Is This the
End?
by Pastor Mike Stine
We’ve
made it into the year 2000 without mishap.
There was no Y2K bug and everything is running
pretty well. It
turns out that all the doomsday prophets were wrong
about the world ending in the year 1999, or 2000 for
that matter. They shouldn’t have been making the predictions anyway.
The Bible clearly states that the day and the
hour of Christ's return are unknown.
In Mark 13:32 states that "No one knows
about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven,
nor the son, but only the father."
How foolish it is for anyone to say they know
when Christ will return and the end of the age will
occur when even Christ didn't know the time.
But
are there signs that Christ’s return is imminent?
The Bible clearly lays out a diagram of events
that shows the events that will occur around the time
of Christ’s return.
So fasten your seatbelts, we may all be in for
a bumpy ride coming up pretty quickly.
Despite
the fact that no one knows when Christ will return, he
gave us signs of when he will return.
Such signs are very apparent in today's world
and have caused many Christian leaders to expect
Christ to return soon.
How soon, none of us know.
We know that the signs are all about us though.
In Thessalonians 5 Paul writes "Now
brothers, about times and dates we do not need to
write to you, for you know very well that the day of
the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying 'Peace and safety'
destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains
on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." If there has ever been a cry for peace and safety, it is
certainly now.
In
Matthew 24 Jesus gives a very straightforward
description of what the signs surrounding his return
would be. Verses
4-8 predict that many would come claiming to be he and
would deceive many people. We will hear of wars and rumors of wars.
Today, at any given time there are around 40
wars going on in the world.
Nation will rise against nation actually was
written that ethnos would rise against ethnos.
Today we so often hear of Ethnic wars and
"ethnic cleansing" and so much more of it
isn't covered by the news networks.
Jesus said that there will be famines and
earthquakes in various places.
Millions of people are starving over the world
today while over 14000 earthquakes rock us each year.
Just thirty years ago, there were less than 1200
earthquakes a year.
"All these are the beginnings of birth
pains." Jesus states, “the beginning of the
end.”
Verses
9-13 say that Christians will be handed over to be
persecuted and put to death. In America it may be hard to picture this kind of persecution
happening but it is incredible in many countries. Over 400 Christians are killed for their faith EVERY
DAY around the world.
In China it means death if you are found to be
a Christian. In
many Middle Eastern countries Christians are tortured and
put to death for their faith.
It is possible that America was the last
"Christian" nation, but that time has
passed. While
the United States continues to send out missionaries,
missionaries are also coming in from other
countries. The United States has the third most
missionaries in it! That's not going out, that's
coming in. The death knell has sounded for the
United States as a Christian nation. Surely
there are still Christians and many of them, but it
can hardly be considered a Christian nation any
longer. This
gives cause to believe the statement that we as
Christians are hated by all the nations, just as Jesus
said would happen.
Many
people have abandoned their faith in the face of this
persecution. Others
have been lead astray by those claiming to be
prophets. i.e.
Mormons and their gold tablets found in a field or the
many cults that have appeared.
Jesus also stated that there would be an
increase in wickedness and the love of most people
would grow cold.
Certainly this has taken place as all you need
to do to notice this is compare today with the 1980's.
But Jesus also gives us hope at this time.
"…he who stands firm to the end will be
saved."
Verse
14 speaks of the way the gospel will be preached
throughout the entire world. This was something with which the people of Jesus' time must have
had trouble. Today
it is easy to understand this with nearly instant
communication and planes that will take us into the
deepest parts of Africa and allow us to travel
anywhere. Verse
14 ends with Christ saying, "…and then the end
will come."
Once all these things have taken place, the end
will come. Seeing all these things about us, our only question left is
how soon it will happen.
After these things the rapture will happen,
calling all those who believe in Christ into the sky
to be with Him. As it says in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 "After that, we who are still alive and are left will be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air.
And so we will be with the Lord forever."
What
happens after all this, is really little concern to
Christians because they will already be with Christ.
However it is written as a warning for those
who don't believe.
After this the tribulation will begin, when God
releases his wrath upon the earth.
A man known as the Antichrist will appear then
and deceive those who are left.
He will set up a temple on the temple mount in
Jerusalem, where the Muslim Dome of the Rock sits now,
and there he will begin sacrifices once again.
But 3 1/2 years into the tribulation the
Antichrist will stop the sacrifices and order the
people to worship him only.
At that time the Jews who are still alive will
finally realize that they missed the first coming of
Christ. Then
they become Christians and will be persecuted by all
those around them.
Plague
after plague will fall upon the earth, only causing
many unbelievers to curse God instead of worshipping
him. At
the end of the seven years of tribulation, a battle
between Christ and Satan, known as the battle of
Armageddon will occur.
Satan will be defeated and locked up in the
abyss. And
Christ will return to reign on earth as king for a
thousand years. This
time will be known as the millennial kingdom.
At the end of the thousand years Satan will be
set loose and the people will rebel once again.
This is the last time though and brings about a
final judgment.
Unbelievers
will be sent to the great white throne of judgment
where they will be judged accordingly but still all
sent to the lake of fire.
Christians will be judged too, but at the judgment
seat of Christ and according to what we have done for
him. There
we will be given rewards accordingly. Then we will live with Christ in heaven forever.
Of
course no one knows for sure when all things will take
place. Matthew
24:42-44 makes this clear.
But we must keep watch expecting his return.
Most importantly, we must be ready for his
coming. We
must have accepted Christ as our savior from our sins
and we need to tell all our friends about him too.
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