Well, it’s happening again–some people have supposedly figured out that the Lord will come again this Saturday, September 23, 2017. I’m not sure of their exact calculations, but I’ve been told it’s based on some counting of Jubilee years. Now for all I know these folks could be right–but I’m still going to have a sermon ready for Sunday, just in case.
Repeatedly the Lord’s disciples asked Him when the Day of the Lord would occur, and repeatedly, Jesus told them to mind their own business. Now it seems to me that, if being faithful involves listening to God’s commands and obeying them, then the folks who keep trying to pick the date when the heavens will roll back and every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father, then, the folks who find messages hidden in the Bible text are straight up sinning.
I’m never quite sure why eschatological speculations are so pervasive in American Christianity. Why can we not be content with the work God has given us to do and allow the hidden things of God’s plan to remain hidden? Isn’t there something almost demonic about trying to discern those things known only to God? Doesn’t attempting to know the things God has told us we are not to know seem very much like Satan’s temptation in the Garden of Eden? “Go ahead,” the serpent told Eve, “eat it and you will be like God.” Now the enemy says go ahead, don’t spend your time on teaching and baptizing and things like that, spend it trying to figure out when the Day of the Lord will be.
Now I know there are many good and faithful Christians who have been taught to spend their time thinking about this stuff. But friends, it’s just plain wrong. It’s bad Biblical study and it’s a waste of the precious time God has given us to do the work He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
So my advice to anyone who reads this is to stop worrying about the end of time and focus instead on who you’re going to tell about Jesus today. Because today is the only day we can know for sure.