It Didn't Happen...Again

You might be asking again what didn't happen again. It was the return of Christ. Another Christian group predicted that Christ was going to return yesterday. It seems like this is a trend that will never end. Who can forget Harold Camping predicting the Savior's return on May 21, 2011, which did no happen. What's even more bizarre is that Camping changed it to October 21, 2011 and...well, you already know.

As far as I can remember, there have been many people who predicted the return of the Christ. In 1988, there was a book that was released called, 88 Reasons Why Jesus Will Return in 1988 which I am sure is out of print. Hal Lindsey released The Late Great Planet Earth in the 1970's which predicted the Rapture in the 1980's. Not only that not happen, but not one of his predictions came true, yet Lindsey is still one of the leading scholars in Prophecy in some Christian circles.

It can get very wearisome to hear all of these predictions and wonder when will this ever stop. We look in the Bible and we don't see any date for the return of Christ. The Bible says the day of the Lord, Christ's return, will come like a thief (1 Thessalonians 5:4; 2 Peter 3:10). Jesus said it himself that, "no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only" (Matthew 24:36).

I wish I knew why people guess the return of Jesus. I don't know if it's for profit or see many come to Christ, which sounds more like a scare tactic. When we hear a prediction on the return of Christ, we need to test it based on the Word of God. Of course, we already know it won't happen because Jesus said no one knows. My question is went someone predicts the return of Christ and Jesus does not come, did Jesus missed the memo? Did Jesus forget when He was suppose to return and that is why people are predicting His return.

Why is it some people think they know more about Christ's return than Jesus Himself? I guess these people have a better connection to God than Jesus did. When it comes to dates that God has already set in place, we need to remember what the Bible says:

It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority (Acts 1:7)

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you (1 Thessalonians 5:1)

What are we to do until the return of Christ:

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn (2 Peter 3:11-12).

For the grace of God...(is) training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:11-13).

Our mission is not to guess His return, but to serve as we wait.