In These Last Days

“Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.” [1]

Our world is changing before our eyes. Christians are often grieved as we witness the world blindly plunging toward ruin and dissipation. I don’t know that our world today is more corrupt than the world was during the days of the Weimar Republic, or during the days that described the French Revolution, or even as the world was during the days of the Roman Empire when the Apostle was incarcerated in the Mamertine Prison. Sin has always been regnant in our world, and it will only grow more virulent as we near the end of days.

Though I could wish it were otherwise, I am under no illusion that the inhabitants of this darkened world will take note of what I am seeking to say in this message today. However, I am fully aware that God’s Spirit does work in strange and powerful ways to speak to the hearts of fallen people. Therefore, I pray that perhaps someone will hear, and God’s Spirit will convict all such individuals by what is said. As the Lord does this, I am confident that each Christian will give thanks to our gracious Saviour that He has used this message to the praise of His glory. Nevertheless, I am now speaking to the people of God assembled in this place at this time. I am deeply concerned that you understand the times and that you therefore know how to respond in godly fashion to the challenges that you must face.

In an earlier encyclical, the Apostle to the Gentiles wrote, “Look carefully … how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ” [EPHESIANS 5:15-21].

The days are evil, and no doubt many of us would argue that this is truer now than when Paul wrote those words. Regardless of the times, we who name the Name of the Risen Saviour must take seriously the need to honour God through living in such a manner than He is revealed through our lives. Though we live in a world that increasingly rejects the natural order that was imposed by the will of the Creator, we who worship the Son of God must order our lives according to His revealed will. In this way, lost people about us will witness the grace of God through our lives. Though we live in a world that increasingly resorts to violence when people disagree, we Christians must be known as people who reveal the peace of God even in our conversation. Though we live in a world that is increasingly rebellious, we must be obedient to the will of our God. In short, we who follow Christ the Lord must not adopt the attitudes that mark this dying world. We must live so that His resurrection power is witnessed in our lives.

I don’t mean to insinuate that we who serve the Risen Lord of Glory must seek peace at any cost, or that we must acquiesce to every aberrant behaviour that seeks to be normalised. I do mean that we must not be pugnacious or deliberately combative when we are offended. It is enough for us to refuse to accept the evil about us as normal, refusing to commend wickedness as though it is somehow acceptable. And there is plenty to offend us as people who seek to honour the Risen Lord of Glory.

THESE ARE THE LAST DAYS — “Understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty” [2 TIMOTHY 3:1]. “Understand this…” What the Apostle is about to say is critical, so critical that he emphasises what he is about to say, stressing the necessity of understanding what he is about to say. Paul is effectively demanding that the reader pay careful attention; and of course, we who are followers of the Lord Christ will want to listen carefully to the Apostle’s words, making the appropriate application.