NOTES ON ESCHATOLOGY : SAMUEL WALDRON
Introduction:
1. The Need of This Lecture
In my study are two books which are representative (sadly) of a much larger body
of literature in the history of the church. These books purport to calculate or
predict the time of Christ's return. One purports to predict His return in 1988,
the other in 1994. It is my purpose in this lecture to address the question of
setting dates for Christ's return. Why do I take your time to deal with this
subject? There are two reasons. First, there is the reality that calculating the
time of Christ's return has been a recurrent problem in the history of Christian
eschatology. Second, there is the reasonable forecast of date-setting fever
likely among professing Christians in the next few years as the year 2000 draws
near. Thus, I want to prepare you for the eschatological mania which is already
breaking upon the church and probably will sweep over it in the next few years.
Let me attempt to equip you to deal with it by dealing with the subject of
Christ's Declaration that the Time of His Return Is Unknown found in
Matt. 24:36.
2. The Assumptions of This Lecture
There are three assumptions which I want to make plain that I bring with me
to this lecture: (1) The Bible does predict the bodily return of Christ (Acts
1:9; 3:19, 20). (2) This return of Christ will not be secret, but public,
glorious, visible, and universal (Matt. 24:24-27; 1 Thess. 5:1-4; 2 Thess.
1:6-10). (3) There are signs which precede Christ's coming (Matt. 24:14; 2
Thess. 2:1-10), but there are no time-signs of Christ's second coming. The
classic text in the New Testament which clearly states that there are no
time-signs of Christ's return which enable to predict when it will come is Matt.
24:36.
3. The Outline of This Lecture
I intend to expound this text under three headings:
A. Its Brief Exposition
B. Its Foolish Perversion
C. Its Contextual Confirmation
A. Its Brief Exposition
By way of a brief or preliminary exposition of this passage, I want to say
two things. First, when Christ refers to "that day and hour", he is referring to
the day and hour or time of His second coming. The entire context puts this
beyond doubt. Jesus has been speaking of His second coming in the preceding
context (24:27, 30, 31). He goes on to speak of this event in the immediately
succeeding context (24:37). He uses this exact language to speak of His second
coming in the following context (24:42, 44, 50).
Second, Christ asserts here that knowledge of the time of His second coming
is hidden from every intelligent creature. Of the time of His coming, Christ
says, "no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father
alone." Now this statement is from one viewpoint quite perplexing. It raises the
question, If Christ is God and, therefore, omniscient or all-knowing, how can
there be anything he does not know? This question has sparked great debate over
the centuries among orthodox Christians who believe in the deity of Christ. It
is not to my purpose to review for you even a few of the outlandish, unusual,
and un-natural interpretations which have been imposed upon this plain statement
in order to eliminate from it the implication that there is something the Son
does not know. It is unnecessary to review all these abortive attempts to stop
the text from saying what it clearly does say, because there is an
interpretation of it which both allows its natural meaning to stand and also is
consistent with the omniscience of the Son of God.
That solution is very simply this. Our Confession in Chapter 8, paragraph 2
states what is nothing more or less than the historic, orthodox doctrine of the
person of Christ when it says that the result of the incarnation or enfleshment
of the Son of God was as follows: "so that two whole, perfect, and distinct
natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion,
composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one
Christ, the only mediator between God and man." Notice that the Confession
states that the Son of God possessed a "whole, perfect, and distinct" human
nature. Because of this reality the Bible speaks of Him as a man. It speaks of
Him as a man physically or bodily. Thus, we are told that he was hungry,
thirsty, and grew tired. Though His divine nature was none of those things, yet
the Scripture says that he was all of them. But the Scripture also speaks of him
as a true man spiritually or mentally. Thus, we are told that he grew and
matured intellectually (Luke 2:40, 52; Heb. 5:8). Therefore, when we come to
Matt. 24:36 there should be nothing surprising to us in Christ's assertion that
there were some things He did not know. If we are not stumbled when we hear the
Son of God say, "I thirst," there is no reason why we should be stumbled when we
hear Him say that there is something He does not know. If we are not stumbled
when the Scripture says that he grew in wisdom, then there is no reason for us
to be stumbled when the Scripture declares that not even the Son knows the time
of His second coming. Jesus is speaking here as a man. He is not declaring to us
the contents of the divine mind, but of His human intellect.
