No one knows the DAY or the HOUR - have we misread this verse?

by truthseeker 16 Replies latest jw friends

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  truthseeker

  I was just thinking the other day, about what Jesus said concerning the end of the system of things. He said that, "No one knows the day or the hour...but only the Father."

  There are two units of measurement - day and hour

  Now consider other scriptures in the Bible which include one or both of these units:

  Genesis 1:5 "God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. "

  Genesis 2:16,17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

  2 Peter 3:8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

  Revelation 7:12 - And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast.

  Notice that these highlighted units of time are not to be taken literally.

  When Jehovah created the earth, it was thousands of years, not days. Adam died in the day he ate of the fruit, but not the literal 24 hour day. He died at 930 years of age. The UN will rule for a short period of time, not a literal hour of 60 minutes.

  In almost all cases of "day" and "hour", they symbolize not their literal unit of measurement, but a different unit of measurement. One day can be a thousand years to God, one hour can be a century.

  What is the point of this?

  Conside this verse again...

  "No one knows the day or the hour...but only the Father."

  How do we not know that the day is any period of a thousand years, and the hour is a century or shorter period of time, within that thousand year day?

  Of course, the Witnesses say that Jehovah has a set day, and they're partly right. But maybe the scripture is talking about a set day of a thousand years, rather than a Monday, a Tuesday or a Thursday.

  Something to consider.
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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  hmm... 6/6/06 would be my guess...

  i suspect it's confusing in order to confuse people... your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you, i always say...
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  blondie

  Back in the pre-1975 years, one sister in response to this scripture said, "We don't know the day or the hour, but we know the year" trying to explain her confidence in 1975 as the year of the end.

  Here almost 30 years later, she is still waiting....

  Blondie
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  redhotchilipepper

  Apparantly the JW's are dislexic or something because the scripture reads pretty clearly.They can read alot into scriptures that we can't, as we've seen before,so why are we suprised. I know this one has always made me shake my head. Why do they keep saying that Armageddon is just around the corner when it clearly states in this scripture that "No one knows the DAY or the HOUR".
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  Golf

  That's the scripture I had in mind for the 1975 date, and as such, I wasn't disappointed when nothing earth shattering happened. Guest77
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  JosephMalik

  How do we not know that the day is any period of a thousand years, and the hour is a century or shorter period of time, within that thousand year day?

  Truthseeker,

  Because a sign of the day and hour under discussion was given so that we would know when this day and hour was imminent and hold ourselves erect in expectation. We would not therefore know precisely this day and hour but would be able to anticipate it reasonably within our lifetime and be in expectation.

  Joseph
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  ozziepost

  maybe the scripture is talking about a set day of a thousand years, rather than a Monday, a Tuesday or a Thursday

  or maybe it's talking about something entirely different! Why be hung up on "day", as if it were in our understanding of a 24 hour day, or a millenium for that matter.
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  JustTickledPink

  Well that is all contigent on the presumption that the Bible was written and translated correctly and was in fact the word of God and not just the writings of man.

  But either way, we still don't know. I do know however, that I am alive today and to make the most of it.
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  Undecided

  Since there is nothing we can do about it anyway why even think about it. Our day is comming in about 80 or so years regardless of the time of the end's date. Even with our life we can't predict the date so why try to do it for God? If he wanted us to be aware of the time of the end, don't you think he would tell us by an angel or something that we could understand?

  Ken with no answers.
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  AK - Jeff

  When u think of it - aren't Jehovah's witnesses saying in effect:

  'Jesus, I think you were wrong - we can tell you a specific year' - and so they have done - in a quick count haven't they predicted about 10 different dates? The reason is not that they have the 'truth' - but they need to keep the 'flock' in stirred up frenzy of activity. This prevents discussions like this one among witnesses.

  Jeff