Are you worried about the end times? When the world will come to an end? Are you listening to others who are predicting when that will happen? Have you done any real investigation yourself? Why are you worried about it?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen far too many posts on social media attempting to associate all the recent wars, famines, and pandemic to the world coming to end. It is obvious the people drumming up this hysteria have spent very little or no time reading the Scriptures. Instead, they have hand-picked a few specific verses to justify their hypothesis.

Paul tells us to become mature and not be like children (or boats) being tossed about on the waves, being deceived by schemers (Ephesians 4:11-16). Folks, people have been predicting the end of the world for centuries. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

First, when we look at the Revelation that was given to John, his readers thought Christ was coming back within their lifetime. The book was written in the first century, roughly dated as 95. Since it’s been more than 1900 years since the book was written, we can safely say those people were incorrect in their belief.

Now, let’s look at several others. A French Bishop predicted the world would end before the year 400. Irenaeus, a famous Greek Bishop, predicted the apocalypse would happen in 500, based on the dimensions of Noah’s Ark. Pope Sylvester II predicted the end would come before the year 1000, which caused riots throughout Europe. Pope Innocent III predicted the end would come in 1216 based on it being 666 years after the rise of Islam. Martin Luther, famous for opposing many Catholic teachings and the father of Lutherans, predicted the end would come prior to 1600. John Wesley, founder of Methodism, predicted Christ would come in 1836. William Miller, a Baptist preacher, predicted Christ would return on March 21, 1844. Nostradamus, famous astrologer, predicted the end of the world would come in July 1999. All of these predictions were false and there are hundreds more like them.

People continue to try to predict when the end times will happen. Here’s the truth of the matter—plain and simple—nobody knows! Jesus told us not to be deceived. He says neither the angels in heaven nor the Son of God knows when the end will happen (read Matthew 24). If the Son of God doesn’t know when the end will happen, why do we choose to believe a mere human?

It is true that Jesus says in Matthew 24 that there will be wars, famine, earthquakes, and persecutions. Yet He also says there will be false prophets who will lead people astray. Do not be deceived by their uneducated ramblings. If we look back through the history of the world, we will find wars, famines, earthquakes, plaques, sicknesses, and persecutions in every century. We would likely find them in every decade, if we could read the history of every nation.

May I suggest that we stop worrying about when the end may come, which may be today, and spend our time obeying Jesus? Let’s love God and love our neighbor today. Let’s be prepared at all times for His return. For Jesus also tells us He will come like a thief in the night—totally unexpected. If we are in Jesus Christ, we have no reason to worry about when He will come. We will live with Him in heaven for eternity. Instead, let’s show the love of God to others in an effort to bring as many of them into the Kingdom as possible.

Matthew 24:36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”