The End of Days
When you reach your 70s, and are honest, you realize that you have more years behind you than in front of you. When you happily admit that you’re responsible for the existence of four generations in your family, you know there is a new beginning, and you are near the end. It’s an acknowledgement that we celebrate with joy and gratitude.
There is only one fact we can be utterly certain of in this life. Everyone dies.
There are many signs of this reality. We have been looking at old pictures lately, and the evidence is clear. We are well on our way to the end of our days. And the evidence speeds up as we get closer. It makes itself known inside our aging bodies as well. Every day there are aching joints. Eyesight fades. Hearing becomes challenging. Disease is harder on aging bodies. Getting the flu can be deadly.
We do not live in fear of death. We are diligent to take care of the health we’ve been given. And we face each day joyfully with the knowledge that we are at the end of days.
How long is the end of days?
We trust God with that answer knowing He has a plan for each one of us.
Hebrews 9:27 & 28 says, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” NKJV
Sin brought death, requiring judgement. Man dies once. Christ died once, the perfect sacrifice for our sins, and when we believe, repent and accept His sacrifice on our behalf, we will be exempt from the judgement!
We eagerly wait for Him.
But wait, there’s more!
Since Luke and I were teenagers we have been “eagerly waiting.” Our beliefs about “the end of days” was born out of verse by verse teaching from our pastor from the late 1960s and through the 1970s. We went to the same church in Des Plaines, Illinois, where we were married in 1972.
This was the first place I had ever heard teaching on the end of days, and I absorbed it and held fast to it. I was incredulous that I had grown up in church but had never heard any pastor teach this before. It seemed to me that it should be the most important thing to be taught in every church of Christ followers. Luke and I have made it important, and our understanding has grown as we have studied the Word of God on our own and through knowledgable Bible scholars.
If we have ever needed hope for the future, hearing this teaching is needed now.
Living in the 60s and 70s we could not have imagined how much worse our world could become in the 21st century. Back then we were experiencing the Viet Nam War, a sexual revolution, and the rise of hallucinogenic drug usage. Abortions became legal and divorce became common. Reports of mass murders were beginning to appear on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. Our generation was drifting away from the truth of the Bible and embracing alternative religions. It all seemed pretty bad. To us, our world was spiraling towards a God-less society.
We were holding on to hope, and “eagerly waiting” to see Him a second time.
The event we were ‘eagerly waiting for’ is called the Rapture. No, this word does not appear in Scripture. It is the English translation of the Greek word harpazo which means ‘to snatch away’ or ‘to seize.’ Not all believers agree on when this may happen, but the early church, under severe persecution, was urged to encourage each other with Paul’s teaching on this subject.
I Thessalonians 4:15-17 “We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet Him ahead of those who have died. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves to meet the Lord in the air. Then together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. So encourage each other with these words.” NLT
We did not become ‘scoffers.’ We were and are encouraged by these words.
2 Peter 3:3,4 “Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires. They will say, ‘What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created’.”
Today we hear these scoffers loud and clear. And they do have a point, however they are not seeing the whole picture. Peter goes on to explain by reminding them of how God destroyed the earth with a flood. And then he says….
2 Peter 3:8,9 “But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. The Lord isn’t really being slow about His promise, as some people think. No, He is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”
You can read on in verses 10 to 13 to learn how God will destroy the world the second time. The point is that He is patient.
In Noah’s day He gave the ungodly the length of time that it took to build the ark to repent and be saved. (Maximum of 75 years - source - Answers in Genesis)
It has been over 2,000 years since Christ’s first coming and the offer of salvation from eternal death.
God has been exceedingly patient!
Peter goes on to tell us how we should live while we wait.
2 Peter 3:14-16 And so, dear friends while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in His sight. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him, speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction.” NLT
God is patient so that people can be saved! We can also be patient believing what God said He would do, trusting Him as we wait for His return. The early church held fast under much worse circumstances.
How can we as the body of Christ not hold fast when we have more freedom than they did? How can we not share what we know?
The door of the “ark” is closing soon.
If you don’t know if you will experience the eternal benefits of God’s overwhelming patience, please click here. If you have questions and would like to know more, reach out to us and we will answer through God’s Truth, God’s Word.
He tells us plainly what is coming and why. Our understanding is limited.
We can compare it to watching a parade. We sit on the curb, and we only see what is right in front of us. We react to what is in front of us. We forget what marched before us just a moment ago because we are so involved with what is before us. And we do not have any idea what is coming next.
But we do anticipate it. We do know there is more to come. We also know it will be good because of what we’ve already seen. We trust the parade planner.
God looks at the entire parade at the same time. He sees what was at the beginning and what is coming as though it has all happened at the same time. He planned it all.
If we could see as He sees, we still would not understand it for we are not God. But we do have reason to know Him, trust Him, and obey Him because what He says, He does.
Isaiah 46:9,10
Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And for ancient times things that are not done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it.
This is one of our favorite passages of Scripture!
Read His Word!
(Footnote: the “bird of prey from the east” is Cyrus. This was prophesied 150 years before he reigned as king of Persia, and before the Jews were even in exile there. Isaiah names him in Isaiah 44: 28 “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”
A Persian king, God’s shepherd?! I have purposed it; I will do it.)
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