Yeah, you guys get the picture. I have my snark on for this one. Yeshua/Jesus is pretty specific here but we don’t like it so we try to find workarounds. Let’s look at these final verses of the Olivet Discourse in Mark 13 to find out exactly what He is and is not saying.
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32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
Alright, get prepared for a total snark fest because I probably could control myself but I am going to choose not to. I don’t get sarcastic very often because I hate sarcasm but this is an exception I always make. Yeshua has flat-out taken His disciples to task for asking for signs for the destruction of the Temple. Told them not to be distracted in very harsh terms with the repeated use of the word blepo. Told them to expect earthquakes, famines, persecutions, wars and rumors of wars and tells them that these things are normal and not a sign of anything. Again, tells them to maintain focus on their mission to preach and to not get swept away looking for signs of the destruction of the Temple. Tells them that when it is time, it will be totally obvious that it is about to go down and boy howdy, we know from historical accounts that it certainly was obvious. So, there was no need to monitor the headlines or postulate or theorize about when because when it began, there was only one possible outcome. If they spent time wondering all those years beforehand, it would have been time utterly wasted. They would have been living in fear, anticipation, and distraction. Every little rumor on the wind would be seen as confirmation that it was all about to happen—for forty years. Death of Tiberius and rise of Caligula who declared himself Jupiter incarnate and ordered a statue of himself placed in the Holy of Holies? Yep, had to be it. Oops. No it wasn’t. He got assassinated before it could happen but surely, any day now. Claudius! He expelled the Jews from Rome! Can the destruction of the Temple be far behind? Yeah, actually it can be far, far, far behind. Nero! Nero burned parts of the city and blamed the Christians. Certainly, this is part of a pre-offensive against the Temple. Oh, gosh, nope…in fact, nothing at all was instigated by Rome but by Jewish zealots—and that not until 66 CE. And it wasn’t even until 69 CE that events had gone far enough that there remained little alternative to the destruction of the Temple and then, still, because of the crimes of the zealots in defiling the city and Temple beyond any hope of cleansing. The thing is, no one looking at the non-signs for 36 years would have come up with anything even remotely applicable. It would have been a total waste of time. This was Yeshua’s warning and it is a warning we still are in desperate need of today—probably more than ever.
Hi, I am Tyler Dawn Rosenquist and welcome to Character in Context, where I teach the historical and ancient sociological context of Scripture with an eye to developing the character of the Messiah. If you prefer written material, I have six years’ worth of blog at theancientbridge.com as well as my six books available on amazon—including a four-volume curriculum series dedicated to teaching Scriptural context in a way that even kids can understand it, called Context for Kids—and I have two video channels on YouTube with free Bible teachings for both adults and kids. You can find the link for those on my website. Past broadcasts of this program can be found at characterincontext.podbean.com and transcripts can be had for most broadcasts at theancientbridge.com. If you have kids, I also have a weekly broadcast where I teach them Bible context in a way that shows them why they can trust God and how He wants to have a relationship with them through the Messiah.
All Scripture this week comes courtesy of the ESV, the English Standard Version but you can follow along with whatever Bible you want. A list of my resources can be found attached to the transcript for Part two of this series at theancientbridge.com.
So, Yeshua refused to give the Pharisees a sign and refused to talk about signs with His disciples as well and we have touched on the reasoning a bit elsewhere but let’s review. Signs are in the eye of the beholder. Two people can look at the same sign and see two diametrically opposed things. The Romans saw the sword shaped comet over Jerusalem and saw it as a good omen that they would prevail and that destruction had been decreed. The Jewish zealots saw the exact same sign and felt it was proof that God was fighting on their side—which showed a lot of gall considering how many innocent civilians they were starving and slaughtering! But even the worst of villains can and do see themselves as weapons of righteousness. Look at Ravi Zacharias and the horrible crimes that have now been proven he committed against so many women. No denomination is exempt. Jews and Christians both—committing crimes and still claiming that God is on their side. Ignoring every red flag and destroying everyone who threatens to expose them under the auspices of protecting the church or the synagogue. Truth is that we can’t be trusted with signs or wonders because we can’t even be trusted with the normal stuff that we all see with our own eyes. Read A Church Called Tov by Scott McKnight, it’s eye-opening as to how blind we can be—how purposefully blind.
