A Time Within a Time

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh”

Matthew 24:44

They were all puzzled! The great teacher who spoke to them in riddles and parables had given them perhaps the most difficult mystery to solve. While they were coming daily to hear about this new magnificent Kingdom He was supposed to unveil, He told them it would only come when they weren’t expecting it. Huh? How could this be? If He was the Messiah (as they all hoped ) and He was here now and speaking of the kingdom He was bringing, then how could it be that what they expected was not going to happen until they weren’t expecting it? They were baffled. And so began God’s perplexing enigma regarding the timing of the Pre-Trib Rapture of the Church.

Circa 593 BC …

The Prophet Ezekiel is being shown a vision by God that bewilders him. It is a heavenly vehicle of some sort that has cherubim and faces of humans and animals, and underneath it are wheels turning within wheels … Ezekiel writes down what he sees but it has been debated amongst scholars for millennia precisely what this prophetic vision means. Some consider it a visible characterization of the omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent God of Israel. A God who can be all places and see all things and know all things and control all things at the same time. Complete Divine Sovereignty! Some see it as God’s heavenly war machine that can trample the entire earth with his coming all-consuming judgment. I have a little different take on these wheels within wheels. They could indicate how God unfolds time within time as history moves in different directions all at the same time while God controls the end results.

GOD’S MYSTERIES

All through scripture, God gives us mysteries. Prophesies we have to unwrap. Symbols to decipher. Timelines with key dates for starting and end points we have to figure out. These are kept hidden because the Lord wants our attention to His details and wants us to search His Word and watch so we will understand His plan as He unveils it. But some things are not to be understood until their time comes. And some things… are even hidden in plain sight.

Have you ever seen one of those multidimensional pictures where you look at it and it appears to be one thing but the longer you stare at it, the more your eyes and mind adjust and you suddenly see a whole other picture within the picture? Some call this an optical illusion. In a sense that is how I see God hiding history in His written word. Some things are obvious and black and white. Time unfolding in a linear direction! Other things are hidden within those surface details. And they don’t necessarily have to be unfolding in our dimension.

Some examples:

-Most of the last 2000 years have been a punishment for the Jewish nation known as the Diaspora. But it has also been the Grace age in which God built His Church on the Gospel of Christ. It was an age of discipline and also one of mercy and Divine patience.

• The Church age has been like the parable of the dragnet bringing in everything both good and bad. It is likewise made up of Wheat and tares in a similar parable analogy. One part is the visible Church seen from the outside. The Church that the world sees can’t distinguish between genuine and false converts because no one knows what is inside the hearts of men. The invisible Church (the ekklesia), however, consists of the true believers who internally have put their faith in Christ and are truly saved. It is much smaller than the visible Church. Only God knows the difference. He knows His true Church from the visible one that the world calls the Church. From a human perspective, the Church is one big organization but God sees the true Church within the Church.

• One of the greatest examples is the visible kingdom of men running parallel with the demonic kingdom of Satan. Humanity believes it is controlling its own outcomes and taking the world in the direction it needs to go to survive and prosper but behind the scenes, powers and principalities are governing and maneuvering humanity in a course of self-destruction.

• The Holocaust: Perhaps there is no greater example of a time within a time, than the Holocaust! A time when the Jews were demonically being destroyed by Hitler’s Final Solution in an attempt to exterminate the entire race for good. But within that nightmarish period were the seeds of rebirth as God was using World War Two as a birthing room to bring forth a reborn nation of Israel onto the world’s stage.

GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

Above all the best-laid plans of mice and men, and all the evil hidden dark endeavors of the fallen spiritual realm, is the true power that controls history...and that is God’s sovereign will. While humanity moves ahead believing it controls its own fate, and demonic forces move behind the scenes manipulating men to do their bidding, God providentially is moving all of it in a designed path to bring about His predetermined conclusion.

