WHEN WILL BE THE RAPTURE?

On what year will the Rapture happen? Why did many predictions about it fail?

Prediction 1:

Year 1832, Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the Church of Christ, wrote in Doctrines and Covenants section 130:

14: “I was once praying very earnestly to know the time of the coming of the Son of Man, when I heard a voice repeat the following:”15: “Joseph, my son, if thou livest until thou art eighty-five years old, thou shalt see the face of the Son of Man; therefore let this suffice, and trouble me no more on this matter.”16: “I was left thus, without being able to decide whether this coming referred to the beginning of the millennium or to some previous appearing, or whether I should die and thus see his face.”17: “I believe the coming of the Son of Man will not be any sooner than that time.”

He attended a meeting of church leaders. He said that the meeting had been called because God had commanded it. He announced that Jesus would return within 56 years — i.e. before 1891-FEB-15. (History of the Church 2:182). Smith is later recorded as having said:

“I prophesy in the name of the Lord God, and let it be written–the Son of Man will not come in the clouds of heaven till I am eighty-five years old.”

Smith would have reached the age of 85 during 1890. Unfortunately, by that year, Smith had been dead for almost a half-century, having been assassinated by a mob.

Prediction 2:

Year 1836, John Wesley, foresaw the Millennium beginning this year. He wrote that Revelation 12:14 referred to the years 1058–1836, “when Christ should come”.

Prediction 3:

Year 1850, Ellen White, founder of the Seventh Day Adventists movement, made many predictions of the timing of the end of the world. All failed. On 1850-JUN-27 she prophesied that only a few months remained before the end. She wrote: “My accompanying angel said, ‘Time is almost finished. Get ready, get ready, get ready.’ …now time is almost finished…and what we have been years learning, they will have to learn in a few months.“

Prediction 4:

Year 1960, William M. Branham, predicted that the Rapture would occur not later than the year 1977.

WHY DID THOSE PREDICTIONS FAIL?

The above predictions are just some examples of the long list of failed predictions about the year of the Rapture. In spite of these, many are still making it their hobby to predict the Rapture and still, many believes their predictions! Why is this?

Here is one reason I know. One minister preached this during his sermon:

“Because the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only,.. this only means that someone will know the year of the Rapture!”

I smiled when I heard this. He’s saying that because the Lord said that it was only the hour and the day that knows no man and that the Lord never mentioned about the year, he concluded that someone must know the year of the second coming of the Lord.

If we will ride into this kind of thinking, we should ask him: Why only the year? The Lord also never mentioned about the week and the month? If the Bible never mentioned about the week and the month and you believe that someone must know the year because the bible never mentioned it, then you must also believe that someone must know the week and the month!

See how absurd is this thinking? First of all, the belief that someone must know the year of the rapture is already unbiblical! I can’t imagine why some ministers are eating this food for the vultures. Any true Christian with an eagle eye can easily see that this teaching is a decomposing carcass.

We are called Bible believers not because we believe those that are not mentioned in the Bible, but because our faith and beliefs are in the Bible and they are founded on the Rock (revelation of the Word of God) of which where our Lord has built us – His Church. Now, believing in something that is not in the Word of God is like building your house in the sand.

If the Lord said that “the day and hour knoweth no man” and He never mentioned about the year, that only means that believing that someone will know the year, is unbiblical. To believe something that is not in the Bible is also saying that Purgatory is true! This is because the Bible never mentioned that there is no Purgatory! See? This is the reason why many are still entertaining these predictions of the year of the Rapture. Many are already fooled in believing this but still, they are calling themselves Wise Virgins.

They even justify this teaching by saying that the rapture is like a pregnant woman waiting for her baby to be born. She doesn’t know the day and the hour, but she knows the month for she will only count nine months from the day of conception. Really? If this is true, then why are there overdue and premature babies who are born more than and less than nine months? Does the mother really know that her baby will be born on time and not be overdue or premature? I bet no mother is certain about it. No mother will exactly know about the day and the hour of the birth of her child, much more the month of the childbirth! You can only estimate it, but it will be our heavenly Father Who decides on what month the child will be born.

This is only one of the absurd teachings circulating among the Endtime Message circle today which is embraced by many.

Back to our question, WHEN WILL BE THE RAPTURE? WHY DID THOSE PREDICTIONS FAIL?

The answer to these questions is actually in Matthew 24:36,

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

There you go! No one knows when will be the Rapture, not even the Son of man Himself. Not even the Bridegroom who will be the celebrant on His own Marriage. Only His Father alone knows.

So even if your humble and good pastor will tell you about the date or the year of the rapture, don’t believe him, he doesn’t know and no one knows, only the Father knows. Even if it is Paul or Abraham or Moses or bro. Branham will come to you and told you about the date of the Rapture, don’t believe them. They don’t know.

Even if someone has these too good calculations about the year or the events and the signs seem to validate them all, don’t believe them, they don’t know. Only the Father knows. Even if Hilary Clinton is elected president of the USA, or there are many blood moons that will happen this coming year, or the USA has been pulverized into ashes and many more signs and wonders, as long as our Bridegroom doesn’t know, we can never know.

Because really? How can these people know when the Bridegroom himself doesn’t know? How can the members of the body know, when the Head Himself doesn’t know? Unless the Head knows, no member of the body will know the date of the Rapture.