Now I hope you see that the difficulty raised by this text about the deity of
Christ is capable of a straightforward solution. Whether you see that or not,
however, it should be clear to you that however we solve that problem it does
not impact the plain sense and meaning of the text. Christ here asserts that
neither He, nor any other man, nor even the angels of heaven knew the time of
His second coming. Now before we go on, I want you to think about the
implications of that statement. What is at least implied in Jesus' statement was
that God had not revealed the date of the end of the world to any of the men or
angels by which God communicated to men in the Old Testament, nor had He
revealed it to the Son by which He brought that revelation to conclusion in the
New Testament. Jesus is plainly teaching that the time of His coming is not a
part of the revelation God chose to give men in the Word of God. Therefore, no
amount of scholarship or genius, not even a whole life-time of study dedicated
to the study of typology, numerology, or prophecy will ever find in Scripture
some secret, figurative, mysterious revelation of the time-period of Christ's
return. It simply has not been revealed. It has not been put in the Scriptures
and no amount of searching will find it there.
B. Its Foolish Perversion
`Bible teachers' intent on gaining a following are ready with an answer to
this verse. Believe it or not, they argue that, though we cannot know the day or
hour of Christ's return, we can know the week, month or year. Speaking of Matt.
24:36 one has said, "However, this does not preclude or prevent the faithful
from knowing the year, the month, and the week of the Lord's return".(1)
Another has said, "Not surprisingly, when we have completed our study we will
know much about God's timetable for the history of the world. But we will not
know the day and hour of the actual end of the world when Christ is to come the
second time".(2)
Having said this the same author later concludes that the last day and return of
Christ would be, if his calculations are correct, between Sept. 15 and Sept. 27,
1994.(3)
Clearly, this author adopts the same view of Matt. 24:36 as that of the first
author.
Now, frankly, I think any method of so dealing with Scripture is laugh-able
and deserves only the scorn of biblically-instructed Christians. Can we read
this passage of God's Word and conclude that Christ actually means to say that
we cannot know the day or hour, but we can know the year, month, and week of
Christ's return? It is tempting to laugh at such folly. Yet for the sake of
uninstructed and immature Christians that you may run into, and also for the
sake of showing you all the biblical evidence against giving a timetable for
Christ's return, I am going to take the time to confirm the obvious meaning of
this text. I am going to show you from the context of this verse why such an
interpretation is so foolish.
It should be plain that the Bible nowhere clearly predicts the time of
Christ's return. If it were plain, Christians in general would not need Bible
teachers to write 500 page books unpacking mysteries of biblical prophecy and
numerology to show them the time. It should also be plain that professing
believers of the Bible have been wrong hundreds and probably even thousands of
times in such predictions. Thus, the burden of proof is on any person who after
all this is going to tell us that we can know the week, month, or year of
Christ's return. We want to know where does the Bible anywhere teach that? The
whole drift of biblical teaching is plainly against such predictions. The
date-setter, therefore, is obligated to show us why he believes we can know the
week, month, or year. The burden of proof is on him, and the fact is that he can
not prove that any such predictions of Christ's return are biblical. Before he
wastes our time and emotions as servants of the Master, he has to prove this
foundational assumption of his whole system. The fact is that he cannot.
C. Its Contextual Confirmation
It has been the tactic of false teachers since the very beginning of the
church to attempt to use the Scriptures to teach their false doctrines. Peter
speaks of those who distort the Scriptures. False teachers have always quoted
Scripture. The big problem with their quoting of Scripture is that they quote it
out of context. One of the great marks of false teaching is that it quotes
Scripture without regard to its context.
