On Predicting the Return of Jesus Christ by Chris White

It was December 31^st, 999 AD.  For the last three years all of Europe from the great to the small were caught up in hysteria over the return of Jesus and the end of the world.  On the positive side, many people forgave debts, gave their wealth to the poor, enemies were reconciled, dissolute behavior reformed, and many who had wandered away from the Lord returned.  On the negative side, many people quit planting crops, stopped repairing buildings and abandoned their jobs in light of the end.  There was no actual basis for this except the feeling that since a day with the Lord is as 1000 years and that the Lord promised to return soon, that it was unlikely he would wait any longer than a millennium (2 Pet.3:8).  It was now 11:45 pm.  Pope Sylvester II had just finished saying the mass and had taken his seat on throne of St. Peter.  With the smell of incense still wafting through the air, the congregation went down on their knees.  Some, decided to lay completely prostrate on the floor with their arms and legs straitened to form the shape of a cross.  At the stroke of midnight some people began sobbing and shaking uncontrollably out of fear of what was going to happen next.  As the minutes passed, nothing actually did.  No lightning strikes from the east to the west, no angelic trumpets or brilliant lights in the sky.  In fact all was quiet.  Soon bells began to peal all over Europe to ring in the new year and life quickly and happily got back to its normal patterns.  Apparently they were not the final generation after all.

One of the curious enterprises that seems present in every generation of the church is the prognostication of the timing of the Lord’s return.  Someone or a group will begin developing a theory often based on scriptures that are either misinterpreted or sufficiently vague enough to allow for extra meaning to be ascribed to it with little basis.  One of the most surprising people to be involved with this activity was the early scientist Isaac Newton (1642-1727).  Newton was apparently quite a devout man and wrote almost as much about religion as he did science however because he was a laymen did not publish much of his religious studies.  Newton actually made efforts to predict with some sort of coded formula the day of our blessed hope.  In more modern times, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Seventh Day Adventist Church were both born out of movements which had laid claim to discovery of the Lord’s return.

Perhaps it is human nature to want to probe mysteries and the unknown and the day of the Lord’s Return certainly qualifies as one of the greatest of them all.  But Jesus said no one, not even himself knew this day, but that the exact time and date is known only to the Father.  Jesus never urged his followers to try and predict this event, he simply taught that his disciples should be prepared for this day by living a life of godliness, repentance for one’s sins, and humble service to his kingdom.  That we should be always ready is also clear as Jesus taught it would come suddenly without warning, like a thief in the night, at a moment least expected (Mt. 24:27,43-44).  He also taught with a directness that this event would come after a long delay but without  any further detail added (Mt. 25).  Soon, in terms of the Lord’s return, must be measured by the time scale of heaven, not earth.

When Jesus ascended to heaven his disciples watched the sky so long that finally the Lord’s angels appeared to them and told them it was time to stop looking up and start doing the work the Lord had commissioned them to do here on earth (Acts 1:10-11) .  The Lord also teaches that we are to hold jobs, raise children, build up the faith community, serve our neighbors, and pray for our nation during our sojourn on earth.  But sojourn it is, for we are ever pilgrims in the world as long as our citizenship is in heaven (1 Pet. 1:1-2).  The day of the Lord is beyond finding out by God’s design.  If we knew such a thing we would likely misuse the information to our own hurt such as becoming slothful or even evading responsibility(2 Pet.3:1-5).  No doubt some with more fragile temperaments would simply collapse in anticipatory fear of such a cataclysmic event.  Instead every generation is to live and serve the Lord in joyful anticipation knowing by faith that even though we know not the when of this event, the Lord always keeps his promises, and therefore it is certain (Titus 2:11-14).