Is May 21 the End?

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May 15, 2011


“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.  For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.  For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matthew 24:36-39)

You see it on billboards across the country, and it pops up on the Internet.  May 21, 2011, is the day Christ returns.  Harold Camping decided from the various dates that he used from his interpretation of the Bible that May 21, 2011, is the day of judgment.  It is not just Camping’s followers that are caught up in his prediction, but several other groups have embraced it.  In the 1800’s, people sold all their possessions and even climbed up into the tree tops so that they would be closer to Jesus when He returned.  People have tried throughout the ages to pinpoint the exact time that Jesus is coming again.  We like to know when certain things in our lives happen.  We might like to be surprised by little things, but not big things.  We want to be prepared!

The main effect that people like Camping have is to give fuel to the mockers and scoffers.  In II Peter chapter 3, mockers were ridiculing the idea of a second coming and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?  For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation” (II Peter 3:4).  Today’s unbelievers will say on May 22nd, “See the Bible is just a fable.”  Peter reminded the readers and us as well that God is in control working on His own timetable.

Jesus stressed the importance of being ready at all times.  He did not tell us a certain date that we would need to be ready by.  God knows human nature.  If we had a deadline, most of us would wait until the eleventh hour to repent.  The lesson of the five wise and five foolish virgins is clear.  You had better be ready (Matthew 25:1-13).  The five foolish were not ready, and while they hurried to get what was lacking, they missed out.  When Jesus appears, it will be too late to change and repent.  “…You do not know the day nor the hour,” Jesus says in Matthew 25:13b.  Peter tells us that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (II Peter 3:10).  I think that we all get the picture.  If we knew when a thief was to break into our home, we would have the police waiting.

We need to be ready at all times, for Jesus will return.  We know that for certain.  We just don’t know when.  Paul wrote “As to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you.  We are not in darkness for we are sons of light and as such we are to be alert and sober” (I Thessalonians 5:1-5).  We are sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, and as such, what does it really matter what the date is when Jesus returns?  We are to live our lives for God, and if we are doing that, we will be prepared. 

Be ready so that when Jesus returns, you will be one of the wise and not one of the foolish.

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Almighty heavenly Father, we praise and thank You for the gift of Your Son Jesus.  He died so that we can have the hope of salvation and the promise of our home with You for eternity.  Guide us that we may be prepared at all times for the return of our Lord. 
  In Jesus name, Amen           ~ Ed

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Ed Wittlif ~ Denver, Colorado                                 (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)    (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Ed Wittlif, former preacher of Albert Lea Church of Christ in Albert Lea, Minnesota, is a University Church of Chirst member.