Greetings! Welcome back to our study of the Resurrection of the Dead. So far in our study, we have looked at the biblical doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead. We looked at the various scriptures from the Old Testament and the New that talk about the dead being resurrected. Truthfully, before I started studying this topic, I always thought the rapture, i.e. the Resurrection of the Dead, was a New Testament Christian doctrine. But I was wrong. It’s a Jewish doctrine and belief. It is a fascinating study. Are you ready to get into this?
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
First in a One-Part Series
By Karen Thompson
PREDICTING THE LORD’S RETURN
So far in this study of the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, we have looked at it from the aspect of what it is and what it means. From this point on, our study will focus on “when” this great event will take place.
No Man Will Know the Day or the Hour of His Return
The first thing we must address is the objection to the idea that we can even know when the resurrection of the dead (a.k.a. the rapture) takes place. As soon as anyone suggests that we can know when the resurrection takes place, people will say, “No one will know the day or the hour of His coming.” They are quoting from the book of Matthew.
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only (Matt. 24:36).
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh (Matt. 25:13).
There’s a good reason why it would be impossible to know the day or hour of His return. For believers living in the continent of Asia, the day and hour of the Lord’s return will be different than the day and hour for believers living in the continent of North America. Because of the numerous time zones around the world, the day and hour of the Lord’s return will be different in each of those zones. For that reason alone, it will be impossible to know the day or the hour of His return.
So in that respect, I agree that no one will know the day or hour of His return. But the Bible does, indeed, tell us when it will happen. We just won’t be able to pin it down to a specific day and hour.
Jesus Said, “I Will Come Again and Receive You to Myself”
The Resurrection of the Dead (a.k.a. the rapture) is an event associated with the Second Coming of Jesus. When Jesus left, He reassured His followers He would come back for them: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself” (John 14:3 NKJV).
Two angels said Jesus would come back in the same way He left. After Jesus was resurrected from the dead, He remained on earth with His followers for 40 days, teaching them about things pertaining to the kingdom of God. At one gathering, His followers asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He responded by saying, “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority” (Acts 1:3–6 NIV). When He was finished speaking, they all watched as He ascended in a cloud until He was out of sight. As they all stood gazing up into the sky, two angels dressed in white were standing among them. They asked, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11 NKJV). When Jesus ascended to heaven, He was taken up in a cloud of glory. He will also return in a cloud of glory to gather up His believers.
Every Generation Has Expected His Return
Jesus told His followers He would return for them, but when they asked Him about a specific date, He couldn’t give them an answer. He said only the Father knew: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority” (Acts 1:6 NIV). His followers knew Jesus would return for them—they just didn’t know when. First Thessalonians 2:19 tells us they believed He would come back for them in their lifetime: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?” (NKJV)
Just as soon as Jesus ascended to heaven, His followers began to anticipate His coming again. There were some among them that used this to cause trouble. For instance, Paul had heard the believers in Thessalonica were upset, because someone told them that Paul himself was teaching the day of the Lord had already transpired. They were in a panic thinking they had been left behind! In Paul’s second letter to the believers in Thessalonica, he reassured them they did not miss the day of the Lord: “Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come” (2 Thess. 2:1–2 NIV).
Timothy identified two such troublemakers by name when he cautioned the believers about unsound teachings: “But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some” (2 Tim. 2: 16–18 NKJV). Timothy was pastor of the church in Ephesus which was located in present-day Turkey. The Thessalonica church was located in present-day northern Greece. Due to their relatively close proximity to each other, it could very well be that Hymenaeus and Philetus were the ones who spread this false teaching to both churches saying the resurrection had already occurred.
Since the beginning of the early church, every generation of believers has anticipated His return. And some do more than simply anticipate; there are those who have tried to predict the time of His coming. In fact, this sort of activity has become kind of a quasi-pastime for Christians. From the very beginning of the early church, there have been those who have tried (and obviously failed) to predict the Lord’s return.
