Dear Refiner's Fire...
Dear Refiner's Fire...
I have a question that's been nagging me, because I cannot figure out the answer: What exactly does it mean when it says in Matthew 24:20 "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day."
Our Response...
It means it will be SO VERY BAD that if it is winter when the Messiah returns it would only add to our troubles, and on a Shabbat it would give us NO rest. Please check out Joel 2:2 and Daniel 12 which talk of this time as unparalleled peril and distress. (Scripture borrowed from CJB.)
Joel 2: 1 "Blow the shofar in Tziyon! Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!" Let all living in the land tremble, for the Day of ADONAI is coming! It's upon us! 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick fog; a great and mighty horde is spreading like blackness over the mountains. There has never been anything like it, nor will there ever be again, not even after the years of many generations. 3 Ahead of them a fire devours, behind them a flame consumes; ahead the land is like Gan-'Eden, behind them a desert waste. From them there is no escape. 4 They look like horses, and like cavalry they charge. 5 With a rumble like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like crackling flames devouring stubble, like a mighty horde in battle array. 6 At their presence the peoples writhe in anguish, every face is drained of color. 7 Like warriors they charge, they scale the wall like soldiers. Each one keeps to his own course, without getting in the other's way. 8 They don't jostle each other, but stay on their own paths; they burst through defenses unharmed, without even breaking rank.
9 They rush into the city, they run along the wall, they climb up into the houses, entering like a thief through the windows. 10 At their advance the earth quakes, and the sky shakes, the sun and moon turn black, and the stars stop shining. 11 ADONAI shouts orders to his forces - his army is immense, mighty, and it does what he says. For great is the Day of ADONAI, fearsome, terrifying! Who can endure it? 12 "Yet even now," says ADONAI, "turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and lamenting." 13 Tear your heart, not your garments; and turn to ADONAI your God. For he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace, and willing to change his mind about disaster. 14 Who knows? He may turn, change his mind and leave a blessing behind him, [enough for] grain offerings and drink offerings to present to ADONAI your God.
15 "Blow the shofar in Tziyon! Proclaim a holy fast, call for a solemn assembly." 16 Gather the people; consecrate the congregation; assemble the leaders; gather the children, even infants sucking at the breast; let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride the bridal chamber. 17 Let the cohanim, who serve ADONAI, stand weeping between the vestibule and the altar. Let them say, "Spare your people, ADONAI! Don't expose your heritage to mockery, or make them a byward among the Goyim. Why should the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'" 18 Then ADONAI will become jealous for his land and have pity on his people. 19 Here is how ADONAI will answer his people: "I will send you grain, wine and olive oil, enough to satisfy you; and no longer will I make you a mockery among the Goyim.
20 No, I will take the northerner away, far away from you, and drive him to a land that is waste and barren; with his vanguard toward the eastern sea and his rearguard toward the western sea, his stench and his rottenness will rise, because he has done great things." 21 Don't fear, O soil; be glad! rejoice! for ADONAI has done great things. 22 Don't be afraid, wild animals; for the desert pastures are green, the trees are putting out their fruit, the fig tree and vine are giving full yield. 23 Be glad, people of Tziyon! rejoice in ADONAI your God! For he is giving you the right amount of rain in the fall, he makes the rain come down for you, the fall and spring rains - this is what he does first. 24 Then the floors will be full of grain and the vats overflow with wine and olive oil. 25 "I will restore to you the years that the locusts ate, the grasshoppers, shearer-worms and cutter-worms, my great army that I sent against you. 26 You will eat until you are satisfied and will praise the name of ADONAI your God, who has done with you such wonders. Then my people will never again be shamed.
27 You will know that I am with Isra'el and that I am ADONAI your God, and that there is no other. Then my people will never again be shamed. 28 "After this, I will pour out my Spirit on all humanity. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions; 29 and also on male and female slaves in those days I will pour out my Spirit. 30 I will show wonders in the sky and on earth - blood, fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and terrible Day of ADONAI." 32 At that time, whoever calls on the name of ADONAI will be saved. For in Mount Tziyon and Yerushalayim there will be those who escape, as ADONAI has promised; among the survivors will be those whom ADONAI has called.
Daniel 12: 1 "When that time comes, Mikha'el, the great prince who champions your people, will stand up; and there will be a time of distress unparalleled between the time they became a nation and that moment. At that time, your people will be delivered, everyone whose name is found written in the book. 2 Many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth will awaken, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting shame and abhorrence. 3 But those who can discern will shine like the brightness of heaven's dome, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
4 "But you, Dani'el, keep these words secret, and seal up the book until the time of the end. Many will rush here and there as knowledge increases." 5 Then I, Dani'el, looked; and I saw in front of me two others, one on this bank of the river and the other on its other bank. 6 One of them asked the man dressed in linen who was above the water of the river, "How long will these wonders last?" 7 The man dressed in linen who was above the water of the river raised his right and left hands toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and a half, and that it will be when the the power of the holy people is no longer being shattered that all these things will end. 8 I heard this, but I couldn't understand what it meant; so I asked, "Lord, what will be the outcome of all this?"
9 But he said, "Go your way, Dani'el; for these words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many will purify, cleanse and refine themselves; but the wicked will keep on acting wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand. But those with discernment will understand. 11 From the time the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. 12 How blessed will be anyone who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13 But you, go your way until the end comes. Then you will rest and rise for your reward, at the end of days."