Date-Setting Eschatology

Definition and Meaning

Date-setting eschatology (Korean sihanbu jongmallon, 時限附終末論) literally means an eschatology with a fixed deadline attached. The term refers to claims that calculate and announce a specific date or year for Christ's Second Coming, the Rapture (the event in which believers are said to be caught up into the air), or the end of the world.

Many denominations share belief in an "imminent return," the conviction that the Second Coming is near. Date-setting eschatology goes further by specifying the date, and the term is used to distinguish it from eschatology in general.

Biblical and Historical Background

Date-setters chiefly base their calculations on numbers found in apocalyptic literature such as Daniel and Revelation. Some have also linked the parable of the fig tree in Matthew 24:32–34 to the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

Opponents cite the following passages:

• Mark 13:32–33: "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man"
• Acts 1:7: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons"
• 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11: "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night"

In church history, the Millerite movement led by William Miller in nineteenth-century America is commonly cited as a leading example. The movement predicted that the Second Coming would take place in 1844; when it did not occur, the episode became known as the "Great Disappointment." The Seventh-day Adventist Church emerged from this movement, but the denomination has since maintained that it does not set a date for the Second Coming.

In the Korean Church

The term came into wide use in Korea through the 1992 Dami Mission incident. Lee Jang-rim, leader of the Dami Mission, claimed that the Rapture would occur on October 28, 1992. Some of his followers quit their jobs or left school, and some donated their property to the group. Before the predicted date, Lee was arrested on fraud charges, and he was subsequently convicted. Nothing happened on the predicted day, and the incident drew widespread public attention.

Around this time, the general assemblies of several denominations, including the Presbyterian Church of Korea (Tonghap), reportedly declared date-setting eschatology a heretical teaching or warned their members against it. Since then, date-setting eschatology has become a frequently used criterion in Korean church discussions of heresy designation.

Denominations differ in their eschatological frameworks. Some churches accept the dispensationalist understanding of the Rapture, while others interpret the millennium differently. Nevertheless, the major denominations—Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, and Full Gospel—are broadly united in rejecting any attempt to specify a date.