We also create signs out of our vain imaginations. Say we are having money problems and we feel desperate. We pray, “God, if it is okay with you that I take money out of my elderly parent’s bank accounts to cover my expenses, please have this light turn green.” And it turns green, because that’s when the timer was set to turn it back on. God could have kept it red but He isn’t a puppet and He knows that we wouldn’t even pray such a thing unless we had already decided to sin and were just looking to blame God for it. He ain’t playing that game. No, we are idiots and can’t trust in signs, can’t depend on them, and can’t be trusted with them. I look on the social media everyday and am inundated with the “signs” that the same people see, year in and year out, that never amount to anything. But they are scared. They want to be in control of their future. They want to know. They hate the uncertainty that comes with living moment by moment for God and not knowing what is going to happen in an hour, much less tomorrow or next year. And they fritter their lives away looking for signs—just like people have for almost 2000 years now—people who could have served the poor or used that zeal to evangelise or help orphans but instead accomplished absolutely nothing. People who I fear will expect to hear “Well done good and faithful servant” but instead might hear, “You wasted the talent I gave you by burying it in the ground and focused on unprofitable things instead. It’s as though you never existed, as far as furthering the Kingdom goes.”
And I know that’s harsh but I see so much wasted potential and so much outright ignoring what Yeshua repeatedly warned. And if you ever want to know how bad it is, look at Amazon’s bestsellers list and it will be filled with anything and everything except solid materials from reputable scholars. You write a book guaranteeing that Yeshua will return in 2025 and thousands of people will buy it. Write about something responsible and make sure you don’t quit your day job. There is a lot of money to be made in this form of false prophecy. So anyway, let’s get to it.
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Okay now, many believe He is changing the subject and going back to verse 5 and 6, as well as picking up on verses 26-27 which might serve a dual purpose beyond simply the coming in the clouds judgment language we saw when both Jerusalem and Babylon were destroyed. The reason why, and why I am inclined to believe them, is because of what the phrase “that day” means in the prophetic language of the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s eschatological (referring to the end times) and formulaic throughout the prophets for referring to the day of Yahweh’s judgment/visitation, the Day of the Lord.
Then the Lord said to me, “The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” declares the Lord God…“And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight…In that day the lovely virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst.” (Amos 8:2b-3a, 9, 13)
“In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11)
In that day, declares the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted; and the lame I will make the remnant, and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and forevermore. (Micah 4:6-7)
And in that day, declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots; (Micah 4:10)
A day for the building of your walls! In that day the boundary shall be far extended. In that day they will come to you, from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain. But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their deeds. (Micah 7:11-13)
And on the day of the Lord‘s sacrifice—“I will punish the officials and the king’s sons and all who array themselves in foreign attire. On that day I will punish everyone who leaps over the threshold, and those who fill their master’s house with violence and fraud. “On that day,” declares the Lord, “a cry will be heard from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, a loud crash from the hills. Wail, O inhabitants of the Mortar! For all the traders are no more; all who weigh out silver are cut off. At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.’ (Zeph 1:8-12)
“On that day you shall not be put to shame because of the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain…On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” (Zeph 3:11, 16-17)
Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau? (Obadiah 8)
“And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and water the Valley of Shittim.” (Joel 3:18)
On that day the Lord their God will save them, as the flock of his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. (Zech 9:16)
So, who noticed that these verses are all wildly different? They are describing the same thing—the day of the Lord and some of these are describing different judgments in history and some appear to be speaking of the time of the final return of Yahweh at the end of the age. And it can be confusing because they are all speaking of “on” or “in that day” or “at that time” and some of it looks good and some of it looks horrific. But remember that judgment is a neutral term that is neither inherently pleasant or unpleasant. If you have been wronged, you cry out for judgment, do you not? You want to be vindicated and vindication is one form of judgment. Condemnation is the other half of judgment. So here, on/in that day and at that time we have promises of woe and promises of redemption. It all depends on the situation and what is going on. Let’s review the verse:
32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
That day and that hour. The subject has changed to future concerns of the final judgment of Yahweh.
Remember to pay attention to your conjunctions. Our big clue is the “but” and the last time we saw it was another subject change in verse 14. Let’s look at verse 5 and 6 really quick because it is important, “And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.” After this, He begins to speak of all the things that will look like signs of the destruction of the Temple but in fact are described as normal events of the sort that naturally happen in the world and always will. Then comes the “but” that changes the subject from useless signs to something concrete, “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” This was followed by apocalyptic, cosmic sort of language that always accompanied cataclysmic judgment and especially with regard to the original destruction of both Jerusalem and then Babylon.
