No Person Knows When the World Will End

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words

will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour
no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,
but the Father only… Watch therefore, for you
know neither the day nor the hour.”

Matthew 24:34-35, 44

This past Friday afternoon my phone rang at the church office.

On the other end of the line was an un-churched mom in a rural area just outside of our city. She asked to speak to the minister. I told her I was the pastor of the church and asked if I could help her. What she said next is an illustration of the times in which we now live.

She told me that her children were terrified about the end of the world this Saturday (May 21). The fierce wind storms and thunder storms the night before had only heightened their fears of doomsday. She was calling to know what to tell her children to calm their fears.

Since I was aware that Harold Camping had predicted that Saturday, May 21 would be the end of the world, I had some awareness of the situation. So I started by telling her what Jesus told us in the Bible: that no one knows the day or the hour of the end of the world.

Through our conversation I learned the no one in her family attends any church and they lived according to the bits and pieces of news and rumors the children pick up at school.

I encouraged her to find a church to get encouragement and support from other believers in her area from God’s Word. She needs a faithful Bible-teaching pastor and the fellowship of God’s people – a thought which false teacher Harold Camping disdains.

Camping says God is finished with the church.

So I explained to her that she and her children need to understand that false teachers like Harold Camping have been setting dates for the end of the world for many years.

Each time the newly selected date comes and goes, false teachers and their followers invent reasons why they need to recalculate and produce a new future date. The insanity cycle goes around and around and around. They have always been wrong, as Scripture says they will be.

Meanwhile, people who are untaught and ignorant of Bible doctrine get caught up in the frenzy with reactions ranging from hopeless despair all the way to unrestrained licentiousness.

At the same time, people who have no relationship with Jesus Christ see the true teaching of Scripture and prophecy as less credible and view all Christian teachers with greater suspicion. They begin to scoff and mock the warnings in Scripture intended for those with ears to hear.

When they lie and misrepresent God’s Word by saying, “The Bible guarantees it!” (as in this photo) their judgment is only intensified. This is the devil’s classic ploy: to discredit God’s word by associating it with those who abuse and ignore what it teaches.

Date setters and other kinds of false teachers who ignore the clear statements in Scripture about no one knowing the day nor the hour (or the week or month, for that matter!) will all be judged by God in His own perfect timing.

For the present time, false teachers serve to separate the wheat from the chaff in the world. Those who reject Bible doctrine and orthodox theology will be left to the unchartered waters of man-made inventions, superstitions, and every form of nonsense that is loose in the world.

I told this troubled woman that Saturday would come and go without incident and on Sunday she would realize that what I’m telling her is true. Then I told her that other false teachers would set new dates for the end of the world – and they will also be wrong. She shouldn’t believe them.

I reminded her that Scripture tells us the only way to be ready for the Lord’s return is to live a holy and godly live through faith in the finished work of Christ on our behalf.

Christians need not fear those who say, “The end is here!” or “This is the date of the end of the world!” because concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only (Mt. 24:36).

Resting in His sovereignty,
Pastor Kevin

 

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.