I’m old enough to remember the apocalyptic predictions of Edgar Whisenant and his companion-piece booklets “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988” and “On Borrowed Time.” They were popular, selling over three million copies, often printed back-to-back.
Whisenant was supremely confident that Jesus would return between Sept. 11 and 13, 1988 — so much so that he famously said, “Only if the Bible is in error am I wrong; and I say that to every preacher in town.” When the Second Coming didn’t take place between those dates, Whisenant revised his prediction to Sept. 15, specifically 10:55 a.m. When that didn’t happen, Whisenant moved the date up to Oct. 3.
But it gets better. When Jesus didn’t return in 1988, Whisenant realized that an error in the calendar meant that Jesus wasn’t coming back in 1988 after all. He was going to return in 1989. Then it was 1990. Then 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994. Needless to say, the Second Coming hasn’t taken place yet, and Edgar Whisenant is just another historical curiosity.
I’ve often said that when it comes to eschatology, nearly everybody has it wrong. It’s a problem as old as Christianity itself. The Apostle Paul had to deal with bad eschatology in two of the earliest letters he wrote. He addresses people within the church at Thessalonica obsessing over how soon the return of Jesus happening.
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come.
Nearly every century has had its failed predictions of the Second Coming of Jesus, and there are more predictions for the near future.
FYI: The Rapture is coming Sept 22, definitely for real this time. pic.twitter.com/jiCS7o0GPO
— April Ajoy (@aprilajoyr) September 14, 2023
But Jesus told His disciples that there’s no point in trying to figure out or predict when the Second Coming will take place: “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36, ESV).
Related: Sunday Thoughts: There Are No ‘Lone Wolves’ in the Body of Christ
It can be maddening to have no idea when the Second Coming will take place, but that’s where our faith comes in. We know that God’s plan is in full effect, and that’s why we trust in Him. Jesus also told the disciples:
Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
Matthew 24:42-44 (ESV)
And the Apostle Peter reminded his readers — including us — that we should be patient as we await Jesus’ return:
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Waiting is what we do as believers in Jesus. We do need to be ready, but anticipation of His return shouldn’t dominate our thoughts or fill us with worry.
“So yes, we wait,” writes Whitney Woollard at the Bible Project. “But we wait patiently, knowing that God is orchestrating all of human history towards his glorious end. And we wait purposely, joining in God’s redemptive mission to make disciples of all people.”
We’re on mission as we wait, trying to bring as many others along with us as we can. So while we wait, let’s fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations!
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