Garry,
You asked: Where in the Bible (chapter and verse) does God’s
Word tell us that he wants Christians to figure out date the rapture before
it occurs? What would be the purpose of knowing this date ahead of time?
I'm sure you will be flooded with postings regarding this. But the scripture
that immediately comes to my mind is:
Rev 3:3 Remember
therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If
therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a
thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon
thee.
Conversely: if thou WILL WATCH
thou shalt know what HOUR I will come upon thee!
| 1Th
5:4 |
|
But
ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake
you as a thief. |
| 1Th
5:5 |
|
Ye
are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are
not of the night, nor of darkness. |
| 1Th
5:6 |
|
Therefore
let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch
and be sober. |
When Jesus was about to enter Jerusalem for the final time, he wept, and said
that BECAUSE His brethren did not know the prophecies pointing to the exact
day of the Triumphant Entry....the Exact Day of the arrival of their Messiah,
according to Daniel's prophecies, they would be punished. I'm paraphrasing
here, but that is the essence of what Jesus said:
Luk 19:44 And
shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they
shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou
knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Jer 8:12 Were
they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at
all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them
that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast
down, saith the LORD.
Jer 10:15 They
[are] vanity, [and] the work of errors: in the time of their visitation
they shall perish.