The End of the World is Near!
The famous “Doomsday Prophets” were iconic at one time in
our history, the more religious of the bunch were convinced that the current
events and bible prophecy were meshing, and God was going to rain his final
judgement on the world and those of his creation that has rebelled and refused
his grace and mercy to save them.
Truly we as God’s children in this world we live in should
be “mostly” like these “End Times” prophets of old, in the sense of us warning
every human being in this world that the day of God’s grace is coming to a
close, and then he will begin to purge the lost from this world as he cleanses
his chosen people, the Jews, from their rebellion and hard heart.
Like the disappearance of these prophets of times past, the
world mocks our belief in God, and his son the Lord Jesus Christ. They mock our
hope, and will say the same kind of words that the Apostle Peter spoke in his
second letter in the Bible: 2Peter 3:3-4 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days
scoffers, walking after their own lusts, (4) And saying, Where is
the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things
continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation.
Many believers are discouraged from believing God’s promise
to come take us home, a promise that includes changing our bodies from one that
is corruptible, and dying to one that is incorruptible, and will never die. He
promised that our home with him will be one with no sin, no crying, no sickness,
and no dying: John 14:1-3 Let
not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
(2) In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (3) And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.
Also: 1Thessalonians
4:16-17 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first: (17) Then we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so
shall we ever be with the Lord.
Also: Revelation
21:3-4 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
(4) And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away.
The mocking of our hope challenges not only the truth of these
promises, but also the possibility of such a thing being tangible to us.
The first verse of the fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel
says this: “Let not your heart be
troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me”. There are three
things the Lord said to his disciples: One, don’t let your heart be troubled;
Two, You believe in God; and Three, Believe also in me.
- 1 Troubled hearts: The wording of the Lord’s statement is such as we must be on guard for our heart. “(LET NOT) your heart be troubled”. There are those that, as Peter says, “…are willingly ignorant” they are as putty in the hands of the churches’ enemy, Satan, and he uses them to discourage, to cause doubt, and to weaken the believer’s faith. We must be awake spiritually, watching diligently, and looking up faithfully every moment of our lives. God’s promises are sure to the Saint of God.
- 2. Faith in God: This would be better stated, you have believed God. Have we? Have we believed God? When he said that he created this world and the heaven above? When he said that he created you and me? When he said that Man sinned, and all mankind are now sinners by nature? When he said that he sent his only son to die on the cross to pay the “death price” for our sins? When he said that any who believe he will save and give them eternal life? If yes, then believe his son also…
So we are convinced by the undeniable facts of the Old
Testament predictions concerning God fulfilling his initial promise to send his
Son into the world, each and every one came through with the birth, the sufferings
and death, to his resurrection, that we are confident of all the other promises
and predictions that have been made by God as recorded in the Bible.
Here is a brief overlook at the things that are predicted,
and will come to pass:
1st – (1Thessalonians
4) He will return in the air and call all born again believers up into
the air to meet him, and to take us home:
- a) (1 Corinthians 15) He will change our bodies to an eternal body fit for heaven.
- b) (Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; and described in 1 Corinthians 3) We will stand before the Judgment seat of Christ.
- c) (Revelation 5) We will worship the Lord in person.
2nd – (Revelation
6-19) The seven years of tribulation on the earth, and all who dwell on the
earth will suffer the fierce judgment of God.
- (Chapter 6) The Seven Seals;
- (Chapter 8-9) The Seven Trumpets;
- (Chapter 16) The Seven Last Plaques (Vials).
- (Chapter 19) The second coming of Christ into this world.
- (Chapter 19:20) The Beast and the False Prophet were cast alive into the lake of fire.
3rd - (Chapter
20) …the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. All Israel with the
remaining survivors of the tribulation (the start and the end of the one
thousand years).
- (Chapter 20:1-3) Satan is bound in chains and cast into the bottomless pit for the full one thousand years.
- (Chapter 20:7-10) Satan is released and leads a rebellion at the end of the thousand years, and then is cast into the lake of fire where the Beast and the False Prophet are still being tormented.
- (Chapter 20:11-15) Great White Throne. Every unbelieving human that died without the Lord will be judged and cast into the lake of fire for all eternity.
NOTE: As a Christian that has acquired such
eternal wealth by the grace of God, shouldn’t our hearts break for any we know
or have contact with, knowing the end of their path, shouldn’t we be bold to
proclaim to them that the END is near?
4th – (Chapter
21) The New Heaven and the New Earth: This is what we have hoped for all
through the trials we have faced as we have faithfully held the name of our
Lord before a lost world.
- (Chapter 21:10) The New Jerusalem; “…that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God”
5th - (Chapter
22) The Call to the lost, this day to come is an imminent event, it just
may be today as you read this brief summary of the end of the world. Will you
not shine your light in a dark world, as you echo the Lords pleading to mankind?
