Depending on when your monthly Searchlight arrives, the Mayan calendar deadline for the end of the world has either come and gone, or else it is looming in the imminent future. All the hoopla that surrounded this gloomy prediction got me to wondering if there might not be some way that Christians could capitalize on yet another failed non-Biblical prophetic expectation. After all, last year when the Rapture failed to take place on the date designated by a popular radio Bible teacher, God’s people were able to take advantage of this by pointing out that, when it comes to the Second Coming of Christ, the Bible says that “of that day and hour knoweth no man” (Matt. 24:36). Those that knew the difference between the Rapture and the Second Coming were also able to point out that the date of the former is just as unsearchable in Scripture as that of the latter. Surely there has to be a way to similarly benefit from the failure of the Mayan calendar disaster as well.
I wonder if what we are looking for might be found in Isaiah 41:21-24. There, God Almighty thunders forth a challenge to all the false gods of the nations, daring them to “produce your cause,” that is, to produce “strong reasons” why anyone should believe they are God. If you are wondering what kind of reasons He had in mind, the Lord went on to say, “let them bring them forth, and shew us what shall happen…
“Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods….”
This challenge went unanswered in Isaiah’s day, of course, for only the God of the Bible knows the future, something He has proved over and over again in Scripture, and something that the failed predictions of others serve to magnify.
With all this in mind, why not put together a short mental list of fulfilled Bible prophecies, and mark Isaiah 41 in your Bible? That way when the subject of the Mayan calendar comes up the day after the December 21st deadline (as you know it will!), you can capitalize on the biggest non-story of the year by reminding people that the challenge of Isaiah 41 has still gone unanswered, and that the God of the Bible is still the only God worthy of worship. Let’s determine to be ready to offer “a word in season” (Isa. 50:4) to all who are disillusioned by the gods of the nations, and are in desperate need of the God who sent His Son to die for their sins.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.