The Day & The Hour No Man Knoweth

Everyone in the Christian world is familiar with this scripture:

Matthew 24:36:
But of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

And it frequently put the brakes on research into the timing of the Second Coming, until recently. What changed? Two things:

I’d been taught by my church educators that there are at least three Second Comings – NOT JUST ONE:
(1) Adam-ondi-Ahman in America,
(2) The Mount of Olives splits in two, rescuing the Jews during Armageddon, and
(3) The final coming in the clouds, in power and great glory – this is the one we hear about in Sunday School, etc.

$64,000 Question: So does that scripture in Matthew refer to all three?

And many in and outside of our church are studying how the ancient Hebrew Feasts Days are connected to the events of Christ’s life and death, as well as events of the Restoration. What’s really new, and even thrilling, is that they also seem to be deeply entwined with Last Days events. Here’s just one example, connected to Christ coming to the Mount of Olives [EMPHASIS added].

Zechariah 14:3-4, 16-19:
3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations,
as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
which is before Jerusalem on the east,
and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof
toward the east and toward the west,
and there shall be a very great valley;
and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north,
and half of it toward the south. . . .

16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations
which came against Jerusalem
shall even go up from year to year to worship the King,
the Lord of hosts, and to keep THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will NOT come up of ALL the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts,
even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go NOT up, and come NOT, that have no rain;
there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen
that come NOT up to keep THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt,
and the punishment of all nations that come NOT up
to keep THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES.
[EMPHASIS added]

The Feast of Tabernacles is not a casual connection to this appearance of Christ to the Jews – this is a “Sheep and Goats” sifting event. It gets even more interesting when we see that Christ’s Second Coming is likened to the Wedding Feast, practiced in ancient Israel to celebrate mortal weddings. Invited guests are expected to attend, and those who don’t incur social consequences that mirror the spiritual consequences of failing to accept the Lord’s invitation to the Wedding Supper of His son to His Bride, the Church. See Matthew 22:1-14 and the Elder Bednar talk referenced below, for the Parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son. Coincidentally, Hebrew weddings were celebrated for 7 Days, and so is the Feast of Tabernacles.

Further background: Seven Hebrew Feast Days (or Holy Convocations) are described in Leviticus 23 and this BLOG POST, grouped with 3 in the spring, 1 in summer, and 3 in the fall. The fall feasts were especially sacred, relevant to the above description:
The Day of Trumpets (on the month of Tishri 1) which calls Israel to 10 days of repentance, preparing for:
The Day of Atonement (Tishri 10), the only day of the year they believe that God would forgive sins, then 5 days later culminating in:
The Feast of Tabernacles (Tishri 15-21) which originally celebrated God’s providential shelter for the Israelites: living in tents during the Exodus from Egypt and 40 years in the Wilderness of Sinai, as well as the miracles of sustenance He provided. The Lord also wants to dwell in our tabernacles now, with us, enjoying the life of the righteous. This is a week of great joy and celebration, and is likened to the marriage feast or wedding supper celebrated by mortal Hebrews for centuries.

How does this wedding tradition relate to any of those Second Comings? Read below:

Revelation 19:7-9:
[refers to war on enemies of Israel right after Mt of Olives]
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen,
clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write,
Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb
[or the Feast of Tabernacles to all left on Earth].
And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
(See Elder David A. Bednar talk, Put On Thy Strength, O Zion, Oct 2022)

Pair these two scriptures above (Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19), and you can see the important connection between the ancient rituals and how they gain new life in the critical days and events to come.

But we now come to one more day connected to these fall feasts that help unlock the scripture in Matthew 24: The 8^th Day of Tabernacles, called the Hidden or Great Day (Tishri 22). The ancient Jews did not know what it represented, but we can see it matches The Day and the Hour No Man Knoweth, or the FINAL SECOND COMING IN THE CLOUDS because:

The first reason can be ascertained from WHO will experience the prior 2 Second Comings:

(1) Christ comes to THE GENTILES, especially Ephraim, at Adam-ondi-Ahman in America, which ultimately becomes ZION. This is a private appearance to God’s faithful, first to our current leaders, then to the heads of all dispensations of time meeting with Christ our Lord, and finally all the faithful both living and dead, see:

D&C 116:1:
Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman,
because, said he, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people,
or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.
D&C 88:96-98:
96 . . . And the saints that are upon the earth, who are alive,
shall be quickened and be caught up to meet him.
97 And they who have slept in their graves shall come forth,
for their graves shall be opened;
and they also shall be caught up to meet him in the midst of the pillar of heaven—
98 They are Christ’s, the first fruits, they who shall descend with him first . . .

(2) Christ then comes to the Mount of Olives, only to THE JEWS, after Christ defeats their enemies from the War of Armageddon:

Zechariah 14:3-5:
3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations,
as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 ¶ And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives,
which is before Jerusalem on the east,
and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof
toward the east and toward the west,
and there shall be a very great valley;
and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north,
and half of it toward the south.
5 And ye [the Jews] shall flee to the valley of the mountains; . . .

