As you have no doubt heard Harold Camping is predicting that Jesus Christ is going to return and the world is going to end on Saturday, May 21, 2011 at about 6 PM. Camping is an 89-year-old preacher from Oakland, California and the head of the Family Radio Network. By means of an elaborate and complicated mathematical formula, Camping says that he has discovered the Bible’s date for when Christ is going to return for His church and usher in the judgment that will be the end of the world. According to Camping, the date is tomorrow. He and his followers have spent huge sums of money to purchase space on billboards across the country and the world to warn people of this coming event. The response to Camping and his followers has ranged from ridicule to fright. What are Christians to make of all this?

This is a very important matter because by the time Saturday, May 21, 2011 passes, the world is going to know that Mr. Camping has once again been proven to be a false prophet. He and those who believed him are going to be subject to even greater ridicule; they will be the target of endless jokes. Skeptics are going to view this failure as further “proof” that the Bible is not true. Mr. Camping’s followers and all who believe his prediction are going to be confused, disillusioned, dejected, and perhaps, even angry to find that they have been deceived. Worst of all, the name of Christ is going to be besmirched. Unbelievers are not going to make a distinction between a heretic such as Harold Camping and a genuine believer. In their eyes, we are all going to be one big joke.

How should genuine believers who have not fallen prey to Camping’s deception respond in the aftermath of this failed prediction? What should be our attitude toward Mr. Camping? his followers? those unbelievers who will subject all professing Christians to same plate of ridicule?

Let me say, first of all and I want to be crystal clear on this matter, the Bible teaches in numerous places that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return. It teaches that the world is going to be destroyed. It teaches that a final judgment awaits all who do not belong Christ. It teaches that every believer will be in heaven with Christ for all eternity. The Bible is clear on all of that. It is also equally clear that no man knows or can know the times or dates when all of that will come to pass. All date-setting is not only an exercise in futility, it is absolute foolishness. On all of the above, let the Word of God speak for itself:

The Lord Jesus Christ will return on day:

[Acts 1.11] and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

The world is going to be completely destroyed by fire:

[2 Peter 3.10] But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.

All unbelievers will stand before God in judgment:

[Revelation 20.11-15] And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Every believer will spend eternity in heaven:

[Revelation 21.1-4] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, 4 and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

No man can know when all of this will come about:

[Matthew 24.36] “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.

[Acts 1.6-7] And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

While not giving dates, the Bible does put forth a timeline on which all of this is to unfold:

Christ will remove or rapture His church:

[1 Thessalonians 4.13-18] But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Following the rapture of the church, there will a 7 year period known as the Tribulation:

[Jeremiah 30.7] ‘Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.

[Daniel 9.27] “And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.”

[Daniel 12.1] “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.

[2 Thessalonians 2.7-12] For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. 8 And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

[Revelation 16.1-21] And I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth.” 2 And the first angel went and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. 3 And the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died. 4 And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous art Thou, who art and who wast, O Holy One, because Thou didst judge these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” 7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments.” 8 And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give Him glory. 10 And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds. 12 And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame.”) 16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called HarMagedon. 17 And the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air; and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.” 18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.

At the end of the 7-year Tribulation, Christ will return to earth and establish His Millennial Kingdom. This will last for 1,000 years.

[Revelation 19.4-6] And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” 5 And a voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.” 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.

At the end of the 1,000 years, there will be the judgment of unbelievers, the destruction of the earth and the creation of the new heavens and earth.

All of that will unfold just as God has declared in His Word. This not a matter of conjecture; this is a matter of absolute certainty.

[Isaiah 14.27] “For the LORD of hosts has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?”

While we cannot know when all of this will come about, we can know that it will and long for the fulfillment of these precious promises of God. In the meantime, what are we to make of Harold Camping and how ought we respond in the coming days?

As far as Harold Camping is concerned, he must be exposed as a false teacher and called to repentance. He must be warned of the consequences of persisting in error. If he refuses to repent, then all who now follow him must reject him as the blind guide he has once again proven to be.

[Galatians 1.8-9] But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.

[2 John 1.10-11] If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.

[2 Peter 2.1] But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.

Camping has deceived many and those who are the victims of his deception must be dealt with in a spirit of gentleness and compassion. While we cannot condone error, we must be careful that we do not crush those who are victimized by false teachers such as Camping. We must not throw out the baby with the bath water. We must show those who have been duped the truth of God’s Word. We must call them to repent of their false beliefs. We must call them to absolute faithfulness to God and His Word. Some of those people will prove to be unbelievers and we must give them the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Savior.

To the unbelieving world, we must be faithful to both live and share the Gospel. Harold Camping is not a reason for genuine believers to hide their lamps under a bushel for fear that they are going to be put in the same category as he. May God find us faithful to proclaim His Word and His Gospel because the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes.

Beloved, Jesus is going to return one day. Until He does let us do the work He has left us to do. When He does return may He find us faithful.

[Revelation 22.20-21] He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.