In the third century A.D., a man named Hippolytus predicted the end of the world would come somewhere around the year 400.

He based this idea on a belief the world had been created 5,800 years before and that it would end 6,000 years after it had begun.

The year 400 came and went, and no apocalypse was to be found.

In the year 999, many Christians around Europe began to prepare for the end of the world, which was certain to happen on Jan. 1, 1,000. There were massive pilgrimages to Jerusalem because many believed this is where Jesus would come back.

The year 1,000 came and went and no apocalypse was to be found.

In the 1980s, Edgar Whisenant wrote a book titled “88 Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1988.” When the rapture did not occur in 1988, he wrote a second book called “89 Reasons Why the Rapture will be in 1989.” Apparently, Whisenant had to rethink his calculations.

He passed away in 2001 before seeing the rapture he so eagerly predicted.

Since the moment Jesus ascended into the clouds, Christians over have waited for His return. As they waited, many began to make predictions.

Some of these predictions were based on mathematical calculations. Many were formed by particular understandings of the book of Revelation.

Often, these predictions come with a ready-made antichrist, ripped right out of the pages of the daily headlines.

Yet every single one of these predictions over the span of thousands of years has this one thing in common: Not a single one of them has been correct.

We should remember this when we begin to hear that a certain earthquake here or a certain flood there, or the election of a certain person means that the end of the world is near.

If people over the past 2,000 years have been wrong, isn’t it at least possible that we may be wrong as well?

The fact is the book of Revelation was not written as a foretelling of the end of the world. It wasn’t written to give us clues; it was written to give us hope.

It shows us this world is broken but will soon be replaced by another world whole and complete.

When reading Revelation, we see the hope of the world is in kings, presidents, money and power, and that the hope of the next world is in a Lamb that was slain.

It is entirely possible the world will end before this article goes to print. It is also entirely possible the last days are still billions of years away.

Who can tell? Jesus told His disciples that even He didn’t know when that hour would be.

So we wait. And as we wait, we hope. And our hope causes us not to look to the clouds, but to our neighbor in need. It drives us to love.

This hope gives us a calm assurance that although the news of this world is tragic, the news of the other Kingdom, the one to which we really belong, is filled with jubilant expectation.