The End is Near!...Or, Not!

Doom’s Day

Who remembers what this is?

(War of the Worlds Alien pic)

I remember the movie and being scared to death as a kid in the 60s.

The Martians invaded the earth.

The original movie came out in 1953.

Kind of in color. But, mostly black and white.

Martians attacked at night. All horror flicks are set at night.

The army couldn’t kill them. Our most powerful weapons couldn’t penetrate their shield. Desperation in the city streets.

We’re doomed! Or, are we?

At the end, we win b/c the Martians can’t handle our atmosphere and the suffocate and die.

1898 H.G. Wells wrote the book

The real story is Halloween 1938.

Orson Wells narrated, read the book for an hour on the night of Oct. 30.

They staged it on the radio like it was a real emergency. Broke into “regularly scheduled programming”

Made it very realistic. No commercial interruptions.

The story was fiction, the panic in the streets was real. PPL bel’d that Martians had really invaded New York.

The next day, the story wasn’t the book, it was the panic.

Who knows what big change was made in broadcasting as a result?

Station breaks every 8 min, and on the half hour. Commercials.

We’re not going to sing these happy jingles while the world is coming to an end.

Why my generation has an 8-min. attention span.

Public school and Sunday School curric. adapted 8 to 10 min. units.

There have been a number of tragic doom’s day predictions in the name of God.

1978. Jim Jones. The People’s Temple. in Jonestown Guyana. 918 ppl committed suicide mostly by drinking cyanide laced Kool-Aid.

1997 Heaven’s Gate cult in San Diego. bel’d the arrival of the Hale-Bopp comet signaled the end of the world so 39 members committed suicide.

There have been other pandemics that led ppl to believe the end of the world, the end times had arrived. It was a sign right out of Rev.

Black plague in Europe. Between 75 and 200 million ppl died by 1351.

Who knows what children’s rhyme and game came from this?

Ring around the rosey

The Spanish flu 100 years ago. Infected 500 million, about a third of the world’s population, and killed between 50 and 100 million.

Each of these times someone, some group, predicted it was one of the judgments described in Revelation being poured out on the earth. Seals, bowls, trumpets.

After all, for each generation facing the crisis it had never been that bad before. Therefore, it must be the end!

But, it wasn’t.

Then, there was Y2K.

Airplanes are going to fall out of the sky.

Your bank accts will show a zero balance.

You will lose all your important files on your computer.

At the time, we were at a church in the DFW area, close to DFW airport. A friend at the church was an IT guy, one of many contracted by American Airlines to fix their potential computer problem.

He said, the situation is very real. Airplanes won’t fall out of the sky, but if they hadn’t fixed the problem every computer on earth would have reset to 1900 b/c the original programmers set every date-related bit of info to a 2-digit ref to the year.

That’s why we have to use all 4 digits of our birthday year now.

Then, there is this classic.

88 reasons why the rapture will happen in 1988.

Rosh Hashanah, Sept. 11, 12, 13.

I picked this up for free on Sept. 14 in my seminary book store.

I bring all this up b/c it’s happening again.

W/ COVID, there a number of ppl who are predicting, asserting that that this is a sign of the end. Or, it’s not.

PPL have forwarded me at least 6 videos of Christians who say they have rec’d a prophetic word from God and they go on to give the message and explain what they think is happening.

As I watch them, I think they are all Christians. Passionate. Sane. Normal.

Here’s the deal. The contradict each other.

They can’t all be right.

Some give dates and the dates don’t line up w/ the others.

Most say this is the beginning of the end.

1 I watched last weekend said God was about to cleanse the US of ungodly leadership, the mass media, and restore us as a light to the rest of the world.

Very optimistic versus those that are more pessimistic.

The big problem I see w/ this one is the US has never been the spiritual light to the whole world.

Jesus is. Israel was. And we are neither.

We are not called t/b a Christian nation. We are called t/b a nation of influential and involved Christians.

Wrong dates?

Signals crossed?

Wrong source? God or Who?

Wishful thinking?

Arrogance? I want t/b able to say I told you so. I called it when nobody else did.

The question for us today, and has been for all time, how do we evaluate these messages that claim t/b prophetic predictions.

We don’t want to be wrong and miss something important.

Every time life gets hard, something really big happens, biggest in our generation, event of the century, WW1, WW2, whatever, some are going to predict it’s the end.

How do we live our lives w/ so many well-intentioned ppl claiming a word from God that would direct us to do something drastic in prep for the end?

Do we do it?

How do we evaluate these predictions? How do we respond? What are we supposed to do?

Get our hopes up? Fear and anxiety? What?

First, we need to know what the Bible says about these things. Believe and obey what it says.

Then,

Hold your life and your possessions loosely, live faithfully and patiently, then no matter what happens and when it happens you’ll be ready.

c.1, 60s, 70s, 80s, ppl believed that the end was near. Obviously, it wasn’t. Here we are.

But it was the worst that they had ever experienced. Jesus was gone.