And if this is referring to the Second Coming, but even if He is still talking about the destruction of the Temple, Yeshua couldn’t be more clear here when He says that no one knows. And I have seen such mental gymnastics performed trying to get out of the plain language of this entire chapter that no, we won’t be able to predict anything—not the day of the destruction of the Temple and certainly not the day of Yeshua’s return. If the angels, who are above us and can see everything we can see and much more because they can also see what we cannot, the battles in the spiritual realm and all the things hidden to us, and if the Son does not know the day or the hour—then we don’t have a chance of figuring it out and if everyone having been wrong up to this point hasn’t convinced us then we will never be convinced. Why is Yeshua even saying this? The very next word will be blepo—that warning to be alert, to not be distracted by what is going on around us, to be focused on the Kingdom mission. This is not for us to know or to worry about. Our job is to do our jobs until our Master returns and if He does not find us doing what He wanted us to do, then we will have failed. And I know so many people thoroughly convinced that this is their calling but do we really think the people who have been wrong over the last two millennia thought any less of their own perceived calling? In all things we need to ask ourselves, “What was the fruit? Who was evangelized? Who was led into righteousness? Who was fed? Who was vindicated by their predictions and theorizing?” In the end, that is the only measurement that counts. Back to the text.
But before that, let me say that I am going to tackle the urban legend about Yom Teruah or Rosh HaShanah being called “the day and hour that no one knows” because I admit that I taught it for years as though it had any sort of legitimate backing, any sort of proof that it was ever called that. But I will save that for later. Like the claim that Yeshua used to be called The Living Torah, when there is no such claim anywhere. Dangit, people say this stuff and sound convincing but we have to ask for proof and not just why they think it should be or could be true.
33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come.
Give up needing to know, He tells them. You don’t know. Not only don’t the angels know. Not only doesn’t the Son know, not only does no one know, He is re-emphasizing that you do not know. I think He wants them to accept this. Your job is to be on guard, and stay awake—which is ironic because of what is about to happen. Do you think if Peter, James, John and the others really knew that Yeshua would be arrested on the Passover that they would have failed to blepo? Would they have fallen asleep when commanded to pray? It seems that prayer here is going to be key in maintaining their and our focus. We cannot change future events by knowing about them. We can’t become better believers or more faithful people or more fruitful by knowing the future. But we can become hopelessly distracted by focusing on the pursuit of it. So much so that we ignore every failure and just figure we’ll be right the next time. But we can’t be afraid, we can’t live like that—it isn’t why Yeshua told us all this—just the opposite. He is telling us that this is not our concern—our concern is to remain alert and at the wheel and doing the work of the Kingdom, which is always about people. Everyone has a calling to help others in some way and I fear that most ways are being neglected because people think that doing flashier things is more important but it isn’t. If it was important for us to know, then Yeshua would let us know.
34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake.
I like this verse. Again, this is a parable just as we had last week with the fig tree. The “it is like” introduction is a dead giveaway. And a lot of this is very double-edged, He’s seemingly talking on about three levels. One, judgment will not be delayed forever even though it may seem long in coming—hence the warning to stay awake, to live as though He can come any moment. Two, He is speaking of His immediate future that He will not be gone forever but at this point they have no clue He is going away because they still don’t get it so they wouldn’t immediately pick up on this. Three, once He does leave them, they need to ignore the fact that He is gone and work as though He is there among them in the flesh. They aren’t to be like household servants loitering out on the road, looking for Him to return instead of doing their important work. Can you even imagine taking that interpretation away from this? That they should neglect their duties and try to figure out when the master is returning? As though He couldn’t send ahead with a letter or something if he didn’t want to catch them by surprise which, seemingly, he does want to? What do good servants do? One, they work as they would in the presence of their master. Two, they work even harder because they have added authority to act in his absence for the welfare of the household.
The doorkeeper of a great house was a very important position, the Greek word is thyroros. He was the holder of the household keys. In fact, he was so important that he could be married to a free woman. I mean, slavery was not like we think of as American slavery. Slaves were members of the household, generally educated and trained to do highly skilled tasks and when set free in their thirties, would remain as members of the extended household. But I really like this most because my name Tyler, that’s what it means in old English. No, it didn’t mean someone who lays tiles. The Tyler was a doorkeeper for an inn and so he had the keys to the door and had to remain awake and alert so as to appropriately allow people in or out. If the doorkeeper wasn’t awake, customers could go elsewhere or be subjected to the dangers of the streets and if he was not there to let them out I imagine they would get quite testy. The doorkeeper’s life was one of anticipation and alertness, always paying attention to the door and having the keys ready to open it if needed and to safely lock it up afterward.
