Now many people use Matthew 24:36 to support the idea that no one can know the time of the Lord's return. However, it is one scripture, taken out of context:
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
However, just a few seconds before saying this, and followed by a lengthy description of the events leading up to the coming of the Son of Man, the Lord said:
Mat 24:32-34 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: (33) So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. (34) Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Here He is saying that we will be able to identify the timing or season (since He mentions "summer") by looking for these signs.
Even before that in describing the signs with which we will be able to identify the nearness of His return, He clearly states:
Mat 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 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: (30) 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 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (31) 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.
Notice that? "Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days..."
Then He describes the very same events as described throughout the Bible as the Day of the Lord.
You can read a more indepth earlier study of the Day of the Lord and another study on how the events Jesus describes in Mat 24:29 are also part of the 6th, 7th trumpet and 7th vial in Three Descriptions But One Event
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
However, just a few seconds before saying this, and followed by a lengthy description of the events leading up to the coming of the Son of Man, the Lord said:
Mat 24:32-34 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: (33) So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. (34) Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Here He is saying that we will be able to identify the timing or season (since He mentions "summer") by looking for these signs.
Even before that in describing the signs with which we will be able to identify the nearness of His return, He clearly states:
Mat 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 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: (30) 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 in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (31) 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.
Notice that? "Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days..."
Then He describes the very same events as described throughout the Bible as the Day of the Lord.
You can read a more indepth earlier study of the Day of the Lord and another study on how the events Jesus describes in Mat 24:29 are also part of the 6th, 7th trumpet and 7th vial in Three Descriptions But One Event
