What We Believe About The End Times Series

Okay, here's the scenario. You are sixteen years old again. Whoohoo! And your parents tell you they are going out of town for a few weeks. Whoohoo!! The fridge is stocked and here's some spending money if you need anything. Whoohoo!!! BUT they have had cameras installed all over the house. Uh oh. And depending upon how you act while they are gone, you will be rewarded when they get home. So, what do you do? How do you act?

Do you go ahead and have that wild party, knowing you will get in trouble, but it'll be worth it? Or do you make your bed and do your homework and act like a normal human being hoping the reward will be worth it?

I ask these questions because that is very close to the actual scenario that we are all in right now. We live in a world where God is watching everything we do. He hears every conversation and even every thought. He sees what we do in the dark and in the light and one of these days, sometime very soon, Jesus is coming back and He will give us what we deserve. Does that scare you or delight you? It should do one or the other.

We have a lot to cover today so let's get right to it. Grab your Bibles and turn to the very last page. No, not the maps. The Book of Revelation chapter 22. It's the last chapter of the last book. You may have heard somebody say, "I've read the end of the book and it's gonna be ok." Well, here we are and they are right. But it's going to be more than okay if you are a true believer and follower of Jesus. If not, it is most definitely not going to be okay as we will read here as well.

The Book of Revelation is written by the Apostle John who was exiled to the island of Patmos as an old man for believing in Jesus. But here he is shown and told some amazing things by angels and by Jesus Himself about how the last days of this earth are going to be played out. He was told to write it all down and describe it the best he could and was given a blessing to pass along as well for all who read and study this amazing book.

If you have never read this before and never heard any of this before, it may sound like a crazy comic book that somebody made up after eating some bad pizza or something. But as you read it and study it you will see how it is all playing out right in front of our eyes and even more so in the crazy days we are living in now. So, buckle up and let's see what we believe about the end times as the Bible tells us.

Let's read Revelation 22:12-17 to start but we will be all over the place so keep your Bibles handy. We pick up with Jesus saying these words, "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. 16 "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star." 17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let the one who hears say, "Come!" Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life."

With this whole series about what we believe, the hardest part for me, by far, has been trying to explain what we believe in enough detail without blabbing on for three hours. That's hard to do when you try to explain what we believe about God or salvation or the church but when it comes to the end times, it's impossible. The Bible speaks a lot about what to expect in the last days and it is way more than, "When you die, if you are a good boy or girl, you will go to Heaven and wear a robe and strum a harp." That's not it at all.

But the first question we need to answer is, are we really living in the last days? And how do we know? Well, scripture tells us what to look for in the last days. If you were sixteen and your parents had been gone a couple of weeks and you heard the garage door opening, you would think, "You know, maybe I ought to start cleaning this place up." Right? Well, that's just about where we are in the history of the world.