No. 24. >> Following up, let me ask another question: What is wrong with attempts by Jehovah's Witnesses to calculate events of the end times? Instinctively I dislike the concept. But I'm not certain why I find it so repugnant. >>DR. THOMAS E. MANTEUFEL: We'll start with an explanation of that date, 1914, which the Jehovah's Witnesses set as the time for the setting up of Christ's kingdom. And they have that as a calculation that they make from Daniel 4:16, which describes the madness of King Nebuchadnezzar saying: Let his heart be changed from man's and let a beast's heart be given to him and let seven times pass over him. In using this text, they make a number of claims that Nebuchadnezzar's madness described here was the period of domination of the Gentiles over Israel. That is it foreshadowed that symbolically. That the seven times mentioned here are seven years. That these seven years are actually years of 360 days each so that it really is referring to a period of 2520 days. That these days in turn stand for years so that it refers to a period of 2520 years of Gentile domination. And that 607 BC was the beginning of the Gentile domination over Israel. So applying all of these claims, they come up with this calculation. 607 BC plus 2520 years brings us to the year 1913. And therefore, the time of October 1913 to October 1914 was the year of the beginning of Messiah's kingdom. So they say. And they have held to that up to the present time. Other calculations of dates have been made by the Jehovah's Witnesses and by various other groups. And have resulted in many disappointments and embarrassments and contradictions with what other date setters have done. Sometimes with the very same texts. For example, William Miller started the 19th Century Adventist Movement by setting 1844 as the year of Christ's Second Advent. And he did this on the basis of the passage in Daniel 8:14. When this didn't happen in 1844, that is the second come of Christ, he admitted that he was wrong. But some of his followers claimed that the date was correct. But the significance of it was wrongly stated by him. And it was said by them that this date really refers to the beginning of Christ's work as judge. And these people then became the Seventh Day Adventists. And they hold this interpretation to the present time. The Seventh Day Adventists also used Daniel 12:11, a passage that mentions 1290 days to figure the date of 1798, which they say refers to Napoleon's humiliation of the Pope. Jehovah's Witnesses calculate 1922 by using that very same passage of Daniel 12:22, which they say is a prophesy about an important Jehovah's Witness convention. And so it goes among the date setters. Dispensationalists do not usually set dates. But some of them do. A few years ago a tract was circulating which was entitled "88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be In 1988." Now, there is a very excellent reason why 1988 cannot be the date of the rapture. Now, your instinct is absolutely correct in finding all of this repugnant. And I would like to conclude with some comments about date setting speculations. First of all, the results are bound to be uncertain. As we have illustrated with certain examples by comparing the calculations of the -- of various groups and the like. Second, Matthew 24:36 is an important passage here. That's where Jesus speaks about his second coming by saying: Of that day and that hour no one knows. Not even the angels of heaven. But only my Father, who is in heaven. And that should discourage Christians from making any calculations concerning the Second Advent of Christ or other eschatological events. Third, the Seventh Day Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses and other groups really are using this date setting to serve the theological doctrines and claims which they make. The Seventh Day Adventists use Daniel to ground their peculiar doctrines of Christ's work in his last judgement. They are showing thereby that their message and their work was really foretold in Scripture. The Jehovah's Witnesses use Daniel to get proof and confirmation of their claims about the kingdom of Christ and the rightness of their propaganda. The special manifestation of Christ's kingdom began in 1914 they say. And in order to participate in the benefits of it, one must accept the Jehovah's Witness teaching either in this life or in the millennium. And according to Jehovah's Witnesses and their dates, one must give up the hope of a return of Christ, which is yet to come. Because he has come invisibly in 1914. This also commits men to a denial of the physical resurrection of Christ. That is he came in 1914. But there was no body to be seen. Because he has no body. Fourth, the Lutherans leave the interpretation of time periods and the various Bible passages as open questions about which we cannot get certain results. We should, instead, focus our attention and our faith upon clear assertions of the Word of God about Christ's work and second coming and last judgement. The figures given in these passages may be imagery or they may refer to certain days in biblical times or they may refer to time periods ending in early church history. Or in the Middle Ages. Or perhaps, later in history. The real importance of these passages using numbers in the Bible is that God has measured the times and the durations of all events. And that nothing happens which is out of his control. And there is great comfort in knowing this truth. And then beyond that, it's not wise or safe to go. When we enter into the life to come, then no doubt, we will get more and better information about these passages and their meaning.