35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning—
Remember I have told you that this was probably written for a Roman based audience because of so many latin loan words and concepts? This is another one. Jerusalem had three watches in the night and the Romans had four—evening, midnight, cock-crow and morning. Jersualem would mark time according to the first, second and third watch of the night. Just a small indication of who Mark was writing for and how he was making the story more understandable for them. Which brings me to a side issue—there is this idea that everything in the Gospels and epistles was written in Hebrew and Aramaic but I am unaware of any stories about Hebrew primacy on a single document other than Matthew, and even that document is lost—the Shem Tov Matthew being a clear back translation from Greek to Hebrew during the late Middle Ages. Hebrew original, yes, according to Eusebius, but we don’t have it. Now, sometimes people will find old Hebrew transcripts of this or that but we have to understand that over the last five hundred years, it became a common exercise in learning Biblical Hebrew (different from Modern Hebrew) for Christians to translate NT books into Hebrew. So, finding copies of Revelation and this and that in private collections and libraries and such is not shocking. Sadly, they have been misrepresented by some people as being copies or previously undiscovered originals—which is pure hypothesis and utterly unprovable. At best, it is wishful thinking. So, Mark was originally in Greek, and it isn’t arguable otherwise. Writing to a mixed Jewish/Gentile audience in Rome, most of the Jews even being unable to understand Hebrew, Hebrew would have been a waste of paper. Same with the other Gospels and Epistles, except for Matthew’s which appears to have been written for the local Jewish congregation because it covers a lot of infighting over inherently Jewish issues. It wasn’t written for the purpose of sharing the Gospel with Gentiles. It is full of the hallmarks of Jewish infighting between sects.
Stay awake! Not blepo this time, because the context is actually referring to a man who might fall asleep if he gets bored—the doorkeeper. Remember, no podcasts, no books, no tv or mini-fridge. This was a boring job and hence it was entrusted to one of the most high-ranking of household servants. Now, we are given additional warning. And we have this third repetition, you do not know. All they know is that they have assurances that the Master of the House will come, at some point but absolutely no guidance other than the fact that it will happen at some point. So, as we covered in the parables of Matthew 24 and 25 (episodes 22, 23, 24 and 25) two years ago, you have to live as though He can return any minute. You have to be prepared, not fearful. You have to be about the work of the Kingdom. For me, it means that I have to be praying, a lot, and submitting myself to Him so that I become more and more like Him and that even when I am tired I keep studying, keep teaching—but the teaching is meaningless if my flesh isn’t being destroyed—my hatred, my fearfulness, my sins, all of it. Knowing the day doesn’t do a thing to make a person ready and frankly, trying to figure it out takes precious energy and time that could be spent elsewhere. People need us. In their real day to day lives. They need us tangibly and concretely helping them out. That would also be the job of household servants. Only leading inasmuch as it involves taking care of other people’s needs and, frankly, a lot of it would be caring not only for the needs of the master but also the needs of the other servants.
36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep.
And, being a parable, I don’t have to tell you that this does not mean that no one gets to sleep. But it was the job of the doorkeeper to be awake during those hours when the door would normally be closed and locked. It would be opened during the day to allow airflow, obviously. No one wants to be in a house all closed up in the heat of the day when there is no air conditioning. And no deodorant. Sleeping is the opposite of being on the job, it’s as simple as that. Even the doorkeeper slept during the daylight hours. It’s all a matter of doing what is appropriate at the proper time. And that looks different for everyone but there will always be good fruit when someone is doing what they are supposed to do. But again, the sense here is that there will be no warning whatsoever until the doorkeeper hears the footsteps or noise in the courtyard. Then there will be a shout and people will run out to greet the Master and welcome him back home.
37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
For anyone who would think, “Well, but He didn’t come during their lifetime so He is only telling them that they don’t know. Right here—what I say to you, I say to all—Stay awake. A larger audience is rarely indicated and especially not in these private conversations but here we have a notable exception. The angels do not know. The Son does not know. They do not know. We do not know. So, these books promising He is returning on April 28, 1843; or March 21, 1844; October 22, 1844 (Ellen G White); 1881, 1873, 1901; 1988, 1989 (Edgar Weisenant); 2000, May 21, 2011 (Harold Camping, I lived near these guys at the time and this was horrible) and then Oct 21, 2011; Sept 29, 2011, May 27, 2012, May 18, 2013 (Ronald Weinland, WCG, COG); Charles T Russel of the Jehovah Witnesses gave so many dates that it is embarrassing. About five years ago, a popular Hebrew Roots online ministry had to retract their claims about the start of the great tribulation back in, I think 2016 but I can’t remember now. Another Hebrew Roots teacher was date-setting about things happening beginning in 1997. And things fall through and they even sometimes dare people to call them false prophets if it doesn’t happen but they never leave ministry and people just shrug it off because people greatly desire these types of predictions. People love them. It satisfies both a need for entertainment, a need for control over uncertainty, and a need to feel in the know even if they later find out they didn’t actually know anything.
