The End Is At Hand
By George C. Stewart
Introduction
From bearded men carry placards, to thousands of web sites, to scholarly volumes, we have been bombarded for hundreds of years with the warning that “the end is at hand.” Yet, we are still here.
It is not the least unnatural then to find men in every era of the Christian dispensation anxiously expecting the “last days” and Christ's return. In fact eschatological expectations are older than the Christian church, but our discussion must be limited to the Christian period.
To correctly understand the current scene, as well as the biblical teachings of “last things,” one needs to have an historical perspective. Therefore, to paraphrase a well-know author, it seems fitting to me, having investigated this matter carefully, to write about these predictions in order, so you might know the truth.
30-1400
The first century Church was eschatologically minded. Paul instructed the Corinthians that Christ's resurrection ensures the bodily resurrection of the believer (1Corinthians 15). He informed the Christians at Thessalonica of the glorious return of our Lord to receive His own (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). In his second letter to the Thessalonians Paul found it necessary to warn the Christians not to be deceived into believing that Christ had already returned, and that there must first be an apostasy and the revelation of “the man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12). In the Book of Revelation the Apostle John warns the Church of the continuing battle between good and evil and comforts the Church with the assured knowledge of the ultimate victory of Christ and His Kingdom.
For the first three centuries of the Christian Church, Christ’s return was considered as imminent, but there was no developed system, such as Premillennialism, Dispensationalism, Postmillennialism, or Amillennialism. The apostolic fathers mentioned very little about the “last days.” However, Justin Martyr (c.150) and Irenaeus (c.180) speculated that the world would last 6,000 years, and then Christ would return and reign on the earth for one thousand years (a millennium). This view was based on the six creative days and 2 Peter 3:8.
Around 172 the heretic Montanus declared that the millennium had begun and that the heavenly Jerusalem would soon descend near Phrygia. After Origen (d.c.253) and Clement of Alexander (d.c.215) few Greek fathers accepted a literal one-thousand-year earthly reign. Early in third century Hippolytus of Rome predicted that Christ would establish an earthly kingdom in 496. In the fourth century Augustine (354-430) rejected the futurist view of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus. Augustine’s position influenced the church for centuries. During the Middle Ages interest in eschatology waned.
1401-1800
In AD 1530 the Anabaptist, Melchoir Hoffman, began to preach that Christ's return was imminent. Hoffman was imprisoned but one of his followers, Jan Matthys, declared himself to be “Enoch” and declared that Munster, Germany was to be the New Jerusalem.
One motivation for Christopher Columbus' (1451-1506) search for the New World was a belief that the evangelism of the world would hasten the Lord's return. Columbus, as well as others, accepted the day-age theory, believing that the world would come to an end 7,000 years after creation. From his calculation the world would end in 1656.
The sixteenth century Protestant Reformers believed that Christ’s return was imminent, but most were not futurists. Because of the chaotic world conditions, Martin Luther thought Christ would return within 40 years, but he saw the kingdom of God as a present reality, not a future earthly reign. John Calvin’s views were similar. During the sixteenth century Catholic Counter-Reformation some Catholic theologians developed a futurist system to counter Protestant charges that the pope was the antichrist. The Catholic Futurist School which won the greatest support was founded in 1591 by the Jesuit Ribera. One premillennial scholar admits that “most, if not all of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation were amillennial in their eschatology, following the teachings of Augustine.”
During the eighteenth century there were two major developments that produced a further trend toward a literal interpretation of biblical prophecy and a futurist theory of eschatology. The French Revolution (1790s) brought traumatic upheavals, the destruction of papal power in France, and the confiscation of church property. Some theorized that the papacy came to power in 538, and applying the year-day method to Revelation 13 (1260 days) concluded that the end of the world would be in 1798. The second development was the British millenarian party which promoted an increased interest in the future of the Jews and a literal earthly reign of Christ.
1801-1900
The first decades of Mormon church history reflected intense interest in the latter days, as their official name indicates (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). Joseph Smith (1805-1844) taught premillennial eschatology and a Mormon periodical was named the “Millennial Star.” They still believe in a literal one thousand year earthly reign of Christ.
In the nineteenth century some believed that the kingdom of God would be established on earth as man became better and better. Julia Ward Howe's Battle Hymn of the Republic, first published in 1862, expressed this hope. (Incidentally, she was born into an Episcopalian family, but later became a Unitarian.) The U. S. Civil War and WWI severely dampened this spirit of Postmillennialism.
A book published in 1863 by Joeseph A. Seiss, entitled The Last Times and the Great Consummation, predicted that Christ would return within 20 to 40 years. Again, this speculation was based on the day-age theory, “that Christ will come at the end of six thousand years from creation of man.” He quotes from several other writers who agreed with him, and then gives four main reasons for his conclusion. They include: 1] apostasy, skepticism and wickedness, 2] revolutionary troubles, political perplexities and vast national agitations, 3] a stir and inquiry among many respecting the subject, and 4] the general shaking and crumbling of social order. I am sure just about any generation could recognize these same symptoms in their day.
