Will Jesus come like a THIEF?

                           WILL JESUS COME LIKE A THIEF?

I want to take the earliest opportunity to deal with the matter of whether or not Jesus will come like a thief. This is because I know even non- Christians will oppose the truth of 1.1.2022 by saying nobody should ever know the date since Jesus once said that He will come like a thief. In his characteristic style of sabotaging the work of God, Satan has been successful in twisting the scriptures and selfishly selecting them in such a manner as to promote the false theory that the date of Jesus’ second coming can never be known and that Jesus will come like a thief when nobody is expecting. I have been a desperate victim of this false teaching and doctrine until God directed me to several explanatory verses which vividly explain the circumstances under which Jesus said He will come like a thief. As we study the scriptures, we must be guided by the Biblical principle of “a little here a little there” as promoted by Prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 28:9-10)). The issue of selecting single verses to meet certain predetermined ideas leads to spiritual anarchy to say the least.

Just before I provide you with various scriptures which show that the saints MUST know the date of the second coming well in advance, let us remind ourselves about the words of Jesus found from Mathew 13:11 onwards. In these verses Jesus was answering a question as to why He always spoke in parables. He said it is because “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you (saints) but not to them (sinners). Whoever has (some knowledge of secrets) will be given more and will have abundance. Whoever does not have (knowledge) even what they have will be taken away from them.” This means that for those of us who consider the date of the second coming to be a ‘mystery’ and a ‘secret’, let us take note of this important scripture which says that God reveals His mysteries and secrets to His servants. He actually talks in parables so that the sinners cannot understand those mysteries and secrets.

The above scriptures paint a very sorry picture for the sinners and doubting Thomases of The 2022 Prophecy and no wonder the above scriptures go on to say that “They will be ever hearing but never understanding, seeing but never perceiving”(Mathew 13:15). The same scriptures from verse 16 says this about the saints “But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear, for truly I tell you many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it”. No wonder Jesus said that although John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets, any one of us who is least in the Kingdom is greater than John the Baptist. This is great, is it not?

Today if Daniel was given an opportunity to resurrect, he will come bowing down to the least saint in God’s kingdom today so that we can reveal to him the secrets of the kingdom. Come-on saints, let us occupy our high and lofty positions as heirs together with Jesus. How can heirs be kept away from knowing the date when they will inherit the kingdom. How can Kings be kept away from knowing the date of their enthronement. Don’t you know that we are Kings and heirs? It will be inconsistent and against the purposes of God for Him to hide the date of the second coming forever from His people. The date was designed to be kept as a secret until the time of the end when Prophet Elijah is supposed to reveal it. 

The following scriptures clearly tell us that the date and year of the second coming will be known by the saints well in advance.

1.       1 Thessalonians 5:4 openly says “But you brothers are not in darkness so that this day should find you like a thief” this text shows that Jesus will come like a thief to the sinners but NOT to the saints.

2.       Revelation 3:3 is even more emphatic when God says “but if you do not wake up, I will come to you like a thief” this indicates the condition under which Jesus can come like a thief. It is when one is spiritually sleeping and ignorant. 

3.       Isaiah 61:2 shows that one of the major responsibilities of Jesus was to announce the year and the day of the second coming which is alternatively referred to as the year of the Lord’s favor or the year of Jubilee. However, we never allowed Him to live long enough to make that announcement.

4.       Amos 3:9 and Hosea 4:5-6 emphasize on the fact that God never does anything without revealing it to His servants the prophets. This includes the date of the second coming.

5.       2 Corinthians 11:2 depicts and illustrates the second coming as a wedding between the Church and Jesus the Lamb of God. Have you ever heard or seen a wedding where the bride was kept away from knowing the date of the wedding? That would be absolutely abnormal. It would be totally inconsistent with the ways and purposes of God for Him to keep the date and year of the second coming as a secret forever. God has revealed to us many other highly classified secrets and the date is not even a big deal compared to other already revealed secrets.

6.       Revelation 16:13 shows that Satan will move around the world before the second coming to mobilize and alert his followers to be ready on the day of the second coming so that they can attack and kill Jesus. Satan will assemble the Kings of the world for the day at a place which in Hebrews is called “Armageddon”. If the devil and his followers will be aware about the date of the second coming well in advance and they will be rehearsing for it, why not the saints? It beats all manner of logic sincerely speaking to say the devil and his followers will be allowed to know the date but not the saints.

7.       Malachi 3:1-5 and 4:4-5 clearly show how determined God is to ensure the world gets to know the date of the second coming well in advance.  God determined and decreed that John the Baptist would be the Elijah of the first coming? He has likewise promised to send Prophet Elijah for the purpose of preparing the world for the second coming by using him to announce the day and year of jubilee and for restoring all things.

8.       Hosea 9:7 says that “the days of punishment are coming and Israel shall know it, the Prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac”. This text clearly shows that Israel or the saints will know when the Day of the Lord comes.

9.       About 170 years ago, one of the greatest and inspired teachers of the Bible was shown in her very first vision that God will send a message of the “day and hour” but only the 144,000 will understand it. (Early Writings page 14/15).  In her vain attempt to turn away the attention of Christian fundamentalists from herself, she warned her followers that the world should expect ‘somebody’ else who will come in the Spirit and power of Elijah in the last days to straighten up everything as promised in Malachi 3 and Malachi 4 (1 S.M Pg 412 and Counsels To Min & Gospel Workers page 535). Many other inspired saints have always reminded the Church that as much as the first coming had John the Baptist as the Elijah of that time, God has designed that the second coming will have somebody coming in the name of Elijah who will restore things to their original right place (Mathew 17:11).

When God gave Israel the sanctuary system, He made it clear that everything associated with it was a pattern of real issues as they happen in heaven (Exodus 25:8). You can forget many things about my entire letter but there is one point or principle that you should not forget and it should always be at the back of your mind as you go through this long letter. This is the golden issue:

The shadow timelines which are divinely appointed for the celebrations or observance of all shadow sanctuary events and services holds the golden clue and key which provides us with the date of the second coming. This means that the date of the second coming is tightly but safely hidden in the symbolism of the appointed timelines given for the celebrations of the Festival of Tabernacles. The Festival of the Tabernacles is the event which symbolizes or represents all the circumstances around the second coming.