No Man Knoweth the Day Nor the Hour - Can We Know When the Second Coming Will Occur?

 No Man Knoweth the Day Nor the Hour

I sometimes hear people say we can’t know the day nor the hour of the Second Coming and use this as reasoning to not think about it.

The following is found in the article The Prophet Joseph Smith’s Use of the Old Testament.

Of the Savior’s words that no man knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of Man (see Matt. 24:36), the Prophet asked: “Did Christ speak this as a general principle throughout all generations? Oh, no, He spoke in the present tense. No man that was then living upon the footstool of God knew the day or the hour. But He did not say that there was no man throughout all generations that should not know the day or the hour. No, for this would be in flat contradiction with other scripture. For the prophet says that God will do nothing but what He will reveal unto His servants the prophets. Consequently, if it is not made known to the prophets, it will not come to pass.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/08/the-prophet-joseph-smiths-use-of-the-old-testament?lang=eng)

Honestly this does seem contradictory to other things that Joseph said. For instance, Doctrine and Covenants 49:7 and also this quote:

“Jesus Christ never did reveal to any man the precise time that He would come. Go and read the Scriptures, and you cannot find anything that specifies the exact hour He would come; and all that say so are false teachers” (Smith, Teachings, 341).

Reconciling these two seemingly contradictory statements leaves me feeling that there is no need to worry about the exact timing, but that the God’s servants will at least know the approximate timing. The scripture in Matthew that says that no one knows the day nor the hour also urges, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”  Just like a woman in labor, we may not know when the baby will be delivered, but we can certainly know it is happening (thanks Nicole for this analogy). Our last baby girl was born shortly after midnight and for a time we weren’t sure which day it would fall on. And we don’t need to know with such certainty how close the Lord is, but we certainly can know enough that our focus shifts away from the preoccupations of the things of the world to getting ready to greet our Savior, just like we knew to get our bags packed and to get to the hospital.

Based on the context of Matthew 24 we can conclude that ambiguity on the timing is precisely because the Lord wanted us to be constantly vigilant and looking forward to that day. This is why he said to watch lest that day overtake us as a thief in the night. This is in stark contrast with how people use that scripture to ignore the events that are coming. So if people thought Christ was coming 100 or 1000 years ago does that mean we should never live like He will come because we too could be wrong? No, but rather they were living like Christ wanted them to, by being ready. However, key events have happened in the last 100 years that needed to happen. One of these was Jerusalem being restored to the Jews. This was a prerequisite to Christ’s return and now that it has been fulfilled we can look forward with much more certainty than past saints.

The following quote from a D&C manual from the church website stresses the importance of thinking about the Second Coming and how important it is to the Lord:

“The most often mentioned event in the entire Bible is that wonderful, yet awful experience that we will have when Jesus Christ shall come to judge our world. There are many important gospel doctrines mentioned in the Bible only briefly, and some not at all. The new birth is mentioned in the Bible nine times; baptism is mentioned 52 times, repentance is mentioned 89, but the second coming of Christ is mentioned over 1,500 times in the Old Testament and 300 times in the New Testament. If God thought this subject that important, he must have wanted us to do something about it” (Sterling W. Sill, in Conference Report, Apr. 1966, 19). https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/doctrines-of-the-gospel-student-manual/36-second-coming?lang=eng

The Second Coming isn’t some minor appendage to the gospel. It is God’s prize, it is His work, it is the culmination of His plan to bring to pass our salvation. The Millenium is essential and is a time in which we shall serve God and help peace to reign and wickedness and suffering and sin to be done away. It will be a time that will help us wrap up loose ends so that we are prepared for Celestial glory. 

Going back to the birth analogy, I feel that we are so afraid of the labor pains that we are unwilling to acknowledge that a new life is to be born. The world is about to meet its purpose. This is marvelous and beautiful and doesn’t have to be scary if we are prepared. President Nelson, other apostles and the scriptures teach us how we can be spiritually prepared to go out and meet the bridegroom. Let us hearken and seek to understand these exhortations by the power of the Holy Ghost. For those that seek shall find.