End Times
In Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 Jesus reveals all that the early Church would face as well as what the Church down through history could expect, also.
Wars and rumors of wars, nation against nation, kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, famines, Christians being led astray, false teachers performing incredible miracles—all these, Jesus declared, are only the beginning of woes.
Jesus goes on to say that “you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake” (Matthew 24:9), and also, He states, “And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray” (Matthew 24:10-11).
We know this is coming and so we will not be surprised when we experience it personally.
Question is: Do we see this end-time scenario being played out right Now? Possibly, nevertheless, we are standing on solid rock and we will not be moved.
Those who trust in Jesus will not be panic stricken or overcome with anxiety as others will, instead we will look upon world events as news, maybe even entertainment, but not as something that could overwhelm us. We will know that God is in control and even if he worst should descend upon us, we belong to Him and will spend eternity in His presence.
Stressful living
Few would argue that we are not now living in stressful times. My personal evaluation is that these are especially difficult times. I am aware that I am more anxious now than in previous years. The digital, techy, age is fun and exciting, mostly, but the world is a smaller place now, we are aware of hideous events taking place daily and everywhere, and it adds to our inability to cope with it.
In California, where I live, marijuana is legal, and hundreds of thousands use it every day including some of my friends. They tell me it helps relieve the stress and pressure they are under. And these are not old hippie either, but regular folk who live and work in the “age of anxiety.”
Our world can be dangerous. Innocent people are killed every day someplace in the good old USA while minding their own business, even when securely in their own homes.
Does this signal the end of the age?
No one knows the day and hour
The statement above is Jesus’ own. (Matthew 24:36) There was a time I had charts on the wall of my office; I actually thought I could figure out when Jesus would return. We are aware of any number of ‘prophets’ who came up with a date, to the embarrassment to us all. We understand now, no one knows the day and hour.
We don’t know, and we don’t need to know. We simply go about the business of preaching Christ to the lost and discipling those who are found.
We know what we are about. We have our agenda. It matters not what goes on in the world about us. No, we pay attention and are aware, but what goes on in the world is of secondary importance.
I read two newspapers every day, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Marin Independent Journal. I watch NBC, CNN, FOX News, PBS, and a few other news programs, and every day. I am informed because I have to be. When together with others, Christians and non-Christians, as a pastor I need to be up on local, national, and world events.
Some are startled that I am not shaking in my boots, even some fellow believers, when we discuss world and national events. It gives me opportunity to explain the peace I have in Christ. This witness will be even more potent as time goes on.
A Christian witness
I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther’s great hymn, A Mighty Fortress is our God. If ever a Christian was attacked by enormous forces it was Luther, the one who laid the foundation for what we refer to as The Reformation. Here now is the complete text of that hymn:
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
(1st stanza)
A mighty fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our helper He amid the flood
Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
Doth seek to work us woe-
His craft and pow’r are great,
And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.
(2nd stanza)
Did we in our own strength confide,
Our striving would be losing,
Were not the right man on our side,
The man of God’s own choosing.
Dose ask who that may be?
Christ Jesus, it is He-
Lord Sabaoth His name,
From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.
(3rd stanza)
And tho’ this world, with devils filled,
Should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed
His truth to triumph thro’ us.
The prince of darkness grim,
We tremble not for him-
His rage we can endure,
For lo, his doom is sure:
One little word shall fell him.
(4th stanza)
That word above all earthly pow’rs,
No thanks to them abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
Thro’ Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go,
This mortal life also-
The body they may kill;
God’s truth abideth still:
His kingdom is forever.
Nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The above are the words of the Apostle Paul. Martin Luther, in my thinking, might have borrowed something from Paul when he wrote his wonderful and powerful hymn. I am thinking of Romans 8:31-39. In this section, Paul asks a series of questions and provides answers for each.
What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all,
how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
What is healthy about these great and wonderful truths from Scripture?
Christians will be fearful and be stressed out and anxious because we are people like everyone else. However, we have something solid to stand on and reflect upon. We have the Word of God and the testimony of one of the earliest generations of Christians, that being Paul, and also the words of Martin Luther who lived some 1450 years after Paul.
We also have the testimony of hundreds of others who were persecuted and were martyred down through the centuries.
Not that Christians won’t suffer from anxiety in this world of chaos, but we have an assurance that ultimately cannot be taken from us. I confess I am prone to anxiety and have been since I was fifteen years old; it has never completely left me, but I rely upon the testimony of Christians who have been through more than I have, which includes Jesus Himself, Paul, and countless others.
I will be shaken from time to time, but my foundation in Jesus remains firm.