The Time Of The End Series

The Time of the End (Daniel 11:36 – 12:13)

Are you ready for the end of the world? If not, a company named Vivos can help you and your loved ones get ready. The Vivos website says, “Whether we want to believe it or not… we are on the cusp of an increase in number and magnitude of events that may, in the twinkling of an eye, change the world, as we know it.” Then they list a range of possible world-altering events, including Armageddon, plagues, a solar kill shot, a super volcanic eruption, major earth changes, killer asteroids or comets, a mega tsunami's, and an economic meltdown. They also talk about manmade threats, like a nuclear explosion, a reactor meltdown, biological or chemical disasters, terrorism, and widespread anarchy.

What is their solution? For a mere $35,000 a person, you can co-own an underground Vivos shelter in one of their airtight, fully self-contained, impervious complexes designed to survive any catastrophe. Their website advertizes:

“Our [complexes] comfortably accommodate community groups from 50 to 1,000 people, in spacious living quarters, outfitted and stocked for a minimum of 1 year of autonomous survival to ride out the potential events. Every detail has been considered and planned for. Members need to only arrive before their facility is locked down and secured from the chaos above.

The Vivos website warns that “millions will perish or worse yet, struggle to survive.” But they also boldly promise, “Vivos is your solution to ride out these catastrophes, so you may survive to be a part of the next Genesis!” (Douglas Rushkoff, Present Shock, Penguin Group, 2013, p. 245; Vivos website; www.PreachingToday.com)

I find it interesting that more and more people are talking about “the time of the end.” But I don’t think spending $35,000 for an underground shelter is the best way to prepare?”

So how do we prepare for the trouble ahead? The Bible is very clear: before Jesus comes things will get much worse before they get much better, so what do we do to get ready?

Well, as we come to the end of the book of Daniel, God gives us some good advice as to what to expect at “the time of the end” and how to prepare for it. So if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Daniel 11, Daniel 11, where Daniel’s heavenly visitor begins to describe “the time of the end.”

Daniel 11:35 Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time. (NIV)

Up until this point, Daniel’s heavenly visitor has talked about a Syrian Greek ruler dominating Israel, trying to wipe them off the face of the map. This was several hundred years later from Daniel’s perspective, but from our perspective, all this has already happened in the 2nd Century B.C. Now, Daniel’s heavenly visitor starts talking about “the time of the end.” He skips from a near event to a far off event, which is typical of biblical prophecy, and this is where things get really interesting. What is going to happen at “the time of the end?”

Daniel 11:36 “The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. (NIV)

This king is an end time king that the New Testament describes as the “antichrist” (1 John 2:18). He will rule the western world, a revived Roman Empire, during “the time of wrath,” which is to come at “the time of the end.”

Now, according to the Bible, there are seven years of tribulation coming before Jesus comes again to set up His Kingdom (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 6-18). Those seven years of tribulation are described as “the coming wrath” in 1 Thessalonians 1:10. It is a time when God pours out His wrath on a world that has turned against Him.

But praise God! 1 Thessalonians 5:9 says, “God did not appoint us to suffer [that] wrath.” In other words, God will remove all us believers from this world before “the time of wrath” begins. 1 Thessalonians 4, the previous chapter, describes an event called the rapture of the church, when we who know Jesus will be “caught up…to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Then and only then, after all the believers are gone, will this “king”, the antichrist, reveal himself (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8), and he will exalt himself above all gods.

Daniel 11:37 He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. (NIV)