I think the universal divine disclosure will be the last trump. 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 American Standard Version (ASV)51 Behold, I tell you a mystery:We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. A very appropriate application for sure. But just as like the call at midnight, there may be a short span of time between the Trumpet blast and the Rapture. In any event, my theory has long been that the Lord will indeed be very specific with regards to His Bride! Well now we can knock off this year's Hanukkah date off the watch list. Again there does seem to be a lot of "intended" ambiguity with the Rapture's exact timing. Faith will indeed get us to Heaven's gate but the Lord must still lead us the rest of the way! TR Whaaat? “... we can knock off this year’s Hanukkah date off the watch list” ... but the holiday is not over with yet. We still have until Monday, Dec 30th at sundown. :mail: Or are you only going by the middle of the candelabra lighting being symbolic for the church rapture day? I agree with ya about expecting more of a universal heads up notice besides when the Trumpet blows. In fact I expect our pets and the animals outside to give us a heads up. They have such good hearing ... my dog can hear the train coming long before I can. He stops what he is doing and runs to the front window to jump up on the wooden bench. As he is looking out the window he then starts howling like a wolf. Then I start hearing the train and the horn blast. I expect the same thing to happen at the time of the rapture. B-) I’m still pondering this passage ... “peace and safety” “sudden destruction” ”not appointed to wrath” but we are commanded to “watch” and “be sober”. So do we need to hear the peace and safety speech? Since we are not appointed to wrath looks like we get raptured out prior to the G/M war and/or Psalm 83 war? Or are we out of here loooong before all these events unfold? :unsure: I Thessalonians 5 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, I still believe there will be no notice. I believe we will be transformed instantly. One moment we’re here and the next, in a twinkle of the eye we will be transformed. I like surprise parties! 😉 Well ... I agree with you partially that the transformation process is instantly quick. :good: I disagree though on not getting a heads up notice since we all already have invitations to the King of king’s wedding and banquet feast ... I lean we will know the actual day as it approaches. The clues will be unscrambled and crystal clear then ... plus officially today I’m adding the Ovaltine powder into my hot chocolate drinks for more alertness :scratch: to the clues since I despise surprise parties :negative: With that said ... I pressed the like button but its technically just a half like. 😉 Perhaps Richard can create a broken heart button to indicate half likes? B-) Indeed the change will take place in a twinkling, but if we review the whole of the teaching we can easily see the passage of time as the full picture shows an obvious sequence of events. Just like counting 1,2,3 in that the time it takes to count 1,2 and three don't happen simultaneously! TR Perhaps but it doesn’t explain away Matt 24:36 and 24:42. The Greek word “hora” is translated into English as “hour” but the very same word is used in Luke 2:38 to mean “instant”. So if Jesus doesn’t know the instant of His return, how could we? Ok ... after 3 cups of hot cocoa ... here are my thoughts :wacko: Even though Enoch is a type of the church by suddenly disappearing before the flood judgment ... I don’t think he was given the warning to watch, to stay alert. Unless he was by personal conversations with the Lord that we just don’t know about? :unsure: Then we have God telling Daniel to seal up the book until the time of the end. We all can agree we are living in the last of the last days so the Lord wants us to be knowledgeable and to look out for clues and to try to figure out his return date. :mail: I think He is going to make it clear as we see the day approaching. It will be so obvious and shinning in our faces for all those who were faithfully watching :popcorn ... like the Bethlehem star was for the 3 wisemen. :whistle: Meanwhile the believers who have their heads in the sand and weren’t the least bit interested in prophetic news will be caught off guard and will be ashamed at Jesus coming because they wasted time collecting burnable treasures. But they will still be raptured out ... once saved always saved. Also we are promised a Crown for longing for His appearing ... was Enoch promised a Crown? And how about the O.T. Saints? Or is that Crown only reserved for the Church Age believers? :unsure: Jesus not knowing the day or the hour. Luke 2 I’m leaning towards God the Father kept that date from His knowledge so that people wouldn’t get discourage and not go about the Great Commission. How discouraging would it have been if Jesus did reveal to his disciples He wasn’t coming back until year 2020? They would have been shell shocked. He knew his disciples would have then gone back to their nasty trade of fishing vs. being a fisher of men. The Lord is a rewarder to them that diligently seek Him so we know He is going to enjoy handing out crowns to his sheep so that is probably why He is keeping back the special day. However ... I‘m leaning towards that special day will be revealed when our work here is done and that last Gentile/Jew gets saved ... we will have special knowledge from the clues we’ve been given just like the 3 Wisemen figured out the arrival of Christ’s birth. I think it will be a short calm before the storm ... just like Noah and his family got a 7 day warning (Gen 7:4) before the rain started ... I think it will the same calm before the tribulation storm ... but will it be a 1 day, 3 day, 5 day or 7 day notice to be ready and stay alert while eating popcorn or cracker jacks!!!! :popcorn :popcorn :popcorn :popcorn :popcorn :popcorn :popcorn :popcorn Bless your heart Sis. May we all hold on till the very end, whenever that might be. May our "midnight" call which ends one day and begins a new one, be given to us that we may prepare our hearts. One dispensation ends, another begins! Our lives here on Earth end, and our new life in Heaven begins. Our lives here are terminal now, then to be changed into eternal! For all that the Lord hath done and will do, bless His holy name! Bless His name for who He is! Blessing the trinity's heart which is marvelous! TR
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.
And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
