Based on things I’ve seen written since 9/23/17, Matthew 2:1-2 must read like this in some people’s Bibles:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, the wise men in the east stayed in the east, saying one unto another, that no man knoweth the day nor the hour.
This is how it reads in my Bible.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
Matthew 2:1-2 KJV
The wise men saw the sign of their time and took action. Likewise, I believe we are to read the signs of our times and take action. Our action is to watch! At present I am watching for the rapture on September 30, 2017. I had forgotten (or never really understood) the Jubilee-exception to the “last trumpet.”
“You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.”
Leviticus 25:8-9 ESV
Note 1. I am still studying and reserve the right to change my mind as I learn more.
Note 2. I am not letting my watch down before, and if necessary, after, September 30, 2017. You won’t find me cut in two, grouped with the unbelievers!
“But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.”
Luke 12:45-46 NKJV
What is a scoffer? Here are the definitions from BibleStudyTools, Dictionary, and TheFreeDictionary. This is Strong’s from 2 Peter 3:3. From these and the context of 2 Peter 3:1-7 ESV, I believe it is safe to say a scoffer is someone who does not believe the Bible predicts the future. That is, a scoffer does not believe the Bible.
Do you believe the Bible?
Fact: The end-times are critical, and the Bible has many end-times scriptures.
Fact: Some end-times scriptures are very specific. Opinion: We are to use them to figure out end-times events.
“Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”
Daniel 9:24-27 ESV
Fact: Languages have idioms. Example: “On turkey day my unsaved friends like to knock back a few, then saw logs while they are passing the pigskin on the boob tube.” For those unfamiliar with American culture this sentence means, “On the Thanksgiving holiday my unsaved friends like to drink alcoholic beverages, then fall asleep while the football games are on the television.”
Opinion: This passage contains an idiom and a reference to Jewish wedding customs, and does not mean we cannot know the day and hour of the Lord’s return.
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”
Matthew 24:36 ESV
Fact: The rapture (harpazo) is mentioned in Revelation 12:5. Greek. Strong’s.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Revelation 12:5 BSB
Opinion: The Bible does not teach that date-setting is bad. I believe the opposite. God wants us to study His Word to know what will happen.
I am not afraid of another “faith failure” by looking for the rapture on a specific day, and having the day pass without the rapture happening. My failures have always eventually increased my faith. I study more, and conclude God and the Bible are true and trustworthy; it was my understanding that was incomplete. I would rather act on what I know than do nothing.
Scriptures
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 KJV
My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
Proverbs 2:1-8 ESV
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
John 16:13 ESV
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8 ESV
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
1 Corinthians 2:6-10 ESV
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.
Revelation 12:1-2 ESV
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 ESV
He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.”
Daniel 12:9-10 ESV
Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
Amos 3:7 NIV
And he told them a parable:”Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:29-36 ESV
“Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:36 NIV
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-4 ESV
Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
Revelation 3:3 ESV
Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.
Matthew 10:32 BSB
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12 ESV
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Colossians 3:2 ESV
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James 2:17 ESV
“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
Isaiah 55:10-11 ESV
Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”
Jeremiah 1:12 ESV
Are you following God's plan for your life?
You should.
Your plan sucks.
It really, really sucks.
Suckage Maximus.
Most people are WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!
Jesus is coming.
Are you ready to meet Him?
Give your life to Jesus Christ.
Time is running out.
Lift Up Your Eyes! 