It is true of the perversion of Scripture that we have just been talking
about that it also quotes and interprets Matt. 24:36 outside of its biblical
context. It is, therefore, my purpose to show you very carefully what this verse
means within its context. We will look at this context under three points:
1. The Immediately Preceding Context
2. The Immediately Succeeding Context
3. The Broader New Testament Context
1. The Immediately Preceding Context
Now the significant thing that we realize about verse 36 when we read the
preceding context is that it is a part of a contrast. Notice vv. 34-36. What is
the contrast? There is a contrast between the "all these things" of v. 34 and
"that day and hour" of v. 36. I don't believe you need to have 12 years of
seminary to see this contrast. If "that day and hour" refers, as we have seen,
to the second coming of Christ, to what does the phrase, "all these things,"
refer? To answer this question look at Matt. 24:1-3. Clearly, in their questions
the disciples were in danger of confusing two distinct events: the destruction
of Jerusalem and the second coming of Christ. The contrast of vv. 34-36 is
intended to clear up this confusion for them. "All these things", therefore,
refers to all those events associated with the destruction of the temple and
Jerusalem. "That day and hour" refers to the events associated with the second
coming of Christ proper.
Here we come to the crucial point for our purposes. How does Christ contrast
these two events? The answer is plain. He gives a time-sign for the destruction
of Jerusalem. He gives no time-sign for the second coming of Christ. Notice:
"This generation will not pass away until all these things take place ... but of
that day and hour no one knows..." He says that the destruction of Jerusalem
would take place within the life-time of the then living generation of Jews.
This is the plain meaning of the term, generation.
Now you may ask, Don't some interpreters say that generation can mean race as
well as generation? The answer to that question is yes. In my opinion, however,
such interpreters are plainly mistaken. Let me tell you why. First, in the Old
Testament the word used here is everywhere used to translate the Hebrew word
which means a generation of men. Second, if Jesus wished to say race rather than
generation, he could have used another well-known Greek word. He did not. Third,
the word used here is used in this immediate context to mean the then living
generation of Jews (Matt. 23:36: cf. vv. 34-39). This usage clearly refers to
the then living generation and clearly controls the meaning of v. 34. Fourth,
the fact is that the destruction of Jerusalem did occur just exactly 40 years
later. In the Bible forty years is associated with the period of a single
generation. This was the period it took for a generation of unbelieving
Israelites to die in the wilderness (Num. 14:33-35; 32:13; Psa. 95:10).
Now do you understand the contrast Jesus makes in these verses? He contrasts
the giving of a time-sign for the destruction of Jerusalem with the giving of no
time-sign for His second coming. He gives a very broad time-sign for the
destruction of Jerusalem--this generation. The destruction of Jerusalem, he
says, will occur sometime in the next forty years, but I give you no time-sign
at all for my own coming.
Now do you see what this means for our interpretation of Matt. 24:36? Is
Jesus saying, what the date-setters assert, that we cannot know the day or hour,
but we can know the week, month, or year? OBVIOUSLY NOT! The contrast is not
between the day and the month, but between a broad time-sign encompassing a
period of forty years and no time-sign at all. Jesus nailed down the destruction
of Jerusalem to within forty years, but He gives no time-sign for His coming at
all. What nonsense this makes of the claims of the date-setters to know even the
year of Christ's coming! Far from knowing the year, we do not even know the
generation of Christ's coming!
2. The Immediately Succeeding Context
In the following context Jesus calls upon his disciples to be constantly
alert for His return (Matt. 24:42-44, 50; 25:13). These commands to be alert for
His coming assume that Christ was not coming for a long time and that even then
the timing of His coming was unknown. Clearly, then, when Jesus says you do not
know the day or hour of my return, he means to say its timing is completely
unknown, therefore you must be always ready.
But having looked at the immediate context of Matt. 24:36, we must turn to
parallel passages to it in the New Testament.
3. The Broader New Testament Context
a. Luke 17:20-37
20 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God
was coming, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with
signs to be observed; 21 nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or,
'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst. " 22
And He said to the disciples, "The days shall come when you will long to see one
of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 "And they will say to
you, 'Look there! Look here!' Do not go away, and do not run after them.
24 "For just as the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky,
shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25
"But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26
"And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it shall be also in the days of
the Son of Man: 27 they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying,
they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and
the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 "It was the same as happened in the
days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were
selling, they were planting, they were building; 29 but on the day that Lot went
out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.
