon His first coming. Presumably, then, He will fulfill the three main Fall Jewish feasts/holy days upon His second coming. You may be familiar with all of this. If not, though, I recommend reading this email response to someone else:
For even more details, read chapters 4 (Jewish Spring Feasts/Holy Days ) and 5 (Jewish Fall Feasts/Holy Days ) in my online book, Creation ... Counterfeits ... and the 70th Week.How is it that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Jewish Spring and Fall feasts and holy days?
It is believed by many, including myself, that the Rapture of the Church will take place on a Rosh haShanah, which is the Jewish new year, as well as a new moon. In ancient times, long before methods were available to calculate the exact time of each new moon, no one knew the exact day or hour the new moon would occur until two witnesses, peering into the sky, detected the first minute sliver of the waxing moon. Upon their announcement, Rosh haShanah officially would begin.
In fact, Rosh haShanah commonly was referred to as the festival where "we do not know the day or the hour of its arrival." Thus, when Jesus said, "No one knows about that day or hour [of His return in the clouds]..." (Matthew 24:36a), He very likely was making a specific reference to Rosh haShanah. Which Rosh haShanah, only the Father knew.
Jesus' claim that "no one knows about that day or hour" of His coming (Matthew 24:36) is satisfied by the fact that we do not know, for certain, in which year (and, thus, on which day and hour of that year) His aerial reappearance will be. Plus, even if we could know which year, Rosh haShanah traditionally is observed on two consecutive days; in fact, the shofar (ram's horn) is blown both days.
So, even if we happened to be alive at that time, we would not know on which of those two days, nor at what hour, His coming will be. You can see this, and read more details about it, in my dates of prophetic fulfillment section. Also, this email response to someone else might be of interest:
If Jesus was God, why did He say the Father was greater than He and knew things He didn't?
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