No Man
Knows
It is the
glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
Proverbs 25:2
“We are to
live as though Christ were returning tomorrow, but work as though he were not
returning for a thousand years.” This is certainly a wise stance to take. Even if we knew the
specific date of Christ’s return, his “return” could come for any of us at any
moment we face death.
Our own
history is based on speculation regarding the date of Christ’s return.
Certainly, the Millerites were mistaken, as were those who continued to set
dates for Christ’s return after the great disappointment. Every few years, some
group will pop up with a date for “the rapture” or that of Christ’s coming.
The standard
“proof text” used to supposedly silence any speculation of the date of Christ’s
return is Matthew 24:36: “But
of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but my
Father only”. This is
supposed to immediately silence all discussion regarding the time of Christ’s
coming. “We may know when it is near,
but we cannot know the day and hour” is a standard explanation.
Jesus' words here are in
the present tense, addressed to His hearers at the time, and not to those alive
at the end of the age when Daniel's vision would be unsealed (Daniel
12:9). Christ told his disciples, "you do not know on what day your Lord will
come" (Matthew 24:42). "It is not for you to know the times or
dates the Father has set by his own authority" (Acts 1:7).
One cannot
take every verse in the Bible and assign it universal application. That would
be like walking up to someone on the street and saying, “You will deny Christ 3
times tonight before the cock crows”, simply because this verse is in the
Bible. However, it was addressed to a specific individual, just as were the words of Matthew 24:36, 24:42 and Acts 1:7. Matthew
It is true:
no one on earth knew the day and hour of Christ’s return when he made that
statement—not even Christ himself in his humanity. However, the verse does not say, “No one will ever
know the time.”
There is ample precedence for God revealing specific
times in advance:
1. He gave Noah notice of when the flood would
be (Genesis 6,7).
2. He told Abraham how long the Israelites would
be in
3. He revealed to many
the very day of Elijah's rapture (2 Kings 2).
4. He told Jeremiah how long the Babylonian
exile would be (Jeremiah 29:10).
5. He told Daniel exactly when Messiah would
come the first time (Daniel
Not
revealing the time of Christ’s return (at the pertinent time) would violate
God's own established pattern.
The fact
that the time will come when we will
know the exact day and hour of Christ’s return is easily proven in the following
quotation, set at the end of the time of trouble:
“Soon we
heard the voice of God like many waters, which
gave us the day and hour of Jesus’ coming.” (Early Writings 15) No one would be so foolish at that time
to start quoting Matthew 24 and saying, “You don’t know the day and hour of
Christ’s coming!”
Chirst told
the disciples that he had many things to tell them, which they could not take
at the present time (John
"But
thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end:
many shall run to and fro, and knowledge [of the Scriptures] shall be
increased." Daniel 12:4
As the wise
leader that he is, the Holy Spirit has progressively divulged understanding of
prophcy on a "need to know basis". “And he saith unto me, Seal
not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.” Revelation 22:10
“Surely the
LORD God will do nothing, but he
revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7) Notice that it does not say
“except the time of Christ’s return.” "I
make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to
come." (Isaiah 46:10).
It is
interesting to note James White’s comments on Matthew 24:36:
“ ‘Concerning the time of that (Christ's) coming, he says, in Mark
‘If not, then certainly this text can
never prove that men may not be made to understand the time. An old English version of the passage,
reads, “But that day and hour no man
maketh known, neither the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but
the Father.”
‘This is
the correct reading according to several of the ablest critics of the age. The word know is
used here, in the same sense as it is by Paul in 1 Cor. 2:2. Paul well
understood many other things, besides Christ and him crucified, but he determined to make known nothing
else among them. So in the passage first quoted, it is declared that none
but God the Father, maketh known the day and hour; that is, the definite time
of the second coming of his Son. And this necessarily implies that God makes
the time known.’
“I believe
the above, to be a fair and correct view of the subject, and that the Father
will make known the true time of the advent, without the agency of men, angels,
or the Son.” A Word to the Little Flock pg. 5
Thus, at no
time will it be our work to “make known” the date of Christ’s return. This is
hardly the message we are to take to the world. However, this knowledge shall
not be hidden from God’s children as the time approaches. “None of the wicked shall understand; but
the wise shall understand”
(Daniel
With this knowledge
in hand, we can now read Ellen White’s warnings on speculation of the time of
the second coming and see exacty what she is saying, as well as what she is not
saying:
“The disciples were
anxious to know the exact time for the revelation of the
“This is the work in
which we also are to be engaged. Instead of living in expectation of some
special season of excitement, we are wisely to improve present opportunities,
doing that which must be done in order that souls may be saved. Instead of exhausting the powers of our mind
in speculations in regard to the times and seasons which the Lord has
placed in his own power, and withheld from men, we are to yield ourselves to
the control of the Holy Spirit, to do present duties, to give the bread of
life, unadulterated with human opinions, to souls who are perishing for the
truth.
“Satan is ever ready to
fill the mind with theories and calculations that will divert men from the present truth, and disqualify them for the
giving of the third angel's message to the world. It has ever been thus; for
our Saviour often had to speak reprovingly to those who indulged in
speculations and were ever inquiring into those
things which the Lord had not revealed. Jesus had come to earth to impart
important truth to men, and he wished to impress their minds with the necessity
of receiving and obeying his precepts and instructions, of doing their present
duty, and his communications were of an order that imparted knowledge for their
immediate and daily use...
“Christ gave to his
disciples truths whose breadth and depth and value they little appreciated, or
even comprehended, and the same condition exists among the people of God today.
We too have failed to take in the greatness, to perceive the beauty of the
truth which God has intrusted to us today. Should we advance in spiritual
knowledge, we would see the truth developing and expanding in lines of which we
have little dreamed, but it will never develop in any line that will lead us to
imagine that we may know the times and the seasons which the Father hath put in
his own power. Again and again have I been warned in regard to time-setting. There will never again be a message for the people
of God that will be based on time. We are not to know the definite time either for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit or for
the coming of Christ...
“The times and the
seasons God has put in his own power, and why has not God given us this
knowledge?—Because we would not make a right use of it if he did.
A condition of things would result from this knowledge among our people that
would greatly retard the work of God in preparing a people to stand in the
great day that is to come. We are not to live upon time excitement. We are
not to be engrossed with speculations in
regard to the times and the seasons which God has not revealed. Jesus
has told his disciples to "watch," but not for definite time. His
followers are to be in the position of those who are listening for the orders of their Captain; they are to watch, wait,
pray, and work, as they approach the time for the coming of the Lord; but no
one will be able to predict just when that time will come; for "of that
day and hour knoweth no man." You will not be able to say that he will
come in one, two, or five years, neither are you to put off his coming by
stating that it may not be for ten or twenty years...
“It is the duty of the
people of God to have their lamps trimmed and burning, to be as men that wait
for the Bridegroom, when he shall return from the wedding. You have not a
moment to lose in neglect of the great salvation that has been provided for
you. The time of the probation of souls
is coming to an end. From day to day the destiny of men is being sealed,
and even from this congregation we know
not how soon many shall close their eyes in death and be habited for the tomb. We
should now consider that our life is swiftly passing away, that we are not safe
one moment unless our life is hid with Christ in God.” Review
and Herald,