Nothing can change God’s will or alter His plan. No obstacles man may attempt to construct, nor diabolical schemes Satan tries to concoct, can hinder God’s plan even by one second. God is in complete control and He moves providentially through the ages sweeping history like a giant broom into his Divine dustbin. In the end, no matter what kind of mess humanity has made or what kind of destruction the Devil has wrought, God will have a perfectly clean finished product when the sweeping by His Sovereign Hand is complete.

WHERE WE ARE HEADED BY MEN

There is a final destination for human government that God pre-determined long ago. When the prophet Daniel saw the great statue of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream it revealed four mighty empires that would rule Earth before Israel’s mysterious Diaspora. Those kingdoms were Babylon which ruled at the time of the dream in Daniel 2. The second kingdom was to be Medo-Persia. The third was Greece and then came the colossal Roman Empire. But when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and trampled the Jewish nation scattering its people to the corners of the earth, God went silent on giving any human government insight during Israel’s long exile.

But just as the Jewish nation was disappearing from the world’s table of nations, by the Lord’s Divine hand, the time of the Church miraculously appeared. God began growing an invisible kingdom within the hearts of men during that long Diaspora period as unnamed earthly kingdoms rose and fell like waves in the ocean. The only thing revealed to us was that Rome’s impact would be felt through the two millennia as symbolized by the long legs of the statue. Since the height of the Roman Empire, Europe’s influence has remained dominant leaving an indelible mark across the centuries.

Nevertheless, as history nears its climax, a revived Rome will briefly emerge from the remnants of that empire, bringing forth the Antichrist and establishing a global monarchy.

From a human perspective, that final global government will be the crowing achievement of man’s desire to “ Be like God!” Ever since Eve bought Satan’s lie in Eden and chose to strive for equality with God rather than trusting God’s Fatherly love, humanity has wanted to be sovereign over everything. Mankind has finally arrived at a time when technology has finally matched their enthusiasm, which will result once again in a global government. This final human government will have the technological ability to master everything on the planet . thus crowning mankind as having reached the zenith as a race. Or so the globalist leaders think ….

SATAN’S ULTERIOR MOTIVE

Hidden beneath the goals of man are the lies of Satan. The Prince of Demons is not at all interested in lifting man’s self-esteem or in the glory of the human race. Satan has long wanted to be worshipped as God and the entire global government Beast system is being built not for man’s glory but for Satan’s desired worship. Secretly the Devil is setting a trap that will ensnare all of humanity and force them to honor, adore, and worship him as God or be destroyed. All the mechanisms are

being set in place for Lucifer to appear omniscient and omnipotent and omnipresent with total power to rule the world through the Antichrist and nothing on earth will be able to counteract his evil plan.

The global elites who believe they are building a giant global empire for their own glory, are about to be surprised when Satan’s man of the hour emerges to wow them with his brilliance and convincing charisma. Their plan to rule the world through ten regional governors will give way to this vibrant genius who comes out of nowhere to dazzle them with his mind and words. In a short time, the throne of the entire world will be given to him as the world believes he is the “ultimate man” and Satan will believe he has at long last, achieved equality with the God of Heaven.

GOD’S TIME WITHIN TIME

But… just as man’s plans will soon be swallowed up in Satan’s hidden agenda, so too will Satan’s ultimate desire be thwarted by God’s sovereign power. While man is striving to erect a global paradise for himself, and Satan is helping humanity build it so he can steal it, God is bringing it all to pass for three distinct reasons.

1. To bring sin to fullness and judge the world.

2. Save Israel through the fire of Tribulation.

3. Bring His Son back to rule the world in righteousness and fulfill all prophecy to the glorification of Jesus Christ!

   
   

Just when humanity thinks it has achieved total control of the planet, the Devil will snatch it from them and use that total control to enslave mankind. And just when Satan thinks he has achieved his aspiration to be like God and rule the world, God will send back His Son to overthrow and destroy the global Beast system and vanquish the Devil to the pit for 1000 years. Christ’s kingdom will be established and He will reign eternally as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

NOW WE MUST EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

Jesus was adamant in His warnings to those following him to remain watching and faithful or they would be caught unaware of His return. While His warning could certainly be taken in a general sense to all people to be prepared to meet Him due to the uncertainty and fragility of human life, in the direct sense, this admonition was to those who would be alive at the time of His return.

