Hidden in Plain Sight

Fred R. Coulter—September 13, 2008

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Hidden in plain sight right under your nose, and you never realized what it really meant. It's just like some drawings, they're drawn in such a way that you won't know what is really meant by the drawing until you turn it a certain way and it makes it come up entirely different.

Have you ever lost your glasses and went around the house looking for them, but they were on top of your head? Have you ever looked at something directly, and missed it? Yes! I was looking for a basting tube that has an air ball on the top, and you suck up juice for basting and so forth. I was looking for it and looking for it, and guess what? It was right in front of me! I looked three times for it and couldn't see it.

Well, we are going to read one of the most often read parts of the Bible in prophecy, and we are going to understand that it's been hidden in plain sight right under our noses! Another example of this is in 1934 Nazi Germany sent to the Paris air show a Messerschmitt Bf-109, without the weapons, of course. They showed the world what they were going to use for their main fighter plane, and they didn't even know it!

Let's see a Bible principle; Proverbs 25:2: "The glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter."

We have to search. Let's see how we are to search for some of these things. This is also going to reinforce why we need to continually study, and study and re-study; I guarantee you there is not one Scripture that we are going to cover today, that we haven't covered in the past many times over. And in particularly, the key thing there concerning it, right in front of our noses all the time.

Proverbs 2:1: "My son, if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you."

This is telling us how were going to understand things. You can't understand things unless first you're obeying God. Let's use a good example we're very well aware of. Every single person that has the Bible knows that the Bible talks about the Sabbath as the day of worship. How many admit that that is true, but vow they're going to continue going to church on Sunday? Or Muslims if they even have respect for the Bible don't, but they keep fighting.

Same way with the Holy Days. But each one of these things reveals something to us. Because hidden within commandment keeping, is understanding that comes from God with His Spirit to teach us His way on the Sabbath Day.

If you go to church on Sunday, you can learn some of the ways of God, but they don't know anything about God's plan. They know nothing about prophecy; they have it all messed up. There isn't going to be any rapture of millions of Christians going someplace; it isn't going to happen. So, you see you have to receive the words of God.

"…treasure up my commandments within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding" (vs 1-2). This is our effort, and this is what we need to do. It isn't going to be funneled into our heads.

Verse 3: "Yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures… [that also applies to understanding prophecy] …then…" (vs 3-5).

Notice the IF in v 1: "My son, if you will receive my words and treasure up my commandments within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding; yea, if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then…" (vs 1-5)—quite a few qualifiers!

Now you know why people don't understand the Bible, because they never get from the IF to the THEN!

Verse 5: "Then you shall understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God." Not until then!

That's why the Bible is so fantastic. It has the hidden revealed knowledge of God, and it's there in plain sight for everyone to see. There are various layers and applications of this throughout the Bible, and it tells us how to study the Bible.

Verse 7: "He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He keeps the paths of right judgment and preserves the way of His saints. Then you shall understand righteousness and judgment and equity, every good path." (vs 7-9).

Isn't going to happen! See all those qualifiers. I think this is quite amazing here in the book of Proverbs, the very first part of it gives us the key for understanding what we're going to understand today. Then it says:

Verse 10: "Wisdom shall enter into your heart…" You're not going to get carried away was stupid and foolish things.

I got a phone call from a man, so I went home, called him and talked to him. He said, 'Have you seen this website?' It was something having to do with the Truth. I said that I haven't seen it. He says, 'The 1,335 days are going to start on the Feast of Trumpets this year.' I said, 'No it's not!' He said, 'Oh well, the two witnesses are going to start.' I said, 'No they're not! Other things have to come in play first. How many times have I said the King of the North and King of the South, they're not there, yet. The end time cannot come until then. And the two witnesses, there can't be the two witnesses until there's a temple (Rev. 11). Is there a temple rebuilt in Jerusalem?' No! So, he tried to tell me that it's on a chart!

