December 21st, 2012: The End Of The World?

I'm pretty certain all of my readers are familiar with the notion that the world as we know it is gonna come to an end on Friday, December 21st, 2012.  Apparently a lot of people believe that the world actually is gonna end.  You'd think most people these days would be a little more wary and skeptical of end-of-the-world predictions, based on humanity's current track-record on the subject.

As Christians, we should all know what God has to say on the subject.  And what do you know, God already has said plenty on the subject of when and how the world is going to end!  It's all in God's word, the Bible.

Matthew 24 is a good place to look. In verse three, Jesus' disciples say: "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”  Jesus goes on to describe the signs of His second coming and the end of the world.  Then He talks about 'The Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15-28), then He goes on to discuss His Second coming (Matthew 24:29-31), and then, finally, the part I want to focus on, verses 36-39.  Jesus says: 

"But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.  But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."

We see that nobody except God the Father knows exactly when the world will end.  Heavy emphasis on nobody.

So, will the world end on the 21st?
The answer: We don't know.  Only the Father knows.  Certainly, the world could end on the 21st, but we don't know if it will.  For all we know, it could end right now... or 500,000 years from now.

So I don't need to worry about the world ending on the 21st?
Yes, you do, actually.  You have to worry about it every day, unless you're ready.  Further on in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus says:

"Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

So here's what I want the reader to take away from this post:
The world could end on any day, we just don't know (and we can't know).  Because of this, we must always be ready for the end to come.

So the question is: Are you ready?