Why couldnt Matthew 24:36 and Matthew 24:38ff be about the rapture? No signs there.
Well, yeah, for one thing, I think "But of THAT day and hour" (v.36) refers back to something previous in the context, namely verses 33 "[when...] …know that IT is near, even at the doors" as well as verse 28's "so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be"
(and as I've mentioned in past posts, all "
Son of man cometh/coming of/shall come/etc" verses/passages are about His Second Coming
to the earth... not our Rapture).
I believe that "the beginning of birth PANGS" (verses 4-8) are the equivalent of the SEALS of Rev6 at the START of the 7-yr trib, and that the chapter (Mt24) progresses in time from there.
Think about it: How can people be marrying and given in marriage and drink and eat and everything going well if the book of revelation seals trumpets and vials are being poured out and its absolute devastation on every corner with mark of the beast going on and all the natural disasters?
Well, at the 6th Trumpet/2nd Woe [6th Trumpet events, and just before and/or at 2nd Woe] time slot [note, I believe the 5th Trumpet/1st Woe is the MID-trib point], (at 6th Trumpet events) people are sending gifts to one another, and "make merry [or celebrating]," per Revelation 11:10... so this is after the mid-trib point as I see it (and the 5th Trumpet/1st Woe events had at least "5 months" time attached to it, and add to that the time-frame of the 6th Trumpet events, for the 2nd Woe concludes that set); my own study of the chronology of it places it closer to about the "3/4-of-the-way-through" point in time.
My understanding is that it's not stating that things are hunky dory, but that people are focused on the things of this life [even basic things] rather than on the things of God and the fact that He is [will be, at that future time frame] indeed "coming" to reign. They will be disregarding God's Word, "just as in the days of Noah" (who was a "preacher of righteousness," and likely whom they could see building an ark for a number of years leading up to the flood judgment, and then the parade of animals heading to get to it shortly before...yet, it says, "
they knew not until the flood came...". It's not that they did not have a bunch of warning(/warning-time), it's that they disregarded God's Word via Noah... Noah's not the one who "knew not until," he knew and believed and prepared the ark; "they" who were "all" taken away in judgment, had disregarded every means of warning--this, I believe, is the main thrust of the passage before us)
Everyone knows at what our the Lord doth come if we got all those signs preceding it.
Except, again, this is not the point of the words "but of that day and hour KNOWETH [PERFECT tense] no man"... Perfect tense means (pretty much) "until further information is supplied which changes that status" (which is what I believe Jesus supplied in the later writing of The Revelation, detailed "timing" issues from Seal #1 to His Rev19 "return"
to the earth [all of this aspect being the "IN QUICKNESS [NOUN]" thing]).
Jesus' point is NOT to say everyone's forbidden to ever "know," or it's impossible for anyone to ever "know"... etc... (just "knoweth [
perfect tense] no man/one..." at the time He spoke that.
But then again, WHY would Jesus just switch topics randomly without further explaining to the disciples. Oy vey!
Yeah, I don't think He is.
No wonder we got differing views on the olivet discourse
At the time Jesus spoke His Olivet Discourse, He had not yet spoken to them ANYTHING regarding "rapture," but HAD ALREADY spoken to them about the circumstances surrounding His Second Coming to the earth (in Matt13:24,30,39,40,49-50), which formed the basis of their LATER Q to Him in Matt24:3 (regarding "the end [singular] of the age [singular]" which they understood
rightly would be followed by "the age [singular] to come" [Matt12:32 preceding chpt 13], what we call "the promised and prophesied
earthly MK," commencing upon His "return"
to the earth--they just did not grasp the TIMING of it). This is what He responding about in and throughout the rest of the 2 chpts (24-25).