“What Does the Bible Have to Say About the End Times?”
Matthew 24:1-9, 30-31, 36-44 & I Thessalonians 4:13-17
Today I want to begin a series with you entitled “Unwrapping Christianity.” Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at some of the most talked about topics in the church today, especially in conservative denominations. They’re topics that too many people avoid entirely out of fear. Fear that they’ll say the wrong thing. Fear that they may offend someone or that someone else may disagree with them.
Let me give this disclaimer before I begin: what you are about to hear is my opinion and I admit that what I will present to you today may in fact not be entirely accurate. However, I have done my best at coming to what I believe is an educated Biblical approach to the topic at hand.
With that said I want to begin this morning by asking the question “What Does the Bible Have to Say About the End Times?” I imagine if I were to grab a microphone and put you on the spot this morning I would get many different answers. Some of you would speak of the book of Revelation. Others would talk about the Old Testament book of Daniel. Still others would refer to Jesus’ references in the Gospels. But I have a hunch that none of you would claim to be experts in this area of study. Most of us have come to our own conclusions by piecing bits of information together from various sources, some Biblical and some not. This morning it is my goal to help you sort out some of that information, dispel some illusions you might have and get a general handle on what the Bible has to say about the end times.
I hope you’ll stick with me… because we’re going to dig very deep today very quickly and cover a lot of territory.
If you’re following along in your outlines you’ll see that I’ve put a heading entitled “The Great Plan of God.” If you’ve got a pencil or pen fill in the blanks with these words. THE MESSAGE OF THE ENTIRE BIBLE IS THAT GOD HAS BEEN WORKING THROUGH HISTORY TO REDEEM CREATION. (REPEAT)
You see if we’re going to talk about the end times we’ve got to understand why things must come to an end. Why can’t life just continue on this earth forever as it is? Why must there be a day when things come to an end?
One of the first stories that you and I ever learned in Sunday School was the story of Adam and Eve. They were created for the pleasure of God and put in the Garden of Eden to live. You know the story: they were given many privileges and only one thing they weren’t allowed to do. Do you remember what it was? (That’s right. They couldn’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.)
But as the story goes on Eve is tempted by the Serpent to take a bite and in turn convinces Adam to do so. The two are kicked out of the garden and the story of sin begins. The creation that God had made pure was no longer pure. And from that point on the Bible points to the fact that God desired to bring his creation back to himself so that he might once again have a relationship with us in the way that he created us to have. That plan is spelled out throughout both the Old and New Testaments until the Bible finally ends in the book of Revelation with a redeemed society dwelling on a new earth that has been purged of all evil, with God dwelling in the midst of his people. This is the goal of history; this is God’s great plan.
As you continue with your outline you’ll see that I’ve included two concepts. THIS AGE VS. THE AGE TO COME. Throughout Scripture the time in which we now live is referred to as this age while the time to come, specifically the time when God will fulfill his plan is the age to come. I’ve included several scripture references there for you to look up on your own which point to the contrast between the two ages. Let me just pick out one in particular to illustrate my point. Jesus uses this imagery quite frequently and in Matthew 12:32 he says, “Whoever speaks a word against the son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
If we believe that there is going to be a day when God will restore creation to his original plan, if we believe that there is an age to come when we will experience life as God intended it to be experienced, then (your next point in the outline is) ANTICIPATION is a natural result of such thought. We naturally are anticipating the day on which we will no longer have to suffer the devastating events of this life.
I’ll never forget one of my grandmother’s all time favorite songs before she died, “Some glad morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away. To a home on God’s celestial shore. I’ll fly away. I’ll fly away oh, glory, I’ll fly away. When I die, hallelujah by and by, I’ll fly away.” That’s become a theme of our faith. Believers have been looking forward to that day when things would be different.
And if you follow along in your outline and bear with me as a result of believing in an age to come and of anticipating that age people are always awaiting its arrival and looking for signs that the end of this age has come.