Failed Predictions of the Lord’s Return
I found on the Internet the most amazing list of people who had made failed predictions of the Lord’s return. It’s a huge list! And this collection of predictions only lists the predictions that are known. I can’t imagine how long the list would be if it included every prediction that anyone had ever made. It would most likely be several volumes large. I thought I would be interesting to take a look at some of these predictions.
The first prediction listed is 66 AD, and its entries go all the way to the present. There were far too many entries to list, so I edited the list down to three categories that interested me: 1) predictions that came from famous people, 2) predictions that were recalculated and set again, 3) predictions based on crazy things. Anyway, the list below contains the predictions I found most interesting.
66–70 | Simon bar Giora, Jewish Essenes | Jewish people from the Essene sect believed the final battle against the Romans in 66–70 would trigger the Messiah’s arrival. They predicted He would come back to save them.
500 | Hippolytus of Rome, Sextus Julius Africanus, and Irenaeus | All three of these men predicted that this was the year the Messiah would return. I was interested in this entry because they based their predictions on the dimensions of Noah’s Ark!
April 6, 793 | Beatus of Liébana | I included this entry because it took boldness and confidence by the Spanish monk Beatus to predict in front of a large group of people that Jesus would return on this day.
1533 | Melchior Hoffman | Melchior, an Anabaptist, predicted that Christ would return in the year 1533 in Strasbourg, France. Not only that, he claimed that only 144,000 people would be saved. This, obviously, is a number he got from Revelation chapter seven. He said everybody else in the world would be burned up!
1600 | Martin Luther (1483–1546) | I’ve read a lot about Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation. I was surprised to learn he, too, made a prediction of Jesus’ return in the year 1600.
1656 | Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) | Here’s another very famous guy! Columbus wrote a book entitled, “Book of Prophecies” in which he predicted Jesus would return in 1656. His date was 56 years later than Martin Luther’s!
1688 | John Napier | I included this entry because the mathematician Napier made his prediction based on his calculations from the book of Revelation.
1697 | Cotton Mather (1663–1728) | This is another famous person, or should I say “infamous.” He was a central figure in the Salem Witch Trials. He was kind of a villain because he gave his approval of the trials. Anyway, his prediction was 1697. After the prediction failed, he revised his date two more times.
1700 | Henry (or John) Archer | In 1642, Archer wrote a book entitled “The Personall Reigne of Christ Upon Earth,” in which he predicted Christ’s return in 1700. When that prediction failed, he set two more dates: 1716 and 1736.
1836 | John Wesley (1703–1791) | I was so surprised to see Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, on the list. He predicted the millennial reign of Christ would occur in 1836. His prediction was based on Revelation 12:14.
Aug. 7, 1847 | George Rapp (1757–1847) | Originally from Germany, Rapp immigrated to the United States and founded the Harmony Society, a group of people that isolated themselves from society. Rapp prophesied that Jesus would return in his lifetime. This entry interested me because even while he was on his deathbed, he still believed Jesus would return before he died.
March 21, 1843 to March 21, 1844 | William Miller (1782–1849) | An American Baptist pastor, William Miller’s predictions of the Lord’s return were published in a Baptist newspaper called the Vermont Telegraph. The publication of Miller’s teachings caused his then regional ministry to become a nationwide phenomenon—a movement. This movement would come to be known as “Millerism,” and the people who followed William Miller’s teachings called themselves “Millerites.” When his first date failed, another date was made: April 18, 1844. This became a tragic event because in anticipation of the Lord’s return, many Millerites gave away their money and property. Some farmers didn’t plant crops. Some quit their jobs. When the predictions failed, their lives were ruined and they were ridiculed in their communities. Miller’s prediction debacle came to be known as “The Great Disappointment.”
1892–1911 | Charles Piazzi Smyth (1819–1900) | Smyth predicted Jesus would return somewhere between 1892 and 1911. This entry is interesting to me because he was a pyramidologist, and he based his prediction on the dimensions of the Great Pyramid of Giza!
