To Know
We are now in my seventeenth study on the book of Revelation and today, it is words from my previous studies that are speaking to my heart. In Deuteronomy 29:29, it is revealed to us “The secret things belong to our God but those things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” Revelation 10:7 reveals, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he has declared to His servants the prophets.” Jesus said, “For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be brought to light.”
The truth is: everything that is hidden has already been revealed because God declared His mystery to His prophets and the scribes of the prophets wrote down the mystery of God. It is published in a book widely available today. Every secret thing of God is published for all the world to see. We don’t have to wait till the end to learn the hidden things of God; we don’t have to wait to have them brought to light. We can see and know them right now.
Jesus was born a man. Philippians 2:6 tells us Jesus, “who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation, and took on Himself the form of a servant.” John 1:1 reveals, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God,” and verse 14 further reveals, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Now these both are just very ornate ways of saying; Jesus was God and became man. When Jesus took on flesh, He laid aside His Godhood, that which made Him God, His almightiness, in order to do so. Jesus could not be God and man simultaneously. God is infinite and man is finite; the two cannot dwell together in one vessel.
The word, robbery, means to rob or steal. Jesus was God. He didn’t have to rob God for almighty power; He didn’t have to rob God for almightiness, therefore, He could lay aside that which was legitimately His own, to come to earth as a man, knowing He could take back that which He had laid aside at any time. Jesus had no fear that someone would steal His Godhood if He laid it aside. He knew and had full assurance He would be able to pick back up that which He had laid aside. Thus, Jesus, who was God, willingly and without compulsion, laid His Godhood aside to become mankind.
Yet, Jesus knew God’s secrets. Now when Jesus laid aside His Godhood, He laid aside the omniscience of God; He laid aside the all knowing aspect of God. That which He knew of God, He learned by studying the scriptures. The mystery of God was revealed to God’s servants, the prophets, and the prophets wrote down the words of God, and Jesus had access. By careful study and the help of the Holy Spirit, Jesus learned.
In Acts 1:7, Jesus tells the disciples, “It is not for you to know the times and seasons the Father has placed in His own power,” but these times and seasons are published secrets. Anybody can know them who is willing to put in the time and effort. In Luke 12:32, Jesus said, “Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” The Father is not withholding the kingdom from us; He is not hiding Himself. Or, if He is, God is hiding in plain sight.
When Jesus said, “It is not for you to know the times and seasons the Father has placed in His own power,” it was a polite way of saying, “you’re going to have to dig this information out of the scriptures on your own. I am not going to show you what you can find on your own.” Jesus knew God’s timetable and He knew He didn’t have time to teach the disciples what they wanted to know at that time. Moreover, what the disciples wanted to know was peripheral to what they needed to know.
At this point, Jesus is no longer a man. He had taken back up the Godhood He had laid aside and had been exalted above all principalities and powers, given the name above every other name and was Lord of the kingdom of heaven. He had responsibilities beyond what the disciples could grasp. The kingdom of heaven had not existed before this time; the kingdom of God was in force. It is not enough to be God, Jesus had to act.
The first act we are shown is the issuing of the new covenant to mankind. The disciples at this time had a much smaller view of God than reality. They saw Jesus as king of Israel, a land mass not much bigger than New Jersey, and themselves ruling with Jesus and sitting on 11 thrones beside His. They had a lot to learn, but Jesus had previously told them, “When I go away, I will send you the Holy Spirit, who will lead you into all truth.” The word, all, literally means all.
Of course, today, we understand Jesus is not just ruler over Israel; He is ruler over all, all earth and the heavens. Jesus was very busy setting up His kingdom in those first few days after the resurrection, after the Father had placed all power and all authority in Jesus’ hands. This is why it was 40 days later that He commissioned His Church and made the new covenant public and ten days later that the Holy Spirit first returned to earth. There were logistics that had to be accomplished before the new covenant could be rolled out.
We are talking about the times and seasons of God. I wonder how many Christians realize Jesus is not just sitting on a throne in heaven. Anybody who has run a business realizes there is a lot of work to running anything and Jesus runs, operates, has authority over, all the angels of heaven, all the universe and earth. We cannot fully comprehend what this means but the Holy Spirit can and is willing to help us.
In Jeremiah 29:13, we are told, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” And 2Chronicles 15:2 reveals, “The Lord is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.” These verses are just as valid today as when they were written. The Holy Spirit resides in our hearts. If we engage with Him, He will show us all the mysteries of God but if we never engage with Him, He will not engage with us.
Now, again, in Acts 1:7, Jesus tells the disciples “It is not for you to know the times and seasons the Father has placed in His own power,” but in Matthew 16:3, Jesus rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees, saying, “You hypocrites, you can forecast the weather by judging the appearance of the sky but you cannot discern the time.” A similar episode is found in Luke 12:56. Again, Jesus rebukes the Scribes and Pharisees for being able to judge the weather of the coming day but unable to judge the time for the Messiah to come.
Between Jeremiah and Daniel, God had almost told mankind what day Jesus would be born and what day Jesus would be killed. What they failed to predict; Moses filled in the missing pieces. The Scribes and Pharisees had no excuse for their ignorance, hence, Jesus’ rebuke. Moreover, it was 2,000 years between Adam and Moses. The fact that the old covenant was nearing its 2,000th anniversary should have been a sign, as readable as the sky.
