Knowing Times and Seasons

Instead of calculating times and seasons, followers of Jesus must always be prepared for his sudden arrival.

Did Jesus command his followers to know end-time chronologies, the “times and seasons”? Must we decipher key “signs” and use them to calculate the time of his return so we may prepare ourselves in the nick of time for the end? Did Christ and his Apostles leave us with a comprehensive list of signs whereby we may decode prophetic timetables and cosmic signs?

In his Olivet Discourse, Jesus warned that many deceivers will come and “deceive many,” false prophets who perform “signs and wonders” and use them to mislead the “elect.” And the stress in his words is on the term “many.”

[Stopwatch - Photo by Veri Ivanova on Unsplash]

Many charlatans will come, and many of God’s saints will be deceived by their lies. They will propagate false information about the “coming of the Son of Man” and, presumably, related events, including claims about its timing and the “signs” of its imminence.

• “And many false prophets will arise, and they will lead many astray” - (Matthew 24:11).

• “For there will arise false anointed ones, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand” - (Matthew 24:24-25).

From the start, the church has heard of many “wars and rumors of wars,” along with earthquakes, famines, and many other disasters and tragedies, both natural and manmade. Yet the end has not come despite the passage of over two thousand years.

Jesus declared that wars, earthquakes, and famines certainly will come. However, “the end is not yet.” At most, calamities of this sort are harbingers of the eventual destruction of the existing world order, clear evidence that it will end sooner or later. Even now, the forms and institutions of this fallen age “are passing away,” and we must live accordingly – (1 Corinthians 7:31).

Nonetheless, wars, earthquakes, famines, and other catastrophes of this sort are not signs by which we can calculate the date of the last day or even its nearness.

The stress in Christ’s warning is on what we will “hear” from these deceivers, the claims of false prophets and false teachers intended to raise our expectation levels about the immediate future, and additionally, to spread fear and confusion. However, what Jesus did say about the timing of his return is crystal clear:

• “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only” – (Matthew 24:36).

Only God knows that day’s timing. Alas, ever since Christ said these words, deceivers have worked tirelessly to find loopholes so they may claim to know the “signs and seasons,” and thereby calculate the proximity of the end. In this way, they advance their position in the church, as well as their wealth in far too many cases.

HIS REPEATED WARNING

Repeatedly, Jesus warned that no one knows the timing of that day. For example, by his analogy comparing the time before his arrival to the time before the Great Flood:

• “And as were the days of Noah, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark. And they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so the coming of the Son of Man will be. <…> Watch, therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming” – (Matthew 24:37-42).

Likewise, Christ’s comparison of his return with “a thief in the night.” If a homeowner knew when the “thief” would strike, he would be prepared to catch him in the act.

• “But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken through. Therefore, be you also ready, for in an hour that you think not, the Son of man is coming” – (Matthew 24:43-44).

Jesus declared rather explicitly that no one knows or can know the “day or hour” of his “coming,” and it is presumptuous to think that we can know (“an hour that you think not.” The Greek verb ‘dokeō’ means “to presume” [δοκεω]).

The only exception to the rule is God, period - “my Father alone.” Moreover, nowhere did Jesus say that we can ascertain the general “season” of the end by observing “signs.” And Jesus reiterated his warning just before his ascension:

• (Acts 1:6-8) – “They therefore, when they came together, asked him, saying, Lord, do you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And he said to them: It is not for you to know times or seasons, which the Father has put in his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.”

Instead of providing chronologies and lists of recognizable “signs,” Jesus commanded his disciples to wait until they received the Gift of the Spirit, then they were to take the gospel from Jerusalem to the “uttermost parts of the earth.”

In the ‘Olivet Discourse’, Christ pointed to the completion of this mission as the one event that will trigger the “end” and the “coming of the Son of Man.” The task of the church is not to decipher signs and calculate dates, but to preach the gospel “to all nations” - (Matthew 24:14).

The point of his repeated warning is that we must always be prepared for his sudden arrival precisely because we do not know its timing.  Its appearance will be sudden and unexpected, and on that day, it will be too late to prepare for his arrival, and any prophetic knowledge of “signs” will prove superfluous.

In the meantime, we, his followers, are commissioned to take the good news about the kingdom of God to every nation until the moment he arrives.

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SEE ALSO:

• Deceivers and Disasters - (Jesus warned of coming deceivers who will mislead many and spread false information about his return)

• Signs and Seasons - (Paul does not provide detailed information about the times and seasons since the Lord will arrive like a thief in the night – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3)

• The Sign of the End - (According to Jesus, the End will not come until the Gospel of the Kingdom of God has been proclaimed to all nations – Matthew 24:14)

• The Days of Noah - (Just as unprepared men were destroyed by Noah’s Flood, so unrepentant men and apostates will be overtaken by destruction when Jesus arrives)