I said, I didn't care if it's on a chart; a chart is not the Truth of God. Even the charts that we put out, though we try and base them on the Truth of God, which we do, I always say it is speculation and this is a depiction of how we understand it at this point in time. It may not be really accurate, but it gives us an overview of what we can look at. He kept going on and on, and I said this conversation is ended and I hung up the phone.

Some people out there are trying to find and make things out of something that they know nothing about. Because they did not do what Prov. 2 says. Now we will talk about understanding prophecy and understanding some things here.

It's always interesting when people get a Bible, they open it up in and the first thing… I know why they do this, because I did when I first started reading the Bible. I wanted to find out how I can find what I actually thought was right, would be verified in the Bible to make me something. Doesn't happen that way.

Isaiah 29:11: "And the vision of all has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which they give to one who is learned saying, 'Please read this,' and he says, 'I cannot, for it is sealed.' And the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, 'Please read this,' and he says, 'I am not learned.' And the LORD said, 'Because this people draws near Me with their mouth, and with their lips honor Me, but their worship of Me is made up of the traditions of men learned by rote, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandments of men" (vs 11-13).

It is like when we first moved up to Salt Lake City, and this was just before Jonathan was born. I was driving down one of the highways there, and Salt Lake City is Mormon country all around. Here's this big billboard that said: Remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy. I took a double take, and then below that it said, "see you in church on Sunday."

• Are they blinded?
• Are they unlearned?
• Are they religious and well received?
• Yes!

Verse 14: "'Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do again a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder, for the wisdom of their wise ones shall perish, and the wisdom of their intelligent ones shall vanish.' Woe to those who go deep to hide their purpose from the LORD! And their works are in the dark, and they say, 'Who sees us? And who knows us?'" (vs 14-15).

It sounds a little bit like some of the participants in any election. It sounds awful lot like some of these pastors who are saying, 'Well now, let's have welcoming committees for all of the gays, bisexuals and lesbians, and let's make them feel wanted in our church.' Why don't you run out and kiss Satan and say 'Welcome'? Well, he's already there, you've already welcomed him ahead of time, and now here come his children!

Verse 16: "Surely, you have turned things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the potter's clay… [that's stupid] …for shall the work say of him who made it, 'He did not make me?'…."

How many people are there out there in the world who are atheists and say, 'We just came from the big bang." Well, my solution is, all you scientists who believe that, start without the big bang. Go get your own material to make it happen. If you want to build a man, go create your own dirt. Don't take what God has already made, and say that God didn't make it. How did we get here?

I was watching on the History Channel and National Geographic and they were talking about evolution, and the first kind of skin that evolved was probably on jelly fish. This eliminates a lot of TV—doesn't it?

"…Or shall the thing formed say to him who formed it, 'He had no understanding?'" (v 16). 'Oh the Bible is only for idiots.' And in times of trouble, like one presidential candidate said, 'They just cling to their guns and their Bibles in bitterness.' How about that!

Isaiah 28:1: "Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim..."

When you understand the prophetic significance of Ephraim being what we call the United Kingdom today, and understand that the thrust of the English Bible began there when Tyndale did the translating from the Greek and the Hebrew and died for it at the hands of the of the wonderful kindly Catholic judges, cardinals and so forth. They printed the Bible, and actually the Church of God got its really good start there. Then when they were kicked out of England they went over to Holland, and they came over to the America.

There were a lot of the Church of God people who came over who were the Sabbath-keepers; yes, there were a lot of Sunday-keepers. But here they had the Bible, they had the understanding of the Bible, and now where is Ephraim today? Their churches are empty! They believe more in witchcraft and Harry Potter then they do in God! What has happened to them? They have the most politically correct insanity in the way that they describe and do things than in any people on the face of the earth. So, keep that in mind when I'm reading this.

Verse 1: "Woe to the crown of pride…"  Isn't it interesting that England rose to its power during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and now it's declining into the oblivion of the abyss under Queen Elizabeth II?

