Saturday, May 21, 2011

On the Last Day of the World

Is this you last day on planet earth? Some people think it is. The rest of us are just making bad jokes about those people. We know that Harold Camping is wrong because his predictions are against the Bible that he claims to have gotten them from. The Bible tells us that no man knows the day nor the hour. It also says it is not for us to know the times or the seasons concerning Christ’s return. And if that isn’t enough, Camping is predicting the total annihilation of the world too soon. The Bible tells us that there will be a seven-year tribulation period. That hasn’t happened yet, so the world isn’t going to be wiped clean later this year. The Bible also tells us that there will be a 1,000 year reign of Christ before the world is destroyed. So, Camping is at least 1,000 years off in his prediction—which he would know if he had read the Bible instead of trying to use it as some kind of code.

The sad thing is that many people will point to Harold Camping’s mistake as yet more proof that the Lord isn’t coming back. The Bible tells us about those people too. The thing is, the Lord is coming back. It probably won’t be today, but he is coming back. Besides that, any day could be your last day on earth. Does it make any difference whether today is your last day because the world ends or because someone failed to stop for a red light? Either way, your time to fast the judge of this world may be upon you. What will you say if Jesus were to ask you why he should let you into heaven?

Would you answer that it is because you were baptized? Would you answer that you went to church almost every Sunday? Would you answer that you were mostly a good person? If those are your answers, you aren’t getting in. For us to get into heaven, we’ve got to be just as righteous as Jesus. The Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In other words, none of us are good enough to get into heaven. If you don’t have the righteousness of Jesus applied to you, you aren’t getting into heaven.

I’ve read some of the comments about this Camping thing and many people talk about the rapture in terms of all the good people will be taken away and the ordinary people will be left to suffer. While that’s not completely wrong, the impression I get is that these people see the righteous as a bunch of snobs. It’s sad that we come across that way because John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” It isn’t that God just loves us snobs who go to church. No, God loves the whole world. He sent his son to die for the whole world. All he asks is that we put our trust in him. God wants the whole world to be saved. He wants you to be saved. He sent his son to die for you. Harold Camping is a false prophet, but that shouldn’t keep you from going to heaven. What you need is a savior.