04/09/2025
The Countdown No One Can Calculate
By Bishop Emi Domingo
The Bible describes the rapture as a mystery. Paul wrote: “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Cor. 15:51–52). This points to a sudden, supernatural transformation that will happen in God’s perfect timing.
Paul further explained that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night: “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5:2–3). The thief illustrates the element of complete surprise—no warning, no announcement—while the labor pains show that though there are signs of nearness, the exact moment remains unknown. Just as no one can predict the precise time a baby will be born, so too no one can predict the exact timing of the rapture.
Jesus Himself confirmed this principle: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt. 24:36). While the immediate context of Matthew 24 refers to His Second Coming after the tribulation, the broader context of the whole Scripture by principle applies to the rapture as well—God alone has set the time, and it remains hidden from humanity.
This makes sense in practical terms because time itself is not uniform across the world. What may be a certain “day” in one country is already tomorrow on the other side of the globe. If God had revealed a precise date, it would raise confusion worldwide: is it according to Jerusalem time, or New York time, or Manila time? By keeping the timing hidden, God ensures that believers everywhere live in readiness rather than relying on date-setting.
For this reason, it is always prudent not to set a date, not to insinuate a date, nor even to ‘play safe’ around a date through speculation, because that is not how faith works. Faith rests solely on the Word of God, not on human calculations or manipulations of calendars and numbers. To attempt otherwise is to risk deception and disappointment. It is far better to be safe by trusting God’s Word now, than to be sorry later for trusting human speculation.
Scripture reminds us: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (Acts 1:7). The rapture will surely come—sudden, certain, and in God’s appointed time.
