Mattthew 24:36-37 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angles in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”
Matthew 25:13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
I went to college at a small christian college in Bethany Oklahoma from 1976 to1979. Being a christian college we had chapel services we were required to attend x number of times each semester. At some point during my sophomore or junior year, word had traveled through the churches denomination that one of the denominations strongest and most respected evangelist was making a circuit preaching that he had gone back to the beginning of the bible and had completed an in-depth study based on dates and events mentioned in the bible. He also aligned his findings with his study in the Book of Revelations. As a result he had established a date of when the second coming would occur. Sound familiar?
A few days before the predicted day, things seemed to get a little weird. I remember myself checking out my spiritual life check list just to make sure I had all of my I’s dotted and T’s crossed. If it did happen, I wasn’t going to miss it. People also seemed to be overly nice those few days before the predicted day. Everyone was making sure promises were followed through on, people were coming clean on misunderstandings, etc. No one was going wild emptying bank accounts or going extreme, but things were just different.
Later that year this evangelist had a chance to actually speak at one of our chapel services. The day had by then come and gone so people were interested in hearing what he had to say. What we found out….what we had heard and what he had preached were totally misrepresented. Yes in his message he had given a date, even updated that date in our message he gave to us, but that wasn’t the point of his message. His point was the second coming could happen any day and we need to live our lives as a representative of Jesus daily and not just in preparation for just one day. If it were to happen, the date he had given would likely be a good one. (Just like every other day of our future lives.) Big difference.
Recently, and over the past few years we have heard dooms day predictions which have come and gone. We will have more on the horizon. Back in the day not having the internet, Facebook, Twitter, or other means of mass communication, the message for the most part did not make it out to the mass public like it would have today. But as I look back on that event two very clear and distinct messages came home to me and they ring true today facing similar events.
Based on my past experience a few lessons I learned…..
If someone predicts an actual date it most likely will NOT be on that day! (No one knows the day or the hour!)
If you are living life focused on getting to heaven, you have the wrong focus. We should life so people can start experiencing heaven on earth and not just for that future hope. That day will come whether we are ready for it or not. Being ready for then means living life for God now.