–– Paul Schlehlein

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Recently, a man from South Africa named Joshua Mhlakela predicted that the rapture of the church would occur between September 23-24 of this year. He made this claim after supposedly receiving a vision about Christ’s return. In his TV interview, which has since received hundreds of thousands of views, Mhlakela claimed to be a “billion per cent sure” the Lord would return on those dates, though the dates continue to change. South African singer-turned preacher Danie Botha made a similar false claim about the Lord’s return.

This prognostication should not surprise us. Church history is littered with failed prophecies about the date of the Lord’s return. In 1843, William Miller, an American clergyman and forebear to the Seventh-day Adventists, predicted the Lord would return in October of 1844. His failed forecast became known as the Great Disappointment. The Jehovah’s Witnesses, led by their founder Charles Taze Russell, falsely claimed Jesus would return in 1874, 1914, 1925, and 1975. Edgar Whisenant’s booklet “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988” sold millions of copies. Harold Camping predicted the rapture would occur in May of 2011. 

Sadly, not only have fanatics made false predictions, but so have godly men whose doctrine and testimony we respect. For example, John Wesley—in his commentary on Revelation—predicated Christ would return in 1836, the following century after his death. 

From this, we can learn three lessons. 

Three Lessons

First, Christians must follow the Bible, not dreams. In the past, God sometimes spoke through dreams and visions to men like Isaiah (Isa. 6:1-4), Daniel (Dn. 9:20-21), and John (Rv. 1:10-16) but now reveals himself through his Son in his Word (Hb. 1:1). God’s final word of special revelation comes through the Scriptures—not dreams—with a special divine judgment falling on those who add information to what the Bible says (Rv. 22:18-19).

Second, Christians must distinguish between Jesus’ divine and human nature. If Jesus could learn new information and no man knows the day or hour of the Lord’s return—including Christ—then no man should predict when Jesus will come back. Luke 2:52 says: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.” Mark 13:32 says: “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

But how can this be, when Jesus is God and God knows all things? Many have used these verses to deny the deity of Christ, including prominent Muslim Shabir Ally in his book Is Jesus God? The Bible says No. He writes: “God’s knowledge is always perfect and God does not learn new things. He knows everything always. If Jesus learned something new, that proves that he did not know everything before that, and he was not God.”

But Ally is mistaken. Verses like this should not shake Christians in their faith because in the Word we find beautiful descriptions of the divine and human natures of Jesus side by side. On the divine side, Jesus enjoyed all-encompassing knowledge. Matthew 11:27 says that no one knows the infinite mind of the Father except the Son. 

But he also had a human nature. When Mary is referred to as “the mother of my Lord” (Lk. 1:43) or when Paul said “they crucified the Lord of Glory” (1 Cor. 2:8), this is obviously talking of Jesus’ human nature since his divine nature cannot be born or killed. In Mark 13:32, God the Son, in his divine nature, is simultaneously all-knowing like God the Father, while in his human nature, limited in knowledge.  

Paul also shows us from Philippians 2:5-8 that this is not a problem because God in Christ voluntarily and consciously limited the autonomous exercise of his divine attributes. This helps us understand Mark 6:5 when it says that Jesus could do few miracles in Nazareth because of the little faith there. Jesus voluntarily limited his power in this regard. 

Finally, Christians should look for Jesus’ coming, not predict it. No one knows the time of His return—including John Wesley, Harold Camping, and Joshua Mhlakela. Christians, therefore, should never attempt to foretell the date. Instead, obey what the Scriptures say about the Lord’s return by remaining ready and staying awake. Matthew 24:42 and 44 says: “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming….You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Sum

Date-setting is foolish because it brings mockery from unbelievers when Christian predictions fail. God has not given the date of the Lord’s return because he wants us to walk by faith and not by sight. Therefore, read God’s Word, believe what it says, and leave the unknown to Him.