But there’s lots we do not know as well, such as when it will take place.
Not that people have not tried to guess. In fact, there’s a whole cottage industry of folks predicting that the signs of the times are telling us that Jesus is coming now!
All you have to do is go down to Barnes and Noble and you can buy copies of Foreshadows:
Twelve Megaclues That Jesus' Return Is Nearer Than Ever, or How Current Events Point to the Antichrist and His Worldwide Empire.
Or you can watch the end-time profits on TV, like Jim Bakker, (remeber him from PTL), who hosts a program called “Prophetic End-time News” in which he describes signs of the end of the world which are “all around us.” Or you can read about the evangelical pastors, along with Kanye West, who have suggested that there are micro-chips in the COVID-19 vaccines, which are signs of the beast, indicating that the end of the world is at hand. Pat Robertson has predicted that an asteroid will hit the earth in 2025 and Jesus will return in glory. Just like he previously predicted would happen in 1982 and in 2007.
Just as Jerry Falwell said Jesus would come in 2000, Hal Lindsey in in 1988, Herbert W Armstrong in 1943 and John Wesley in 1836, all based on their interpretations of the Bible.
But the problem is, they evidently didn’t read today’s Gospel, in which Jesus responds to the disciples’ question, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”
His answer is simple:
See that you not be deceived…for many will come in my name, saying… The time has come. Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.
And then he says something even more remarkable. He tells us to stop spending our time guessing when he will come and pick up our Cross and follow him, for “they will seize and persecute you…because of my name.”
So, let’s follow his advice, and listen to Saint Peter who writes, “with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. . . . But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”
Or, as we will hear repeatedly, in just a few weeks during Advent, “stay awake and be prepared, for you do not know the day or the hours when the Son of Man will return to judge the living and the dead.