1981 | Chuck Smith (1927–2013) | Smith founded Calvary Chapel which was the “hub” of the Jesus People movement on the west coast of America when the hippie culture was at its zenith. He predicted the generation of 1948 would be the last generation. I assume he made that prediction based on Israel becoming a nation in 1948. The rest of his prediction was that the world would end by 1981.
1982 | Pat Robertson (born 1930) | Most everyone knows Pat Robertson from his TV program called the “700 Club”; he also ran for President of the United States in 1988. Robertson predicted the world would end in 1982: “I guarantee you by the end of 1982, there is going to be a judgment on the world.” I was amused when I read on his Wikipedia page that he and several others who incorrectly predicted the end of the world were jointly awarded an Ig Nobel Prize for “teaching the world to be careful when making mathematical assumptions and calculations.” He needn’t be embarrassed, because as far as making wrong predictions goes, he’s in good company.
1985 | Lester Sumrall (1913–1996) | I included this entry because he was a guest minister at the church I attend. He was an awesome man of God. In his book entitled, I Predict 1985, Sumrall predicted the resurrection would take place in 1985. He, too, was wrong.
Sept. 11–13, 1988, Oct. 3, 1988 | Edgar C. Whisenant (1932–2001) | A NASA engineer as well as a Bible student, Whisenant wrote a book about his end time studies entitled, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988. He was so sure of his prediction that he mailed 300,000 free copies of his book to ministers all across America. And when his prediction failed, he revised his date to September 30, 1989.
Sept. 6, 1994 | Harold Camping (1921–2013) | Camping was a radio broadcaster who became famous for making several predictions about end times. He made so many failed predictions that people began to call him a false prophet. He predicted Judgment Day would occur on Sept. 6, 1994. He revised the date to Sept. 29 and then Oct. 2. He predicted the Second Coming would happen on May 21, 2011; he said the saved would be raptured. The resurrection would be followed by five months of plagues like in the book of Revelation. The final destruction of the world would happen on October 21, 2011. After all his predictions failed, he said he was sinful for trying to predict Christ’s Second Coming. He agreed with his critics that according to Matthew 24:36, “…of that day and hour knoweth no man.” Camping was soundly ridiculed not only by atheists but by fellow Christians as well.
1999 | James Gordon Lindsay (1906–1973) | Lindsay was founder of Christ for the Nations Institute and is connected with the Azusa Street Revival. He predicted the great tribulation talked about in the book of Revelation would begin before 2000.
2000 | Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) | America’s First Great Awakening began at Jonathan Edwards’ church in Northampton, MA. I found it interesting that Edwards predicted the millennial reign of Christ would begin in 2000.
And the most recent prediction that caused quite a stir was from a South African man named Joshua Mhlakela. In the year 2018, Joshua claimed Jesus appeared to him in a dream and said, “On the 23rd and 24th of September, 2025, I will come to take My church.” The date lined up with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. His prediction spread all over the world through, of course, TikTok. There were a lot of subsequent videos that popped up from people giving advice on what to do and what to wear on the day of the rapture. Some of them were unintentionally hilarious. And unfortunately, the effect it had was similar to William Miller’s effect where people quit their jobs, gave away their money and possessions. It’s the Great Disappointment redux!
Jesus said, “Occupy till I come!”
There’s nothing wrong with trying to predict the return of the Lord. It’s okay only if you heed the words of Jesus in Luke chapter 19 in the parable of the nobleman. Jesus talked about a nobleman who went into a far country. The instruction he left his servants was, “Occupy till I come” (v. 13). The takeaway is that Jesus said He would return, but until that time, we are to “occupy till He comes.” That means keep living your life, going about your business. Don’t do what the Millerites did, selling or giving away their money and possessions, quitting their jobs, and the like over some prediction of His coming. Keep doing what you’re doing right now. Get an education… buy that house… start a family. Live your life!
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