It was 2006, and I was listening to a sermon. In this sermon, recorded at the beginning of the current millennium, the preacher said that 2,000 years had already passed since Jesus came the first time, that we were already living in extra time, and that the Lord could come and call His Church at any moment.

To show that there are 2,000 years between the first and second comings of Jesus, he referred to the story of the children of Israel crossing the Jordan. There Joshua ordered that between the ark of the Covenant and the people “there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure“. (Jos.3:4)

In the Old Testament there are a great many types that point to Jesus Christ. The crossing of the Jordan in this case symbolises the resurrection of Jesus Christ, for, having risen, He passed from the physical world into the spiritual world, now in a new spiritual body.

The people in this story walked at a distance of 2,000 cubits, symbolising 2,000 years. And precisely after 2,000 years God’s people will pass through the symbolic Jordan and receive a spiritual body like that of Jesus. (Phl.3:21; 1 Jhn.3:2)

The apostle Paul wrote about this: “But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep… For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming” (1 Cor.15:20,22-23) In this passage Paul clearly speaks of the resurrection of those who are Christ’s (believers in Jesus), drawing a parallel with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So, as I listened to this sermon, the Spirit of God told me that 2,000 years had not yet passed since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “That’s true,” I thought. Jesus died on the cross and rose again not at the time of His birth, but somewhere around AD 33. At that moment I thought: “So the second coming and the resurrection of the dead will be somewhere around 2033.” “Another 27 years to go,” I thought, and somehow put the question aside for a while, completely absorbed in the teaching of grace.

He stayed two more days in the place

Some seven or eight years passed, and the Lord gave me a revelation about His coming. Once again rereading the story of how Jesus raised Lazarus, and wondering why He delayed and didn’t go straight away to heal Lazarus, the Holy Spirit drew my attention to two interesting things.

Verse 6 of chapter 11 of the Gospel of John says: “So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was.” And in the next verse He said to the disciples: “Let us go to Judea again“. (Jhn.11:6-7)

These two points, which I have put in bold, added up like 2+2 in my spirit, and I saw that this too is a prophecy about the second coming of Jesus.

Jesus will come again to Judea (Jerusalem) after 2 days, after He has stayed in the place where He is. And where is He now? In heaven, at the right hand of the Father. 2 days symbolise 2,000 years, for as the apostle Peter wrote about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ: “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” (2 Pet.3:8)

There are also other places in the Gospels which indicate that there are 2 days, or 2,000 years, between Jesus’ first and second comings.

Chapter 4 of John says that after the Samaritans believed in Him through the testimony of the Samaritan woman, Jesus stayed in Samaria 2 days. (Jhn.4:39-40) The Samaritans in this case symbolise the Gentiles (since the Jews did not consider them their own). And we know that the church at present consists mainly of believers from the nations (Gentiles).

In the Gospel of Luke, telling the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus added an interesting detail. The Lord doesn’t just give a random example off the top of His head, as a person does. The Word of God is God-breathed, and every name, every number, carries a spiritual meaning.

So in this story the Samaritan, “when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’” (Luk.10:35)

The good Samaritan is Jesus, and the innkeeper is the Holy Spirit, to whom the Lord entrusted the care of His sheep. In Jesus’ time a denarius was a worker’s pay for a day (Mat.20:2), so the Lord entrusted the Holy Spirit with the care of His sheep for 2 days, or 2,000 years, after which He promised to return.

No one knows the day or the hour

Often, when the return of Jesus Christ comes up, we hear people quote Jesus’ words that no one knows the day or the hour when He will return — not the angels in heaven, nor even the Son, but only the Father. This puts people off even thinking or wondering about it.

Let’s look again at what the Lord says here: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mar.13:32)

In Greek, the language in which the books of the New Testament were written, there are two words for knowing someone or something. The first word is ginōskō, and the second oida.

The word ginōskō (G1097) means to come to know someone or something through a certain experience. For example, it is written that Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived. Likewise, by reading the Bible we come to know the truths of God’s word. Such knowledge comes through a close relationship with someone or something.

On the other hand, the word oida (G1492) is translated as to see, to behold, to look. In its second meaning it also means to know — not through experience, like ginōskō, but through intuition, or inner sight.

So in the Gospels, when it came to Jesus and His knowledge, the word ginōskō was always used, because His knowledge came through a close relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit.

For example, in one story a woman who had suffered from a flow of blood for 12 years came up behind Jesus and touched His garments. Then it is written that He said: “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” (Luk.8:46) In this verse the word translated “perceived” is our word ginōskō — to know. That is, Jesus knew that someone had touched Him, but did not see who, because the woman came up from behind.

Although Jesus was the Son of God, while in a human body He always relied on the power of the Holy Spirit. So we can say that when Jesus spoke of the day and the hour, He meant that the Son knew He would return, but did not see that day and hour.

As for the word oida, it appears most often where Jesus spoke of the heavenly Father. Here, for example, Jesus said: “do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind… and your Father knows that you need these things.” (Luk.12:29-30)

The heavenly Father knows (sees) everything we need. Isn’t that wonderful! And our heavenly Papa not only sees our need, He also shows His love. He gave His only Son, so that through Christ Jesus He might supply all our need. (Phl.4:19) Amen.