30 "It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31 "On
that day, let not the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the
house go down to take them away; and likewise let not the one who is in the
field turn back. 32 "Remember Lot's wife. 33 "Whoever seeks to keep his life
shall lose it, and whoever loses his life shall preserve it. 34 "I tell
you, on that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken, and the
other will be left. 35 "There will be two women grinding at the same place; one
will be taken, and the other will be left. 36 {"Two men will be in the field;
one will be taken and the other will be left."}37 And answering they *said to
Him, "Where, Lord?" And He said to them, "Where the body is, there also
will the vultures be gathered."
The meaning of this passage has been disputed. The question concerns what
Jesus means by the kingdom of God in v. 20. Not a few have thought that by the
kingdom of God he meant the present, spiritual phase of the kingdom of God.
Hence, they have interpreted the passage to mean that the kingdom of God does
not come with observation because it is spiritual in character. Though that is a
common and possible interpretation, I do not believe that it is the right
interpretation.
The correct interpretation begins by observing that vv. 20 and 21 are closely
connected with the following speech of Jesus. What is Jesus talking about in
that speech? Clearly, He is talking about His second coming. That is the time
when the kingdom of God comes in the future in power and glory. It seems clear
to me, therefore, that when Jesus speaks of His kingdom in v. 20 that He is
referring to the future, glorious coming of the kingdom. Furthermore, it was
clearly about this coming of the kingdom that the Pharisees were thinking in v.
20, when they raised the issue. I believe that what Jesus is saying is what the
Greek lexicon, BAG, says. It paraphrases: The kingdom of God is not coming "in
such a way that its rise can be observed." In other words, its appearance will
be abrupt, sudden, and dramatic. [Notice v. 21b.]
Now before we leave this passage, we must notice one of its key words more
closely. The Greek word, observation, is translated "signs to be observed". This
is a very interesting word. It comes from a verb which means to watch carefully.
It is used of the Jews watching Jesus to see if he would heal on the sabbath
(Mark 3:2; Luke 6:7; 14:1). It is used of the spies who watched Jesus carefully
to catch Him in His words (Luke 20:20). It is used of the Jews who plotted
against Paul in Damascus and watched the gates carefully to ambush him when he
left the city (Acts 9:24). It is used in Gal. 4:10 of the careful, superstitious
observation of religious holy days. What does this word mean here, then? Jesus
is clearly saying that no amount of careful observation or scrutiny will enable
anyone to predict the time of Christ's return. No observation of history, no
watching of the skies, no scrutiny even of the holy book will give any clue as
to the time of Jesus glorious return.
b. Acts 1:6, 7
6 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;
When the disciples asked about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel,
their question is rooted in Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament had,
indeed, predicted "the time ... when the saints ... (would take) ... possession
of the kingdom" (Dan. 7:22). Now it may be that the disciples still had too
carnal and too nationalistic an idea of what the restoration of the kingdom to
Israel would mean, but it is clear that their hope for such a restoration was
firmly built on biblical basis (Acts 3:21; Matt. 19:28). This restoration
occurs, of course, in conjunction with the glorious appearance of the Messiah in
His second coming.
Thus, the disciples are raising here the same question which Jesus answered
in Matt. 24:36. It is not surprising, therefore, that Jesus answers them in
language which is clearly dependent upon and refers back to Matt. 24:36. Notice
how he refers to the Father just as He did in Matt. 24:36. There he said, "But
of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son,
but the Father alone", here he says, "it is not for you to know times or epochs
which the Father has fixed by His own authority". The statements are clearly
parallel, but there is one key point at which Jesus enlarges upon and interprets
what He said in Matt. 24:36. You will notice that He does not speak of "the day
and the hour". Now He speaks of "times or epochs".
Whatever these words more exactly mean, they plainly confirm the meaning
which we have attached to the words of Jesus in Matt. 24:36. Thus, they plainly
condemn the date-setters. When Jesus denies that we can know the day or hour, he
is not contrasting this with the week, month, or year. Rather, he is denying
that we can have any knowledge of the date of Christ's arrival. Not the day, nor
the hour, nor the time, nor the epoch is within our grasp, and therefore not the
week, month, or year.
c. 1 Thess. 5:1-4
The last parallel passage to which I want to turn you is 1 Thess. 5:1-4.
