The other day I wrote about where we are in relation to the end times. I focused on Christ's return because that is what happens that ushers in what we so often refer to as the end times.
Not that there is any harm in that on the surface but it simply not that easy. Discussion about and debate regarding the end times have gone on for a long time. This is not intended or can it be thought of as addressing all of the discussions and positions that accompany this subject.
There seems to be a worldwide belief that at some time this world will come to an end. You can study for yourself the many wide-ranging thoughts and conclusions as to an end coming.
As a believer in Jesus Christ and a student of God's Word, the Bible, I follow what Scripture tells us. Now over my many years and the years, the Scriptures have existed there are varying interpretations of how, in what order, and when the end will come.
Let me start here with the fact that the end times began when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. Then the question of when will this all come to end is actually dealing with an event in time. We as mankind have been, are, and will be living in the end times until God has completed all that He has laid out in the Scripture to occur. Some of you are about to lose it because you want to read something right now that answers the question in your mind. In that, some of you have certain ideas as to what happens and when. As to those things let it suffice to say, whatever God has said will happen, will happen and it is His decision, His timeline, and His sequence of events, not ours.
So for the sake of your sanity and mental well being here is a wide overview of what is ahead.
1) Jesus will return for the church
2) There will be a Great Tribulation (7 years)
3) There will be a battle
4) Satan will be bound and cast into hell
5) Jesus will establish a 1,000-year reign on earth 6) Satan will be released and will battle God
7) He will lose and will be bound again and placed in the pit of hell FOREVER
8) God will establish His eternal Kingdom
All of these are events and occurrences that continue to confound man and cause much debate. There are questions even within these 8 areas that only God knows what or when it will happen. I know I have my own thoughts about how certain things happen and when. I may be right in the end but I could have it all wrong. I could be like a really good baseball player who hit .300 over their lifetime and still made it into the Hall of Fame. Do you get that they only got a hit every third time they went to bat? You get the idea is that none of us know for sure because God has not made it that clear to us.
I like what I heard a fellow pastor share with his church recently. He reminded them of Jesus answering the question as to the greatest commandment found in Mark 12:30-
...thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
It was such a blessing to hear him later remind them that they also had a Great Commission in Mathew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
You know if we would all just listen to what that pastor said to his church and do the same thing every day, God would be glorified through our lives. Think about it, we would be doing what He has commanded and operating under His commission. Doesn't get any better than that, am I right?
A thought to ponder,
Elbert Nasworthy