Another book, Future Wonders of Prophecy, published in 1894 (eighth edition) by M. Baxter, said the temple of Jerusalem would be rebuilt and offerings started on November 14 or 19, 1901. This book also predicted that Christ would descend on Mount Olivet on April 23, 1908. The author has a detailed “Prophetic Calendar of Forty Coming Wonders” from 1896 to 1908. A key personage in this writer's plan is Napoleon—who has long been gone.
William Miller was a former military captain who converted from Deism in 1816 and began to study the Bible. He concluded that Daniel 8:14 (And he said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.”) referred to the end of the world. Miller originally predicted that Christ would return between March 21, 1843, and March 21, 1844. When this date did not work out Miller set the date of October 22, 1844 for Christ's return. After these failed predictions many of the Millerites became disillusioned. But some of his followers decided that Miller was correct about the last date but wrong about the place, which was not earth, but heaven. Thus Christ cleansed the sanctuary in heaven and Christ did not return to earth because of the church's failure to observe the Sabbath. This group led by James White and his wife, Ellen Gould White, became the Seventh-Day Adventists.
John Darby (1800-1882), a member of the Plymouth Brethren, first introduced the ideas of a secret rapture of the church and of a “parenthesis” in the fulfillment of Daniel Chapter 9 in 1833. It seems that the idea of a pretribulation rapture came from the Irving church around 1830 when a woman claimed to receive the “revelation” while speaking in tongues. C. I. Scofield (1843-1921) popularized dispensationalism through his notes in the Scofield Reference Bible (published in 1909). His theology is based upon Darby’s dispensationalism.
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been periods of great interest in eschatology, a time when premillennial and dispensational views have become very popular.
Jehovah's Witnesses have predicted the Lord's return since 1874. The following quotes from Jehovah's Witnesses sources come from Edmond C. Gruss, The Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation (Nutley, N. J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, 1972), pp.94-96.
1877: “THE END OF THIS WORLD... is nearer than most men suppose”
1886: “Marshalling of the hosts for the battle of the great day of God Almighty, is in progress while the skirmishing is commencing”
1889: “The 'battle of the great day of God Almighty' ... which will end in AD 1914 ... is already commenced”
1894: “The skirmishing is already beginning all along the line” “The end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble”
1901-2006
It is claimed that 1901 is the birth of the modern Pentecostal Movement. In a Topeka, Kansas Bible study that Agnes Ozman is said to have spoken in Chinese—a language she had never learned. However, as one writer says, “early Pentecostalism was less a tongues movement and more a Jesus-is-coming movement.” these early Pentecostals believed that their “tongues” was evidence of Christ's soon return. In 1906, at an Azusa Street (Los Angeles, CA) meeting, Anna hall proclaimed, “I have come to tell you that Jesus is coming.” And she did not mean it was far off.
Jehovah's Witnesses continued into the new century their prophecies of Christ's soon return. The following Jehovah's Witnesses quotes are also from Edmond Gruss.
1904: “The stress of the great time of trouble will be on us soon, somewhere between 1910 and 1912—culminating.... October 1914”
1914: “The great crisis, the great clash ... is very near” “Armageddon may begin next spring”
1915: “The Battle of Armageddon, to which this war is leading”
1915?: “The present great war in Europe is the beginning of the Armageddon of the Scriptures”
1917: “We anticipate that the 'earthquake' will occur early in 1918, and that the Tire' will come in the fall of 1920”
1920: Emphasis on 1925: “The old order of things, the old world, is ending” “We are standing at the very portals of that blessed time!” (Golden Age of the Kingdom) “Deliverance is at the door!”
1929: “God's purpose now to shortly dash to pieces the Devil's organization” “Satan knows that shortly he must fight the Lord”
1930: “The great climax is at hand”
1931: “His day of vengeance is here, and Armageddon is at hand” “God's judgment . . . must shortly be executed”
1932: The end was “only a short time away”
1939: “The time for the battle of the great day of God Almighty is very near” “The disaster of Armageddon is just ahead”
1940: “The day for final settlement is near at hand” “The witness work for THE THEOCRACY appears to be about done”
1941: “Armageddon is surely near .. . soon ... within a few years”
1942: “THE NEW WORLD IS AT THE DOORS ... The time is short”
1943: “The beginning of the final war is dangerously near”
1944: “The end of the world arrangement is now near”
1946: (or “Armageddon ... should come sometime before 1972”)
1946: “The final end draws near”
1950: “Jehovah's time has come to settle definitely the issue”
1953: “1954 could well be 'The Year!'”
