The Kingdom Come

First, we must ask where this idea comes from? Is it just hype created by the movie "2012"? Ironically enough, released in 2009. I've reviewed other movies from a Christian perspective but I wanted to delve into this concept in a way more than just a film review.

Apocalyptic scenarios have been with us since mankind began to tell stories, but is the 2012 account different? Let's first get to the origin of the concept. As you may know, a Mesoamerican culture called the Mayans maintained a calendar, called the Haab which ends on December 20, 2012. But why? This requires more about the creation accounts of the Mayans. According to Mayan theology, the gods created three worlds before this present world. The previous world ended on August 10, 3114 BC, and the present world began on August 11, 3114 BC. This in itself causes issues, since for example, according to popular biblical accounts the present world was created on October 23, 4004 BC, or September 21 depending how the variances between the Julian and Gregorian calendars are calculated. (source - The Annals of the World, James Ussher, 1654-58) Ussher's calculations used to be published in the commentary sections of many Bible translations.

What I find interesting is how many people, even non-religious people are willing to give some validity to a possible end of the world in 2012, but I suspect most of those same people would give little or no validity to the possibility that the world was created in 3114 BC, or even almost a thousand years earlier in 4004 BC.

Back to the Mayan calendar and the creation and ending of the so-called fourth world, our present world. The idea that the Mayans were pointing to the end of the world in 2012 is more conjecture than anything else. Based, mostly on the notion that the third world ended at the same cycle using the complex long count system of the Mayan calendar, it was determined that if the cycle continues, then the present fourth world would end on December 20, 2012. However, there are Mayan inscriptions that speak of events thousands of years beyond December 20, 2012. So, again, it is merely speculation that the Mayans even believed in a December 20, 2012 end times. Rather, the Mayans, like many cultures including the biblical cultures often used the word "world" synonymously with the words, "age" or "cycle". Therefore it is plausible that the Mayans were not trying to convey an end of the world or planet but rather merely the changing of an age. Whether these age-cycles come and go without fanfare seems to be more psychological than theological, such as the recent millennial change from the 1900's to the 2000's.

As a Christian, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates 2012 to be of any significance. Though the Bible often speaks of "the end" as near we must understand the various contexts. There was the end of the Jewish age and there is the end of the cosmological world. Sometimes it is difficult to determine when the Bible is speaking of one or the other event, especially as the Bible often intertwines these events for literary function. The world as we know it could end tomorrow or go on for many thousands or millions of years. I know this may not be much comfort for people looking for an escape, but there is nothing in the Bible indicating when God will wrap up His cosmic plan, only that someday it will happen.

So, instead of worrying about the details, let us live life in the presence of Christ who is King even now, and in 2012 and beyond.