“When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matthew 16:2b-3.

“And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!” Mark 13:37.

The first quote above from Matthew 16:2b-3 is the response the Lord Jesus gave to the Pharisees and the Sadducees when they asked Him for a sign.

He reprimanded them for not looking at the obvious signs already given through the Scriptures, His miracles, and His words.

If Jesus expected the religious leaders of that day to read the signs of the times, it would be true that He expects us to read them in the same way today.

For the Christian the question is primarily, when will the Lord remove all the believers from the earth in the rapture?

Well, we do not have the exact time, but we do have the signs.

It is important to remember that no one knows the exact time, and it is foolish to try to set one, as many have.

“Therefore, when they had come together [for the Lord’s ascension into heaven], they asked Him, saying, ‘Lord, will 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 shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’” Acts 1:6-8.

There are two aspects of His response above. The first one is that Jesus had already given the disciples a great deal of information a few days before His crucifixion, which is recorded in Matthew 24:1-8, Mark 13, and in Luke 21.

The second thing to note is that when He said that it was not for them to know the times or seasons He straightway told them of the arrival of the Holy Spirit who would guide them into all truth.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” John 14:26.

It was not the immediate task of the disciples to seek Jesus’ return. The immediate task was to fill the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit; which they did.

“…which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth…” Colossians 1:5b-6.

For nearly two thousand years now it has been the job of every Christian to continue to spread that same gospel throughout their world.

It is in these last days of turmoil again a legitimate question to ask.

“Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6b.

The answer to that question is as follows.

“See! Your [Israel’s] house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” Matthew 23:38-39.

“It shall be in that day [battle of Armageddon] that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced; they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.” Zechariah 12:9-10.

The return of Christ to restore the kingdom of Israel is at the end of the tribulation period of seven years when He fights what is commonly called the battle of Armageddon, when all the nations come against Israel to destroy her.

Bear in mind though that there are many Christian Jews who will leave in the rapture with us.

There are also many Jews who will listen to the gospel of Jesus Christ even now. Speak to them if they will listen, pray for them if they will not.

The Christian looks forward to the rapture of the church when all true Christians are removed from the earth before the tribulation starts.

It is the timing of the rapture that this post is concerned with. We will look at portions of this account in Matthew 24:1-8 mainly, though portions of Luke will be used also.

Now these are the things which lead up to the rapture of the church with the seven years of tribulation following shortly after.

“Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.’” Matthew 24:1-8.

There are differences of opinion as to whether the Lord describes the rapture in Matthew chapter 24 or not. The important thing to remember is that there is one, which has been clearly described by the Apostle Paul.

“Behold, I tell you a mystery [something not yet revealed]: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed – in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-53.

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

The majority of conservative scholars believe that the rapture will come before the tribulation begins. This is the position taken in this post. However, there are those who feel that it will happen in the middle of the tribulation and others who think it will happen at the end. This last theory has absolutely no merit by the way.

In Jesus’ discourse on the end times He mentioned a few things which have already taken place.

For instance, when the disciples asked Jesus when these things will be, it is a reference back to Matthew 24:2 the destruction of the temple.

“And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’” Matthew 24:2.

“Tell us, when will these things be?” Matthew 24:3b.

The answer to this prophecy which has already been fulfilled is actually given in Luke 21.

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Luke 21:20-24.

The key to understanding this prophecy are the words, “And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations.”

Historically, this has already happened in 70 A.D. when Titus and the Roman legions besieged Jerusalem and then killed over one million Jews. Many others who were captured were sold into slavery throughout the world in what has been called the Diaspora.

Christian Jews, by the way, fled the city as quickly as possible because they believed Jesus’ prophetic words here in Luke.

The temple was destroyed on August 10th 70 A.D. or August 30th according to some.

It was completely torn down, as Jesus prophesied, because when it was set on fire the gold in it melted and seeped into the seams between the stones with which the building was constructed. The Roman soldiers tore every stone down to get to the melted gold.

The dispersion and return of the Jews to the land of Israel is in numerous prophecies in the Old Testament.

The book of Deuteronomy has a list of blessings and curses for the Israelites according to their obedience or disobedience to God’s word. Their history bears these things out.

“Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known – wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life.” Deuteronomy 28:64-66.

After nearly two thousand years the Jews are back in their promised land, and Israel became a nation in 1948. This in itself should put Christians on alert.

As our own government, Muslims worldwide, and the United Nations have demonstrated, Israel is still under the hobnail boot of the Gentiles and will be until the Lord returns and ends the tribulation period.

This passage in Luke also states that even before this the disciples and apostles of Christ will be persecuted.

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, you will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.” Luke 21:12.

There are numerous occasions when this was done as recorded in other passages in the New Testament, particularly the book of Acts.

Even later many folks blame Christians for the tortures and persecutions during the dark ages and afterward. However, it is clear that the so-called Christians who ran the inquisition were of the same Pharisaic mentality that crucified Jesus Christ and persecuted His disciples.

Those who point to those times of cruelty and blame Christians, fail to note the fact that the persons who were persecuted were Christians and Jews, not unbelievers who for the most part acted like good members of the church that did the persecuting.

Because men who were not Christians were able to quietly infest the Medieval Church and then through subterfuge were able to work their way to the top of church hierarchy.

They were then able to inject doctrines of demons into Christ’s church and ruin it.

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” 1 Timothy 4:1-3.

“Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting [urgently advising] you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jude 1:3-4.

Read the Weather, Part 1 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 5-4-15, updated on 8-3-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.