But if we just keep working as though He will both be here any minute or in a thousand years, we will do well. If we work like He will be here tomorrow, then He will find us hard at work. If we work like He will linger another thousand years, then we will do much to alleviate suffering in the here and now, knowing that our actions will have long-lasting repercussions on innumerable generations to come. Imagine if William Wilberforce would have shrugged and said, “Meh, Christ is returning any day now, it’s obvious from reading the newspapers and reading Revelation. Wickedness can’t get any worse than it is so He will come quickly.” If Wilberforce and his friends had that lukewarm, self-serving, lazy attitude, then there would likely still be slavery in Europe and America. We need to stay awake and act as though we all have a long, long time to live with the consequences of both our actions and our inactions.
Alright, next order of business—no one knows the day or hour supposedly referring to Yom Teruah/Rosh HaShanah aka the Day of Trumpets. When I was in the Hebrew Roots Movement (they mostly kicked me out when I found out the Hislop stuff had no archaeological backing—no peeing on that third rail allowed), I came across some very passionate sounding teachers who sounded utterly convinced in their claim that “the day or hour no man knows” was a “well known” idiom for the Day of Trumpets, which occurs at the sighting of the first sliver of the new moon at the beginning of the seventh Biblical month. And I thought they had proof because otherwise, why would they say it as though everyone knows it is true? Well, I used to teach it too—didn’t even occur to me to demand a source. But then someday, someone asked me for a source and I searched my brain and despite all that I had studied and read for so many years—I hadn’t one shred of proof, which I should have if this was indeed a well known idiom. I asked around, asking for proof from ancient sources. All I got were people making the arguments as to how it made sense but that isn’t the same thing. If we say something is an ancient idiom then it means that it showed up in an ancient document. If it doesn’t, then we are just straight up lying. And that was years ago and I just stopped asking because people would get really upset about it but I am going to say this right now—when I taught it, I had no proof. The people who taught it to me, when challenged, had no proof. Arguments as to why something could be true are insufficient. I could watch your life and come up with reasons why you are probably cheating on your spouse or your taxes or whatever—it doesn’t mean it is true. It just means that it makes sense to me that you could be. Even if I believe you are, I need proof, right? Of course, right! That’s how the Hislop Two Babylons stuff became so popular—no one asked for proof or went looking for proof. They just came up with plausible sounding reasons why it makes sense. Except, to people who study Babylonian religion, like I have, it doesn’t make sense. It only makes sense when your only knowledge about Ishtar and Tammuz and Nimrod are from urban legends—not when your knowledge is from the primary sources. Then you realize everything is 100% manufactured—and horrifically racist at that. I mean, dang. If people only knew. A Babylonian Princess with blonde hair and blue eyes marrying a black, deformed Canaanite in a book written during the 1850’s and no red flags go up? Anyone? Come on guys. Wish I had checked that out before I passed the nonsense about dipping eggs in the blood of slaughtered babies. So embarrassed now. Just goes to show that when we are mad we will believe about anything bad about the organizations we are mad at. Prejudice compromises everything, for sure.
Let’s real quick talk about the Parousia. In Matthew’s version of this account, there is an additional question that I believe was added in order to make more sense out of the account. In Mark we have “When will this happen?” “What will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” So, they only ask two questions in the earliest account. But Yeshua answers three questions so I believe when the account in Matthew was penned, a third question was added, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?” Did Matthew have additional information that Mark didn’t include? Perhaps, or maybe he was helping the audience to understand. We will never know for sure. That word “coming” is Parousia. And Parousia was a very specific event. It was the triumphant entry of a war hero or a king to a city. He would approach and the people would all come out to meet him and then parade him back into the city. This actually happened when Alexander the Great came to Jerusalem—he was greeted with open arms and welcomed as a conquering hero. It also happened, I believe, with Simon Thassi at the end of the Maccabean Revolt. But the point of a Parousia is never that the king comes and the people leave with him to go somewhere else. A Parousia is what happened when a king is coming to reign in that city. So, if we are talking about a second coming here, it is not a rapture, that’s not how a Parousia worked. It’s the opposite of a Parousia.
We also see a Parousia in I Thess 4:15:
For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
Again, that coming is Parousia. An actual historical and well-established event with one meaning. It cannot mean rapture. Yeshua will return, we will go out to meet Him and then escort Him back to rule and reign here over the Kingdoms of the earth. We will establish Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. Here. What can I say, history is super cool and words have historical meanings. Just like when we talked about how pharmakeia has more in common with essential oils and herbs than modern meds. Context determines meaning.