Just like in the analogy above, the mother can only guess about the month that she will go to give birth to her child, but it was God Who will decide the month. He can have it either premature or overdue. Same with the year of the Rapture, it is not yet given to anyone. It is the Father who will decide on what year, month, week, day and hour the Rapture will take place. This is the reason why all predictions of the rapture failed.

Next question is: WHY ARE THE YEAR, MONTH, WEEK, DAY AND HOUR OF THE RAPTURE IS NOT YET GIVEN?

Answer: Simple. Imagine if the year is already revealed to someone or was already known to us. I don’t even want to think about how disastrous would that be.

If it’s so disastrous that the year was not given yet, how much more if the month, week, day or hour is already revealed? The enemy would be rejoicing!

This is the reason why the Apostle Paul explicitly explained to us in details that the rapture will take place in the twinkling of an eye. It is an event that will happen in a moment (1 Cor. 15:52). Why a moment? This is because; there is a necessity for us to be caught quickly! That’s why it is called Catching Away. If we already know the year by now, let’s say for example in 2027, the essence of swiftness will be gone because we will still wait for ten years!

This is also the reason why the transfiguration of our body will be quick, unlike the transformation of our soul which takes several years.

BUT WHY DOES THE LORD WANT IT TO BE QUICK?

That is because, before that moment that our body will be changed, we are already the wife of our Lord. The Bride and the Bridegroom have already consummated their love and the Bride is now a Wife (Gen. 24:67). She had already made herself ready. The Lord wouldn’t want us to still dwell in this world when we are already His Wife. He will bring us to His Father’s home where the Marriage celebration is already prepared to take place. The dwelling place of the Groom will now be also the dwelling place of the Bride. She became a heavenly being. That’s why a quick body change is necessary.

(Revelation 3:21 – “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne”.)

WHY IS IT THAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST DOESN’T KNOW THE DATE OF THE RAPTURE WHEN HIS FATHER KNOWS?

In order to answer this, we should go back to the Godhead.

We know that our Lord Jesus Christ is the side of God that is revealed to us. He is the Word of God (John 1:14, Rev. 19:13). And we know also that the Great Eternal Spirit has a side that is not revealed to us. The Bible called It the “secret things” which are mentioned in the Deut. 29:29. Through this, we know that those “secret things” are not part of the Word (The Lord Jesus). Since they are not part of Him, He doesn’t know them. And that’s including the date of the Rapture. It is only His Father Who knows it. And since our Lord doesn’t know it yet, we who are His body, do not know it also. When the Lord will know it, we will surely know also. But when it happens, time shall be no more.

Usually, in the Ancient Oriental Weddings and Traditions, it is the family of the Groom who decides the date of the marriage, specifically the Father. It is the privilege of the Father to set the date of the marriage. It is also the Father who prepares everything for His Son’s Marriage feast which will happen in their place. Just like in Isaac and Rebekah’s love story, it was certainly not the expensive gifts or the wealth and status of Isaac that had caused Rebekah to be bought over, but rather it was the love of Isaac’s father which had attracted her (cf. Gen.29:20-21).

During the union of the couple which happens in the wedding chamber or the “Chuppah” in the place of the bride, the groom would usually ask the bride “I am going to prepare a place for you and I will return for you when it is ready“. And when the bride will ask him about the date of his return, the groom would usually reply “Only my father knows.” This is because it is the Father of the groom who facilitates the preparation in their home.

Meanwhile, the bride would be making herself ready so that she would be pure and beautiful for her bridegroom.

TIME – VERY IMPORTANT ELEMENT

Revelation 17:14: “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”

Time will challenge everyone. If I am a Groom returning for His Bride, time would be my best friend. Because it is only through time that I can tell if my Bride is Faithful. Remember that those who are with the Lord in the great war are His Wife (formerly His Bride), they are the once who have been Called, Chosen and were proven Faithful. Being Called and being Chosen are doings of the Lord, they do not require the element of time. But Being Faithful is another thing. It requires the element of Time and the cooperation of the Bride to produce faithfulness. You cannot say that your Bride is faithful unless she passes the test of time.

If the Groom had gone to a far country, He cannot readily say that His Bride is faithful to Him if He is gone only for a short while. But if He is gone for a long period of time and came back and found that His Bride is still waiting for Him, that’s the time that He can say that His Bride is Faithful. Same thing when you are just newly weed. One cannot say that they are faithful to each other if they are only married yesterday or just last year. They can only say that they are truly faithful with each other if its “till death do them part”.

Being faithful is the quality of the Bride of Christ that sets her apart from the rest. And you can achieve it only through Time alone. They are the one who have to endure the long waiting. This is the reason why our Lord tarries.

To my fellow Bride: We must always remember that true Love grows. And all growth requires time. The more time you have with your love, the more you love Him. That’s why do not be dismayed if our Lord delays. He just wants your love for Him to grow. So embrace Time. True diamonds encourages more time because they became more and more pure and brilliant the longer they are exposed to fire and pressure in this world.

So now, when someone will tell you about the year or the date the rapture will take place, remind him/her that it is only the Father Who knows and that his/her predictions will only add up to the list of failed predictions.

It is indeed tiring to wait for someone especially if we do not know when will that someone will come. Sometimes we are tempted to buy these predictions. But we must remember that we are not just waiting for someone, we are waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ! Who is worth it all!

The price is somewhat difficult. But the prize is beyond our expectations. Just like in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that says:

“However, as it is written:

‘No eye has ever seen,

no ear has ever heard,

no mind has ever conceived

what God has prepared

for those who love Him”

May the Lord will guide us into all Truth is my prayer.

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