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“Will the World End in 2012?”
You’ll likely hear some buzz over the next few years about the world coming to an end in the year 2012. This idea is taken from ancient Mayan prophecy, and as the days draw closer to that year, the hype and fanaticism will continue to grow. Google “2012” and you’ll be immersed in more pop-culture than you can handle! In addition to numerous websites, blogs, books, and television shows already revolving around 2012, a big-budget movie will be released in a few months depicting the supposed events of this predicted date. The trailer for the movie shows hurricanes, tornados, and other disasters occurring around the globe and bringing cataclysmic destruction to everything we know.
While men have failed a number of times to predict the end of the world, this 2012 prediction has been around for quite some time, is gaining a significant amount of interest, and will supposedly occur in our generation. For those reasons, we need to examine these claims in light of the simple Bible truths concerning the end of the world.
This date is a prediction of men who are subject to error.
According to the website www.survive2012.com, “The Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans ends on December 21, 2012. There isn't much information regarding what the Mayans thought would occur in 2012, but the consensus of opinion is that there will be great change. To some people this means a positive, spiritual change. Others, like myself, consider that a catastrophic event may have been predicted.” As you can see, the 2012 destruction theory revolves around speculation more than fact. The entire theory that the world will end in 2012 comes from the fact that the ancient Mayan calendar ends on that year; Since the Mayans stopped their calendar on December 21, 2012, then some suspect they were trying to tell us that the world will end on that day.
God has in no uncertain terms revealed to us the potential for error in the way we think, what we say, and what we deem to be true. His word is the only standard for truth, and anything else, including our whims and theories, is subject to error and open to skepticism. The Lord says in Isaiah 55:9, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts”. Only as God reveals His will to us may we know for sure what is true and right. While God has chosen prophets and messengers throughout time to reveal His word, the Mayan prophecies and interpretations come not through Godly inspiration, but through human observance and speculation; therefore they are subject to error and should not be considered truth.
The Bible never mentions this date.
Bible numerology has grown in popularity over the past several years. Many books and websites have been devoted to seeking hidden prophecy or a “Bible Code” specifically in the Hebrew text of the Torah. The 2012 prophecy is of particular interest to these people as the date has matching numbers: December 12, 2012 can be written 12/12/12! Although there are many who try to find this Mayan date hidden somewhere in the text of Bible, it never openly occurs or is explicitly mentioned. A person looking for a set of numbers hidden in the text of scripture will probably be able to extract them from somewhere, but it’s not because God put them there to be found!
Peter warned us about “untaught and unstable people” who will “twist to their own destruction” God’s word (2 Pet. 3:16). There are no better words to describe those who dig at the text of scripture seeking to find a date for the end of the world. God did not intend for us to decode some message in order to know the truth about Him and His Son; what He wants us to know, He has revealed to us explicitly in open truths and examples. Any attempts to find some decoded message or hidden numbers in the Bible text is a misuse of scripture and a misrepresentation of God!
Jesus explicitly stated that no one knows the day the world will end.
The New Testament is ripe with the truth that we cannot know or predict the end of the world. Jesus, along with Peter and Paul, compares His second coming to a thief entering a house (Matt. 24:43; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10), implying that it will be sudden and unpredictable. Jesus said of His second coming in Matt. 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only”, and again in verse 42, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming”. If we believe Jesus and the other inspired writers of the New Testament, we cannot come to the conclusion that any man can predict or know the day the world will end!
The more speculation and hype that arises around the 2012 date, the more that God’s unfailing and unfaltering word shines through! If the world does end in 2012, it will end because the Father has chosen that time to destroy the earth; not because the Mayan calendar predicted it. Whenever that day comes, we better be watching and waiting! Peter tells us that on that day, “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?” (2 Pet. 3:10-11). There is a time coming when God will destroy everything we know here on earth, and we will have to answer for how we have conducted our lives! Are you ready for that day, no matter when it may occur? Are you prepared to stand before the Lord in judgment? If not, make your life right today, because Jesus could come this very hour!
The Lord says in Hosea 4:6, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge” – Let’s not be numbered with those folks! If you get caught up in the hype about 2012, just remember that this is not the first time someone said the end of the world was coming on a certain day; It happens all the time, and we’re all still here. Visit http://www.bible.ca/pre-date-setters.htm for a long list of end-of-the-world predictions, and you’ll see how common this really is.