After that, we know Christ comes to all the rest of the world – His final Second Coming – the one in the clouds with power and great glory. See the scriptures listed above in Zechariah 14:16-19 which essentially describes all others in the world after Armageddon. And all of them, who had been fighting against Israel, will have been invited to the Feast of Tabernacles, in a grand gesture of forgiveness and inclusion.

The final scriptural clue that Christ’s final coming is the one described in Matthew 24: 29-30 – and is the antecedent to verse 36:

29 Immediately AFTER the tribulation of those days
[days of Armageddon]
shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

The verse 36 that follows: But of THAT day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

“Antecedent” is the technical word for the idea or topic that a later description applies to. In this case, verse 36 applies to verse 30, which clearly describes only the final coming in the clouds, in power and great glory, words always used to describe this. This isn’t definitive by itself, but when paired with the other evidence above, it’s compelling.

FINAL CLUE: The more detailed explanation of our Matthew 24:36 scripture is contained in the Hebrew Marriage Traditions and Rituals and which was always intended as a PARABLE of this final Second Coming, summarized here:

A betrothed couple signs a contract, as binding as the upcoming wedding ceremony.
The bride then returns to her father’s house to prepare her clothes and household goods, always keeping a lit candle or oil lamp in the window to show fidelity to her intended.
The bridegroom also returns to his father’s house, to build a dwelling for his bride. He regularly sends a “friend of the groom” to let his bride know all is progressing and to see if she has remained faithful. The bridegroom cannot go get his bride until HIS FATHER gives the final approval to the dwelling or “mansion” the groom has prepared. No one else knows when it’s deemed complete, only his father.
Once that permission is given, the Friend of the Groom goes ahead to give the bride and their guests just enough warning to don their wedding finery and assemble for the Wedding Feast.
Then the groom appears, they all go in to the wedding supper, and the doors are shut and locked. Those who fail to appear, come late, or without the designated wedding garment are not admitted (see Parable in Matthew 22).
These traditions were practiced in ancient Israel for hundreds of years, and not just by the Tribe of Judah, but all 12 Tribes observed them, perhaps without knowing their symbolic representation of the Coming of their Messiah in the End Times.
SOURCE: Beloved Bridegroom: Finding Christ in Ancient Jewish Marriage and Family Customs, by Donna Nielsen, available on Amazon, and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED READING)

In the Last Days, the “Hidden Day,” or 8th Day of Tabernacles, symbolizes this last Second Coming only and is the event Matthew 24:36 refers to. It’s timing is truly hidden from our sight. And why?

After the Gentiles and the Jews have been gathered, only the Father knows each individual person, and when their “mansions” or hearts are ready. He will not send his Son, the Bridegroom to get the remainder of His church, His Bride, until the Father deems every last soul on Earth to have chosen either the Church of Christ or the Church of Satan, using their sacred gift of Free Agency (see 1 Nephi 14:10). He may even know what and when each person will choose, but He holds back until they make a clear decision, so He cannot announce this event to anyone before its time and violate anyone’s Free Agency.

Then the righteous are taken up into heaven while the wicked are destroyed by fire (and to be sent to Spirit Prison for yet another possible chance to repent and ascend higher in God’s kingdom during the Millennium):

Matthew 24:41-42:
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill;
the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore:
for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

In our day, Christ’s church will be “adorned” with righteousness, not jewels or fancy clothes, and the Bridegroom is Christ coming to get his Bride, the Church. Only those waiting and watching, with oil lit in their lamps, will be admitted to the Wedding Supper, fulfilling Isaiah 61:10:

Isaiah 61:10
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

But can we know the timing of Adam-ondi-Ahman and Christ’s return to the Mount of Olives or are they part of Matthew 24:36?

That’s a topic for another day – see my book coming by Nov/Dec 2023. This analysis at least makes it possible.

FOR FURTHER STUDY and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

Living in the Millennium, by Robert L. Millet, book published by Deseret Book, with a detailed description of 4 Second Comings (extra one I didn’t include above = Christ suddenly comes to His temple in Malachi 3:1)

FAQ Paper by Rhonda Pickering on www.propheticappointments.com, and her video, The Day and the Hour No Man Knoweth. In it she also gives a second meaning to the 8th day of Tabernacles, with its alternate name of The Great Day – which foreshadows the 8th “day” or an additional period of 1,000 years when the Earth is celestialized after the Final Judgment at the end of the Millennium (the 7th day).
– We normally describe the history of the Earth as lasting 7,000 years from creation, or 7 “days,” each lasting 1,000 years. This 8th day prophetically follows after that and can also symbolize The Hidden Day or the final coming of Christ in the clouds – the true day and hour that no man knoweth.