"…to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the fat valleys of those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the LORD is a mighty and strong one, like a hailstorm, a destroying storm; like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, He casts them down to the earth with the hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trampled under foot; and the glorious beauty, on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the first ripe fruit before summer; which the beholder of it swallows up while it is yet in his hand. In that day the LORD of hosts shall be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, for the remnant of His people" (vs 1-5).

Isaiah is contrasting the Church. That which they are rejecting, God's is blessing His people.

Verse 6: "And for a spirit of judgment to him who sits in judgment, and for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate…. [you can apply this to real battle, and to spiritual battle] …But they also stagger through wine, and reel through strong drink…." (vs 6-7).

Where does the strong drink come from? The wine of the wrath of her fornication (Rev.17), the whole Babylonian system!

"…The priest and the prophet stagger through drink; they are confused by wine; they reel through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment" (v 7).

You can apply this to the religions of the world, but in particularly to those who were Bible believing people. One of the things that's important in this election God is testing, are there enough people who believe enough of the Bible that I don't have to come in and destroy this nation, yet? We'll have to see what happens.

But England is gone! It represents nothing to God any more than the Islamic people who are there. And by 2025, the Muslims within England will be more than the Anglo-Saxons. That's something!

Verse 8: "For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness; no place is clean."

Let's just take this same principle and apply it to the whole Christian world today—including all Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy—altogether. They don't know God; they have never known God! Some of the Protestants did when they kept the commandments the way they ought to. But the Catholic Church brags and says they can preach the Gospel without the Bible!

So just take this prophecy and apply it, in the midst of it is the remnant of God's people.

Verse 9: "Whom shall He teach knowledge?…. [we're to be taught] …And whom shall He make to understand doctrine?…." This is a good message for the people of God today.

• Are you lukewarm and Laodicean?
• Yet, you have the whole Bible right in front of you all the time?
• When was the last time that you open it up and read it, besides carrying it to church?

"…Those who are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breasts" (v 9).

You have to come to a certain point of maturity in understanding the Word of God, and that only comes by applying Prov. 2. Remember what Paul wrote in the book of Hebrews when he wrote to them:

Hebrews 5:12: "For truly, by this time you ought to be teachers, but instead you need to have someone teach you again what are the beginning principles of the oracles of God, and have become those in need of milk, and not of solid food. For everyone who is partaking of milk is unskilled in the Word of Righteousness because he is an infant. But solid food is for those who are fully grown, who through repeated practice have had their senses trained to discern between good and evil" (vs 12-14).

That's what he's talking about in Isaiah. God wants to know who He is going to teach, because He's not going to just give it to any ole person. Unless you love God, worship Him, have a humble and yielded attitude to God and have God's Spirit, why should He bother to teach you anything? Let you go your way in your blindness. Then Paul shows how we are to learn. First, you must be graduated above the basic principles (Heb. 6:1) Let me just say that if you still cling to the eighteen steps that one so-called apostle gave you, you're on milk!

Isaiah 28:10: "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little." This means that out of the same verses, as were going to see again today, there are many things that we can learn which we didn't realize were really there. Yet, it's been hidden right under our noses. It was repeated, as it says back there in Heb. 5, with repeated use, training, study, exercising God's Spirit and living God's way, we will begin to understand. I put myself right in this category, too, from this point of view: It's been there all along and we preached about it, but I never got it until recently.

"…line upon line; here a little, there a little…. [that's the way the Bible has been written; you can't pick it up and read it like a novel] …for with stammering lips and foreign tongue He will speak to this people. To whom He said, 'This is the rest He gives to the weary,' and 'This is the refreshing,' yet, they were not willing to hear. So then…" (vs 10-13).

The Word of God is like a sharp two-edged sword. You can cut and understand the Word of God with it—with God's Spirit—or it can slay you because you don't understand it.

Verse 13: "So then, the Word of the LORD was to them… [the drunkards of Ephraim; not to the remnant, not to those who know] …precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken and snared and taken. Therefore, hear the Word of the LORD, you scornful men who rule this people in Jerusalem" (vs 13-14).

