You Won’t Know This But You Will Receive This

Acts 1:7
He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.
Acts 1:8
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus is very clear that the date and time relating to the end of the world is not within our ability to know. Jesus is very clear that it is not for us to know. We have not been enabled or allowed to know. We do not have permission to know Even if we wanted to know, we can’t. You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

To know the dates and time is within the Father’s authority. To purport to search and know the dates and time is to usurp the authority of God the Father. To claim to have found the dates and time relating to when the world will end is not only to be heretic but also blasphemous. You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

Matthew 24:36
The Day and Hour Unknown
24:37-39pp — Lk 17:26,2724:45-51pp — Lk 12:42-46
“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

Jesus said more than once that His disciples should not be bothered about times and dates. Jesus said more than once that this is the Father’s business. Isn’t this clear enough? Yet we still have people who behave like devout believers and they tell us that the world will end on such date or that we still have this number of years before the end comes. Isn’t this a direct contradiction of what Jesus said? Shouldn’t such people be dismissed outright and be totally ignored if they cant align their beliefs to scripture? You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

1 Thessalonians 5:2
for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Revelation 16:15
“Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

If the day when the Lord comes is compared with the coming of the thief, then that day cannot be known. How clear should scripture get? With so many texts repeating the same concept, isn’t it satisfactory? Yet we still get excited when someone suggests that the world will end on such date or during such a time. While the one setting the date has a problem, we too who get excited are equally sick. If someone has proved to be an outright liar, why do we get excited about the lie? The time and date of the coming of Jesus and the end of the world cannot be known by any human being. You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

The world ends when Jesus returns on earth the second time to take the saved to heaven. The world ends for the individual when they die. When a person dies, they will not participate in this life again. The dead person’s next experience after death is resurrection either to eternal life or to eternal death. Therefore when a person dies, their world has ended. The world can also end to an individual whose probation is closed. Probation closure means that God has stopped showing mercy and grace to that person. For such a person though still alive, their fate is sealed because therefore their world has ended. Noah’s contemporaries had probation close when God closed the door of the Ark. When God rejected King Saul his probation closed, God, stooped answering his prayers. That is how the world ends.

All the three ways in which the world ends cannot be known by date and time. No one can know the date and time when Jesus will come. No amount of prophecy study would yield that date. Nobody knows when they will die, that is a secret reserved for God. Nobody knows when probation will close for them or for the whole world. Nobody knows the date or time of the end of the world by any means. You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

1 Thessalonians 5:4
But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief.

The day will not surprise but still, we will not know the day or time. When you have fire extinguishers, a break out of fire will not surprise you as it would those who are unprepared. If you have saved money for a day of the crisis, the crisis will sneak up like a thief but it will not surprise you like a thief. The reason why the day will not surprise us like a thief is that we are ready and not because we know the date and time. That is why the writer of this passage insists that we need sobriety, spiritual sobriety so that this day will not catch us unawares.

A good believer is ready all the time. A good believer does not get ready depending on how close the day is according to signs of the end of the world. If you are prepared for a crisis the crisis will surprise you but because you are prepared it will not surprise you. Whoever is not ready will indeed be totally surprised by the crisis. Jesus and the entire scripture insist that we should be ready. Be ready but do not bother to know the date or time because it is not your business or within your power to know it. You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, He told His disciples that they will not know the day or time when He will return. Jesus also told them that they will receive power to witness. We will not know the day or time, but in its place, we will receive power to witness for Jesus. Jesus placed importance on witnessing as opposed to studies that attempt to get the date and time of the return of Jesus. We too should place importance on witnessing and totally reject any seminars, meetings, and events where there are attempts to identify the date and times when Jesus will come or the world will end. You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

The Bible time prophecies are not an attempt to identify when Jesus will come or the world end. Bible time prophecies confirm the accuracy of God’s promises and control being executed on earth. An excellent understanding of Bible time prophecies will not help anyone to know the date and time when Jesus will come. That is not the purpose of Bible time prophecies. Therefore after understanding all Bible time prophecies, we remain as blank and as clueless about the date and time of the end of the world. You won’t know about times and dates, but, you will receive the power to witness!

Since we will never know the date or time, we only have two things to do every day. The first is to be ready continually for the end of the world. Readiness entails confessions and repentance of sins. Readiness entails a commitment to God, His word, prayers, church attendance, and participation. Secondly, is witnessing for Jesus. Spreading the word of God to others. We spread jokes, political and other breaking news on social media. We should also spread God’s word as enthusiastically as we spread these other things. That is all God expects of us. God doesn’t expect us to know dates and times, preparation and spreading the good news of salvation is enough.

Dear God, save me from the unspiritual curiosity that consumes prophecies that look religious and try to indicate the dates and times when the world will end. Save me from people who seem very religious because they use Bible prophecies to suggest that they have an idea of the date and time when the world will end. May I be satisfied with being ready and spreading the good news of salvation, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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