[Read.] The meaning of this passage is plain itself and also plain in light of
the two parallel passages: Matt. 24:36 and Acts 1:6, 7. Paul here uses the same
two words used in Acts 1:6, 7: "times and epochs". He plainly says that there is
no need to write them about such things because they already know that the day
of the Lord is coming like a thief in the night. The phrase, thief in the night,
is drawn from Matthew 24. The idea is plainly that Christ's coming is sudden and
unexpected. This is confirmed by v. 3. That verse pictures the ungodly world as
promising itself peace and safety when sudden and inescapable judgment overtakes
them through Christ's return. Thus, Paul is plainly saying that he need not
write them about the time of Christ's return, because they already know that its
timing is unknown.
Verse 4 has been used by date-setters to justify their investigations. They
say that, while Christ's coming is like a thief for the unconverted, it is not
like a thief for the converted. They go on to argue that by Bible study
Christians can discern the time of Christ's coming.
This interpretation of v. 4 is completely misguided. There is a difference
between the second coming `being' like a thief in the night and the second
coming `overtaking' us like a thief in the night. The second coming comes as a
thief in the night to believers and unbelievers alike. Its time, that is to say,
is unknown by both. Yet the second coming overtakes only the wicked. In other
words, it is only the wicked it seizes and destroys. The word, overtake, in v. 4
refers to the destruction and judgment of the wicked described in v. 3. Even
believers are and remain uncertain of the time of the Lord's coming. Compare
Matt. 24:42-44. The second coming of Christ is like a thief in the night to all
because its timing is unknown. The second coming of Christ only overtakes the
wicked like a thief in the night because--while believers are prepared--they are
not. To use 1 Thess. 5:4 as justification for date-setting is to fly in the face
of its plain meaning and the entire New Testament.
Concluding Applications:
Those who set dates for Christ's return make predictions which time after
time which prove to be false. Thus, they are very akin to false prophets, and we
may apply to such false teachers the warnings of Deuteronomy 18:20f.
(1) "You shall not be afraid of him."
These are the last words of Deut. 18 where the people of God are warned about
false prophets. They are perfectly applicable to the modern date-setters. Don't
be afraid of them! Don't be worried by them! Don't be rattled by them! Don't be
moved by them! Don't be made cautious by them! Don't give respect to their
forecasts in any way! They may speak with calm certainty. They may speak with a
show of great learning. They may speak with amazing dogmatism. Don't be afraid
of them.
(2) "That prophet shall die."
These words contain another command of Deut. 18 with regard to false
prophets. They were to be put to death in the Old Testament people of God. I am
accommodating them to the modern false prophets who predict dates for Christ's
return. It is no longer the Old Testament economy. I am not suggesting that we
should literally kill these false prophets, but we should do everything we can
to kill their influence. What should we do? Rebuke them. Denounce them. Warn
people against them. Discipline them.
Why is this so important a duty for us to take to heart? There are a lot of
reasons to be angry about such false prophets and their books. They give
Bible-believing Christianity a bad name. They deceive and lead into sin immature
believers. They bring scorn on the very doctrine they pretend to uphold, the
second coming of Christ. People hear of such date-setting for the second coming
of Christ and say to themselves, `Those crazy Christians are at it again!' We
have got to tell people that we agree that the people who write and believe such
books are crazy, but we believe that because the Bible itself condemns them.
(3) "Whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I
Myself will require it of him."
These words are also found in Deut. 18, but they are spoken of the true
prophet of God. In Old Testament Israel the presence of false prophets did not
mean that there were not true prophets to whom they had to listen. Similarly in
our day the presence of false predictions of Christ's return does not mean that
we may ignore all that Bible does teach about Christ's return. We must not allow
all the malarkey of the next few years to steal from us the "blessed hope" of
the appearing of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
What should we think about the timing of the coming of Christ? Let me tell
you three things we should think. First, we should think that world events going
on around us are all leading to the climactic return of Christ. The preaching of
the gospel, the building of the church, the working, on the other hand, of the
mystery of iniquity--all these things mean that "now salvation is nearer to us
than when we believed" (Rom. 13:14). Now you may ask me, do I think, then, that
Christ will come by 2000 or 2030? No, brother, I know of nothing in the
Scripture which allows me to give any answer to that question except, possibly
and possibly not. Second, we must, therefore, maintain a perspective of
spiritual readiness. We must watch! Third, we must guard ourselves always
against getting too attached to the comparative paradise we live in here in the
United States of America. We must set our hope always on the grace to be brought
to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Appendix: The Unknown Time of Christ's Return and the
Events of 2 Thessalonians 2
If the position taken in these lectures regarding 2 Thessalonians 2 is
correct and the apostasy and the revelation of the man of lawlessness occurs
only a short time before the parousia of the Lord, this raises a pressing
question with regard to the unknown-ness of the time of Christ's second coming.
