Sound familiar? I've certainly thought all of those things. How about you? Am I beating a dead horse? Well I don't think so. What if these really are the end times? Is there any way to know for sure? What if there is no easy escape by "rapture"? And if not, what does it mean to me?
There are a number of ways to answer this question: first, there is the Bible, the Word of God and all of the prophesies relating to the end times. Second, there are the "signs of the times" - what is happening in the world that could indicate one way or another. Third, there is your own gut feeling when you are quiet, your mind is still and you are in the presence of the Lord. (Luke 2:26)
We should remember that there were hundreds of prophesies that related to the First Coming of Jesus Christ. Although the religious leaders of the day didn't see it, they certainly should have because it was clearly written down in black and white. If you doubt me, please read up on the subject. I'm not a theologian and my objective is not to expound the Scripture for you. My objective is to get you to think for yourself - beyond the little box of your "comfort zone." You need to stretch your mind, your imagination, the world view you have always believed in. If you don't, you may miss it altogether just like most Jews did the first time around. So it stands to reason that if the First Coming was so clearly foretold, the Second Coming should be evident to those who are looking for it, especially since Jesus Himself spends so much time talking about the subject and it is dealt with extensively in the whole Bible. At least one fourth of the entire Bible deals with the “end times”, so doesn’t it seem logical that it was written for a good reason? Does God have a purpose in letting us know what is going to happen? Could it possibly mean that we should do something?
So why hasn't Jesus returned yet? The answer is simply that there are a couple of things clearly foretold that have to happen first. One relates to the Church. The Gospel has to be preached to the whole world first. (Matt 24:14) We are getting close on that one, especially with mass communication available to nearly everyone in the world. The other relates to Israel: the destruction of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jews throughout the world and their return to the land in the end times and the restoration of Jerusalem. This is clearly foretold in both the Old and New Testaments. People who looked for Jesus to return before these two major events were accomplished just didn't understand Scripture. (Matthew 13:13) It was prophetically impossible for Jesus to return up until this present day and before He returns we will face the Great Tribulation.
Now as to the first condition, the preaching of the Gospel, only God knows when the job is done. The gospel is certainly getting close to being accessible to every human in the world. As to the second condition, all Biblical scholars look at the restoration of the nation of Israel in 1948, and Jerusalem as its capital in 1967 as the fulfillment of that prophecy. Even Pat Robertson cites Matthew 25 and Luke 21 as the fulfillment - that Jerusalem would be trodden down of the gentiles until the end ... and that from that time (1967), that generation would not pass until all is fulfilled (and the Lord returns). Robertson, as most Bible scholars, computes a generation as 40 years leading us up to the year 2007 for the "end." He isn't the only one who has made this computation. The important thing isn't an exact date. The important thing is that the nation of Israel is back in the land and Jerusalem is the capital and is THE FOCAL POINT of the entire world. By any straight forward interpretation of the many prophecies in the Old or New Testament, that is a sign of the "end."
Any speculation about the "end times" and the "any moment" return of Jesus over the past 1,900 years was just speculation prior to the restoration of the nation of Israel. Now, any Bible believing literalist has to take note because they are fulfilled. However, many "main stream" evangelicals who would concede that these are probably the "end times" negate the importance of it to the Church because they believe that we will leave by means of a "secret rapture" at the beginning of the Tribulation. II Thessalonians 2:3 says, speaking of the rapture that “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition” (speaking of the abomination of desolations). Therefore, whether this is the "end" or not is not our problem. I am not going to discuss the issue of the "rapture" now (which will be dealt with in other issue papers), but to emphasize the danger of just blithely assuming we are taken out of the picture and have no role to play in the “last days”. This could be a very foolish error.
