When Is Jesus Coming Again?
- The Bible repeatedly teaches of the return of Jesus.
- It is typified in the Old Testament:
- Isaiah 13 -- in the fall of Babylon
- Joel -- in the destruction of Judah
- Zephaniah 1-2 -- in the pronouncement of judgement against:
- Judah & Jerusalem (Zechariah 1:4)
- Philistia (Zechariah 2:4-7)
- Moab and Ammon (Zechariah 2:8-11)
- Ethiopia (Zechariah 2:12)
- Assyria (Zechariah 2:13-15)
- Zechariah 14 the day of the Lord, the establishment of the church
- It is prophesied in the New Testament:
- Matthew 24
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 - 5:11
- 2 Peter 3:10
- Many in the past have attempted to prophesy the second coming of Jesus:
- William Miller
- 1843-1844 -- Baptist preacher William Miller predicts the coming of Christ to take place between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844.
- On March 21, 1843, Miller's followers, numbering in the 1000's in the Northeast, wear white ascension robes and face east to prepare for the return of Jesus. Some waited upon high mountains to escape the imminent fire. Others divested themselves of all their earthly possessions.
- On March 22, 1843 (one year and one day later) Miller says he miscalculated the return of Christ and says it will be on October 22, 1844. Farmers refused to plant or prepare for winter as they did not believe they would be present to see it.
- After this failure, a Millerite (as they were then known) named Hiram Edson explained that October 22 was not the day Jesus would come to cleanse the earth, but was rather the day Jesus began to cleanse Heaven (cf Rev 21:2, 10, 21-27). Only after finishing this and other crucial tasks would Jesus attempt to cleanse the earth.
- Remnants of Miller's movement followed Ellen G White, forming the Seventh Day Adventist religion. Others would follow Charles Taze Russell, giving birth to the Jehovah's Witnesses / Watchtower Society.
- Jehovah's Witnesses are perhaps the best-known for their many failed prophecies:
- They predicted the second coming of Christ to take place in 1874, 1878, 1881, 1910, 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1984.
- JW statements as compiled by now defunct Eternity magazine, per Pulpit Helps 12/99
- 1889 - "The 'battle of the great day of God Almighty' which will end in 1914 with the complete overthrow of earth's present reulership has already commenced."
- 1914 - " The present Great War in Europe is the beginning of the Armageddon of the Scriptures."
- 1918 - "We may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the faithful prophets of old." (A fabulous mansion was built for them in San Diego, CA called Beth-Sarim, "House of the Princes." When they failed to show, JW leader Judge Rutherford moved into the mansion, living there until his death in 1942.)
- 1922 - "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the Scriptures than 1914."
- 1925 - "The year 1925 is here. With great expectation Christians have looked forward to this year. Many have confidently expected that all members of the body of Christ will be changed to heavenly glory during the year. This may be accomplished. It may not be."
- 1931 - "There was a measure of disappointment on the part of Jehovah's faithful ones on earth concerning the years 1915, 1918, and 1925, which disappointment lasted for a long time."
- 1975 - "We never predicted when Armageddon would come. We said 6000 years of human existence will terminate in 1975."
- Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be out of the prognosticating business . . . for now! But like any great slugger in an extended slump, they're due!
- Many in recent years have predicted the time of the second coming of Jesus:
- 1988: Edgar Whisenaunt's 88 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1988 sold millions of copies. Date set as September 11-13. When the deadline passed with no Messiah, he wrote a sequel, 89 Reasons Why the Rapture is in 1989, selling a fraction of the copies of the first book.
- 1998: a very popular year with numerous predictions, including:
- General predictions based on numerology -- 666 X 3 = 1998
- A Taiwanese cult based in Garland, TX, claims Jesus will return on March 31, 1998. His coming would be preceded by His simultaneous appearance on channel 18 on every television in the world.
- Marilyn Agee, The End of the Age
- Agee claims Jesus will return on May 31, 1998. The prediction is also based on numerology, with Agee claiming May 31, 1998 ends the 6000 years since the creation of Adam.
