As I write this, there is a considerable amount of hoopla being generated by the approaching deadline of the year 2012. For those of you who might not be aware of the significance of this date, I will take a moment to explain what the uproar is all about.

    The Mayans were an ancient race of people who had prepared a calendar that has astounded scientists and astronomers because of its accuracy. However, this calendar ends at the year 2012 which is fast approaching. According to the Mayans, this is the date that time will end, or there will be some major changes. The media and popular entertainment are viewing this event as a time of great upheaval and natural disasters on a scale unprecedented in human history, and it is not without some scientific evidence.

    On the exact date that the Mayan calendar ends which is December 21, 2012, there will be a rare planet alignment. No one actually knows what will happen when the sun aligns with the center of the visible Milky Way galaxy, because the last time this occurred was approximately twenty six thousand years ago. The fact that the dinosaurs’ mysterious disappearance from earth could have occurred around the same time is indicating to some that humans could share the same fate as those reptiles.

    Geologists have noted that the unusual gravitational pull from the unique planetary alignment could cause the earth’s core to respond shifting layers on its surface resulting in devastating earthquakes and setting off a chain reaction that could trigger volcanoes and tidal waves resulting in massive destruction of human life.

    Jesus spoke of a time of trouble unlike the world has ever seen which is referred to as the apocalypse or time of the end (Matthew 24:3, 21). The prophetic book of Revelation says that when the seventh angel sounds time shall be no more - (Revelation 10:6, 7). Is it referring to 2012?

    Some of the Christian leaders, my brothers in the faith, are shrugging 2012 off because of various reasons, some due to the fact that there are events recorded in the book of Revelation that have not occurred according to their, or their denomination’s interpretation of those events. Revelation is a collection of visions and dreams and it requires a certain amount of revelation from God in order to be able to understand it. Therefore many interpretations of the book that have been previously accepted could be in error. Events that have been thought not to have happened as yet could have already been fulfilled in principle. In other words, some interpretations may only represent a spiritual truth and not a literal event.

    We have to remember that Jesus was rejected by the Jews because He did not align with their preconceived concept of the Messiah, because they had misinterpreted the Scriptures concerning His arrival. We must be careful not to make the same error regarding Revelation and hold onto preconceived interpretations and miss an opportunity to prepare ourselves for what may lie ahead.

    I recently sought to explore a little bit of Mayan history to see if I might discover something that could shed some further light upon the accuracy of their end time predictions. One of the encyclopedias I studied explained the Mayan’s system of marking time. They began by counting forward from a fixed, hypothetical point and then marked the date in periods of time based on the number 20 and then counted in intervals of 1, 20, 360, 7200 – and 144,000 days.

    The number 144,000 jumped out at me like a rocket. To those of us familiar with the Bible, the number 144,000 is highly significant. It is the number used to designate the Lord’s remnant in Revelation, chapter seven.

    God knows the future and He foresaw the time when the world would be aware of the looming specter of the year 2012. Did He place a coded message within the text of the book of Revelation that would tie the number 144,000 with the Mayan prediction in order to confirm the year 2012 as a significant event in Biblical prophecy?

    I don’t know for sure, but what I do know is this - it is foolish to shrug off the significance of this event and not take advantage of the opportunities it presents to share the Gospel. If the church began to operate as if the world is going to end in 2012, how do you think it would affect they way we live and minister? Would we suddenly begin to encapsulate the zeal that possessed the first century church that lived and worked as if the Lord was going to return any minute? Is there anything wrong with that?

    We have been called to replace fear in the hearts of the people with faith. We have been given a great gift and can offer genuine hope in a time of uncertainty; and if we fail to respond to this world wide wake up call to repent before it is too late, whether through ignorance or complacency we will have missed a vital, and possibly once in a 26,000 year opportunity to reach the world for Jesus.

Copyright 2009 by H.D. Shively