December 21, 2012?

by Oleg Kostyuk

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” (Matthew 24:36)

It has become very fashionable to set the dates of Jesus’ Second coming. The most recent date settings have been May 21, 2011, and October 21, 2011, and now some are calling for the end of the world on December 21,2012. When will Jesus come again?

The only plausible answer can be “soon and quickly”. But “of that day and hour no one knows”.

Let me share a great true story, which beautifully describes the state that we need to be in.

It happened in England. Mary and George got engaged. And soon George was commissioned to the army. They decided to get married when he comes back from the war. Many days went by, letters would come, letters would come. And then suddenly letters stopped coming. One week, two weeks, three weeks, many weeks. Finally the commanding officer came and said that George was missing. That completely breaks Mary’s heart. Many months went by.

And one day Mary comes after work and having told her mother that she was not feeling well she asked her not to disturb her. She goes to her room, gets all George's letters and the tears are running down her face when she thinks of him. Then she decides to make it even more real, she takes George’s picture and starts imagining that she could have been a bride. She puts on the wedding dress, which she bought before George went to the war. So involved in this ritual she doesn’t hear the knock on the door downstairs.

Her mother opens the door and almost faints. She says: ‘George, what are you doing here? You are supposed to be dead’. He says: ‘I’m all right. Is Marry married? Is she at home?’ ‘George, what’s the meter’.

He walks in the house. Then he walks upstairs to Mary’s room. He looks through the key hole first. In England the key holes are so big that you can almost walk in through them. He sees Mary in the wedding dress. Then he gently opens the door and walks in. He touches Mary’s shoulder. She turns around. And in the state of a shock pronounces: ‘George’. She wraps her arms around him. Then he dips his arm into the pocket and takes a piece of paper and says: ‘Mary dear, of all the letters you wrote to me, this one is the most precious to me. It says, Georgy, I love you, I love you, I love you. And when you come I’ll be ready’. He says: ‘Dear, I didn’t know you would be so ready’.[1]

I hope, this explains what it means not to know the day and the hour, but still eagerly wait for Him!

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[1] Ravi Zacharias, I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc, 2004), pp. 107-110.