This is DAY SEVENTEEN of the daily devotional.

I am releasing a 50 day daily devotional about the end-times as revealed in Scripture. Along with the text, I will be providing a video where I cover the text of the day, and Hive account@verbal-d will be providing an audio version of it. That way, whether you want to read, watch, or listen, you'll be able to enjoy this study as you wish.

The plan is to release this devotional over the next 50 consecutive days, but life may "get in the way." We will do our best, but please be patient with me if I fall behind.

The SoundCloud Audio from Hive account@verbal-d

The YouTube Video from Hive account@papa-pepper

The Text I Originally Shared on the Hive account@narrowminded Account

DAY 17 - ANOTHER THIEF?

Yesterday, we learned that although the “Day of the Lord” is definitely preceded by certain events, it still comes as a thief. Since thieves try to sneak in, knowing the signs that the thief is near can prevent one from being caught off guard. Therefore, although many will be surprised when the thief shows up, it is not necessary for us to be “in the dark.” The Bible also reveals to us something else that is coming as a thief.

“If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” (Revelation 3:3b)

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” (Revelation 16:15)

In each of these verses, we have Jesus’ personal testimony that He will come as a thief. If I am correct about His return occurring on the same day that the “Day of the Lord” begins, perhaps this is why both of these events are spoken of in the same way, coming “as a thief.” However, we know for sure that the “Day of the Lord” is preceded by specific events, and yet many claim that the rapture could at occur at any moment. They believe in an imminent return of Jesus, which has no events that must occur first. Let’s look a little deeper into what Jesus said about coming as a thief.

“If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” (Revelation 3:3b)

Jesus says that He will not come as a thief to all. Only to those who are not watching. Since we do not need to be in the dark about this, we can be as “the goodman of the house”, who knew in what watch the thief would come.

“But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” (1 Thessalonians 5:4)

“But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.” (Matthew 24:43)

Knowing in what “watch”, or period of time, the thief will come, can prevent the thief from sneaking in. If the “Day of the Lord” and the return of Christ happen on the same day, then we can use precursors of the “Day of the Lord” as precursors for the return of Christ. The “Abomination of Desolation” is one such example, which I believe is stated quite succinctly in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4. If we expect these events to occur within a certain time period, then we will not be off guard.

The question then for us to answer will be, “Is the return of Jesus Christ for the rapture imminent?” Could it really occur at any moment? We will start to evaluate this tomorrow.

Point #1: The “Day of the Lord” is coming as a thief.

Point #2: Jesus is coming as a thief.

Point #3: This could be additional evidence that these events occur on the same day.

Point #4: The “Day of the Lord” is definitely preceded by specific events.

Point #5: Therefore, Jesus “coming as a thief” cannot be evidence that His return is imminent.

Point #6: The rapture may be preceded by certain events.

CLOSER

If anyone is really interested, I did post the entire volume through an alt account over a year ago. I did so as an experiment to see how hard it would be for a new user to get noticed on steemit, so I didn't let anyone know that I was doing it. You can click here to a post that has links to the entire 50 days of this devotional if you really want to read ahead. That information has always been available there since I first posted it. It is not the purpose of this series to just copy all of my previous work, but instead to transform it into some new outlets by releasing it in an audio and video format, to broaden the reach that this work has.

Again, though I will certainly never claim to know it all, I do believe that many are being lead astray by some popular beliefs. I hope that this project will be able to help many others understand the end-times more accurately. Thanks!

Just in case you are new to this series and wanted to check out the previous audio or videos, here are links to the posts from each day of this series.

Also - A special thanks to Hive account@allforthegood for helping design my cover image!

Until next time…

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GIF provided by Hive account@orelmely

50 DAYS TO UNDERSTANDING THE END-TIMES MORE ACCURATELY - DAY 17 : ANOTHER THIEF? - AUDIO & VIDEO