What part of 'you know not' do you not understand?

rockytopva said:

Christ comes as a thief, in an hour and a day in which we think not. It is better to live the Christian life in daily expectancy that Christ may return for his church today!

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. - Matthew 24:36

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. - Matthew 24:42

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.- Mark 13:32

And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. - Luke 12:39

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. - Revelation 3:3

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. - Revelation 16:15

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In what way should we keep watch ?

rockytopva said:

I would say keep it in the back of your mind that Christ could come any day.

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Or, we could die any day and meet Christ all the same.

rockytopva said:

Christ comes as a thief, in an hour and a day in which we think not. It is better to live the Christian life in daily expectancy that Christ may return for his church today!

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. - Matthew 24:36

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. - Matthew 24:42

But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.- Mark 13:32

And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. - Luke 12:39

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But you ignore Jesus' other words.

Matthew 24:15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Pretty clear instruction from Jesus to observe end time signs and take action in response to them.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

We may not know the day or hour, but Jesus teaches we will know the "season", which I take to be a generation.

rockytopva said:

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. - Revelation 3:3

Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. - Revelation 16:15

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How about these other words in Revelation.

Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Revelation 22:10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Looks like Jesus is blessing those that take to heart end time prophecies.

I ask, what is the point of prophecy? Is it just to confuse us? Will nobody understand it till they are in heaven? What does scripture say about scripture?

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

Prophecy is to call attention to God's plan. One is blessed that tries to align their life to God's plan. If some prophecy is never correctly understood, then it is wasted scripture. I believe the Timothy text teaches all prophecy will be understood before the last day.

It perplexes me that the OT prophesied of Jesus' coming and the people anticipated the coming of their Savior, but today most ignore or place Jesus' second coming at the back. Obviously from my user name, I place importance in anticipating Jesus second coming as Peter taught.

2 Peter 3:12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.

I believe that just as in Jesus' first coming one knew it would happen in his generation/life the same will happen for Jesus' second coming. I do not try to determine the hour or day, but I think the generation of Jesus' second coming is here.

I was taught that when Jesus said no man knows the day nor the hour He was using a Hebrew idiom referring to the Feast of Trumpets because supposedly no one knew the day nor the hour of the beginning of the Feast of Trumpets except by the sighting of the new moon which could happen within a three day period. Please if anyone knows any flaws in this interpretation your input is welcome.

AnticipateHisComing said:

But you ignore Jesus' other words.

Matthew 24:15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

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He's talking to the disciples at that point.

Otherwise, we all need to go to Judea and be prepared to flee to the mountains.

AnticipateHisComing said:

Pretty clear instruction from Jesus to observe end time signs and take action in response to them.

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How do you know that that's about end times and not about the destruction of the temple - Matthew 24 refers to both?
As I said, if it's for us, we need to all go to Judea, otherwise we are not obeying his "clear instructions".

AnticipateHisComing said:

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.

We may not know the day or hour, but Jesus teaches we will know the "season", which I take to be a generation.

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There is a note in some Bibles to say that the word for "generation" can also mean "race". So if that verse refers to end times, Jesus may be saying that the Jewish race/nation will not pass away before these things happen.
But again, how do you know that is not referring to the destruction of the temple - which WAS within their generation?

You take "season" to mean generation; is that what Jesus said?

AnticipateHisComing said:

How about these other words in Revelation.

Revelation 1:3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Revelation 22:10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

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People have been saying that the time is "near" and "soon" ever since the ascension.

We are told to be ready - which means accepting Jesus and receiving forgiveness and eternal life - and live for God each day. We are told not to worry about tomorrow because each day has enough trouble of its own.
If we spend too much time looking up into the sky, looking at things that could be signs, trying to work out a date mathematically or anything else, we will not be seeing the folk on the ground who need saving and need to hear the Gospel.