The stress of the changes caused ppl to wonder if he ever was there. Or, was he who He said he was. Will He do what he says he will do?

There were ppl trying to mislead them, maybe innocently, maybe maliciously.

But, they needed to know how to evaluate prophetic messages so they didn’t miss something important.

How were they supposed to respond?

So, John wrote these verses.

Don’t assume everything is hear is true.

Test everything.

Test Everything

1 John 4:1–3 NIV

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Ppl were claiming a prophetic word from God.

There was a group at that time who denied Jesus was the Son of God who came in the flesh, died and was raised.

The members of the church didn’t want to miss out on something so important. But, these messengers told them they had missed it.

The persecution was unnecessary. Quit this stuff and believe something else.

OT prophets predicted it. The bible said it would happen. But, did it really?

So, John encouraged them, when they heard someone say the message was from God, they needed to challenge the messenger to make sure the message was consistent w/ what the OT, their bible taught.

In their case, if they said Jesus wasn’t really God, or God didn’t really become a man, or Jesus didn’t come back to life, then they had to know it was not a good word.

Not only did the bible teach these things, they were close to John who personally witnessed these things.

And, then John wrote his account down so we could study and test every prophetic word by his eyewitness account.

So, if the messenger contradicted what the bible said then they should reject the message.

Some messengers are innocently misled by their own wishful thinking, naivety, arrogance. Other messengers are malicious and intentional about moving ppl away from God.

Either way, we have an enemy who will use these messages and try to cause more harm.

That’s why we need to make sure that any message we respond to is from God.

The message has to be from God, consistent w/ God’s word, and involve God.

From God

1 John 4:4–6 NIV

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

We have an enemy who will try to use even innocent messengers and their messages that are off base to create confusion, fear, and anxiety.

We don’t need to buy in. The HS who lives in us is greater than the one who is trying to confuse us.

The message has to be consistent w/ God’s word and involve God in the process if it is be true.

Otherwise, it’s just another worldly message.

For instance, climate change. Any message about the climate and the world coming to an end that does not include God playing a major role is just another worldly message and cannot be true.

God placed us as stewards of the environment. We need to do better.

Greenhouse gasses, carbon emissions, methane gas are all detrimental to the environment.

How bad? IDK.

You can be serious about it. If you are, drive an electric car, ride your bike, be vegan, if you fly then fly commercial.

But above all else, spend a lot of serious time on your knees crying out to God for forgiveness for the sins of the human race.

If the message of the end of the world as we know it does not include a major role by God then it’s a bad message.

And if anyone thinks the climate is strictly impacted by human effort, leaving God out of the equation, then the message is wrong.

God has used the climate from the beginning of time to reward faithful obedience and judge disob.

So, the effect we experience in our climate has something to do w/ our belief and behavior toward God.

How much? IDK. Historical climate cycle? IDK

But, either way, God is very involved.

That’s what John is saying. Any message of the end of the world that leaves God out or is inconsistent w/ what the bible says is misleading.

Measure the message by the word and don’t overreact too soon.

God is not confusing. The HS will clarify everything you need to know.

So, when we hear these messages from these messengers what do we do w/ them?

Evaluate them according to what the bible says. Listen to the HS. Wait patiently.

Ultimately, if you are living your life in Christ, according the guidance of the HS, in step daily, remaining in, living in, and you found for sure the world was going to end tomorrow, then how much should your life change today?

Very little.

So, what does the bible say regarding the end of times? What do we need t/b mindful of and watching for?

A brief, broad, and shallow overview.

Been Planned

This is an old plan. Nothing that happens today will dramatically alter the timeline.

In Dan. ch. 9 he predicted a time period.

70 weeks. But these are not days, they are years.

So, 1 week = 7 years.

There was period of 69 weeks, a break, then there will be the 70th.

The period began when the Pagan Persian king gave Nehemiah the order to rebuild Jerusalem and the wall around it.

The Persians kept great records. So we know that date t/b March 5, 444 BC.

The 69th week ended March 39, ad 33 when Jesus rode into Jerusalem the week before Passover.

Even though our calendars are different, you can count the days of 69, 7-year periods.

Since the the first 69 happened, we can be certain the 70th will too.

That 7-year period is the Tribulation period described in the bible when God, once and for all, deals w/ Israel’s disobedience.

In the meantime, God is building the church.

OT, Israel is the focus. Trib, Israel is the focus. Right now, the church.

The primary characteristic that describes the Trib is wrath. God’s extreme anger toward ppl who should know better.

What do we know about when it’s going to happen? Not much specifically.

A World Leader

Daniel 9:27 NIV

He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

A powerful world leader will emerge and broker a treaty between Israel and the entire middle east and the muslim nations.

He will be authoritative and powerful enough to enforce it. But he will have supernatural help.

Pres. Trump just did that. Is he that guy?

Pres. Trump brokered treaties between 3 nations and Israel. The AC deal will involve all of them.

Satan does not know when, so he has had, will have someone in place ready to fill this role at all times.