I want you to turn in Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version, Appendix A: Fourteen Rules for Bible Study, and let's see how we have that laid out here, and we'll just briefly review it. What you do when you're reading along, and all of a sudden you come across something you just don't understand?

I mean just like the news that we covered here with this possible secret weapon that the United States has, that just absolutely incinerates everything through some kind of electronic electrical bolts. That sounds just like Rev. 9 where fire shoots out of their mouth. That gives us understanding because we're willing to look, to listen, to wait and to put it together properly.

The Fourteen Rules of Bible Study

•  Begin with Scriptures that are easy to understand.

Like with:

• the Sabbath
• no other Gods
• no idols
• don't take the name of God in vain, honor father and mother
• the rest of the Ten Commandments

Just like we read there in Prov. 2, easy to understand. Scriptures

•  Let the Bible interpret and prove the Bible….

Don't come up with some cockamamie ideas and say, well I saw on a chart on this website. Don't look for what you want to prove, look for what the Bible actually says! See now you've already excluded all Sunday-keepers right here, because they don't do that.

•  Understand the context—the verses before and after, and the chapters before and after. Does your understanding of a particular verse harmonize with the rest of the Bible?

Because it's all of the mind of God!

•  As much is possible try to understand the original Hebrew or Greek. But never established doctrine or teachings by using only Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Strong's can be helpful at times, but is very limited.

I cannot tell you the number of papers sent to me which say, Strong's Concordance # so-and-so says such and such. But that can't possibly tell you what the verb is. It can't possibly tell you what the tense is. And there are many things in the languages that cannot be understood by Strong's Concordance.

As we study we are to ask the following:

•  Ask: what does the Scripture clearly say?
•  Ask: what does the Scripture not say?

and we'll see this is important a little later

•  Ask: To whom was the book written?
•  Ask: Who wrote it?
•  Ask: Who said it?
• Understand the historical timeframe in which the book was written.
• Base your study on the Scriptural knowledge you already have. What do you know up to this point in time?

You keep building, because we're to 'grow in grace and knowledge' and understanding.

• Do not allow personal assumptions or preconceived ideas to influence your understanding and conclusions.
• Do not form conclusions based on partial facts, insufficient information, or the opinions and speculations of others.
• Opinions…

Today everybody's opinion is 'holy.' Not so!
…—regardless of how strongly you feel about them—…
your opinions
…don't necessarily count. Scripture alone must be your standard and your guide.

• We are to rightly divide the Word of God (2-Tim. 2:15[transcriber's correction])
• We are to prove all things and hold fast to that which is good (1-Thess. 5:21)

If people would read the Bible and ask the proper questions, and not try and force it, they would have a good idea as to when the Tribulation is going to begin. I don't know how many times that we've had to go through different people saying that the Tribulation is beginning; Christ is going to return.

You know what happened in 1844 with the Miller group? Jehovah Witnesses supposed to be 1918; it didn't happen. Then during WWII, this is the war that's going to lead to the to the return of Christ; it didn't happen. Oh, it's going to be 1975; it didn't happen. It's going to be 1988; it didn't happen.

A man said, 'I wrote a book on that and I was wrong, it's going be 1989; it didn't happen then. Then there was another man, who is supposed to be a prophet in the Church of God, he says the seven-year count leading to the leading to the last and final seven years, begins in 1993. So, in 1997 and a half the Tribulation would begin. Aren't you glad you're all in the Kingdom of God now, no longer physical beings? (said with sarcasm) Never happened—did it?

Yet, people run off with these strange things. There are as many false prophets, and there are many ungrounded false brethren who mingle among the true brethren of God who go around with these cockamamie ideas.

I'm going to give you an absolute foolproof, ironclad way to understand when the Tribulation begins. It says so right here:

Matthew 24:15: "'Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy place.' (The one who reads, let him understand.)

