Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Getting through tough times”
Our Bible verse for today: “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows – neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son – except the Father only.” Matthew 24:36 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Do not fear the end times.”
Of all the tough times individual people and the entire human race have endured throughout history, none will be tougher than the years, months, and days leading up to the end of time. As the human race gets closer and closer to the end, evil will become much more pronounced and the world will descend into chaos.
Many Christians today believe we are extremely close to the end of time. There are numerous modern-day prophets making all sorts of predictions and issuing warnings for Christians to prepare themselves for a coming apocalypse. Some are saying the stock market will crash and there will be economic chaos. Others predict there will be a nuclear exchange in the Middle East which will spark a world war. Still others are worried (of all things) about Federal Armed Forces invading Texas – and the list goes on.
So what’s a Christian to do? Should we stockpile food, water, and ammunition and head for a bunker in the hills? Some seem to think so. But a better approach would be to consider the teaching of Scripture, along with 2000 years of Christian history.
A study of Christian history reveals that every generation of Christians, since the time of the Apostles in the book of Acts, believed they were living in the end times. And, there always seemed to be world events which supported that belief. But as it turned out, they were all wrong. They weren’t living in the end times.
There have always self-proclaimed prophets who professed to have received divine enlightenment which gave them special revelation regarding end times issues. Some of them purported to have identified the Antichrist as being a prominent individual who lived in their day. Others pointed to significant events occurring in the world at that time as evidence that the end of time was upon them. Some even claimed to have been able to calculate the exact day and hour for the return of Christ. And of course, they were all wrong.
The lesson of history is that the prophets of doom and gloom who are making so much noise in our day are almost certainly wrong too. Now granted, someday they will be right. Eventually the end of times will be upon us and the prophets of that day will turn out to have been correct. It is even possible that we are living in that time right now – but historically speaking, statistically, probably not.
So how then should we live? Surely we can’t discount the possibility that these days could be the end times. But at the same time, we have no Biblical model for Christians to adopt a survivalist mentality, hording food, water, guns, and money, and building bunkers in their backyards.
With the Great Commission Jesus told us that we are to be on-mission with Him in the world (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8). The example of the early church is that we are to fearlessly wade into the mess that is the world and boldly proclaim Christ (Acts 5:29). And of course, the Apostle Paul modeled evangelism and church planting in the face of great opposition, persecution, and abject evil (Acts 26:19-20).
I believe there is an intentional tension and balance established for us in the New Testament which provides a reasonable approach to this issue for all Christians, regardless of the age of history we live in. We are to live as if Jesus could come back today, but we are to plan as if He won’t come back for another 100 years.
We are to live as if He could come back today. In other words, we are to live with an urgency that today is the day of salvation. We need to share the Good News of the Gospel and lead others to faith in Christ today, with an urgency that understands that today could be the last day.
But we are to plan as if He isn’t coming back for another 100 years. We are to start new churches, fund Bible colleges, send out missionaries, and do all the other things necessary to ensure that the work of the Kingdom continues. Because if we don’t – if we act as if the Lord is about to come back any day now and therefore the churches and colleges and mission projects no longer really matter, then if we’re wrong there will be churches that never got planted, young people who never got a Bible education, mission projects that never got started, etc.
The bottom line is that we are to simply “be” the church – whatever the conditions in the world happen to be. We are to boldly and fearlessly wade into the mess that is the world and simply be on-mission with Jesus, helping to build His kingdom.
Do not fear the end of time. This probably isn’t it anyway but even if it is, don’t fear it and don’t become preoccupied with it. Just be the church and trust the Lord.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 