We don’t know who, but someone will emerge and the Trib begins w/ the signing of that treaty.

So, again, when will it happen?

The only specific reference beyond this is what Paul wrote in Romans.

God Has a Number

Romans 11:25 NIV

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in,

God has a number in mind of non-Jews who will come to faith. When we hit that number, the end begins.

What’s that number, only God knows. Jesus doesn’t know. The HS doesn’t know. And Satan doesn’t know.

This points to the rapture.

The Church is Removed

1 Thessalonians 1:10 NIV

and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Thessalonians has a lot to say about the rapture. We will meet Jesus in the air.

But, I ref this verse because it says we will not face the wrath of God.

Christian never face God’s wrath. We face his loving discipline. Never his extreme anger. And, the trip is characterized by wrath.

The church, when the full number Gents is reached, will be removed.

When? What are the signs?

Birth Pains

Matthew 24:6–8 NIV

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Due respect to the moms in the room, we all know how this goes.

Baby is going to arrive in about 40 weeks.

Get close, and the pains start.

Some have a lot of braxton hicks false labor.

They’re just like the real thing, only they’re not.

Then, labor starts for real. Mildly uncomfortable and irregular.

Especially for the first, here we go, this won’t be too bad.

Then, it gets bad. Increasingly intense and frequent.

They are alike from beginning to end except they get much more painful and more frequent.

How long will it go? Every delivery is different.

Our first, Alyssa, took 24 hours.

Camera while we were walking.

We will see the early signs. Jesus says don’t assume the end is near. It’s bad, uncomfortable, but it will get a lot worse.

Also, don’t be alarmed. It has to happen.

The baby is coming, but there is a lot that has to happen between now and then.

Childbirth and the end of this age have a lot in common.

There are more unknowns than knowns.

There is so much more in the bible than I had time to get into today. But, we have got to know what we can know.

What should we expect of God and what does He expects of us.

We look around and see that this is bad. There is a pandemic. Wars. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Floods. Famine in Africa. Drought in the western US.

Colleges and Universities are not trending toward Jesus.

Washington DC, likewise.

Crime and immorality is up. Biblical obedience is down.

What should we do? Habakkuk asked the same question. The answer he got is the answer we get.

Live by Faith Alone

Habakkuk 2:4 NIV

“See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness—

Hab complains b/c it had become so difficult to live a life of faith. The gov’t was against him. Schools, society, entertainment all conspired against God and ppl who believed.

He cried out, God do something for us. Don’t you love us?

God’s response was, well Hab, sit down, let me tell you what I’m going to do.

And it was terrible, awful, horrible.

Hab was like, wait, God, that’s not what I meant. What are we supposed to do when it gets so bad.

Some of us are going to die. We will lose everything. As bad as it is, it will get much worse.

God’s response, Is your faith genuine? Do you really believe in me? Do you trust me?

Do you love me?

Yes, it’s going to get harder. But, that faith you have is genuine. Hang on to it.

It will all work out in the end.

Hold on to what you have loosely b/c you might lose it. But you won’t lose God.

Be patient. We know it’s going to happen, we just don’t know when the baby or Jesus will arrive.

Hold tightly to your faith. It will prove genuine when you get to heaven.

So, when somebody says they have rec’d a prophetic word from God. Great.

I would never dismiss it immediately.

Ultimately, just wait and see.

B/C, if you are living your life daily in step w/ the HS and someone says the end is near, what should change about your life today?

Not much.

So, let’s make sure we are listing and in step w/ God.

Applications

No Regrets

Live a life of no regrets.

Your life, or someone’s close to you, could end this afternoon.

So, say all that you need to say, do what you need to do, so that when one of you is gone no one has any regrets.

Is there somebody you need to say something to this afternoon? Or, is there something you need to do?

Do it before it’s too late. No regrets.

Change

If you knew for sure the world was going to end tomorrow, what would you do differently today?

Do it anyway.

Don’t be the pessimist. But, don’t wait to change something important b/c you may never get the chance.

What would you do differently? Do it today.

Add to the Number

What’s the one thing you can do to bring this age to end sooner?

If you want it to end before it gets any worse, talk to somebody about Jesus.

Add to the current number of non-Jews have faith in Jesus.

Old-fashioned evangelism. Lead a non-Jew to Jesus and speed up the end.

Start w/ praying for a friend who does not know Jesus. Then, look for an opp to introduce them.

So, when somebody says they have rec’d a prophetic word from God. Great.

I would never dismiss it immediately.

Ultimately, just wait and see.

Relax. Don’t get too excited. Don’t get too upset.

B/C, if you are living your life daily in step w/ the HS and someone says the end is near, what should change about your life today?

Not much.

Know what the bible says.

Hold on to what you have loosely b/c you might lose it. But you won’t lose God.

Be patient. We know it’s going to happen, we just don’t know when the baby or Jesus will arrive.

Hold tightly to your faith. It will prove genuine when you get to heaven.

That will be a great day that will make every day leading up to a distant memory.