John 2:18Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? 19Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21But he spake of the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
The Word tells us what is going on: The Jews thought He was talking about the built structure but Jesus was speaking about His body.
So, here ^^ we have established the fact that the Lord does use double references. When you read the Bible you see clearly that this is not a rarely used technique but it is used liberally throughout the Word. Why?
Matt 13:10And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
and
Prov 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
Who are these kings ^^? Yep, that would be us:
Rev 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
(notice He says Kings and Priests, not Kings or Priests, we are both.)
So, the Lord conceals matters in double and triple references, in parables to hide His treasures from the "wise and learned" and reveal them to His children.
So with double references in mind we read this:
Luke 12:35Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;
36And
ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will
return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open
unto him immediately.
37Blessed are
those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching:
verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit
down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
38And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.
39And
this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the
thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house
to be broken through.
40Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.
A section of the Word like this ^^ is enough to send the Church down 4 different paths (pre-trib, mid-trib, pre-wrath, post-trib). The double references are working as intended.
What do we read above? In verse 36 we see the Lord is speaking of returning from a wedding. Obviously that means the wedding already took place (which also obviously also means the Lord came once before for the Bride (no Bride=no wedding), unannounced on another unknown day and hour exactly as the Hebrew wedding tradition tells us it happens.) Then the Lord proceeds to tell this group in verse 40 that they should be ready on an unknown day and hour.
What are we establishing here^^? This idea that there is only one "second coming" is non-sense. The Lord can and will come back to earth multiple times before the "second coming." He is coming back for His Bride (John 14:3 direct wedding and Bride verse), He is coming back like a thief (Luke 12:40), He is coming back to stand on Mt Zion with the 144,000 (Rev 14:1), He is coming back for the "second coming" (Rev 19) which has us up to a tally of FOUR comings back to earth in some form or fashion in total (we may have left some out but you get the point.)
Where does that leave us? It leaves us either 1. completely confused about ready to thrown our hands up in the air or 2. Not confused but rather focused directly on the clear teaching from the Word that He can and will come back on an unknown day and hour that we must be ready for.
Every person, all of them who have taught "you can know the day and hour" of the unknown day and hour, they have 100% all been wrong. All of them, every time. The Lord is trying to tell us something with this unknown day and hour teaching. The Bridegroom comes back for the Bride on an unexpected day at an unexpected hour. The Bridegroom comes back for those invited to the wedding on an unexpected day at an unexpected hour. The Master comes back to settle accounts with His servants on an expected day at an unexpected hour.
On that day, when millions are surprised that the Lord arrived on an unexpected day at an unexpected hour, I can only imagine what people's excuses will be for not being ready. When the Lord asks them "did I not tell you enough times I was coming on an unexpected day at an unexpected hour?" which argument exactly will these people defend themselves with?
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
