Hello Friends,
How many of you have heard people whom you know, espouse to know when the Lord will return. I have known over the years people who have given the Lord’s return a date and been perfectly straight faced as they have stated clearly that they know exactly the day when he will return. The first time I heard this was back in the mid 80’s when a man who was my boss scheduled a week of vacation for the Lord’s return, and him, his family, and some of his closest Christian friends rented a cabin in the mountains to await Christs return. I asked why he bothered taking vacation, making his house payments, etc. and he got very annoyed at me, so I let it go. When they returned, he said they must have just miscalculated a bit, and that they would need to go back to the drawing board.
The next prediction that garnered much attention was of course 1999-2000 millenium date. This was truly going to be it, Israel is in disarray, which every Christian knows Israel holds the key to Christs return. Plus, America and the rest of the world have become so carnal at this point that it cant possibly go on. I even heard some people say that “the Bible even says Christ will return in 2000 years”, wow. When it didn’t happen, the local prophets all scratched their heads and said, “Oh, wait, the true millenium is actually 2001, so thats when Christ will come”.
Why have I chosen to write about this? Well, A fellow believer at work informed me that it is all going to be over in 2012. He was very straight faced when he informed me that Christs return and subsequent Judgement will occur in the spring of 2012. I then asked him if he had quit contributing to the 401K, and he looked at me like I had a third ear growing from my forehead. The point to all of this is, the first century Christians felt the second coming would be in their time, every generation since then has felt Christs return would be in their time also. A Pastor I know said back in the late 1800’s someone predicted a second coming and all the people from that town dressed in white robes, had trumpets, and climbed up in trees to await the Lord. They later tried to string up the prophet, but he beat them out of town.
So why, as Christians are we so occupied with predicting his return when the bible is very clear on us not knowing. Does this scripture tell us anything?
Matthew 24:43-44 (NIV) But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
And there is also this scripture,
2 Peter 3:10 (NIV) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare
Imagine if you told your children to clean their room , and rather than clean their room, the devoted their day to trying to determine when you would next be upstairs to “check” their room. Wouldn’t you rather they just cleaned their room and were ready for you to check it anytime?
I also think it sends the wrong message to the lost in the world. I personally believe God wants us to focus on the whole race rather than just the finish. The finish is VERY important, but he has made it very clear to us that we will not know the hour or the day of the return of the Lord. I just believe that as Christians, our time could be spent much better, Say, spreading the word about God’s gift of salvation, than by planning his return. Anyway, does anyone care to offer their views on the matter. God bless you all!!!
In him
JFT
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