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September 15, 2013 |
| Is This The End? | ||
A recent survey of Christians revealed that the vast majority believe we are at the end of the end-time period. It's certainly hard to argue against the idea that something is going on. Just in the past year or two there have been marked changes in society, and there have been disasters, both environmental and man-made, occurring like they haven't before. So the question has to come: Is this the end?
In this lesson we'll look at why people think this may be the end
From the New Testament perspective the end-times began with Jesus. It is described using the metaphor of a pregnant woman. As a pregnancy continues there are good days and bad days. Eventually the baby can be felt kicking. But there comes a time when the contractions start. The first of these is a sign that the time is near. Suddenly the contractions become more common and more intense and soon the baby is born.
This metaphor informs us that the end-times period will initially seem like an ordinary time. But like giving birth, 9 months of preparing suddenly give way to a day or maybe a few days of turmoil and havoc and pain and then it is over.
In speaking of the time leading up to the end of the end-times, Jesus said In Matthew 24:6.
6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
There have been wars and rumors of wars from the beginning of time. Just in the history of this country we can trace wars back through Vietnam, World War II, World War I, Civil War, and the War of Independence. And there have been many wars we were not involved in and many more before this country existed. So wars do not appear to be a useful indicator that the end is near, and Jesus says as much – "the end is still to come".
Jesus also mentions famines and earthquakes as being a sign of "the beginning of birth pains." But we have had earthquakes ever since Jesus time. Yes, we have recently had an unusually large earthquake off Japan but it is not the largest. Here is a list of earthquakes that have happened in the last 15 years that fall within the top 15 largest earthquakes recorded, listed by date.1
|
Order |
Location |
Date |
Magnitude |
|---|---|---|---|
|
11th |
2012 04 11 |
8.6 |
|
|
4th |
2011 03 11 |
9.0 |
|
|
6th |
2010 02 27 |
8.8 |
|
|
13th |
2007 09 12 |
8.5 |
|
|
9th |
2005 03 28 |
8.6 |
|
|
3rd |
2004 12 26 |
9.1 |
But still it seems odd that 6 of the 15 largest earthquakes ever measured have happened in the last 15 years. That's almost half of the 15 largest earthquakes.
The birth pains model would lead us to expect a marked increase in earthquakes, in the number, severity, or both. The earthquake data above can be used to make the case for severity.
Jesus also warned us against something else in Matthew 24:4
4 Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' and will deceive many.
To Americans, and especially Texans, the best known case of a false Messiah is David Koresh. But there are currently 4 people living in other countries who claim to be the Messiah.
This problem of false Messiahs is so important that Jesus refers to it 3 times in this passage from Matthew 24. We saw it above in verse 4. It also shows up in verse 11, and also in verses 23 and 24 below.
23 At that time if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Messiah!' or, 'There he is!' do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time. 26 "So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the wilderness,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
People have been claiming to be the Messiah since the Apostles time. Paul refers to this in 2 Thessalonians 2:1 where someone claiming to be speaking for the Apostles has spread a teaching that Jesus has already returned.
1 Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us - whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter - asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.
But we know from other books of the Bible that there is at least one more who will come and claim to be the Messiah – the Anti-Christ.
Most recently a lot of people have started looking at what is going on in Syria. Damascus, the capital city of Syria, appears in the end-time and not in a good way. Damascus is first mentioned in the earliest parts of the Old Testament and has been populated continuously ever since. Yet Isaiah and other prophets prophesy its destruction.
Isaiah 17 is a prophecy against Damascus. It ends like this
14 In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who plunder us.
The looting and plundering part seem to link them and this disaster to the event described in Ezekiel 38 and 39.
There are also verses from Jeremiah 49:23-27 that prophesy against Damascus. Here is one verse from that passage
26 Surely, her young men will fall in the streets; all her soldiers will be silenced in that day," declares the Lord Almighty.
Together all these verses paint a picture of the destruction and de-habitation of Damascus. So with Syria the focus of world events right now and with Syria being aligned with many of the nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39, people are wondering if the time has come for these prophesies to be fulfilled.
Looking at the evidence we can say that it is tantalizing but there is certainly nothing that approaches proof that the end is near. Yet many Christians can feel that something is different, that something is wrong. There have certainly been various groups of Christians at various times who have falsely been expecting the Messiah to come on some particular date. But I do not know of another time in Christianity when so many Christians have believed that the end is near.
We see society not just turning away from Christianity but beginning to attack Christians. Atheism is on the move and growing. Homosexuality has become a right that trumps Freedom of Religion. Just recently Christians have been fined and forced to close their businesses because they won't support homosexual marriage. "The most high profile case involves the seven-year legal battle of a New Mexico wedding photography business that was fined in excess of $6,000 for refusing to shoot a gay commitment ceremony. State and local authorities have also threatened or fined an inn in Vermont, a printer in Kentucky, a florist in Washington State, and a bakery in Oregon for declining to provide their services in gay weddings and commitment ceremonies."2
Persecution of Christians, especially in Muslim countries, has increased very recently. And general turmoil in that region has also increased recently.
Paul also describes people of the end-times
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
We can certainly say that this is a description of the world right now. But Paul is probably talking about the people in the church. Even so, we can see that this is true in many cases.
It could be that we are just passing through a tumultuous time and things will settle down again. But if these are indeed the birth pains spoken of then Matthew 24:9 tells us what to expect. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus says:
9 "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.
We can expect Jesus' words to be true. Persecution of Christians will increase like we have never seen it. It could possibly be worse than the Roman persecution when it was illegal to be a Christian and Christians were fed to wild animals or they were burned alive and used to light the streets at night.
Christians will be excluded from society and from the economy. As Jesus said, "You will be hated by all nations". He also says some will be put to death. Revelation 6 also mentions this
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
Luke 21 also includes these words from Jesus but he says it a little differently
16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish.
In short, this will be a tough time to be a Christian and many will die.
If we are near to the end of the end-times, what is a Christian to do? The answer comes from the Bible in many many places – be ready, be watching. We do that by
In other words we should be doing the things that we should be doing anyway
The verses we've been studying from Matthew 24 and Luke 21 (Mark 13 has the same) tell of the terrible things that will come but they are also sprinkled with words of encouragement and hope. Here are those words
1 http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/world/10_largest_world.php
2 The Weekly Standard, "Unrehabilitated Bakers", September 16, 2013