Awaiting the End of the World

President Thomas Prachar

by Thomas Prachar

Well, I missed it again—and so did you! David Meade of Wisconsin predicted that our world would end on September 23, 2017 as a rogue planet called Nibiru crashed into Earth. Originally, this planet was to arrive in 2003 but was delayed until 2012. Five years later, the planet Nibiru still poses no threat because it doesn’t exist. NASA issued a statement in 2012: “If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth…astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye.”

However, the same conspiracy theorists did correctly predict September 23 as the alignment of several planets, the sun and moon, and the constellations of Virgo and Leo. They were just divided on what that meant. Evangelical Christians argued that according to the Book of Revelation, this alignment of planets and stars would lead up to the Rapture, that time in which they believe Christians will be sucked up into heaven leaving unbelievers behind to fend for themselves.

Many people have tried to predict the exact date and time when our world would come to an end. In modern times, Halley’s Comet was thought to lead to the end of the world as it would suddenly veer off course striking our planet, or its tail would poison the Earth’s atmosphere. An alignment of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn on May 5, 2000 was thought to bring about life-ending volcanoes and earthquakes on Earth. On December 21, 2012 the end of the Mayan calendar would mean the end of everything.

The one thing we can say for certain about the heavens is that they declare the glory of God and proclaim His handiwork (Psalm 19:1). On using planetary and stellar alignment to determine the exact date and time of the end of the world, Jesus tells us, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). There will be a rapture for those alive when Jesus returns, but it will happen on Earth’s final day, Judgment Day: “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Whenever Jesus will come again, we await His return with readiness, faithfulness, and joy.

Whenever Jesus will come again, we await His return with readiness, faithfulness, and joy, for the apostle Paul reminds us: “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).

“‘Surely, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

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Rev. Thomas Prachar is President of the Central District of Lutheran Church–Canada.

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