The second heading which must be considered with regard to Matthew 24:36 is …
II. Its Foolish Perversion
One of the surprising things about what Camping’s prediction is that he actually named a specific day. This seems to contradict his own comments on Matthew 24:36. Camping and other “date-setters” often argue that, though we cannot know the day or hour of Christ’s return, we can know the week, month or year. Speaking of Matt. 24:36 one date-setter (Whisenant in his 88 Reasons Why Christ Will Come in `88) has said, “However, this does not preclude or prevent the faithful from knowing the year, the month, and the week of the Lord’s return”. Camping in his previous book 1994? Said, “Not surprisingly, when we have completed our study we will know much about God’s timetable for the history of the world. But we will not know the day and hour of the actual end of the world when Christ is to come the second time”. Having said this he concludes that the last day and return of Christ would be, if his calculations are correct, between Sept. 15 and Sept. 27, 1994.
Such distorting of Scripture would be laughable, if they did not open the door to such serious error. Can we read this passage of God’s Word and conclude that Christ actually means to say that we cannot know the day or hour, but we can know the year, month, and week of Christ’s return? Nevertheless, for the sake of answering this objection and displaying the decisive, biblical evidence against giving a timetable for Christ’s return, the time must be taken to further confirm the meaning of this text. The context of Jesus’ statement makes abundantly evident the folly of such interpretation of Scripture.
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.
