Hoping this isn’t perceived as condescension aimed at the reader; it is, I’m convicted, good to think on what Paul was given by the Holy Spirit to urge us to not be ignorant. The instruction is crucial to understanding these prophetic days in which we find ourselves.

Paul uses this “be not ignorant” statement of instruction three times in the course of his epistles addressing Christians. These include his letters to the Romans, the Corinthians, and the Thessalonians. The emphasis on not being ignorant speaks of God’s strong desire for believers to understand what He wants us to fully comprehend.

While I present here all three of Paul’s instructions to “be not ignorant,” I want to look in particular at his letters to the Romans and the Thessalonians to imply that his teaching is especially relevant to where we are on God’s prophetic timeline.

Here are the three statements:

1. Romans 11:25–32: Israel’s Condition, Purpose, and Future

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

2. 1 Corinthians 12:–11: Spiritual Gifts

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

3. 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18: The Rapture

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Paul here makes it profoundly important—even mandatory—that we who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ understand the things covered in these instructions.

Anytime God’s Word emphasizes something three times, the matters involved are vital to being understood—and believed.

The second instruction mentioned above, in the letter to the Corinthians, isn’t pointed directly at any future prophecy. However, it is very important in urging Christians to make every effort to understand the times only through enlightenment provided by the Holy Spirit.

So, we reflect on Paul saying that he would not have us to be ignorant about the mystery of Israel and all the things that involve His chosen people.

The apostle wants all generations of believers to understand that despite Israel’s opposition to the gospel of Jesus Christ and denial that He is their Messiah, the people of Israel are still His. They will at a future time be saved–that is, become believers in Jesus Christ as Savior and Messiah.

This will happen during a period of great trouble for them (Jeremiah 30:7). That Tribulation era will take place after the time of the Gentiles is fulfilled. This will be when all believers of the Church Age—the Age of Grace—are taken to Heaven in the Rapture.

During that time of Jacob’s trouble, God will bring out of the House of Israel a remnant of born-again believers who will be true Israel for all of eternity.

We must not be ignorant, then, of the significance of Israel. We must be aware that when Israel dominates the prophetic world horizon, the time of Christ’s return is very near. We must not be ignorant of Israel’s position, Paul is telling us.

The question to believers in Christ, then, should be: Is the nation Israel on the scene today in any significant way?

There is certainly no excuse for anyone, believer or not, to be ignorant in considering this question.

This brings us to Paul’s third exhortation.

Believers—Gentiles and Jews who have come to Christ for salvation during this Age of Grace—will be called into the clouds of Glory when Israel is at the center of world controversy. The last believer of this Church Age will accept Christ for salvation, and Jesus will call all Christians in the Rapture. This will be when the “fullness of the Gentiles will be come in,” as Paul prophesied.

The apostle told the Thessalonians all about that coming Rapture of the Church—God’s eternal family of believers who lived and died during the Age of Grace.

There is no excuse for us to be ignorant of just how near we must be to that call from our Savior. Can’t you sense the Holy Spirit’s assurance that this world so full of anti-God wickedness and turmoil is about to change in a twinkling-of-an-eye moment?

We are not to be ignorant. We’re to rely on God’s promise:

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4: 17-18)