Breaking News: “Sudan’s civil war rages despite U.S. peace push, as explosions heard near capital.”
This Just In: “Israel offers glimpse inside Gaza, where destruction and uncertainty linger.”
New this Hour: “Zelenskyy and his European backers plot steps to up pressure on Putin.”
In the twenty-fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew Jesus’ disciples ask him, “What will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? When will this be?”
In response Jesus says, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars…there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.”
Given these recent news headlines from the last few weeks about the state of the various wars going on in our world, one cannot help but wonder are these the signs of the end of the world as we know it that Jesus spoke of?
We as a human species have always been fixated on trying to know and predict when the end of the world would occur.
In the twelfth Century, Italian theologian Joachim of Fiore predicted that a new spiritual age, that is the coming of the kingdom of God, would begin sometime between the years 1200 and 1260.
In 1655 a radical Christian group known as the 5th Monarchists predicted the final apocalyptic battle and the destruction of the AntiChrist would occur between 1655 and 1657.
Christopher Columbus predicted the world would end in 1656; when that didn’t happen, he changed it to 1658 stating that this would have been the 7000th year of the earth and thus it would come to an end.
In more modern times, who here could forget the Y2K scare where it was believed that the world’s computer systems would come crashing down when the calendar turned the millennium.
And oh, of course there was the major Mayan Calendar prediction that saw the world ending in 2012.
Just recently, this past September and October, there was a notion spreading wildly on the internet that believed the rapture would happen during the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.
The next prediction states that the world will end when an asteroid collides with Earth sometime in 2026.
Throughout human history there have been prediction after prediction about the end of the world, and as we have experienced time and time again, each one comes and goes and we are all still here.
But what if the time is now?
What if, with all these wars going on, all these calamities our world has been enduring, what if this is the beginning of the end?
Back in 1945 there was a group of scientists, including Einstein and Oppenheimer, that worked on the Manhattan Project which developed the Atomic Bomb, who developed an advisory bulletin that aimed to convey threats to humanity and the planet; something they called the Doomsday Clock.
Here in 2025 this clock has moved from 90 seconds to midnight, that is what could be called the apocalypse or the end of the world, to 89 seconds; indicating of course that we are getting closer to that point.
There is the ever present current risk of nuclear catastrophe due to wars such as the ones in the Ukraine and the Middle East.
There is climate change like the rising of sea-levels and global surface temperature.
In recent years we have seen a rise in emerging and re-emerging diseases.
And of course there is a new threat stemming from technological advancements that make the world more dangerous; for instance the ability for AI to access military weapons targeting systems.
With all this in mind, it is no wonder there are so many predictions that indicate this could very well be the end of the world as we know it.
But as we have already seen, Jesus, and the wider scope of the Scriptures, speak to this directly.
In our Scripture lesson from 2 Thessalonians this morning we find that the Apostle Paul even had something to say on this matter.
“As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ … that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed.”
When talking about the end of the world as we know it, these were the words the Apostle Paul wrote to the faithful Christian believers in Thessalonica, what is now the 2nd largest city in modern day Greece.
It seems they too had been getting caught up in the idea that the end of the world was upon them.
Perhaps it was due to the belief that there would be a Jewish uprising against the Roman Empire that would be considered the final end-time battle which would bring about the arrival of the Messiah.
I picture here the popular Hollywood troupe where someone is carrying a sign throughout the streets of Thessalonica that reads “THE END IS HERE”
Like Jesus before him, Paul spells out certain events that must take place for this to actually be the end of the world as we know it – the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
From there though, Paul moves into a message of hope, thanksgiving, and comfort.
It is as if Paul is telling them that even if it is the end of the world as we know it, so what?
God has chosen them, and all believers in the truth of God, as the first fruits of salvation.
And in the sure and certain hope of this salvation there is eternal comfort and good hope.
Even in the midst of what seems like the end of the world.
People of God, with every passing year we too can’t help ourselves but wonder if the beginning of the end is finally upon us.
With the wars raging all over the world, especially in the Ukraine and the Middle East; all of them carrying the potential of escalating into a nuclear even –
With a seemingly rising frequency of natural disasters –
With world leaders setting themselves on high pedestals as if they are greater that even God –
With the combination of all these things, maybe the Doomsday Clock is right.
Maybe we are on the precipice of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And if that is the case, it is only natural for us to be on edge – for us to be nervous.
However, the message Paul had for the church in Thessalonica, the message Jesus had for his disciples, is the same message God has for us.
In the sure and certain hope of the resurrection of salvation we have eternal comfort and good hope knowing we belong to God, and no matter what happens to this world, there is and will be a new world God has created for us in eternity.
With the state of the world around us this hope we have in God helps us exclaim in the words of the 1987 song from the music group R.E.M.:
“It’s the end of the world as we know it – and I feel fine.”