Now we have during the days of Antiochus Epiphanies, when God sent correction against the Jews for all their paganism during that time—and that's when that's when mystic Judaism, which was really pagan Judaism coming full bore—he conquered the area of Judea, went into the temple of God and offered swine's flesh on the altar, and that was the abomination of desolation.

The 'abomination of desolation' in the New Testament is defined for us in another way (2-Thess. 2). Let's understand some things that the Bible is telling us here that we need to realize. So, when someone says that the Tribulation is going to begin, ask:

• Is the King of the North there? No!
• Is the King of the South there? No!
• Is a temple built, yet? No!

Well, the Tribulation can't be until there's a temple, because it's going to stand in the 'Holy place.' Some people have said that a 'Holy place' can just be where they designate where they are going to put the altar, and the rabbis will bless it with the priest and there will be the 'Holy place.' Not so!

2-Thessalonians 2:1: "Now, we beseech you, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him… [that's return of Christ and the resurrection] …that you not be quickly shaken in mind, nor be troubled—neither by spirit… [because there are false spirits out there] …nor by word… [by a message, or a chart] …nor by epistle, as if from us… [they had counterfeit epistles coming around] …saying that the day of Christ is present" (vs 1-2).

That is also a New Age expression, that if you follow this New Age 'religion' to its ultimate end, Christ is present in you

• without any repentance
• without any baptism
• without any keeping of the commandments of God
• which is impossible to do

Verse 3: "Do not let anyone deceive you by any means because that day will not come unless the apostasy shall come first, and the man of sin shall be revealed—the son of perdition."

Here is how it describes him, and while the temple stood before it was destroyed in 70A.D. this did not happen! That's why it says there in Matt. 24 'the one who reads let him understand'—which was obviously added by John when he canonized the New Testament because he was signaling to everyone down in time, beyond his time, that it didn't happen in his day.

It describes him, v 4: "The one who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is an object of worship; so that he comes into the temple of God and sits down as God, proclaiming that he himself is God."

Well now the closest you would get to that would be the Roman emperors. Did a Roman emperor ever come down to the temple and go into the Holy of Holies and say, I'm God? No! That's why you need to really understand everything that is here. Let's see when this is going to be. He blasphemes God he blasphemes everything that is in heaven and he makes war against the saints to exterminate them (Rev. 13).

Verse 5: "Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you understand what is holding him back in order for him to be revealed in his own set time" (vs 5-6).

Who is the One Who is holding back? Christ! He has all authority in heaven and earth. None of these prophecies are going to be fulfilled unless God causes it to be. That's what we need to realize.

Rev. 17 is something we need to understand concerning what God is doing and how He is doing it, and how all these things are going to come about in prophecy. All the events are going to be exactly as God said they will be! Here's how it's going to happen. It doesn't matter who they are where they are—anything like that.

Revelation 17:17: "For God has put into their hearts to do His will… [that they think is their will] …and to act with one accord, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God have been fulfilled."

Just exactly like the two soldiers who were guarding Jesus while he was dying on the cross. They looked at the garment and said, 'This is a nice garment here, we better cast lots for it,' which was prophesied how many hundreds of years before. Did they know they were doing the will of God? No! Did they know that it was prophesied they would do that?

They didn't have the Hebrew scroll, these were Latin-speaking soldiers and Greek-speaking soldiers. Did they have a Hebrew scroll and say there is right there, 'we're to cast lots. Okay, everybody come on over here and we're going to cast lots so we can fulfill prophecy.' They didn't even know it. Likewise with this. We need to read the whole context of 2-Thess. in order to understand when this is going to take place. It's going to be in his own set time.'

2-Thessalonians 2:7: "For the mystery of lawlessness is already working… [it began way back in the days of the apostles] only there is One Who is restraining at the present time until it arises out of the midst"—of the mystery of lawlessness.

Well some ministers of have said that this is when so-and-so took over the Church. Not so! Another minister comes along and says, 'I am the prophet!' When Peter said that Christ was the Prophet. Another one comes along and says, 'I'm the apostle for the 21st century.' Not so! Let's see when this one will be fully revealed: He is going to come out of the midst of the Babylonian Mystery Religion, lawlessness!

