May 21st, 2011

This is the next date set for the return of Jesus for His church. (Harold Camping...from California) My first inclination was to smile...maybe even yuk a little...if it were not so serious a matter.

Evangelicals have been united on this issue ever since I have had knowledge as a youth of Christ's second coming. Jesus said in Matthew 24:46 and 42: "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only". And verse 42: "Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour our Lord doth come."

At the same time, Jesus repeated this to His disciples in Matthew 25:13: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh".

What IS certain, though, is that He IS coming...and soon! God's Word IS clear on this! Way back in the Old Testament, in Daniel's day. (Daniel 2:44).

"In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed...it shall stand forever". This is something we CAN count on, for in this single chapter, God reveals to Daniel, His servant, the coming kingdoms, of the entire world system, from Daneil's day to the present time.

But who are "these kings", Pastor? They are symbolized by the feet and ten toes of the colossal image and composed of iron and clay. The Bible clearly states that the ten toes "shall not adhere to one another" (Daniel 2:43). Nearly ALL reliable, evangelical scholars identify the "iron" part of the feet and toes to be remnants of the preceding Roman Empire, or MONARCHIES. The clay clearly indicates the DEMOCRATIC form of governments which do not and cannot be unified.

This is a clear picture of our world for the last 250 years. While "no person knows the day or the hour" of the establishing of God's eternal kingdom on earth, we are certainly living in "these days".

The warning of our Lord should be sufficient for Bible-believing Christians: Watch and be ready!