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.” Matt 24:42-43

This would appear to be a direct order from Christ to walk in faithfulness and watch the signs so we would know when His return is near and keep from being surprised. We should be living lives worthy of His calling and not be living for the world as we see the day approaching (Heb 10:25).

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that Day should overtake you as a thief.”

1 Thess 5:4

Paul reinforces this instruction by telling the early Church they are not to be living in darkness as the lost world will be when the Lord returns. The true observant Church is to be watching and waiting faithfully for their Lord’s return. But if watching will prepare us for Christ’s return and spare us from being caught off guard, then doesn’t that mean we will be expecting His return because the signs are obvious? If so then why this warning?

“Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh”

Matthew 24:44

Is this just a warning for the lost or a clue to us that when we think the signs are all ready to be fulfilled then something will appear to have changed the inevitability of Christ’s imminent return? I believe we are experiencing another “Time within a Time” moment. Or at least we are about to.

Over the last 15 years, the tone of everything has changed throughout culture. The globalist movement began openly changing societies' cultural standards and long-held truths into a progressive freight train that was barreling down the tracks toward globalism and wasn’t planning to stop at any crossings until it reached its destination as a One-World Humanist government. When Donald Trump was elected the first time the Train was forced to slow down and the Demonic hatred for nationalism and conservatism was brought to the surface showing the true colors of the movement we were witnessing. The election of 2020 and the last four years appeared to put the 2030 World government of the elites back on track but then .. against all odds … Donald Trump won again in 2024.

Now we are in a bizarre moment of history as the “Last Trump” administration is getting underway. While I certainly hoped Trump would win based on his pro-America views vs. the opposition's anti-American views, I can’t honestly say I fully trust Trump. I love a lot of his appointees and feel he has a lot of good ambitions but something doesn’t feel right as the weeks since the election have unfolded. It seems the globalists have put up only token resistance and the left has been a little too accommodating in relinquishing power. Oh, they still spew defiance but the militant hatred seems to have been quelled and Trump looks to truly be in charge of the global political scene. But is this appearance of control real? …. Or …is this the beginning of “in such an hour as yet think not” that Jesus said would be the predominant mindset of the planet when He breaks back into time?

Think about this. If Trump delivers on much of his MAGA program agenda, the world will appear to be rejecting the global government mantra and be on a path back to stronger Nation states. And America will be back on track as the leader of the world. MAGA would at minimum appear to be holding off the Beast system and subsequently, the Rapture likelihood for at least the time being. But what if the Global elites have consulted one another and decided to let Trump finish building globalism by way of the rise of the ten regional kings and let him help consolidate the North American region with the US takeover of Panama and renaming the Gulf and potentially even a merger with Canada?

What if allowing America to be great again is part of the global elite plan to bring about all the final pieces of the prophetic Beast puzzle? If Trump is to be successful he will need a strong economic rebound but that likely will mean the implementation of digital currencies. He may have the clout to do just that. What if Trump’s new alliances with tech leaders and Elon Musk help lead to the Mark of the Beast and the human/machine technological mergers and the AI-generated “Image of the Beast”?

All these are things we see in Revelation but still need implementation and Trump may be just the man to do it. And what about preparing the final peace deal with Israel and the many? He may not be able to accomplish these things if he was getting total opposition from the global elite but what if they are just willing to sit on the sideline and let him do their work for them?

