1 Thessalonians 5:1

“But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you”

“But concerning”: Suggesting that Paul might be responding to. question that they had either sent him via Timothy or that was being hotly debated among some of them. “Times”: The set or proper time. “Seasons”: “Time measured by duration” (Vincent p. 43). “Karios (above). definite space of time, 'chronos' (here) an extended period” (Robertson p. 34). “As for times and dates” (Wey). “The combination of the two is. way of bringing before the mind both the duration of the time that must elapse before the coming of the Lord, and also the nature of the events that will characterize the end time” (Morris p. 150). “Chronological periods--significant moments”. Thus Paul is saying, “In reference to the exact time of the Lord's return and even the more general period in which He will come, there is no revelation from God”. “The periods of time and the exact character of the epochs to intervene before the return of Christ” (Erdman p. 62). Thus Paul is saying that not only is the exact day kept secret, but God has not even given us the week, year, decade or century in which His Son will return. Thus people who set more general dates for the Lord's return (such as, probably before the end of this century, within. generation, somewhere around) are just as wrong as those people who set specific dates.

“Ye have no need that aught be written unto you”: “That anything be written to you” (Mon). God does not even give us. hint. This means that the New Testament does not contain some mysterious code for the Second Coming. Notice carefully what Paul said. Nothing would be "written" concerning the date. That means, that nothing would even be written in figurative language as well. Nothing written period. From this statement some conclusions are demanded: Nothing has been previously written to this letter. Therefore, Matthew 24:1. is not talking about the signs that will point us toward the date for Christ's return, rather the signs for Christians to flee from the destruction that Jerusalem experienced, and which it did in A.D. 70. Nothing would be revealed later. Therefore the Book of Revelation is not. code book about what will happen right before the end.

Fields notes that “God changes the times and seasons, Daniel 2:21” (p. 129). In addition, in relation to His physical judgments, God has changed His mind concerning "when" (Jonah 3:10; Jeremiah 2:1 ff).. guess we usually assume that. definite, fixed date has been set for this event, from long ago. Could it be that other factors (2 Peter 3:9) might make the date somewhat flexible?