Outrageous Claims?

Q

I don’t understand how you can claim that prophecy students and theologians can know when the Second Coming will take place when not even Jesus Christ himself knew. The only one who knows is God himself, so why do you and others, make such outrageous claims?

A

If you’re referring to Matt. 24:36, Jesus said no one knows about that day, not even Him. He didn’t say he didn’t know the day, but that He didn’t know the details of events surrounding it. In fact when He said that, He had just finished giving His disciples some signs we could look for to help us see when it’s getting near (Matt. 24:3-35).

After the Resurrection, Jesus was shown what that day would be like, and He in turn showed John, who wrote it down in the Book of Revelation (Rev. 1:1-2) so we would know too.

In 1 Thes. 5:4 Paul said believers should not be taken by surprise when we see the Day of the Lord coming.

So, while the actual day of the Lord’s coming is not revealed in Scripture, believers are commanded to know the general time. Scholars search the Bible for clues to help them see how close we are, and the various dates that have been suggested are the results of these searches. Most of us freely admit that what we come up with are only the conclusions we’ve drawn based on what we believe the Bible says.

You should not accept these opinions as fact. But since most of the opinions scholars have offered fall within a fairly narrow window of time in the near future, it may be more prudent to assume the time of the Lord’s return is getting close rather than dismissing these opinions as outrageous claims.