Author’s Note: As a premillennial dispensationalist, I’m a bit of an enigma to my biblically conservative brethren. It tends to follow that if you are a believer in the doctrines of grace and in cessationism, you will likely be amillennial in your eschatology. However, there are still many of us who hold to a premillennial view and even believe in (gasp) a literal rapture of the church. The following article is not meant for those who hold to an alternate eschatological view. Nor is it an invitation to start an eschatology debate. There are proper places and forums for those discussions to occur. This is not to say if you disagree with my eschatology that you are not welcome here. You most certainly are. However, it is to say that I want to address an issue specifically that affects my premillennial brethren and do not want to obfuscate the issue with an unnecessary argument. Much thanks for your cooperation in advance.

As I type this article, it is August 21, 2017, and the first full solar eclipse in several decades has come and gone. Much to the dismay of many “end of the world” websites, nothing happened. Seriously, nothing. The eclipse came and went. Many families and schoolchildren got to experience the remarkable precision of God’s handiwork in the heavens. Some places in the United States experienced a darkening of the skies as the moon cast its shadow while passing before the sun. People wore specially made glasses that let them stare at the eclipse without burning their retinas to a cinder. But that was it. Nothing significant happened. The world did not end. World War III did not begin. The Middle East did not invade Israel and the Messiah did not return for His church. Just another celestial event occurred that allowed us to give glory to God for His marvelous handiwork.

Why do I make a point of this? Simply because, for as long as I can remember, there are those within the premillennial camp who seem to look for just about any event that they can point to that says Jesus is coming back. Not soon, or quickly, as in a biblical sense. But as in, tomorrow. No seriously, I mean tomorrow. As though we can pinpoint a day or hour that it is happening. That somehow there is a message in these events that we can discern the exact point of His return. All we need is the right Lucky Charms decoder ring and a little luck, and we can get this thing figured out. Oh, and that admonition that Christ gave us, that no one knows the day or the hour (Matt. 24-36)? That just means we have to figure out the correct Bible code first. Until then, we won’t really know.

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