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You do not know when the Lord of the House will come by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, instructions to each do their work, and commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master [kurios] of the house is coming – in the evening [opse], at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning – lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch!" (Mark 13:32-37). The apostle James, the brother of Jesus, wrote, "Therefore be patient, brothers, until the coming [parousia] of the Lord. Behold, he who ploughs awaits patiently the precious fruit of the earth, until he receives the early and the late [opsimon] harvest" (James 5:7-8). The Greek word parousia means coming, appearance, presence. James used the parable of the ploughman to portray the thought of Jesus concerning the day and the hour of His return, the Parousia. The Greek word opse, translated by 'the evening', means 'after a considerable time', 'a long time after', 'late in life', 'late in the day'; and from it was derived the word opsimon meaning 'late', as oppose to 'early'. And so, the ploughman, after doing the sowing, expects to have two harvests, an early one and a late one; therefore he must display forbearance before seeing the first fruits of his harvest. Forbearance is the patience, with which events are endured. The Coming of Jesus Christ, the Parousia, breaks down into two stages: the rapture of the Bride of Christ and the return of Jesus Christ coming to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. The parable of the ten virgins suggests that a part of the Church will be taken up as the Bride of Christ and that another part will remain on the earth (Matthew 25:1-13) 1. And Luke tells us, "Be like people waiting for their Lord [Kurios] when he will go [analuo] with the intention [εκ των, ek ton] of having a wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they will open the door for him immediately" (Luke 12:36 Interlinear). Indeed, the Greek word analuo means 'to untie', 'to release', 'to go off', as rendered in this verse, "My desire is to go [analuo] and be with the Lord" (Philippians 1:23), and the Greek phrase 'ek ton' means 'in consequence of'', 'for some reason'. At the present time, Jesus Christ is with our Heavenly Father and waits for His Father to send Him for His Bride to take Her to the wedding of the Lamb. The firstfruits, that is to say those who have believed in the Coming of Jesus Christ and who have prepared themselves for this meeting (Ephesians 5:26-27 and Revelation 19:7-8), will then be taken away or resurrected to join Jesus Christ because of the wedding of the Lamb. The late harvest, that is to say those who will have awakened after the rapture of the Bride, (the great awakening of the sleeping Church which will not be waiting for her husband!), will take place at the time of the last trumpet, when the Lord comes with His Bride onto the Mount of Olives to reward His servants and exterminate those who are destroying the earth (Revelation 11:15-19). Then, at the signal given by the voice of an archangel and at the sound of the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ will rise and those who are alive in Christ will be taken up to go and meet the Lord in the clouds (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). (1) the word rain [huetos] does not exist in the original Interlinear Greek version. The farmer waits patiently for the precious fruit of the earth and not for rain of the early or late season, although they are necessary. |