LET'S SEE IF JESUS WAS TALKING ABOUT THE RAPTURE OR HIS SECOND COMING WHEN HE SAID, "NO ONE KNOWS THE DAY NOR THE HOUR"
The Coming of the Son of Man
29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Did you notice that verse 29 starts out by Jesus saying, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days."
Jesus is now talking about what events will take place immediately after the tribulation or at the end of the seven-year Tribulation.
THERE IS ONLY ONE QUESTION TO BE ASKED THAT WILL SETTLE THE NO ONE KNOWS DEBATE FOREVER
All will agree that verse 30 comes after verse 29 so that means whatever is said in verse 30 takes place immediately after the Tribulation.
Verse 30 describes the sign of the Son of Man appearing in the heavens.
Q- So here is our big question, Who sees Jesus arriving in the heavens, the world or the Saints?
If it's the entire world that sees Jesus' arrival then It's Jesus's Second Coming but if it's the Saints that see Jesus arrival then it's the Rapture.
OK, LET'S read verse 30 to see if it's the Rapture that no one knows the day or the hour or is it Christ's Second Coming.
V: 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
It's settled, it's the entire world that sees Jesus' arrival so it must be His Second Coming and that's just what He said in verse 29, "immediately after the Tribulation of those days."
The 'flow' in God's Word doesn't work the way you are trying... to express.
The SIGNS Lord Jesus gave that follow that, "Immediately after that tribulation..." are all about the event of His future return to gather His Church. Or didn't you know that those in Christ Jesus, also called saints, are His Church? Will you try and play on that Church vs. saints theory of the FALSE pre-trib rapture doctors too?
And there is ONLY ONE FUTURE COMING by Christ written in God's Word, not two like FALSE pre-trib doctors wrongly preach.
So, if verse 30 takes place immediately after the Tribulation of those days then so does verse 31 because everything that Jesus describes after verse 29 He says is taking place after the Tribulation. So, let's read the next event that will take place immediately after the Tribulation of those days.
Oh, look there is a rapture taking place in verse 31.
31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
This is where all my post-Tribulation friends say, "See I told you so that the Rapture takes place at the end of the Tribulation."
Your Post-tribulational friends are correct, you should listen to them, because they believe that way because of their listening to Lord Jesus in His Word, instead of men's doctrines that are like dung ready to fall by the wayside.
Let me show you why it is not remotely possible that the Rapture takes place at the end of the seven-year Tribulation.
So what's going on here?
Let's find out.
Q-What was Jesus's disciples original question at the beginning of Matthew 24?
A- “What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” ( Matthew 24:3).
The Bible version you're using has "age" while the Greek for that word can ALSO BE TRANSLATED TO 'WORLD'. It is obvious that Christ's disciples were asking Him what the SIGNS of the end would be leading up to His future return at the END of this present world. Apostle Peter especially knew what that 'end' meant too, for he wrote about it in 2 Peter 3 regarding THREE WORLD EARTH AGES, with this 2nd world earth age we are in now ending on "the day of the Lord" when Jesus returns. Peter said this present world is preserved unto fire!
Thus your false 'play' on verse 3 doesn't work.
Now let Jesus explain what this rapture is that we read about in verse 31 of Matthew 24 in Matthew 13.
MATTHEW 13
JESUS SPEAKING
37 He replied, “The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 As the weeds are collected and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will weed out of His kingdom every cause of sin and all who practice lawlessness. 42 And they will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
There is the explanation for Matthew 24:31 rapture given by Jesus.
NO IT ISN'T AN EXPLANATION. You took the subject of Matthew 24:29-31 COMPLETELY OUT OF THE CONTEXT OF THE MATTHEW 24 CHAPTER ABOUT THE SIGNS OF THE END JESUS WAS GIVING!
That just goes to show that those on a FALSE Pre-trib Rapture theory don't care how... they twist and lie against God's written Word, they have such disdain for it!
BRETHREN IN CHRIST JESUS (not you pre-trib rapture deceived):
Both Matthew 24:29-31 and Mark 13:24-27 are DIRECT PARALLELS to what Apostle Paul taught about the coming of Lord Jesus and gathering of His Church per 1 Thessalonians 4.
What Apostle Paul taught about Jesus' future coming and gathering of the Church in 1 Thessalonians 4 originated... from what Lord Jesus taught in His Olivet discourse!!
In Christ's Olivet discourse of Matthew 24 and Mark 13, the 'gathering' verse is DIFFERENT between the two Gospel Books!
Matt 24:30-31
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
KJV
1. Matt.24 = gathered "from one end of heaven to the other."
Mark 13:26-27
26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
27 And then shall He send His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
KJV
2. Mark 13 = gathered "from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven."
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Just so you can see both of those different phrases closer together, to note they are different, I'll put them together for you...
1. Matt.24 = gathered "from one end of heaven to the other."
2. Mark 13 = gathered "from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven."
In 1 Thessalonians 4, Apostle Paul said to not worry about the "asleep" brethren that had already died in Christ, because Jesus will BRING THOSE WITH HIM, Paul said. That's not a 'rapture'. Those asleep in Jesus are already there with Him, and when He returns He simply brings them with Him. So which phrase above is that, no.1 or no.2? It is no.1, what He said in Matthew 24:31.
Then Paul taught that we who remain and are still alive when Jesus returns, will be "caught up" to Jesus in the air. That is what some call the 'rapture', it is ONLY about those saints still alive on earth on the day of Christ's future return. That is no.2, those gathered
"from the uttermost part of the earth".
So was Apostle Paul teaching about a time PRIOR to the great tribulation with that "caught up" idea in 1 Thess.4? God forbid, NO! He was teaching about Jesus' coming on the LAST DAY of this present world, the "day of the Lord". How do we know this?
Because Zechariah 14 REVEALS WHERE JESUS IS RETURNING TO WITH ALL HIS SAINTS, and it is on that "day of the Lord" timing!
In 2 Peter 3:10, Peter revealed that the "day of the Lord" will involve a destruction upon this earth of man's works, by God's consuming fire! He said it come "as a thief in the night". Apostle Paul taught the same metaphor in 1 Thess.5, that it will come "as a thief in the night". Jesus taught that about the time of His coming also, when He said in Rev.16:15 that He comes "as a thief". So there... even though all those Scripture points come from different Bible Books in The New Testament, they are still within the SAME CONTEXT of the day of Christ's future return and gathering of His Church.
So don't listen to the crazies who don't care if they twist God's written Word out of proportion to make it fit their FALSE pre-trib rapture theory. You can't tell if those are just gullible and deceived, or are actually false Jews hiding as Christians, for those are here on this forum too.