Predicting the End

In my lifetime alone, we have survived at least a dozen of these “end of the world” events. I am referring to things like “Y2K,” the Mayan Calendar with 2012, and a number of predictions by pastors saying they have finally cracked the Bible’s “code” for figuring out the exact date of the end of time. Yet the result is always the same: nothing happens, the world keeps on turning and we are all fine. 

The irony is that many of these, as I mentioned, come from Christian pastors and others who are supposedly Scripture experts. Yet these same experts neglect the single most direct teaching on when the “end times” are supposed to happen: "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father," (from Matt. 24). Jesus outright tells us that no one knows when the end of the world will be, not the angels, not even He Himself knows; only the Father. 

This is an important detail, too: we should not know when it will be. What would happen if we did know? We would just go on with our lives until the last minute and then pile into the confessional right at zero hour. God keeps the hour unknown so that we will stay vigilant, so that we will stay truly committed to Him. Therefore, it is a good thing for us to not know the day or the hour.

With so many negative things going on throughout the world today (wars, disease, natural disasters, etc.), we can be tempted to think it is the end times and we can become afraid. But it is important to note that every message about the “end times” carries the same message: be not afraid; trust that God is always in control and will win the victory in the end. If we keep vigilant, stay on the path and prepare ourselves, then we have nothing to fear.