Verse 8. "And then the lawless one will be revealed (whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and will destroy with the brightness of His coming)."

I can't tell you how many people have—not too many but least a few—have sent me an interpretation of the Scripture that was Caesar Nero. Nero never went into the temple, and Christ didn't destroy him with the brightness of His coming. This tells us when it will be; at the end of the age when Christ returns!

(go to the next track)

We've read some easy to understand Scriptures as a background for what were covering to come to where this is hidden right in plain sight, right under our noses! This is what blew me away when I understood it, and it's going to blow you away to.

Matthew 24:16: "Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains…. [if you're not in Judea don't flee to the mountains] …Let the one who is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; and let the one who is in the field not go back to take his garments. But woe to those women who are expecting a child, and to those who are nursing infants in those days! And pray that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath; for then…" (vs 16-21).

When does Great Tribulation take place? When the 'abomination of desolation' stands in the 'Holy place'! So, you cannot have the Tribulation begin until:

A)  there's a King of the North
B)  there's a King of the South
C)  there is a temple
D) the King of the North comes down after the King of the South and enters into 'the glorious land,' and goes into the temple of God and says, 'I am God.'

Then the Great Tribulation will be!

Verse 21: "For then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until this time, nor ever shall be again. And if those days were not limited, there would no flesh be saved; but for the elect's sake those days shall be limited" (vs 21-22).

This is the key to understanding which day. Let me explain something here: The Passover and Holy Days give us a good framework of understanding God's plan.

• Did God use the Passover to make his covenant with Abraham? Yes!
• Did he use the Passover to spare the firstborn of the children of Israel while in Egypt? Yes!
• Did they leave on the first Day of Unleavened Bread? Yes!
• Did they cross through the Red Sea on the last Day of Unleavened Bread? Yes!
• What are we talking about? The appointed times of God!

Certain things are going to happen on the appointed times of God!

• Did Christ die on the Passover Day? Yes!

He didn't die the day before or the day after, or two days after.

• Did He fulfill the Wave Sheaf Offering Day when He ascended to heaven to be accepted of God the Father? Yes!
• Did The Church begin on Pentecost with the pouring out of the Holy Spirit? Yes!
• Did Israel get The Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai on the Day of Pentecost? Yes!

Let's jump ahead and think a little bit, because what we're going to see is that God uses the set times that He has given through His Holy Days, and let's see how that falls out with this. We know and we preach—I don't think there's a Church of God anywhere that does not—that Christ and the saints are going to put their feet on the Mount of Olives on the Feast of Trumpets.

• we know that Atonement pictures putting away Satan the devil
• we know that the Feast of Tabernacles pictures the Millennium
• we know that the Last Great Day pictures the Great White Throne Judgment and the second resurrection

Those are all days that we know, and yet, when people hear this the first time they don't understand the verse that were going to come up to here. For here is the beginning of it:

The Tribulation starts, and unless it had been limited, no flesh be saved (vs 21-22). What happens right after the Tribulation starts?

Verse 23: "Then if anyone says to you, 'Behold, here is the Christ,' or, 'He is there,' do not believe it. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and they shall present great signs and wonders, in order to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have foretold it to you. Therefore, if they say to you, 'Come and see! He is in the wilderness'; do not go forth. 'Come and see! He is in the secret chambers'; do not believe it. For as the light of day, which comes forth from the east and shines as far as the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be" (vs 23-27).

Then here's this enigmatic verse that we discussed earlier:

Verse 28: "For wherever the carcass may be, there will the eagles be gathered together. But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now, learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branches have already become tender, and it puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. In like manner also, when you see all these things…" (vs 28-33).

You can't have some; you can't have 90%. If you leap across from one cliff to another cliff and you make it 95%, you missed the mark! You've got to have all. So remember that.