My son Josiah is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met, and he’s only three. He’d give you the shirt of his back if you asked. And he love’s to give gifts. Gary Smalley, a Christian author writes about the “five love languages” in which we communicate and show our love for each other. One of them is through giving gifts. My son is going to have to marry someone who enjoys receiving gifts. He wraps up everything in paper and gets so excited about giving me things. I can’t wait to see how much he enjoys Christmas this year. He’s already so excited about it coming. And he always wants to know when Christmas is coming. When it snows will it be Christmas, Dad? When it’s cold, will it be Christmas, then, Dad? Give me some kind of sign that Christmas is coming.
As believers we’re an awful lot like that. We want a sign that this new age that God will bring about is coming. And as a result “signs” of the end times became a part of scripture and prediction became a part of the life of the church. You find that even the New Testament authors believed that they were living in the end times. Take Paul for example in I Corinthians 15:51, he says, “We will not all die, but we will all be changed…” Paul believed that this age to come would be initiated while he was still alive.
Over the centuries the church has done a lot of predicting. Today radio programs and books abound that point to current events and claim that they are prophesied about in the Bible. I don’t have the time to even begin dealing with this topic this morning. But let me tell you this: prediction is nothing new. People have believed they’re living in the end times every since the beginning of the church.
So where does that leave us? What does the Bible Say About the End Times? I believe that there are three definitive signs that are given to us in the Bible. I’ve taken these from the words of Jesus, himself, in Matthew 24. The first sign is that there will be wars and other humanitarian catastrophes including famines and pestilences, and earthquakes.
Historians agree that the 20th century was unparalleled in the sale of its human misery created by other humans. Since the end of WWII the death toll in conflicts has topped some 23 million. It is estimated that there have been as many major earthquakes in the past 40 years as in the entire previous 2000 years of world history.
Experts believe that 38.6 million adults and 3.2 million children were living with HIV at the end of 2002, and during the year 5 million new people became infected with the virus.
The second sign of the end times that Jesus talks about is that the Church will undergo the worst persecution is has ever seen. Jesus predicts that we as disciples will be hated by all nations because of his name and in Revelation 7 those martyrs appear before the throne having washed their white robes in the blood of Jesus Christ.
Did you know that statistics tell us that of the 43 million Christians who have died for their faith in the past 2,000 years, over fifty percent of them were killed in the last century alone?
The third sign of the ends times is that a False Prophet will reign. Jesus refers to this prophet in Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation tells us that this false prophet will direct the worship of human beings to the Beast and that this False Prophet will combine the powers of religion and economics in order to control society in the interest of beast-worship.
One Christian leader claims that since 1900, over 1,100 people have claimed to be Christ. I’m not sure where he came up with the number 1,100. But there have been scores of people this century who claimed to be the Messiah including Jim Jones of the People’s Temple, Moses Guibbory, and David Koresh of the Branch Dividians. But according to the Scriptures there will be one who will fool the multitudes.
Let me ask you a question: with what I’ve just told you; with the signs I’ve just alluded to, how many of you believe that we do in fact live in the end times?
You’re not alone. In fact many churches believe that these are the end times. That we have greater proof now than we’ve ever had before. But we fail to understand is that we cannot see the bigger picture. People have been looking at these signs for the past 2000 years and believing that their generation would be the one to see the return of Christ.
Here’s the problem with too much focus on predicting the end times. The nature of the Return of Jesus Christ is one of surprise. Jesus tells us he’ll come like a thief in the night. No one will be able to predict it. In fact in Acts 1:6-7 he says, “I don’t even know the day.” Only the Father knows. I have a feeling that the return of Christ will be on a day that no one is expecting.
If you’ll flip your outline over let me quickly take you a little bit further.
We know that a new age is going to be initiated. The question now is what will happen to break it in, or to initiate it?
There are two things according to Jesus and Paul. The First is the Resurrection of the Dead. In Luke 20 Jesus refers to that resurrection and Paul speaks explicitly of it in I Corinthians. Those who have died in this life will be resurrected and given new bodies in the next. That will be the beginning of the new age.
