I had every intention of continuing my series in the life of Elijah Sunday evening until Friday afternoon. On Friday afternoon to relieve the boredom of a long and lonely drive home from Michigan I was listening to Rush Limbaugh. I was surprised to hear him mention to the millions in his radio audience the name of Harold Camping and his prediction that the rapture would occur on May 21. Rush was not misinformed. Harold Camping did predict the rapture of the Christians May 21 and the gradual annihilation of the world over the next several months. His prediction received wide publicity over the last month or two in the media. This is really surprising since Camping has already proved himself a fallible prophet when he predicted the coming of Christ in his book 1994?.
Harold Camping’s prediction has already been proved wrong. I have no desire to mock a pitiful old man and his poor, deluded followers. Why blog on Why the Prediction That Christ Would Come Yesterday Was Wrong? I am not doing so because I believe there is any value in beating a dead horse or in this case a dead prediction. I am doing so because such occasions as this one provide a teachable moment to impart important biblical teaching. It is not wrong to take advantage of the occasions of Easter and Christmas to teach about the resurrection and the incarnation—even though such holidays are merely cultural and not required by the Word of God. Even so it is proper to take advantage of the hullabaloo over Camping’s false predictions to get some important teaching of the Bible out there.
I want to say a couple of things about my title, Why the Prediction That Christ Would Come Yesterday Was Wrong. It struck me that someone could react when I sent out this title Friday, May 20 by saying that I was uttering a prediction just as much as Camping. That reaction would be fair if I what I meant was that I was predicting that Christ would not come on Saturday. But that is not what I meant. What I intended by my title was that whether or not Christ was coming on Saturday it was wrong for Camping to predict it. It was wrong because the Bible forbids such predictions by teaching that no one knows the day or the hour of Christ return. If that language sounds familiar, it is because I am borrowing it from Jesus Himself (Matthew 24:36).
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