Beside the many prophecies of Scripture dealing with the "end times", we also have the "signs of the times." Jesus said we can predict the weather but cannot discern the "signs of the times." (Matthew 16:3) Let's look at some of the signs of the end such as earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, etc. Have you watched the news or read the paper lately? Just in the past few months terrible earthquakes have hit Colombia, California, China, Japan and Russia. The incidence of earthquake activity is up all over the world. Pestilence such as the Eboli bacteria in Africa - nearly 100 percent fatal in a matter of days and no cure or treatment. There is AIDS, resistant strains of tuberculosis and other diseases such as the plague, cholera and others that were once conquered but are now returning, more virulent and deadly than ever. We are told there are many viruses and bacteria out there lurking in the rain forests (and probably our Department of Defense research laboratories). Famine and drought still plague the world and the Sahara desert grows every year, forcing the population in countries like Ethiopia and the Sudan to continue retreating. The climate is changing all over the world. Perhaps there is global warming, the ozone layer, and just the general "press" of more than 6 billion people on the fragile world ecology.
Our minds boggle as the scores our children get on standardized tests continue to fall in spite of better methods, and greater knowledge. Studies have shown there isn't even a correlation between the amount of money spent on schools and outcomes! We see our prisons fill with people as the prison population in this wonderful free democracy is greater than all the rest of the countries in the world combined. We triple our prison capacity and still can't build enough. Nine out of ten cases are never tried and of those that are only a small percentage leads to a conviction. We are afraid to drive into some neighborhoods, let our children play on the streets or in the parks where we grew up. In just a quarter of a century we have seen a collapse of values, a loss of direction and control, and a desperation never seen before. Not only do we have problems, but the rest of the world is suffering as well. Europe and Japan are moral vacuums. Parts of Eastern Europe and the old Soviet Union, Africa and the Middle East are becoming the "killing fields" of the 21st Century. There is no helping them. We cannot impose peace, even by war. People are set on self destruction.
No matter where we look things are out of control. Recent studies (click here) showed that in the U.S., twenty percent drink unsafe water. Our sewage treatment plants are old(click here), our infrastructure is old(click here): water and sewer lines, roads, bridges, etc. Once beautiful highways are wearing out and there is no money to fix them.(click here) There's no money to fix anything as the interest on our debt and the expense of foreign wars strangles our best efforts.
So are these the "end times?" You be the judge. Watch the Middle East. What does your "gut" tell you? When you get down on your knees and pray, what does the Lord tell you? Are we going to be like all other generations as if the world will go on forever? The Bible tells us that "For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, they were marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.." (Matthew 24:38,39) People live in denial.
The time has come to be honest with God. The Church should be standing as a light in a dark world. Yet statistics tell us that the incidence of every societal ill from divorce to child abuse to alcohol and drug abuse is no different in the church than in society as a whole. "We say we are rich and become wealthy and have need of nothing..." We are the "happy" church. We have the best self image of any church in history! The more self help, counseling and psychology we learn, the more our families and lives fall apart. Unfortunately we don't realize that "we are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked." (Revelation 3:17)
If we are in the "end times", we had better wake up and repent. God may be calling us to the most exciting, trying time in all history while we are lulled to sleep by comforting doctrines of "rapture" and historical interpretations of the Scripture that are no longer valid. Or worse yet, we may be told that these are the "end times" and it is our responsibility to take dominion over our country and the earth so we can rule and reign with Christ. There is a growing segment of fundamental Christianity that firmly believes that the church should be a conquering church rather than a defeated rapturing church going out with its tail between its legs. The “Church” along with that divinely elected America should conquer the world for Christ. I think both positions are wrong but that is for another time. Dominionists believe these are the "end times" and we should take an active role in the "end times" events. In that I would agree, but in a very different way. Rather than preparing to take over the world, prepare to suffer and be put to death by those who call themselves “Christians.” This is not my thought but straight from the Bible. Please read it for yourself and ponder what this means for you.
A brother recently shared that life is so short and for many so trying and difficult, we have to live today with eternity in view. We will spend all of eternity in the presence of our Lord. Although there will be no more tears and sorrows, how we spend it depends on what we do with our lives here and now. Your answer to the question, "Are these the end times?" is one of the most important questions you will ever have to answer because your answer will determine how you live the rest of your life. If, in your lifetime, you are going to die or rapture that is one thing. But if you are going to go through the great "end times" events prophesied in the Word, including the Return of Our Lord Jesus Christ, your response to that simple question, is the most important response you will ever make as a Christian. The question is. Will you be ready or caught unaware and unprepared?
Dene McGriff,
Sacramento, CA
Dene@www.the-tribulation-network.com