How many children have had great disappointment when a parent makes a promise to do or buy something for them, time and again, only to not follow through? I won’t even venture a number. Some Christians, especially those traveling through deep waters, have thoughts of disappointment because what they wished didn’t happen. “I didn’t get that job.” “I thought he was the one I’d marry, and we broke up.” “My wife didn’t get to come home from the hospital.” “My family seems to be falling apart.” They had prayed about things like this, only to not get what they had hoped. One of the areas that I observe within the borders of Christianity concerns that of the second coming of Jesus. “I thought he’d be back by now” is a familiar phrase. They were excited because a minister had given them a rousing sermon on the second coming, adding dates to his message, only to have those dates come, go, and Jesus didn’t show. The Bible teaches that the return of Christ at the rapture is imminent. The word imminent simply means “impending, near at hand, immediate.” There are no signs for the rapture, but there are signs for the revelation of the Lord Jesus. Often preachers will take the signs for the revelation and use them for the rapture. Please remember two verses from the gospels. Matthew 24:36 & Mark 13:32 both explicitly tell us that “no man knows the day or the hour, not even the angels in heaven knows when Christ will return.” From time to time, I’ll be told about someone with a podcast or a YouTube channel and the creator will have amassed a great number of followers with his calculations and conclusions. Their numerical gymnastics boggle the mind and, “If you’ll buy my books, you can really get the inside scoop.” The moment I hear one of them head down this path bells and whistles start ringing in my head. Let me add this to the mix today. I believe some of these people are sincere and truly believe they have cracked the code or unlocked the mystery. But they forgot the words of Christ, “no man knows the day or the hour.” Let me share a couple of “great disappointments” from the past.
The man credited with Adventism is William Miller. The word advent simply means “coming.” Many Christians observe and celebrate Advent in preparation for Christmas, as they remember Christ’s coming to earth as a baby at the incarnation. William Miller predicted that Jesus Christ would return (second advent) sometime between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Trusting Miller, his followers withdrew from society and waited. They sold their possessions and quit their jobs. This resulted in what is referred to as the Great Disappointment of 1844. When Jesus did not return when Miller predicted He would, most of his followers went back to their normal lives. How many followers, called Millerites, did he have? A bunch. He published two different materials. They were called “Signs of the Times” and the “Midnight Cry.” The followers of these publications are between 50K and 100K. World-wide the estimates are as high as one million people followed his teaching. Miller continued to express confidence in the return of Christ but admitted that he may have made some errors in his calculations (www.gotquestions.com). The cult of Seventh-Day Adventism was birthed from his writings. Was William Miller a Christian? Walter Martin thinks so. Martin’s “Kingdom of the Cults” is the best book I have ever seen on all the various cults and has been the standard for well over fifty years in that field. Why does he think Miller was truly saved? He was only one of many that believed Jesus was to come between March 21, 1843 and March 21, 1844. Arch Bishop Ussher had also interpreted the 2300 days of Daniel as 2300 years which began in the year 457 B.C. Using the Jewish calendar, he came up with the date and many followed his interpretation, including Miller. He was raised in a Christian home by a godly mother. He didn’t accept her faith early but then came to Christ and began preparing for the ministry as a Baptist. He would say after great embarrassment, “I confess my error, and acknowledge my disappointment; yet I still believe that the Day of the Lord is near, even at the door; and I exhort you, my brethren, to be watchful and not let that day come upon you unawares.” He never embraced the teachings that would come from Ellen G. White, founder of Seventh Day Adventism. “He had “no confidence” in the “new theories which emerged from the shambles of the Millerite movement” (Martin, page 363).
You might be thinking, well that was in the 1800’s. Let me share one that is more recent. Edgar Wisenant was a NASA engineer and a Christian. He penned a pamphlet in the early to mid 1980’s entitled “88 Reasons the Lord will come in 1988.” He declared that Jesus would return on one of three days. September 11th, 12th, or 13th, of that year. His preferred date was the 12th. He went on to predict with great fanfare other things prophetically. John Phillips, in his commentary on Mark, writes about these predictions. “Not content with setting the date for the Rapture, Wisenant listed a whole string of prognostications: the Antichrist would sign his seven-year treaty with Israel on September 21; the 144,000 witnesses would be sealed on September 26; World War III would break out on October 4 and would last for three and one-half weeks. The temple in Jerusalem would be consecrated June 18, 1989; the two witnesses would be killed March 9, 1992; the Battle of Armageddon would take place on October 4, 1995; and the Millennium would begin on December 23, 1995. When the Lord failed to show up in 1988, Wisenant recalculated. He said that his original book was meant as a warning by God. Wisenant suggested a revised date for the Rapture – September 1, 1989. Another miss! And no wonder – the date of the Rapture is a secret.” What a colossal failure!
Think of the disappointment the followers of these men felt. I wonder how many of these lost their faith because these men who were no doubt sincere and truly believed in their calculations but they forgot the key thing, “no man knows the day or the hour.” Be careful with preachers who head down the date-setting pathways. I am a preacher that believes Jesus is coming and he could come while you are reading this blog. I hope he does. You won’t find me in the group that has lost its faith about the Lord’s return. II Peter 3:4 deals with those types. He’s coming and it seems soon, but He hasn’t told me the day nor the hour. By the way, He hasn’t told anyone else either. Keep the faith.