So what does all this mean? It means that Jesus simply pointed us to the One who sees everything and everyone. Even the revelation of Jesus Christ was given to Him by the Father. (Rev.1:1) If the Father knows (sees) that day and hour, He can reveal it to those who love Him (believers) through the Holy Spirit given to us.

In his epistle to the Corinthians Paul quoted the prophet Isaiah: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.“, and then explained: “But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” (1 Cor.2:9-10)

But didn’t Jesus say to the disciples: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” (Act.1:7)? I want to say that the disciples were asking Jesus not about His return, but about the restoration of Israel as a state. So He turned their gaze from the earthly to the spiritual, saying that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

So, as far as the time of the Lord’s return is concerned, He has given us hints that He went away for 2 days (2,000 years). If we also take into account the fact that before His return to Jerusalem there will be Jacob’s trouble, or Daniel’s week, which concerns the Jews and not the church, His return is much nearer than we even suspect.

The Day of the Lord

Once, when I was meditating on Jesus’ words about the great tribulation and His coming, the Lord asked me: “Do you know why only the Jews, and not the church, will go through the great tribulation?” “Why?” I asked. “Because it is the trouble of Jacob, not of Israel.” What’s the difference? The difference is that in Scripture Jacob symbolises God’s people according to the flesh (the Jews), and Israel the spiritual people, His church.

In the letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia Jesus says: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth“. (Rev.3:10)

Don’t think that keeping the word of His patience means behaving in a certain way, or staying awake, as some teach. Keeping the word of patience means living in faith in the Son of God, and in the matter of salvation relying on His faith and grace, not on your own works and efforts. (More on this in the article The Patience of Christ.)

By the way, the Spirit of God recently drew my attention to whom Jesus commanded to watch. In chapter 13 of the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus speaks about His return, He gives this analogy: “It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch.” (Mar.13:34)

Interestingly, he gave authority to the servants, and to each his work, but he commanded the doorkeeper to watch. The doorkeeper in this case is the Holy Spirit, who opens the doors for God’s sheep.

Then Jesus sums up: “Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming…“, or in other words: “Receive the Holy Spirit, for He knows when the master is coming, and then you will be watchful and will know when the Lord is coming.” That is why Paul wrote to those who had believed and received the Holy Spirit: “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.” (1 Ths.5:4)

To the same Thessalonians Paul wrote not to be quick to believe all sorts of tales that the Day of the Lord had already come. They had begun to think so because they were going through persecution, and some had begun to teach that the great tribulation had already started. So Paul assured them that the day of the Lord would not come until the falling away had happened and the son of perdition had been revealed.

The coming of the Day of the Lord has nothing to do with natural disasters, wars or pandemics. It has to do with the falling away and the revealing of the man of sin.

Paul goes on to explain that the man of sin, the antichrist, will not be revealed while the one who restrains him is on earth. And who restrains him? The Holy Spirit in the person of God’s church. Jesus told the disciples: “You are the salt of the earth”, and salt keeps the earth from spoiling and decaying, but as soon as God’s church is caught up to heaven to meet the Lord in the clouds, the man of perdition will be revealed at once.

The rapture of the bride

Interestingly, Scripture calls not only the antichrist the son of perdition, but also Judas, of whom he was a type. (Jhn.17:12) Jesus often said that He was to be betrayed, but no one knew who it was. The son of perdition was revealed only after John leaned on Jesus’ breast. (Jhn.13:25)

This action of John’s symbolises the rapture of God’s church, the disciples whom Jesus loves — or rather, those who have known God’s love through the Holy Spirit given to us (Rom.5:5; 1 Jhn.4:12-13). It is after the rapture that we will be at the breast, in the bosom of the Father, for it is Jesus who abides there forever. (Jhn.1:18)

The apostle Paul writes that after the rapture we will always be with the Lord (1 Ths.4:17). It is about the rapture that Jesus speaks in the Gospel of John: “I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” (Jhn.14:3) And where is He? In the place of the Father’s love! At His breast, very close to His heart. Amen!

In that same year, 2006, I remember, having read in the book of Revelation about the New Jerusalem, I asked the Lord to show it to me. That night I fell asleep and had a dream. I dreamt that I was riding home on a bus, and then I got off the bus and walked. As I approached the house, I saw a very beautiful woman dressed in a golden dress. I understood that she was my wife. She was of extraordinary, divine beauty.

Then we came up to the house, and there was a queue in front of the entrance, and everyone was standing in pairs. We were third in line. The doors were wide open, and I looked inside. Behind the doors there was a banquet hall with a great many tables covered with white tablecloths, and the hall was filled with a light like no other.

Then I laid my head on my wife’s breast, and my heart overflowed with such indescribable love that it is hard to put into words. It felt as if sweet, soft, pleasant oil was flowing over my heart.

In the epistle to the Ephesians the apostle Paul wrote: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Eph.5:25) I think that in this dream the Lord showed me His love for His bride (wife) and how He sees her. The golden garments symbolise God’s righteousness, the righteousness of faith, for our faith is gold refined by fire (the cross of Christ). Amen!

I pray, beloved brothers and sisters, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him and His love for you better.

I also pray that God will enlighten the eyes of your heart, so that you may see what is that blessed hope (the rapture of the bride) to which He has called you, and how great are the riches of the glory that the saints will receive as an inheritance (new spiritual bodies) when He comes and takes us to Himself!

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”