Verse 34: "Truly I say to you, this generation… [in which all these things; not to be interpreted as the generation of Jesus time] …shall in no wise pass away until all these things have taken place. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away. But concerning that day, and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (vs 34-36).

• Haven't we had people say that if you say it's on the Day of Trumpets then you know the day?
• Would that be right?
• How come He said He doesn't know the day?
• Did Jesus know the Holy Days? Of course He did!
  • He created them
  • He set the time

Let's see Mark's account of this. He adds even little bit to it.; Mark 13:30: "Truly I say to you, this generation shall in no way pass away until all these things have taken place. The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away. But concerning that day and the hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (vs 30-32). People ask:

• How can the Son be God if God knows everything and He says He didn't know it?
• Have you ever been confronted with that?
• Which day is it talking about?

If we can pretty well prove and know with great surety that Christ and the saints are going to put their feet on the Mount of Olives on the Feast of Trumpets (by the way Christ was probably born on the Feast of Trumpets):

• How come Jesus says you should know it's going to happen on Trumpets?
• Which day is He talking about?
• Why did He not know it?
• If God knows everything, why didn't Jesus, as God manifested in the flesh, know it?

Well the reason is because there is always mercy and repentance, as we have discussed. Please remember this: Forget about a 6000-year period for man, and then the Millennium begins! We're way past 6,000 years. A 6,000-year period for man is not in the Bible. Isn't it interesting how people believe things that aren't in the Bible, as if they're in the Bible?

What day is He talking about? He's talking about a particular day that is unknown! You can't find out about it by knowing the Holy Days, because it doesn't happen on a Holy Day.

Review Matt. 24:

• v 23—Christ is here or is there, "…do notbelieve it"
• v 24—"…false Christs and false prophets, and they shall present great signs and wonders, in order to deceive, if possible, even the elect
• v 25—"…I have foretold it to you"
• v 26—"…'He is in the wilderness'; do not go forth. 'Come and see! He is in the secret chambers'; do not believe it"

• What is He talking about here?
• Which day is He talking about?
  • He's not talking about a Holy Day
  • He's talking about a day on which an event occurs
• What is that event?

Matthew 24:27: "For as the light of day, which comes forth from the east and shines as far as the west, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be."

That is the day He's talking about. Not a Holy Day, not a Feast, because there is coming a day, when that is going to happen, and we can't define it by any other day. That's why it's important to know and understand the flow prophecy in the book of Revelation.

When did Christ receive the scroll/book with the seven seals? It doesn't tell us, but this is a prophetic event! I can't tell you exactly when Christ knew when these things would take place. I would assume that before He gave the revelation to John, that He understood when the day would be, but you can't prove it. We would have to say that in Rev. 5 when God the Father gave Jesus the book—which is a future event—it hasn't happened, yet, because the seals haven't opened. Now he may have been given the book, but he hasn't started to open them, yet.

Perhaps the first seal with the amalgamations of the religions of the world, perhaps that has already started, but the final thrust—an event to bring them all together in one huge conglomeration—has not yet happened. We could go back and say with the Parliament of the World's Religions, the first one in 1893, maybe that was the first step in getting it to happen. We don't know.

Does that mean that Christ doesn't know the day He's coming? No! We're not talking about the day He is coming! We're talking about the day when the sign of The Son of Man appears in heaven!Of course, He knows when He is coming. And after He gave the revelation to John, or even before, He understood it!

Christ opens the first seal, the second seal, the third seal, the fourth seal, the fifth seal, martyrdom of the saints, and now we come to the day (Rev. 6:12). I defy you to tell me when this day occurs. The only thing we can do is, we can have a little speculation on it.

Revelation 6:12: "And when He opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as the hair of sackcloth, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its untimely figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind" (vs 12-13).

How many times have we read these Scriptures? This is the day that He's talking about, that no one knows the day or the hour, not even the Son nor the angels, because it is driven by events! You must first have all the other things in place that I mentioned before.

