Yes, I didn't mean to say
that Paul put it off to the distant future, but rather those who heard his explanation which was not yet conclusive, still to remain a mystery.
However,
as for the mystery, it is not that it is now still unknown...
but always unknown. And as I said before, there is only one day or date that qualifies to be "
that day" that only the Father knows-- that day of the Lord's coming. Which day and date the Lord has already said, but is still misunderstood.
If someone said "
That day" and gave a date, it would not be true for everyone, because "
each comes in his own order"
1 Corinthians 15:23, which rules out any singular mass future event. If another said, "
That day" and gave a season, he may be close...but it is a guess, because he still does not know the day nor the hour.
No, there is only one day which no one knows the day or hour, that is the day of "
each coming in his own order"--in death (which is the second resurrection). This is the day and hour when all the clocks stop--
the time of the end ("
each in his own order"), when the dead in Christ rise first, but are last to be born of the Spirit, and when the living in Christ rise last, but are first to be born of the Spirit. As it is written, "
So the last will be first, and the first last."
Matthew 20:16