Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
— Matthew 25:13 —
Revelation 6:8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Revelation 6:8 is a statistic. It has been extant all along. One fourth of people who die, die of these causes: wars and violence, starvation, and disease.
The beasts of the earth are despotic governments. Revelation 6:8 is simply stating that the cause of death for 25% of people are these. The scripture doesn't specify what it means by "death." One hundred percent of people die by death.
So it must mean something like plague. It isn't something that hasn't happened yet. It is what we live and die with everyday.
The white horse is false Christianity. Jesus said, "Many will come in My name and will deceive many. Even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know it is the last time." This has been happening all along. We haven't been waiting for it to come. The red horse is war. We have had wars and rumors of war all along. It never stops. The black horse is famine. The "oil and the wine" shows that while part of the world is hungry, others have plenty. The martyrdom of the saints has been going on since the stoning of Stephen. Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." The first five seals of Revelation is simply the state of the world that we live in.
The sixth seal is what comes as a thief in the night and begins the day of the Lord.
Matthew 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Joel 2:31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.
Revelation 6:12-13 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
This is why the day of the Lord is like the days of Noah and Lot. People go about their daily lives as if this is all normal, which it is. We become complacent to it, until the flood comes. That is what it means when people are saying "peace and safety." It is referring to complacency, then sudden destruction comes. Saying, "peace and safety" is the same as, "where is the promise of His coming?" Peace and safety, the thief in the night, the foolish virgins are all referring to the complacency of people living their daily lives as if all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.
2 Peter 3:3-7 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
Matthew 24:38-39 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Let's stop using the term, "the rapture," and just use the Biblical term of "the first resurrection." But even so, the scripture doesn't say there is a time called "the tribulation." It says there will be great tribulation. It is simply a description of the circumstances of the time. We are already in tribulation and have been all along. Jesus said, "In the world you will have tribulation. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Tribulation isn't something that is about to happen, or in the future as people have often imagined it. We have been living in it all along. It just becomes more intense toward the end.
We know exactly when the first resurrection will happen.
1 Corinthians 15:51-53 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
The seventh trump is the last trump. That is no coincidence. Everything up until the seventh trumpet will happen first.
Revelation 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Revelation 11:14-19 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, 15The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. 16And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, 17Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. 18And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. 19And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
Yes, these things increase over time, like the birth pangs of a pregnant woman. But the woman has been pregnant since Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father. We know this for certain by the fifth seal, martyrdom. It begins with saints who were already martyred and continues through all of the saints who would be martyred until Jesus' return.
Revelation 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Revelation 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
"Hereafter" means from now on. Here = now, after = future.
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
John wasn't wrong about this. We have been wrong about this. The last days have been two.
Hosea 6:1-3 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. 2After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. 3Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.