And the second thing that will initiate this new age which will occur simultaneously with the resurrection is that Christ will return. He promised us throughout his lifetime that he would return in power and glory. In Matthew 23:39 he says, “You will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
OK… now we’ve talked about signs, about the futility of prediction because of the nature of the return, and about what will happen to initiate this new age, now it’s time for a quiz. I’m going to ask you two questions. And they’re easy, True or False. Take your pen and circle the correct answers. #1. The Rapture will be an event during which Christians are taken into the clouds mysteriously leaving behind those who did not believe. And #2 The Rapture will allow Christians an escape from the “tribulation” (persecution) about to come on this earth. By a show of hands how many said #1 was true? False? #2.. True? False?
Let me answer those questions for you now by moving on to the Legends of the Return: The First Legend is the RAPTURE. I don’t know about you but I grew up with this notion that one day I’d be walking along or driving my car and suddenly I would disappear along with all other Christians. I saw it in movies. I’ve read it in books. It’s fact, right? Or is it? As I began to do research in an attempt to discover more about this concept I discovered something fascinating. The word rapture is nowhere in the Bible. In fact the teaching did not appear in church history until the early part of the 1800’s. None of the early church fathers or writers taught this doctrine. So where did the idea come from?
Let me give you a piece of history: In March 1830 a woman in a church in London, England had a vision and prophesied that Christ would return and take true believers into heaven by translation. The movement with which the woman was connected soon went astray on many false doctrines. But this doctrine caught on and became one of the center pieces of the preaching of John Darby, George Muller, and Charles Schofield, very well known preachers both in their day and in history. Later on a book entitled “Jesus Is Coming” was written which summarized the teaching of the secret Rapture of the Church and was distributed free of charge to preachers and missionaries around the world. And so the creation of a new doctrine: the Rapture, or the easy escape of Christians.
Here’s where I believe this doctrine has gone wrong – the hope of the church is not a secret event, unseen by the world. The book of Titus talks about waiting for the manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ and II Thessalonians 1:7 says that the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. The texts are abundant. Jesus said in Matthew 24:30 that we will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Does that sound like a secret coming to you?
I believe that the second legend of the return then is the ESCAPE FROM PERSECUTION (OR AS SOME HAVE COME TO CALL IT PRE-TRIBULATION.) For some reason Western Christianity particularly has become afraid of suffering and in so doing has forgotten the Biblical teaching that the Church in her fundamental character is always a martyr church. Acts 14:22 tells us that it is through many persecutions that we must enter the Kingdom of God. And Revelations 15 tells us that true victory consists in conquering the beast by loyalty to Christ to death.
As we discovered earlier, more than half of all those killed for their faith have died in the last century alone. While the Church of the United States is comfortable people are dying every day for what they believe all over the world. I personally don’t see any indication of the doctrine that says we’re going to be able to be removed from this suffering while others go through it without us. I believe that the church has been called to stand up for what it believes even when it means persecution.
We’ve dealt with an awful lot today. We’ve dug deeply. I may have said some things that you don’t agree with or perhaps I’ve challenged you. My intent this today was not to scare you. Because I don’t believe we have a reason to be scared. We have a hope of an age to come when life will be all that it was meant to be. When according to Isaiah 65 where no more shall the sound of weeping be heard. No more shall there be an infant that lives but a few days or an old person who does not live out a lifetime.
As we close today I want to address the question “Do we live in the end times?” with another question: “Is the question ‘do we live in the end times’ important?” When we get hung up with prophesy and predicting the coming of Christ we fail to accomplish our mission on this earth: to make disciples of Jesus Christ. We’re to be reaching out and touching the lives of others with transforming power of Jesus Christ.
So what’s really important is not “do we live in the end times?” but “are we ready for the end times?”
As you leave today ask yourself these three questions: First of all, do you know Christ? I’m talking more than just knowledge. I’m talking about a relationship with Christ. A relationship where Christ is the center of your life.
Second, have you been transformed by Christ? Romans 12:2 tells us to not be conformed any longer to the patterns of this age but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. We’re called to be different because of our relationship with Christ. And when we are different, when we’ve been transformed then we can answer letter c with certainty: Are you prepared to Suffer for Christ? Are you prepared to give whatever you must give for your faith?
If in fact we do live in the end times are you prepared?
