Photo Courtesy Dennis Johnson
However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. [Matthew 24:36 (NLT)]
I couldn’t finish writing about Revelation without a caution to beware of end times predictions. If someone claims to have secret knowledge or frightens you with their teaching—abandon them ASAP! If Jesus didn’t know when the end would occur, I can guarantee that no mortal will!
Nevertheless, in 1994, radio evangelist Harold Camping predicted the world would end on September 6. When it didn’t, explaining his mistake was a mathematical error, Camping got out his calculator again and predicted the apocalypse would begin precisely at 5:59 PM, May 21, 2011. At that time, those chosen by God would ascend to heaven in the Rapture and cataclysmic earthquakes would rock the earth. After finding himself still here May 22, Camping admitted his understanding of God’s plan was slightly off but continued predicting the world’s end on October 21. When October 22 dawned, the evangelist confessed such predictions were “incorrect and sinful” and finally conceded that God might not tell people the date of Christ’s return. Camping’s apology, however, was little comfort to his followers who’d given up jobs and families to warn people of God’s coming judgment!
Because Joel 2:31 and Revelation 6:12 describe the sun growing dark and the moon turning red as blood before the great day the Lord arrives, we frequently read of “blood moon” predictions! A “blood moon” is a total lunar eclipse during which we see the moon slowly darken and change color from bright white to an orange-red coppery color. Not a rare event, one occurred last November and another will in 2025. On September 28, 2015, however, the fourth such lunar eclipse occurred within two years (a “tetrad event”) and coincided with the Jewish celebration of Sukkot. The concurrence isn’t surprising since Sukkot always occurs on the first full moon following the autumn equinox. Nevertheless, this caused some Christian evangelists to warn of imminent world-shaking events or that the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse would reveal their missions. They didn’t! Nevertheless, we’ll probably hear more tribulation prophecies in 2033 when the last full moon in the tetrad occurs on October 8—the first day of Sukkot!
Because Revelation calls “666” the number of the Beast, people try to use 666 to predict the end. Although Revelation’s message shouldn’t frighten believers, many Christians in 17th-century Europe feared the world’s end in 1666. When the Great London Fire that year destroyed much of the city, they thought it the end of the world but, since it lasted only four days and left only ten dead, that wasn’t much of an end!
To determine the Beast’s name, some people use gematria (a system of assigning numeric values to letters or words in the Hebrew language). Although originally limited to Hebrew, they also use Greek, Latin, English, or whatever suits them. Depending on the language, whether first and/or last name is used, and the number of mathematical applications employed, just about any name can be made to total 666 (including Nero Caesar, Julius Caesar, Domitian, Vespasian, Caligula, Mohammed, Pope Benedict IX, Luther, Ronald Reagan, and Mikhail Gorbachev). Don’t fret about 666 or its meaning. We aren’t going to know the Beast’s identity until it appears but we’ll recognize the Beast by the mark!
Last week I wrote about the Episcopal priest Jeopardy contestant and his easy dismissal of Revelation. His dismissal is understandable. False prophecies, outlandish predictions, and farfetched interpretations of Revelation bring shame and ridicule to John’s vision and, by extension, to Jesus. False rapture and end-of-the-world predictions do more than embarrass and discredit the false prophet, they dishonor the Lord and the Christian doctrine of Christ’s return!
It is only by studying Revelation that we can maintain both our hope in the return of Jesus and dispel the doomsday delusions of today’s false prophets. Let us remember that God doesn’t want us to speculate about the timing of His return; He wants us to remain faithful, righteous, watchful, and ready. In the meantime, rather than being sign watchers, we should be disciple makers!
The Apostle Peter tells us that true prophecy isn’t a product of the prophet—prophets only speak God’s revelation. Directed by the Spirit, their words communicate the message the Lord wants sent. Sometimes, however, prophecy is difficult to understand and interpretations of Revelation go from one extreme to the other. Some, like that priest in Monday’s devotion, dismiss it as completely symbolic. To them, Revelation is an allegory about the conflict between good and evil with good winning in the end. On the other extreme, we find obscure theories, convoluted correlations, and implausible explanations of every symbol and metaphor along with sensationalism and unchecked speculation connecting Revelation to current events.
In Acts 16, we meet Timothy, the son of a Greek Gentile and a devout Jewish woman. Paul probably met him several years earlier when he preached in Lystra or Derbe. Both Timothy and his mother were Christ followers and it was from his mother that Timothy became knowledgeable in the Hebrew Scriptures. By the time Paul returned to Lystra, Timothy was a young man who was well-regarded by the churches in Lystra and neighboring Iconium. Seeing his potential, Paul asked the young man to join him on his second missionary journey. Before departing, however, Paul asked Timothy to be circumcised.
I think Satan chuckles every time he sees another division in Christ’s church. He probably shouted with glee when the Southern Baptist Convention recently expelled five congregations (including the mega Saddleback church) and when the no-longer-united United Methodists lost 1,800 congregations and found themselves embroiled in lawsuits with many of those congregations. Although Methodist Bishop Tom Berlin sadly noted that, “The path of anger and hostility is not the Christian way,” it seems to have become the way of Christ’s church in the 21st century! While today’s issues are different, they are no less divisive than an issue that threatened the very existence of the early church.
When reciting the creeds as a youngster, I wondered why I said we believed in the catholic church when we didn’t go to one. My family didn’t attend the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our priest was married, and our service was in English, so why did we attest faith in the catholic church? It wasn’t until my confirmation class that I clearly understood that the creeds weren’t referring to the Roman Catholic church. Coming from the Greek katholikos (derived from kath holos, meaning “throughout the whole”), catholic simply means universal! The term originates from the first century and the words of Ignatius of Antioch: “Where Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic church.”
Devotions of the Heart 