The Clock That Can’t Go Backward (Matthew 24:36)

We turned our clocks back an hour this week. I always look forward to that extra hour of sleep. It got me thinking about another clock I hadn’t heard about in years. The last time I’d paid attention to the Doomsday Clock, we were a few minutes from midnight. So I looked it up. Eighty-five seconds to midnight. I wondered what would have to happen for that clock to go backward.

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists introduced the clock in 1947, at the dawn of the nuclear age. Midnight represents a global catastrophe we could bring on ourselves. The seconds are symbolic. They tell us how urgent the experts judge the danger to be compared with previous years. In 1991, after the United States and the Soviet Union signed a nuclear arms reduction treaty, the Bulletin moved the hands back to 17 minutes before midnight. The warning is meant to get people to act while their decisions can still make a difference. 

God’s clock can’t go backward. I can’t see how much time remains before Jesus Christ returns, but the countdown is real. Every day brings us closer.

But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Matthew 24:36 (ESV)

Jesus spoke of wars, famines, and earthquakes. I can see why people read Matthew 24 and think of what’s happening in the world. When Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of wars, He also said, “the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6, ESV). I can spend all evening reading the news and still have no idea how much time I have.

Later in the chapter, Jesus tells of a servant who says to himself, “My master is delayed.” He goes on to mistreat the people his master put in his care. The faithful servant has no idea when the master will come home either. He knows when the household needs to eat.

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes.
Matthew 24:46 (ESV)

I was glad for the extra sleep this week. But turning back the clock didn’t give me another hour before Jesus returns. If He came tonight, I’d wish I’d told more people why I trust Him. I can tell a friend what I did at church on Sunday and still never tell him why I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose again. I keep waiting for a better time to bring it up. What if the time I’ve been waiting for is the next time we talk?

Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.

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