It is asked, Do not, then, those Christians who live in that period know the
period of Christ's coming in a sense which Matt. 24:36 says no one knows? The
answer to this question is apparently yes, since Paul seems clearly to assume
two things in 2 Thessalonians 2. First, he assumes that the apostasy and
revelation of the man of lawlessness will be clearly marked and observable
events for true Christians. Second, he assumes that once these events occur the
day of the Lord will have come or set in in the sense of being immediately to
occur. Paul, therefore, seems clearly to assume that the generation of
Christians living at that time will be in a different position than previous
generations with regard to knowing the time of Christ's return at least
approximately. If we identify these events with the little season of Rev.
20:7-10, we may say that they will know that they are in the little season at
the very end of the interadventual period. The problem is that Matt. 24:36
clearly denies that even such an approximate knowledge may be possessed by
Christians.
Several considerations dissolve this problem:
First, it is clear that Matt. 24:36 was never meant to apply to all
Christians at all time. When Christians see Christ coming on the clouds in the
glory of His Father, they will know the date of Christ's return! Even so those
Christians living just before his return may be exempted from Christ's general
declaration.
Second, this exception to Matt. 24:36 does the date-setters and calulators no
good because when the events of 2 Thessalonians 2 occur date-setting will no
longer be necessary. At that time, according to Paul in 2 Thess 2:2 and 3 the
day of the Lord will have already come or set in.
Third, the events predicted to occur just before Christ's return are not of a
character to give unbelievers any warning that Christ's return is upon them. The
apostasy and the man of lawlessness are of such character as will only give an
alarm to spiritually awake people. Furthermore, part of the apostasy and the
revelation of the man of lawlessness is the outpouring of the spirit of
deception mentioned in 2 Thess. 2:9-12. The outpouring of this spirit of
deception (which is parallel to the deceiving of the nations spoken of in Rev.
20:7-10) means that the day of missions and salvation has closed. Both Romans
11:25, 2 Pet. 3:9 and 15, and Rev. 10:6 and 7 teach that the reason for this
present age and the delay in Christ's second coming is that the salvation of
God's elect might be accomplished. It makes sense, then, that with the salvation
of the last of God's people and the finishing of this present age's redemptive
purpose that the closing events of this age should be events in which mankind is
given up to a spirit of deception. Thus, the apostasy and revelation of the man
of lawlessness can provide no warning to the unconverted that they should be
saved because they occur after the close of the day of salvation.
Fourth, it is tempting to say that the coming of the apostasy, the man of lawlessness, and the spirit of deception are part of the day of the Lord--the time of which is unknown. This position, however, contradicts the plain statement that these events come "first" (2 Thess. 2:3). It remains true, however, that these events are themselves incalculable and of unknown timing. No time-sign is given of their occurrence, and no time-sign could be given because such a sign would have effectively identified the period of Christ's second coming and contradicted Matt. 24:36. It may be, however, that (though these events are not to be identied as the day of the Lord or part of the day of the Lord) Paul might have included them in his own mind with "the times and epochs of the day of the Lord" (1 Thess. 5:1) which come as a thief in the night (1 Thess. 5:4) and about which Jesus told His disciples, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority" (Acts 1:7).
1.
Edgar C. Whisenant, 88 Reasons Why Christ Will Come in `88, (Whisenant, 1988), p. 3.2.
Harold Camping, 1994?, (Vantage Press, New York, 1992), p. 332)3.
Camping, pp. 525, 531.