- When May 31 came and went with no Messiah, she amended her predictions and said the second coming could be on June 7, 14, 21. After these fail, Agee resets the date for September 20.
- You can't call Marilyn Agee a quitter; after her 1998 debacle, Agee sets the day as May 21-22, 1999. . . then May 30 . . . then June 20.
- The most recent date set by Agee is September 13, 2007. Agee has also warned that the beginning of the tribulation could begin on June 21, 2001, since the "rapture" is to be in the spring, and June 21 is the first day of summer. Today's date (the date of this writing) is June 22, 2001. I must have missed it. Agee's website can be seen athttp://www.geocities.com/Athens/Cyprus/5341/
- The fall of the World Trade Center twin towers on Sept. 11, 2001, wasn't our 7-day warning. However, world conditions being what they are, we don't have much time left. This is a time of trial just preceding the 7-year trial that is to come upon the WHOLE WORLD to try those that remain on Earth (Rev. 3:10). I see this preliminary catastrophe as the catalyst that will bring about a stronger One World Government and the 7-year covenant of Dan. 9:27. When that covenant is confirmed with many, the Tribulation begins, maybe Dec. 19, 2001.
- Prophecy casts its shadows before it. Isa. 30:25 says of the Day of God's Wrath, "there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, WHEN THE TOWERS FALL." Those words,"WHEN THE TOWERS FALL," that have echoed through my head since Sept. 11, tie the WTC tragedy to the final catastrophe on the Day of God's Wrath. In that day, I think the UN and UR will be housed in towers in Babylon, Iraq. Those towers will fall. Every wall will fall worldwide (Eze. 38:20)." [Editors's note concerning Ms. Agee's "echoing head" - an echo requires a large empty space!]
- Hal Lindsey
- 1970 book, The Late Great Planet Earth
- 1971 - 'Within one biblical generation of the re-establishment of Israel we will see the events of Matthew 24 and Revelation 5-19 come to fruition.' Israel was established in 1948 and a biblical generation is 40 years (do the math). Now, Lindsey says a Bible generation is anywhere from 40-100 years! Fortunately for him, he'll be dead in the event 100 years rolls around to prove him wrong again.
- Lindsey - "The 1980's -- Countdown to Armageddon."
- Billy Graham: "Matthew 24 is knocking at the door."
- The list of prognosticators for the years 1999 - 2000 is too long to note. Doomsdayers were hawking their theories on every street corner. Many of these can be seen online at http://www.tryoung.com/doomsday/1998.html
- It was also true at the turn of the first millennium (A.D. 999). People forgave debts, quit jobs, abandoned businesses, released livestock into the wild. Thousands flocked to Jerusalem to be present for the event.
- Bible teaching concerning "the last time" or "the last days."
- It is not uncommon to hear denominationalists speak of the world being in the beginnning of the last days on the precipice thereof. When will "the last days" begin . . . or have they already begun?
- Malachi 4:5-6 (cf Matthew 11:14; 17:10-13)
- Isaiah 2:2-3; Micah 4:1-2
- Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:1-36; Acts 3:19-24
- Hebrews 1:1-3
- Certain signs must preceed the second coming of Jesus.
- 1 John 2:18 -- the manifestation of the spirit of anti-christ, "whereby we know that it is the last time" (cf 1 John 2:22).
- 2 Peter 3:3-10 -- scoffers mocking the promise of Christ's second coming.
- 2 Thes 2:1-14 -- (esp vv 1-3) the revealing of the man of sin, the son of perdition
- 1 Timothy 4:1-3 -- a departure from the faith and the doctrines of demons.
- The Bible teaches that, though we can know with absolute certainty that Jesus is coming again:
- No one knows the day or the hour:
- Matthew 24:36-44
- Mark 13:32-37
- His coming shall be as a thief in the night:
- 1 Thessalonians 5:1-4
- 2 Peter 3:1-10
- Any attempt to foretell the coming of Jesus is not only an exercise in futility, but is anti-scriptural -- Mark 13:32. If one claims to know the day, then they claim two things:
- To know something that Jesus said He doesn't;
- To be God the Father, for Jesus said ONLY the Father knows.