Verse 14: "Then the heaven departed like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the powerful men, and every bondman, and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of His wrath has come…'" (vs 14-17).

That is the day He is talking about! Not the day of His wrath, but the beginning of the His return! When the heavens are rolled back and all of a sudden it's like a new sun that is seen out there in the universe that shines from the east to the west. That's the day he's talking about that no one knows! From all the evidence that we have covered here, we don't know—do we?

We can guess about the 144,000 and the great innumerable multitude, that they are sealed in the last year beginning on Pentecost. But that still does not tell us when this Rev. 6:12-17 event occurred. We don't know when that's going to happen.

What also happens when the sun is darkened and the moon turns the blood and the earth a shaken? In other prophecies God says He's going to shake the heavens, the earth, the sea. Everything is going to be messed up! Are you going to be able to tell what time it is? No! Another thing is that no one knows the hour.

On earth, how many hours are there in any given day? Twenty four! There are 24 time zones in the world. Which time zone? Which part of the world? Whether it is day or whether it is night—because it's going to be one event of the rolling back on that day of the heaven so that the sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven—probably out there in space. That's the day He's talking about!

• He's not talking about the day He puts His feet on the Mount of Olives.
• He's not talking about the day of the resurrection.

There's nothing in the Bible that says we don't know or can't know the day of the resurrection. If you take the Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost and everything else and put it all together, it's got to be on Pentecost. But how that Pentecost falls in the year of the resurrection, we don't know because the heavens and earth are all discombobulated! That's why God has to do it.

Now come to where it's talking about the resurrection; 1-Thessalonians 4:13: "But I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, that you be not grieved, even as others, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in exactly the same way also, those who have fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (vs 13-14). So they have to go where He is before He can bring them with Him.

Verse 15: "For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall in no wise precede those who have fallen asleep, because the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds for the meeting with the Lord in the air; and so shall we always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words" (vs 15-18). Paul is talking about the resurrection!

1-Thessalonians 5:1: "Now then, concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, there is no need that I write to you… [we are to have an understanding of the times and the seasons] …for you yourselves understand perfectly that the Day of the Lord will come exactly as a thief comes by night. For when they say, 'Peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them, as travail comes upon a woman who is with child; and they shall by no means escape" (vs 1-3).

We are to understand the timeframe of it. But there is one day known to God and God alone: when the heavens are going to be ripped back and rolled up like a scroll and the sign of the Son of Man is going to appear in heaven! That's why Jesus said that even the Son of Man did not know that day. That had to be at the time that he made the statement.

So therefore, no man knowing the day refers to that day that that occurs and not to the Feast of Trumpets when we put our feet on the Mount of Olives, when we return with Christ. Nor referring to the resurrection—we can perfectly understand that it occurs on Pentecost. It doesn't say you can't know when the resurrection is going to be. Because Jesus says you know the times and seasons, and he just talked about the resurrection.

So, isn't that interesting how you have had it hidden in plain sight right under your nose?And have read it how many times, and did not understand which day that it was referring to?

That's why we have to always keep studying, and study with the way that God wants us to understand His Word. He will lead us with His Spirit to understand those things. So, that is the day it's talking about. Now that we know which day it is, we know that we don't know when that day is going to be!

All Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 25:2
• Proverbs 2:1-5, 7-9
• Isaiah 29:11-16
• Isaiah 28:1-9
• Hebrews 5:12-14
• Isaiah 28:10-14
• Matthew 24:15
• 2 Thessalonians 2:1-6
• Revelation 17:17
• 2 Thessalonians 7-8
• Matthew 24:16-36
• Mark 13:30-32
• Matthew 24:23-27
• Revelation 6:12-17
• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
• 2 Thessalonians 5:1-3

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 11
• Hebrews 6:1
• Revelation 9
• 2 Timothy 2:15
• 1 Thessalonians 5:21
• Revelation 13; 5

Also referenced: from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version, Appendix A: Fourteen Rules for Bible Study

FRC: po/bo
Transcribed: 1/4/18