Hello Doves,
Something that came to me just recently about the verse where Jesus tells His disciples that no man knows the day or hour. This verse in my opinion has to be referring to His second coming. I understand that because of Daniel's vision we should be able to know the exact day of His second coming, the end of the 7 years to the day, but Jesus also said that that time would be cut short otherwise no one would survive. All of this has to do with the second coming because of who Jesus was talking to and what they were talking about.
The gospels are all addressed to Jews, the church had not started. We don't find out about Pentecost until Acts. So everything in the gospels would be referencing prophecy out of the old testement. I think we could all agree that there is no prophecy about the church age, it being the age of mystery. The rapture is specific to the church. I can't find anything that says that we can't know the day or hour. And plenty that talks about knowing the general time. We know for instance what the general conditions will be in the world, we know a lot about the things that portend the second coming and the wrath that will happen before, and we know that the Rapture must take place before these things can happen. So my point is that the more we see revealed that lines up with what will be happening just before the tribulation, the closer the rapture must be.
Yes, the church has gone through tribulation many times through out history, and it is still being persecuted in many parts of the world, Jesus said we would be persecuted for His name sake, but to be of good cheer because He has already overcome the world. Our hope, and the hope of Christians before us, is that the rapture will come (hope in the greek meaning of the word; confident expectation) before the horrible, the worst tribulation ever - so bad that most human being won't survive it. If we die - profit, if we live and are transformed - profit We have an awesome God. To Him be the Glory!
A product of His grace,Jill