“Jesus said for us to watch (Luke 21:36) for His second coming.  He told us that no one would know the day or the hour (Matthew 24:36), but He said we would know when it was right at the door (Mark 13:29).  We would know its right at the door because the signs will tell us it is coming.”

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,but only the Father” (Matthew 24:36).

There are two points I want to point out in regard to Matthew 24:36.

1) Jesus is the bridegroom, and this saying is part of the traditional Jewish wedding course of events.  When the bride had accepted the marriage covenant, the bridegroom would return to his father’s house and prepare a place for him and his new bride.  The father decided when the place was complete.  Then the father would tell the bridegroom to go get his bride.

While the bridegroom was preparing the place and anyone asked him when it would be ready for him to go get his bride the bridegroom would reply, “Only my father knows.”

“The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!” (Song of Solomon 2:13).

In the midst of Jesus talking about the signs that would proceed His return, he mentions the fig tree showing us that the time would be near.

“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near” (Matthew 24:32).

Notice the fig tree puts forth its leaves and becomes tender the time is near.  When the fig tree puts forth her green figs the bridegroom comes in the Song of Solomon and calls his bride to come away to be with him.

Jesus is our bridgegroom and He will come to call us away when the Father tells Him to do so.  Jesus is preparing a place for us (the New Jerusalem) just as a bridegroom would prepare a place at his father’s house in the Jewish wedding tradition.

“In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

2) The second point is that no one knows the day or hour because when Jesus comes at that moment it will be two different days and many different hours around the world.

As  I write this it is Sunday 1:20 AM on January 12th.  It is still Saturday January 11th 9:20PM in Honolulu.  And it is Sunday 8:20PM January 12th in Auckland.  In four hours, it will be Monday January 13th in Auckland.

So no one will know the day or the hour because it will be two separate days and many different hours depending on where you live in the world.