When asked about His return, Jesus said, “No man knows the hour or the day, no, not even the angels or the Son of Man; of that hour and day the Father alone knows,” but Jesus went on to say, “When you see the fig tree bud, that generation shall not pass away before the Son of Man returns.” So even though no man, not even the Son of Man, knows the hour or the day, Jesus knew the season and time of His return and told any who would listen to His words.
We know the fig tree is a picture of the Nation of Israel. The Ark of the Covenant contains Aaron’s rod that budded, which was undoubtedly a fig tree branch. The fig tree went into decline many years ago and when it was conquered by the Babylonians it went dormant. It was dominated by various nations until 70 AD when it was destroyed. A branch of the fig tree remained however, and in 1946 that branch budded and the Nation of Israel bloomed and produced fruit. The generation that saw this budding will not pass away before the return of the Messiah. We are now 75 years past this event and over half of this generation has passed away but not all. The signs indicate the return of Jesus is very near.
Jesus studied the Old Testament prophets. That’s how He knew when it would be time for His return. Though the Father has placed the times and seasons in His own care, revealing them to no one, holding them close to his own heart, He has shared them with His servants the prophets. The problem is: God can’t keep a secret.
It was sometime last summer as I walked in my yard that I realized we are now almost 2,000 years past Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and establishing of the new covenant. I came back inside and did a little study and sure enough, the information on the web confirmed Jesus was born (best guess) in six BC. It seems the Gregorian Monk who developed the Gregorian calendar was six years off when He assigned the beginning of our modern age at Jesus’ birth.
If you remember Jesus’ teaching on the man who fell among thieves, the Good Samaritan paid the inn keeper for lodging for two days, and said, if I owe you any more, I will pay you on my return. Now Peter tells us a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years are as a day. The book of Genesis reveals God worked on creation for six days and rested on the seventh and the scriptures reveal a thousand year reign of Christ on the earth after this present age. It was two thousand years between Adam and Moses and two thousand years between Moses and Jesus’ death, that leaves two thousand years till the one thousand year reign of Christ.
Again, if you remember, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they could look at the sky and tell the weather for the following day, but could not discern the time of His birth or crucifixion. This means that we should know the signs that indicate His return before the seven year tribulation period. The signs that point to the next big event are abundant.
Although I should be able to feel confident in my conclusion, I find myself doubting. Last summer, when I put my numbers together it looked like this. Jesus was born in six BC, lived thirty three years and died. That put Acts 1 and the beginning of the Church age at 27 AD. When I add 2,000 to 27, I get 2027. If I back out 7 years for the tribulation period, I get 2020. For the last half of 2020 I woke up every morning looking for Jesus to come in the sky to call the dead back to life. Each day came and went with no change. Now, we are in 2021.
Now, in truth, I am using arbitrary numbers to arrive at my date. I don’t know that Jesus was born is six BC, it could be five, or four, or three BC. Also, most scholars seem to believe Jesus lived thirty three years and six months, which means my date is off six months. Jesus did say we could not know the day or the hour, even He didn’t know those facts, but between Jeremiah and Daniel, the time of Jesus’ birth was given down to the year and it was prophesied He would die in the middle of His life.
In Luke 2:21-29, we have the story recorded of Jesus being presented before the high priest of Israel, as the scriptures say, “Every male child shall be presented before the Lord,” and a man of Israel, Simeon, was there waiting for the child. The Holy Spirit had revealed to Him it was the day Jesus would be presented to the high priest. Anna, a prophetess, was also in the temple that day, not because she came for that express purpose but because she served the Lord daily in fastings and prayers, but she too was told of the Holy Spirit who the child was, and she took the child in her arms and gave thanks. Can we know the day of Jesus’ return? If the signs are reliable and we are looking for His return, all indications are we will.
Hebrews 9:28 reveals to us “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them who look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” It’s interesting to note Jesus will appear to those who look for Him. This is what happened to Simeon. He had prayed and asked God to show him the Christ and one day the Holy Spirit led him to the temple and showed him an eight day old child. Simeon knew it was time and was looking.
The wise men followed the star that indicated the birth of the king of the Jews a great distance based on one sign; we have many. They brought precious gifts at great peril to their own lives; robbers and vandals were plentiful. These men were assured in their hearts they would find the king right where He was supposed to be. A band of angels announced Jesus’ birth to shepherds keeping their flocks in the field.
Can we know the time of Jesus’ appearing? If we don’t, Jesus will be very disappointed in us. In the book of Genesis, God told Adam, “You may eat of all the trees of the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die.” God did not tell Adam he would lose the right to live in the Garden of Eden, it was implied by the words “you shall surely die.” The same thing happened with Abraham. Abraham was not promised the land when he was first called. The promise of inheritance was implied by the words, “That I will show you.” It is important to hear what God says but just as important to understand what is implied.
None of the signs I have enumerated here specifically state Jesus’ return is imminent but they all imply the imminent return of Jesus and that we should know the times and season of His return. The signs should convey the same kind of knowing the magi had when they started their long journey to find the king of the Jews.