Smarter Than Jesus?

Red necked comedian Jeff Foxworthy host of the quiz show 'Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?' has  proven over and over again that, no, the average person is not smarter than a 5th grader. I don't know if you have ever watched the show, but if you have I am sure you have said to yourself, "How in the name of commonsense can anyone be so dumb!"

Truth of the matter, however, is that there are just a whole lot of dumb people out there. The dumbest I know, however, are those that come around ever so often who claim to have the inside scoop on when Christ will return. Someway, somehow, however, they have convinced themselves that they are smarter than Jesus. And, believe me, this is a phenomenon that has been around a long time.

Dennis Fisher, a columnist for Daily Bread writes:

To many Londoners, 1666 looked like the year when Jesus would return. Prophecy enthusiasts had added 1,000 years since Christ's birth to 666, the number of Antichrist, to arrive at the date 1666.

The world did seem to be on the verge of destruction when in 1665 a plague claimed the lives of 100,000 people in London. The in September 1666,a London fire destroyed tens of thousands of buildings. Some wondered ,Didn't the Bible predict catastrophes at the end of the world? (see Matt. 24:1-8).Yet the year 1666 passed and life went on seemingly as it had before.

Even in our own day, there are those who have predicted the end of the world. A date is predicted, the media covers the frenzy, then that day passes uneventfully.


In God's wisdom, the actual time of Christ's return has been kept from us. Jesus said. "Of that day and that hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matt. 24:36).

So, it seems to me that our wisest course of action in all of this is to simply "watch and pray for no one knows the day or the hour, not even Jesus!" It would seem, therefore a little ridiculous for us or anyone else to predict exactly when Christ is coming; however, the signs of the season are here.