I find the likelihood of this happening not only a possibility but maybe even a probability. And remember what the Bible says in Daniel 7. Once all the final pieces are in place and ten kings are seated, three of the kings will be removed as the Antichrist ascends. Could Trump be one of the ten regional kings and one of the three that gets usurped after all things are in place? I think this very well may be the case

THE OTHER PURPOSE OF THE WARNING

While we certainly are to be ready for conditions that could take our eyes off the imminent return of Jesus and that is an important point of His warnings, there is another more subtle reason that may possibly be why our Lord told us that most would not be expecting His return. The Rapture (1 Thess 4:13-18, 1 Cor 15:51-56) is denigrated by the majority of the Church and by the world in our day. Oh, there are many in the Church who believe a Second Coming will happen one day, and many in the world are looking for a messiah-like figure to fix this world's current problems, but the fact is that most of those people still think the Rapture is pure nonsense. Therefore they will surely be caught unawares even if they believe Jesus will return one day because the Rapture needs no signs and is not as easy to predict as the Second Coming will be due to the presence of the Antichrist on earth.

The MAGA supporters in the Kingdom Now movements may even believe Trump is the man to help deliver the world’s systems to a Christian movement that will win the world for Christ and deliver a glorious saved planet to Christ when He returns to rule it. It is faulty eschatology but one that could cause many to follow Trump like a modern-day John The Baptist paving the way for Jesus.

So… when they see the world appearing to be in repair and not in the midst of devastation, they will know the Second Coming is not imminent, and because of their disbelief in the Rapture, they will be caught off guard when Jesus takes His Bride out of the world.

CONCLUSION

The ravages of the Tribulation period will make it impossible to describe Jesus’ second coming as a surprise when it happens. When the Lord says His coming will happen when no one expects it, we have to understand He is talking about the Rapture. Not the Second Coming.

Something will have to happen shortly before Christ’s return for His Church to lower the world’s concern about the times that are approaching. A new confidence in the direction of the nations will have to occur for the world’s expectation level for imminent doom to decrease. This new confidence will either distract the world’s citizens away from the approaching Beast system or will excite them to the point of desiring what this final human system is offering. What could that distraction or enticement be?

A post-Covid world that has grown weary from high inflation, woke ideologies, marginalization of the majority’s opinions, and increasing wars and rumors of wars, appears ready for some drastic changes in the world’s leadership. Donald Trump’s election to his second and “last” term has brought hope to many and great angst to a lot of others but there is no doubt he will bring energy and ideas and clout. Perhaps even enough clout to bring real hope for peace in the Middle East. Real hope that an economic boom is still possible in an American-led financial revival is just on the horizon.

There is also real hope that technology can be used as a tool for supercharging an industrial boom rather than just a weapon of the elites to stifle opposing opinions. And perhaps trust that by whatever means Trump needs to fix things (regional trade blocks, digital currencies, unregulated technologies being unleashed, etc) will all be made available to him as he goes about reversing the downward spiral of the world’s fading nation-states.

If Trump fails, there is no place else for America and the nation-states of the world to realistically turn in hopes of continuing the post-WW2 world order as it stands. Only the coming global Beast will offer hope. But… if Trump does succeed, the euphoria created by the stunning turnaround of the global direction may very well produce the belief that an era of success and human greatness is right on the horizon. The concerns of planetary doom will be temporarily on hold and this may very well be just what our Lord was warning about when He warned His return would come when no one is expecting it.

We all want a savior when things look grim. But.. when all is rolling smoothly we forget our frailty and allow our egos to run amok. The only Savior for lost souls and for the restoration of planet Earth is Jesus Christ, not Donald Trump, or anyone else. But we are now in the “Last Trump” presidential term and we know that the Rapture will happen at the “Last Trump”. While it may simply be a play on words I believe God gave Trump His name for this very reason. To be a sign to the world that He is returning and it will be Trump that helps create the distracting global outlook that turns the people from gloom and doom to hope that humanity can still save their planet

When the nations have become sufficiently distracted, Christ will come at an hour when the undiscerning are not expecting Him. This goes for many in the Church as well as those of the world. And when Christ does come, the time of ecstasy over the newfound global outlook will be swallowed up in a time of unequaled fear over the disappearance of millions of believers …and the time of Antichrist and the Beast system will begin its dark ascension …from the pit of Hell.

“If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened. “ Matthew 24:22