The Goal is Whole: Hope Unshakeable H2: Ready for the End Times

For us now, we are much better prepared. We are enlightened, and secure in His grace, and we have the Holy Spirit who keeps us up to date with what heaven is saying. The point to remember is that Jesus has come as savior, and those who are His and alive on the earth at this dramatic end will experience the power of His salvation as a physical rescue from the outpouring of heaven’s wrath on a fallen world.

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FULL STUDY:

Part of our security in Christ involves where we stand with the outworking of “end-time” events. The bible speaks much about a cataclysmic end, and the formation of a new heaven and new earth. How do we fit into all that?

Today we will examine some of the scriptures, and draw some conclusions. From the outset, we want to make it clear that this is a complex subject, and there are many varying opinions and doctrines. In this short study we will share one position, but we do not hold to this dogmatically. Moreover, we trust emphatically in the goodness and kindness of our Father, and the completeness of His work for us and in us, in Christ. However things work out, we will abide in His love.

What exactly do we mean by the “end times”? We are referring to a series of events, still future, where the current world as we know it will be brought to an end, and a whole new one ushered in. This will be a combination of political and human turmoil, and Divine, supernatural intervention. This will lead to the final and complete consummation of the new creation! Jesus Himself is the central player in this, triggered by His physical “second coming” to earth:

“Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. 2 And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.” 3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:1-4)

The disciples already knew that He would come again, and that the age would end. In His response, Jesus did not correct that. Instead, he warned them about false messiahs, and listed the signs that would show we are heading towards that time (check verses 4-14).

In Revelation, we see a step by step process unfold, being completely controlled from Heaven. Earth has no independent say in end time events, this is in the realm of the sovereignty of God.

“After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” (Revelation 4:1)

Revelation 6:1, “Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.”.

Jesus is the one with the authority to break the seals of the “book of the end”. The whole book of Revelation unfolds through the breaking of the seven seals, numerous trumpet blasts, and declarations from heaven.

There is much about all this too in the gospels (especially Matthew 24, and Luke 17, and 21), and in various Old Testament prophets (such as Daniel and Ezekiel). This is beyond the scope of today’s study. All we want to establish today is that God is in control, and He has worked out how we fit into everything. Based on the sufferings and martyrdom of saints through history, we know there are no guarantees of longevity in this temporal life. Our security in Him is in the spirit, and in eternity. But we are not to give into fear. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7).

Here are a few truths we can glean briefly from Paul’s writings, and Revelation, about the series of “end time events”:

1. Jesus rescues us from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10)
2. Before He returns, Jesus will appear with the saints who have already passed on (1 Thessalonians 4:14)
3. Those in the new creation who are still alive at His coming will be “caught up” to join Jesus and the saints in the air, and will be forever with Him” (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
4. To allow this to happen, those alive here will instantly receive a new glorified eternal body (1 Corinthians 15:52)
5. The whole company of the redeemed then assemble in heaven (Revelation 7:9-17)
6. A time of apocalyptic judgment and wrath is unleashed on the earth (Revelation 8-18)
7. Jesus and the saints He chooses return from heaven on “horses” (Revelation 19).
8. Satan is bound in chains for 1,000 years, while Jesus brings the millennial kingdom to earth (Revelation 20:2)
9. Satan is cast into hell and the great judgments happen (Revelation 20:11-15)
10. There is a new heaven and a new earth, and the New Jerusalem descends from heaven. All is good! (Revelation 21-22).

Jesus spoke about being ready for His coming, making it clear that no-one knows when this will be, and that it will come unexpectedly while everyday life is going on around us. This supports the view that His sudden appearing, “like a thief in the night”, precedes most of the well-documented end-time events of Revelation. Jesus said:

“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 37 For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 40 Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. 42 “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. 43 But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.” (Matthew 24:36-44).

Those words were spoken by Jesus to people who had not received the new creation, nor had the presence of the Holy Spirit. They are quite scary words. For us now, we are much better prepared. We are enlightened, and secure in His grace, and we have the Holy Spirit who keeps us up to date with what heaven is saying. The point to remember is that Jesus has come as savior, and those who are His and alive on the earth at this dramatic end will experience the power of His salvation as a physical rescue from the outpouring of heaven’s wrath on a fallen world.

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)

Eternal security for all in Christ is complete, whether entering eternity through resurrection, or being “caught up” to join the vast company of the new creation “in the air” (sometimes referred to as being “raptured”).  Paul continued that passage with further reassurance, and we close with this today:

“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1-11).