1. Mark 13:24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. 26And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
and
2. Luke 21:25And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
I submit to you that Mark 13:24-25 is equivalent to Luke 21:25
Mark 13:24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, 25And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken
equals
Luke 21:25And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
I also submit to you that Mark 13:26 equals Luke 21:27
Mark 13:26And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
equals
Luke 21:27And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Ok, so two diffferent (but the same) sections of scripture from two different chapters (Mark and Luke) are brought to our attention, but why? To highlight not the equivalents, but the differences.
We just showed how the passages are identical right through Mark 13:26 and Luke 21:27 so we can highlight the major differences at the end. What are the different very last verses from these passages?
Mark 13:27And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
versus
Luke 21:28And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
What's the big deal? The big deal is, the verse from Mark 13:27 is what so many people use to bludgeon us over the head with to tell us that we can only expect our Lord to show up "after the tribulation of those days."
Mark 13:24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
Here, right now we establish a major problem for these people. We have already established the equivalency of the events (signs in the sun moon and stars) right up to the differences at the end. It is the differences, looking at the same exact event that makes all the difference. Mark 13 tells what happens after this event, Luke 21 tells us what happens at the beginning of this event. The Word is very clear and requires no twisting or explanatory acrobatics to reach this conclusion:
Mark 13:24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light
28And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Same exact event, one highlights what happens after the event, the other highlights the beginning of that event. To further highlight the differences we see 3 different groups here: "they" "ye" and "his elect." We do not need a 1,000 page e-book to explain away the rules of grammar staring us in the face here and yes, the Lord God knows how to use proper grammar to express to us exactly what He means. Here is a little quiz, lets see if we can pass it:
When exactly is the Lord speaking to you in the following question? When He uses the Word
1. They?
2. The elect?
3. Ye?
If you answered "Ye" you would be correct! Ye, means YOU. What does the Lord God tell you to do when "all these things begin to happen?" He tells you to look up for your redemption is drawing close.
The Lord was very clear with us, He is coming back on a day and hour we do not expect, period.
33Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. 34For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 35Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: 36Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. 37And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.
Matt 25:1Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: 4But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 9But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. 11Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
We do not have to get into debateable subjects or trigger words that send people arguing in circles with the same old dead arguments. All we need is a straightforward reading of the Word of God to tell us a. what is going to happen and b. what we are to do.
What is going to happen? The Lord is going to come back for us at an unknown day and hour. That is not open to debate nor does it depend on human opinion, it is a fact. Unknown day and hour means we do not know when it will happen. Contrast this unknown day and hour with some very well known days and hours like the exact day our Lord will come back to this earth known as His "second coming"
11“From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
These ^^ are known days and are therefore automatically disqualified from being unknown days.
The days cannot be both known and unknown at the same time, they are one or the other. The Lord went through great pains to express to us the duration these known days:
In Daniel 7:25 we read an evil end-time king will persecute God’s people “for a time, times, and half a time.” The book of Revelation tells us this king will reign and persecute God’s people for “forty two months” (Rev.13:5-7; 11:2). Thus 3 1/2 “times” equals 42 months; divide 42 months by 12 and you get 3 and one half years. 42 months, with 30 days per month equals 1260 days. Thus one “time,” therefore, equals one year, and three and one half “times” equals 3 1/2 years; and 360 days times 3 1/2 years, equals 1,260 days.
The Lord shows us a variety of known days including: 1290, 1260, and 1335. None of these known days qualify as an unknown day. Our Lord emphasized these days to make them known to us. Unfortunately we have to beat this subject up as no matter how straightforward the Word is presented to us there are always those who say "yes, but
Whats the point of all this ^^. It is time to begin looking up. Why? Because we are seeing:
signs in the sun,
and in the moon,
and in the stars;
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;
the sea and the waves roaring;
and last but not least
26Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth:
Are the events taking place on this earth not causing men's hearts to fail them for fear?
This story is almost a year old and things continue to get worse:
8th international banker to die in a month jumps off building in China
All the strange sounds we heard around 2012 are now back, as are the earthquakes, this week some guys at caltech found a "new planet" that we have been talking about for years while being branded as conspiracy theorists.
It is time to look up for our redemption is not far away. Our Lord is coming back for us on an unknown day and hour, not 1260, 1290 or 1335 days after the abomination , nor on any other known day, on an unknown day. A snare is coming upon this entire world, can you see it? And what was our Lord's promise to us about this snare?
Luke 21: 34And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
There is ^^ an escape from this snare. The Lord said it and we do not have to add or subtract any Words from it to make this point. We do not have to label this escape event with trigger words that cause people to lose their minds in ridiculous arguments. It is what it is. There is an escape from all that is about to happen. What is about to happen is a snare is about to hit this entire world and everyone in it. We are to pray that we will escape it. We are told to tilt our heads back and look up because the presence of all the signs around us indicate that our redemption is near.
It is time to begin looking up.
grace and peace
