RAPTURE TIMELINE You don't know the day. Don't postpone today.
Throughout history, people have predicted when the Rapture or end of the world would occur. Explore the dates they predicted, the reasoning behind them, and what happened when those dates passed.
Scripture
Nobody knows the day.
"But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only."
Every prediction on this site had to deal with that verse. Some argued they were calculating a year, not a day. Some argued the verse did not apply to them. Others did not mention it.
This site does not predict the Rapture and does not know when it will happen. What it can do is show what others predicted, how they reasoned, and what the record says about the dates that passed.
Mark 13:32 and Acts 1:7 repeat the point. The sentences that follow it in Matthew 24 do not say "so relax". They say "watch".
Historical record
Dates people have predicted
A selection from 21 documented entries. Each one links to the sources, the reasoning and what happened afterward.
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1843–1844
William Miller and the Millerites
William Miller and the return of Christ in 1843 to 1844
William Miller concluded from Daniel 8:14 that Christ would return around 1843. He later refined the window to the Jewish year from March 21, 1843 to March 21, 1844.
Well documented Outcome: Later reinterpreted
Read the full entry: William Miller and the return of Christ in 1843 to 1844 -
1914
Charles Taze Russell and the Watch Tower Society
The Watch Tower Society and the end of the Gentile Times in 1914
From 1889, Watch Tower publications taught that Bible chronology showed the "Gentile Times" would end in 1914, and early writing expected major changes to follow, including the end of existing governments.
Well documented Outcome: Later reinterpreted
Read the full entry: The Watch Tower Society and the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 -
1975
Watch Tower Society
Watch Tower expectations for 1975
A 1966 Watch Tower book calculated that 6,000 years of human history would end in 1975. The organization later said it had not made a firm prediction and that some members had read too much into the date.
Well documented Outcome: Later revised
Read the full entry: Watch Tower expectations for 1975 -
September 11–13, 1988
Edgar C. Whisenant
Edgar Whisenant and 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988
Edgar Whisenant's booklet 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 named Rosh Hashanah, September 11 to 13, 1988, as the date. Large numbers of copies were distributed, including to churches.
Well documented Outcome: Later revised
Read the full entry: Edgar Whisenant and 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 -
May 21, 2011
Harold Camping and Family Radio
Harold Camping and May 21, 2011
Harold Camping and Family Radio taught that the Rapture and Judgment Day would occur on May 21, 2011, followed by the end of the world on October 21, 2011. A national billboard and media campaign promoted the date.
Well documented Outcome: Later revised
Read the full entry: Harold Camping and May 21, 2011 -
September 23–24, 2025
Joshua Mhlakela
Joshua Mhlakela and the September 2025 Rapture claim
A South African preacher said that believers would be taken on September 23 or 24, 2025, around Rosh Hashanah. The claim spread widely on TikTok and other platforms.
Well documented Outcome: No matching event documented
Read the full entry: Joshua Mhlakela and the September 2025 Rapture claim -
Today
Nothing is drawn past this point.
No one knows what comes next, or when.
Patterns in the record
Why do people predict dates?
Across two thousand years the same few methods return. None has been confirmed by events, and each depends on a choice the text does not make.
- Biblical numerology
- Counting years, days or assigning symbolic meaning to numbers in Scripture.
- Prophetic interpretation
- Reading Daniel and Revelation as a timetable, often counting a prophetic day as a year.
- Calendar calculations
- Matching a Jewish feast such as Rosh Hashanah to a calculated year.
- Historical events
- Treating the founding of Israel in 1948, or a war, as a starting point for a clock.
- Contemporary events
- Reading eclipses, alignments or crises as signs.
- Religious movements
- Groups whose identity forms around a date, and has to adjust when it passes.
REFLECTION EXERCISE
What if it were today?
You don't know the day. You don't know the hour. So why keep postponing the change you've already been thinking about?
Private by design: what you write stays in your browser and is never sent to this site.
No one knows the day or hour.
There is no countdown here. This is not a prediction.
Featured entry
May 21, 2011
Harold Camping and May 21, 2011
Harold Camping and Family Radio taught that the Rapture and Judgment Day would occur on May 21, 2011, followed by the end of the world on October 21, 2011. A national billboard and media campaign promoted the date.
- Who
- Harold Camping and Family Radio
- Predicted date
- May 21, 2011
- Outcome
- Later revised
- Record
- Well documented
Latest research
- c. 500 Hippolytus of Rome expects the end around the year 500Updated Oct 1, 2026
- c. 1000 Apocalyptic expectations around the year 1000Updated Oct 1, 2026
- c. 1600 Martin Luther and a limit of about 1600Updated Oct 1, 2026
- 1843–1844 William Miller and the return of Christ in 1843 to 1844Updated Oct 1, 2026
- October 22, 1844 Samuel Snow, the seventh-month message and October 22, 1844Updated Oct 1, 2026
Scripture for reflection
"Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
Proverbs 27:1 says, "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." You do not need a date to know what you have been putting off.