When I meet with people who want to join the Harbor covenant, I always ask them to give me their perspective on the gospel – the most foundational things we need to understand and believe as Christians. Most of them tell me about God’s creative power and sovereign rule, our sin and rebellion, and God’s gracious love extended to us through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to save us from our sins and empower us for holiness and service. All of those ideas are absolutely essential to the gospel, but they’re still missing something. With that understanding, we might be doomed to an endless cycle of rebellion and redemption for millions of years.
We need to know that God will ultimately redeem his people and his earth, for good. We need to remember that Christ is coming back! Nine out of ten people I talk to forget about that part. It’s not that they don’t believe it’s going to happen, it’s that most of us just don’t think it’s that important. Why is that?
Why We Ignore the End Times
Many of us ignore the end times because we’re comfortable. Our lives are pretty good. What do we need Jesus to return for? We’ve got good jobs and nice places to live. And even if we didn’t, we’ve got the best weather on the planet, so we could always just go live on the beach! Life is good.
Some of us ignore the end times because we’re young. If we’re really honest with ourselves, some of us don’t really want Jesus to return! We’ve still got things we want to do in life. Places we want to go, accomplishments we want to make, experiences we want to have. The return of Christ would get in the way of all that.
Most of us ignore the end times because we’re confused. We’ve heard all these different theories about the end times by all these different scholars who are all 10 times smarter than us, and they just can’t agree on how everything’s going to happen. If they can’t figure this stuff out, why should we even try?
That’s how I felt the first time I read one of those “Four Views on the End Times” books. After I read each guy’s argument, I would find myself totally agreeing with him. And then I would read the next guy’s argument, and totally agree with him. I’d be saying, “That last guy was an idiot! … How could anyone believe … what I just believed 10 minutes ago?” After going through that, I felt like it would be easier just to give up.
But that was a big mistake, because eschatology – the study of the end times – really matters!
Why the End Times Matter
You can tell eschatology matters to God because so much of the Bible is filled with teaching on the end times, Old Testament and New Testament. From Daniel to Isaiah to the Gospels to Thessalonians to Revelation, God just can’t stop talking about how he will bring glory to himself by fully cleaning up the mess we’ve made on earth.
And most of the things the Bible says about the end times are crystal clear. There’s no debate that Jesus is coming back someday to establish his kingdom, and to judge the living and the dead.
And the most important reason why eschatology matters is because it has a huge effect on how we live our lives today. What you believe about the future affects the way you make decisions. It affects what you value. It affects how you treat the people around you. It affects how you approach this world.
Eschatology is essential! … So join us on Sunday mornings at Harbor for the next month as we study Jesus’ perspective on the end times.