Morning. The sun rose in the same way it always does. The wind still rustled through the trees. I still woke up groggily, the day after the world’s end.
Sunday evening my wife and I went to an old watchtower on top of a tall hill in rural Missouri to watch the earth’s shadow overtake the super moon, which was supposed to signal the end of the world, according to some groups. I didn’t expect the world to end that night, but a piece of me couldn’t help but wonder.
There were many saying the end was near, with the loudest voice coming from a megachurch in Texas. Much of this perspective comes out of Joel 1:30-31, which says, “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”
But the time of the fourth blood moon has passed, and we’re all OK.
Predicting the world’s end isn’t new. Throughout civilization’s history philosophers, astronomers, theologians, and others looked for signs that hearkened the end of life as we know it. So far, from Nostradamus to Harold Camping, nearly everyone has been proven wrong.
I believe that Christ is coming again soon, and I heed the statement Paul makes in his first letter to the Thessalonians, saying, “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night (5:1-2).” I believe that what is said in the book of Daniel, the gospels, Revelation, and other books of the Old and New Testaments contain precisely what we need to live in expectation of Christ’s return.
When Jesus returns, all of us will be utterly surprised by how it happens. The Torah gave the Israelites all they needed to know about the first coming of Christ, but none of them were prepared. The only people who actually predicted the arrival of the Messiah weren’t even Jewish—they were wise gentiles from the East.
Therefore, I think there is a lesson to be learned from first century Israel. Jesus wasn’t the Messiah they looking for. He didn’t come when He would have been expected. And He certainly didn’t do the things they believed the Messiah was supposed to do.
Jesus surprised everyone, but then He pointed out that all the Scriptures foretold His coming. Today we can all look at the Old Testament next to the New Testament with hindsight thinking, how could they have missed Isaiah 53? How could they not predict what Jesus came to do? 
And just like it was for them, Jesus is going to surprise us again. All of creation and Scripture points to His second coming, but we won’t be able to predict it.
Jesus said, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father (Matthew 24:36).”
We are meant to live expectantly, longing for the return of Christ.
If we knew that Jesus would return in 10 years, how would that change the way we live the next 9? If we knew Jesus would return tomorrow, how would that change the way we live today? If we knew that Christ would return after we die, how would that change the way we live every day?
The point is, we don’t know and we won’t know. That’s the beauty and frustration of what has been written in Scripture about the world’s end. We aren’t supposed to look for cheap signs that only serve to sell a few thousand books. We are supposed to live in constant expectation of our coming savior who will soon arrive to redeem the earth.
Corum Hughes works on the production team for HAVEN Today and is the managing editor of the All About Jesus blog. His passions include running, biking, reading, watching movies, and seeking Jesus in places He is seldom sought. Corum lives with his wife in California.