If no one knows the day or hour, how can we say it’s soon?

Jesus was very clear: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:36). That verse rules out date-setting — anyone claiming to have calculated the exact day is going beyond what Scripture allows, and history is full of failed predictions that discouraged sincere believers. But not knowing the hour is different from not knowing the season. Paul told the Thessalonians that believers “are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief” (1 Thessalonians 5:4), because they can read the signs of the times. Jesus’ point in the parable of the fig tree was exactly this balance: we can’t know the day, but when we see the signs, “know that summer is nigh” (Matthew 24:32-33). So the Bible calls us to watchfulness and readiness, never to speculation about specific dates.