Predicting dates and times set by God for events that pattern to human existence must be done with absolute caution. This is because it is a subject that does not lend itself to statistical inference. Already May 21st 2011 as predicted by some scholarly works as the date set by God to end the human race is raising a lot of dust on the pages of the Internet? Is this hype like the Year 2000 farce?
Just in the passing, I want to ask this question: Could May 21st 2011 be taken as the answer to the question in Matt 24:3 “… tell us, when shall these things be?...” Recall, the question came from the disciples who wanted to have an unbiased point estimate of the time set by God for His events. They asked Jesus because He was the one that came from God. In response to the question, Jesus said “take heed that no man deceive you…” Then He went further to outline signs to show that that day is at hand (Math 24: 5-13).
Furthermore, Jesus added, “and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Here the church is expected to carry out this urgent and all important task before the end shall come. Against this background, another question has just surfaced begging for clarification. The question is, “which of the last day’s events is May 21st 2011 referring?” As a matter of fact, Christians have several events they are expecting – rapture, second coming, etc. Logically, the rapture is the foremost among the events in the list.
If May 21st 2011 is predicted as the rapture day then we must make haste to re-visit the Bible and get the accurate information about the event. Be careful to separate the events heralding the Second Coming from those heralding the Rapture? Study Matt24:1-end, Dan9:24-27, Mak13:1-37, and others.
All these not withstanding, God is still the final authority in this matter. We read that it is the honour of kings to search out the hidden truths of God, but on this issue Jesus unequivocally said, “…but of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only” (Matt 24:36). The knowing that Jesus talked about in this passage passes scientific knowledge.
I have to stop by saying that May 21st 2011 is just counting down. Let’s see what it shall bring.