1955: “The war of Armageddon is nearing its breakingout point”
1966: “A climax of man's history is at the door!”
1969: “There is only a short time left”
Jehovah's Witnesses have also predicted the end of the world in 1975 and 1984. After the date of each prediction passes the organization's officials are briefly embarrassed and followers depart. But then an “explanation” is given for the error, a new date is calculated, and followers return. In 1996 they gave up on their prediction that some of those alive in 1914 would live to see Armageddon and Christ's return. A media spokesperson said the change was a result of a re-examination of Scripture, but “it doesn't change our belief that we are living in the time of the end.” Date-setters are stubborn.
Hal Lindsey, who is well-known for his eschatological “future-telling,” has appropriately entitled one chapter in his book, The Late Great Planet Earth, as “Polishing the Crystal Ball.” Lindsey's Late Great Planet Earth was published in 1970, and by the end of 1972 there were 1,700,000 copies in print. According to Lindsey's scenario, based on 40 years from the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the following events would take place:
Rapture in 1981
Roman Antichrist right after 1981
Building of the Jewish Temple in 1984
Invasion of Israel by an Arab-African Confederacy right after 1984
Russian unites with Africans to invade Israel in 1985
Christ returns in 1988
The headline from a 1981 publication of the Gospel Truth read: “Deadline 1981, Mockers Beware.” The first page declares: “We are in the last 40 years before Jesus Christ returns—AND THIS BOOK PROVES IT.”
The Roman Church has officially always denied that anyone can know the time of Christ's return and have rejected the dispensational view. Yet, many in the Catholic Church have thought that “visions” and “revelations” from Mary have pointed to “end time” events. After responding to a billboard ad to call a toll-free number to receive a message from Mary (1992), this writer received a package containing various literature concerning so-called “visions” received at Bayside, New York. It is claimed by the “seer,” Veronica Lueken, that Mary revealed to her that the world may be destroyed by a “doomsday rock” or by a “nuclear disastery.” To avoid this, a plea is made to the Pope to “consecrate Russia.”
These predictions are not limited to the cults or the unorthodox. Willie Day Smith, a radio preacher from Irving, Texas picked April 1, 1980, between 1:00 and 3:00 PM as the time for the rapture. The late Christian Church preacher, Raldo Cook, published a so-called “White Paper” in 1977 that “proved” the rapture would take place in 1980 or 1981. (This is after he had stated that he knew that Jesus had told His followers that no one would know the time of His return.) David Reagan (Lamb and Lion Ministries) denounces date-setters, yet continues to proclaim “the soon return of Jesus.” Jerry Fallwell's December 27, 1992 message was titled: “Where Will You Be New Year's Eve, 1999?” In that message he predicted the rapture prior to the year 2000.
On June 17, 1992 a twenty-page tabloid was received in the mail. It was entitled “Tribulation Times” and future-dated October 29, 1992. The prediction: the Rapture would take place on October 28, 1992, and Christ's return either in 1999 or 2000.
A little booklet by Gary R. Wood states that “it would be safe to say that Christ will return before 2008. However, if Israel signs the covenant spoken of by Daniel in the next couple of years, the rapture could be before the year 2000.”
A flyer received from “Taberah World Mission” in January 1992 stated emphatically that in the Autumn of 1992 Jesus is coming and human history will end in 1999.
Harold Camping (founder of Family Radio, Oakland, California) says that he knew over twenty-five years ago that Christ was going to return in 1994. He predicted the date to be between September 15 and 27, 1994. He published his theory in a book, 1994?, which sold over 80,000 copies. After it was obvious his predictions were false, Camping began to blame God. Quoting from Jeremiah 20:7, Camping thought that maybe God was testing him.
Examples of such false prophecies could extend to many pages, but these serve to illustrate man’s fancy with crystal ball gazing.
The fervor with which Christians have believed and taught the doctrine of the “last things” has been dependent upon various circumstances. This should remind us all to base our “prophecies” on Scripture rather than events—or “signs of the times.”
In 1988 David A. Lewis prepared a “Manifesto on Date Setting” to encourage Bible teachers to cease their speculations. The “Manifesto” states that, since no one knows when the Lord will return, and that date-setting only damages the cause of Christ, "We absolutely must stop this activity or there will be few who will take the message of prophecy seriously. If Jesus should tarry until the year 2000 we envision that by 2001 the message of Bible prophecy will be scorned, attacked and possibly outlawed by legal means -- thus giving the New Age Movement a clear field for the introduction of their occult humanist messiah."
However, date-setting is a fundamental part of the dispensational system. Because of their literalistic and physical interpretation of Scripture (especially the Old Testament) those who adhere to this system conclude that they can read “the signs of the times” and determine the time of our Lord’s return. This results in speculations, sensationalism, disappointment and loss of credibility.