What is wrong with date-setting for the end times?

It was necessary that the Apostle should write to these believers concerning the true Christian hope, in order to correct their erroneous thoughts as to the coming of the Lord for His saints. But as to the “the times and the seasons”, which relate to the day of the Lord, there was no need to write in detail. Times and seasons, do not refer directly to the Church; they look on to the times, and conditions, in which God will carry out His ways with the earth, as foretold in the prophetic Scriptures. The Lord had said to His disciples, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power” (Acts 1:7). Hence any attempt to calculate and predict the date of the Lord’s coming, from Daniel’s prophecies, or other Scriptures, will be futile, and worse, for it will be an attempt to find out what the Lord definitely says is not for us to know.

The fixing of dates as to the coming of the Lord is a pernicious thing, and those who do it are presumptuous people. The Lord Himself said, "But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, nor the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32). Yes, says some one, but we know the year. Indeed? Then why did the Lord add, "Watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is" (verse 33), and again, "for ye know not when the Master of the house comes, at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning" (verse 35)? To the apostles who have given us the Word of God by the Holy Spirit's inspiration, the Lord said, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father has put in His own power" (Acts 1). If this knowledge was withheld from them in the Father's wisdom, where is there any indication in the Word that it would be revealed to us? These sayings of the Lord have to do with His coming in glory, and they surely abide true in regard to it. The church period has intervened, it will close with the Rapture, but not a word or a hint is given in relation to the Rapture that the time of it may be known. Days, months, years and numbers are given in the Scriptures, but they have their relation to Israel and the earth, and are all in abeyance until the heavenly company is secured and caught up, then the clock of prophecy will start again, and God's calendar will justify itself. Meanwhile we must accept the words of the Lord, and wait and watch and work.

There is another question, which, perhaps, may be more of a carnal than a spiritual quality, yet it is one which we often hear, and which ought to be met. It is this, — When will Christ come? In the last book of Scripture, in the last page, and amongst the very last words of inspired truth, we have it stated three times that Christ is coming quickly. Oh, say you, that is very indefinite; cannot you tell me the year, if not the day or the hour, when this will happen? No, I cannot, because it is not revealed in Scripture, but left in this indefinite way, I doubt not, that we may glorify Christ by waiting for Him. Some have, I know, ventured, mistakenly, I believe, but doubtless with the best intentions, to predict a given time, or a certain year for the coming of the Lord; but it is just because they did not understand the difference to which I have already called attention this evening, between the coming of the Lord for us, and the day of the Lord. They go to Daniel's prophecy of the seventy weeks and other dates, and wrongly supposing, as they do, that the day of the Lord and the coming of the Lord are the same, they try to prove by calculation when the various times will be fulfilled, and the period arrive for the day of the Lord to set in. Almost ever since we have been Christians, have we not heard of this year, that year, or another year, spoken of as the probable time for Christ's coming? Of course, we pay no attention to such statements, because we know that as being in Christ in heavenly places we are not, so to speak, in the region of dates, or times and seasons. I repeat, that the time of our Saviour's coming for us is not revealed in Scripture. Is it not rather said, that "in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh"? The times and the seasons are not given to us Christians in relation to our hope. The Scriptures put us into the blessed position of being delivered from the wrath to come through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now presented in Christ Jesus in heaven, who is our righteousness and life before God; so that we have to faithfully serve, and patiently wait for God's Son from heaven, when we shall have the redemption of the body. Then our bodies will be capable of entering into all those joys and glories before us, which are secured for us by the precious blood of Christ. Whilst we wait, we are indwelt by the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven by a risen and ascended Head to unite us to Him; "for by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body." We are then fitted, so to speak, to serve the Lord Jesus Christ devotedly, steadfastly, unceasingly, and without any hesitation. Hence we have the exhortation, "Be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." It is thus that we are to wait for His return from heaven. To expect any clue by signs or dates, or times or seasons, as to when the Lord Jesus Christ is coming for us, would be without the authority of Scripture, and contrary to the true character of the position in which we are set by the grace of God as partakers of the heavenly calling. True works of faithfulness to Christ, of real affection for Christ, of care for the truth of Christ, holding fast His name, obedience to His word, waiting and longing ardently, and yet patiently, for His return from heaven, should characterize all Christians.

We find false prophets come up with new 'revelations'. And yet every Christian ought to ponder over the numerous so-called 'revelations' of modern prophets which have never been fulfilled. The beginning of the time of tribulation, for example, or the appearing of the Antichrist or the coming of the Lord have often been falsely 'prophesied' by leaders of various sects. And thousands have left home and family in a false hope - and have been bitterly disappointed! The Word of God, however, does not give us a single clue for such calculations! We ought to expect our Lord at any moment. And yet false prophets repeatedly succeed in deluding even true children of God.

No otherwise is it with the objections that are often brought against the constant hope of the Lord's coming to meet the saints. They, when dispassionately and intelligently looked into, turn out to be proofs that God so wrote the New Testament, by the evangelists, as they are called, and by the apostles, as to keep the soul in its first bright impression expecting Christ from day to day. There is no such idea as fixing a special time, whether you put it at one epoch or another. The whole system of measured dates or equivalent signs to decide about the coming of the Lord is false. Some have pointed to A.D. 1867. Then, when we approach the year, they begin to shift the time somewhat farther off, and say that it is but "the beginning of the end." What is this but saving their own credit at the expense of Scripture? To sober, not to say reverent, men, it looks like unworthy dealing with the word of God; and the source of the error, I am not afraid to tell them, is ignorance of the word of God, and especially of the Church's calling and hopes.

Yes. Foolish attempts have been made to fix dates for the Lord's return, thus contravening His own words. Earnest believers, too, have allowed themselves to use extravagant language, giving the impression that they were certain it could not be distant more than a year or two. Years have passed, and those who listened to these expressions have become sceptical as to the whole thing.

And not only this; many extravagant and even fanatical ideas connected with the fixing of dates have been mooted, only to be disproved and demolished by the efflux of time. It is contemplated in 2 Peter 2:2, that one effect of the bringing in of teaching and prophecy which is false is the discrediting of truth — "the way of truth shall be evil spoken of." The unbeliever may well turn round and taunt us all with having involved the subject of the Second Advent in a welter of confusion. We have to confess with sorrow that we have never read any book in our life in which that confusion was so paraded before the public eye as in this; and as we closed it we realized that this fresh book had made the whole subject rather worse confounded.

We are told in Mark 13:35 to watch, because the hour of His coming is unknown. How could anyone watch for the Lord to come, if it were known that He would not come until a certain time? The exhortation to watch implies upon the face of it uncertainty as to the time.

There are certain people who are constantly fixing a date for the Lord’s return. Time has again and again proved them wrong; yet, all undaunted by their false guesses, they still assume the role of prophets.

He next warns His disciples of the certainty and nearness of this coming. Morally, it was already near, though the entire present interval of grace has elapsed; all things have been in abeyance. At the end, the remnant will recognize the signs of the times when the fig-tree puts forth her leaves (32-35). While the nearness and the certainty of this appearing will be well known to the remnant, no date can be fixed. This serves to rebuke in a general way all foolish efforts to set a date for the Lord's coming by those who are ignorant of the elementary distinction between the rapture of the Church at the close of this present period and the appearing to which this entire prophecy refers. It would also guard the elect in that day from attempting to set an exact date for that which is known only to the Father. It will suffice for them to know that all things will go on as in the days of Noah, when suddenly the Son of Man will come. Then, some will be taken away in judgment and others left for blessing (36-41). The moral lesson of it all is, to be ready and to watch (42-44).