Why You Should Think About the End Times
Why You Should Think About the End Times
There was a class I took in college called Pre-Modern German History. It was one of those classes where your whole grade rests on the midterm and the final. And here’s the crazy thing: both the midterm and final had only one question on them.
The day of the midterm, I was feeling pretty good. I sat down with my blue book, and the professor handed out the test. Just one question: “What were the geopolitical consequences when Duke Frederick Wilhelm withdrew ties from Lithuania and Poland?” I choked on my Altoid. I had studied for a week solid, but I had no idea who Duke Frederick Wilhelm was. I had never heard of him in my life.
I debated with myself: “What am I supposed to do here? Should I just walk out? No, I can’t just walk out. I’ve gotta try to put something down, right?”
So I sat there and wrote 20 pages. About a guy I had never heard of. And I have to say, it was really good. It had drama and intrigue, and a well-crafted plot line. I think it could be published. But for some reason my professor disagreed. When I got my midterm back there was a big fat F, and just three words: “Come see me.” I failed miserably, because I was completely unprepared.
Unfortunately, that’s what it’s going to be like for many people when Jesus comes back as he promised he would. Most of us are completely unprepared for the return of Christ. And that’s because most of us just don’t think about the return of Christ.
Jesus warned us about this tendency: “Now concerning that day or hour no one knows — neither the angels in heaven nor the Son — but only the Father. Watch! Be alert! For you don’t know when the time is coming.” (Mark 13:32-33). He knows most of us will be caught off guard when he comes back to establish his kingdom and judge the living and the dead.
So why is that? Why don’t we think about Christ’s return very much?
1. Because we’re comfortable.
Why do we need Jesus to return? Our lives are pretty good. Most of us have decent jobs and decent places to live. And even if we lose all that, in Hawaii we’ve got the best weather on the planet, so we could always just go live on the beach. We don’t need to think about the future much.
2. Because we’re young.
If you’re really honest with yourself, maybe you don’t really want Jesus to come back. You still have things you want to do in life. Places you want to visit. Accomplishments you want to make. Experiences you want to have. The return of Christ would get in the way of all that.
3. Because we’re confused.
We’ve heard all these different theories about the end times by all these different pastors and scholars who are all ten times smarter than us, and none of them agree on how it’s all going to happen. If they can’t figure this stuff out, then why should we even try?
So for all those reasons, the return of Christ just doesn’t matter to most of us. But it matters to God a lot. You can tell because so much of the Bible is filled with teaching on the end times, Old Testament and New Testament. And all of it is meant to give us hope for tomorrow that changes our lives today. As Peter said:
Repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning. (Acts 3:19-21)
The return of Christ will bring “seasons of refreshing” for exhausted sinners like us, and the “restoration of all things” for a fallen world like ours. And that motivates us to “repent and turn back” each day of our lives in preparation for his arrival.