What is the End Time?
The Bible begins: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). For all of us mortals that is the opening scene of our understanding of God and all that He made. This is our basic assumption and everything else is relative to this. It assumes that the writer, Moses, got it right. There is a time line that runs through the Bible and this is the beginning of the time line.
The end of the time line is expressed in several places in the Bible, most often quoted is Revelation 10:5-6: And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, (6) And swore by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: (Revelation 10:5-6).
The end time does not mean that all time ceases to exist but that God is going to move quickly toward establishing His kingdom upon the earth. It is the end of the “times of the gentiles” and the end of “Jacob’s trouble” and the end of “the great tribulation.” There will be no delay of time. It is time to unfold all the things that must happen. See also: (Rev. 1:3), (Rev.10:6), (Rev.11:18), (Rev.12:12), (Rev. 12:14), (Rev. 14:15), (Rev. 22:10). It is an answer to the prayers of God’s people who have prayed: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). And it is an answer to the prayers of the martyred saints (Rev.6:9-10).
The phrase “no more” occurs 235 times in the Bible and indicates a ceasing of activity or condition. This is a list of 235 “end times” of many activities. If the Bible keeps track of so many things that ceased to be or ceased to function, why should we think it strange that there is one very big ‘NO MORE” or end time that wraps everything up? It is offensive to the “thinkers” of the world that God would have the audacity to sit in judgment upon them and bring all their plans and accumulated accomplishments to a grinding halt.
In our study today, time will continue another thousand years after this primary “end time” but the end of time has reached a “no more” point for bringing the world system to a halt and taking charge of the earth. Handel's oratorio, Messiah included a favorite passage: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever!” He’s quoting (Rev. 11:15) word-for-word.
No wonder the Bible is shoved aside by millions of people who know this book is exclusive and not simply one opinion among many opinions. The Bible claims to be right and the other views to be wrong. That’s why it is so hated. It is offensive to think that there is an end time and that all along there has been a time line in place by which God Almighty scheduled His program step by step to the very end. But if you believe the Bible then that’s what you believe. And if you do not know these things, isn’t it time you set aside a half-hour a day to get into your Bible and see what it says? The Bible is more than a paper weight.
God has appointed times in between the beginning and the ending. We can learn much from looking up such phrases as: “in the time appointed” and “the appointed time” and “the fullness of time.” For example, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world came not just any time but on God’s schedule: But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, (5) To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4-5).
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD. (Jeremiah 8:7)
Please permit me to violate established evolutionary and political orthodoxy and say that it is not possible for men to destroy the earth or the people of the earth with nuclear weapons nor with man-made global warming. It is possible to kill a lot of people and burn up a lot of real estate and to mismanage farms and swamps and forests, but there is a limit to what God permits men to destroy. The devil is the great destroyer. In Rev. 11:18
The Word speaks of “them which destroy the earth,” to destroy in the sense of corrupting the earth, or diverting God’s purpose and order. Not in the sense of doing away with the earth or the people of the earth.
The reason there is a limit to man’s power is that there is a God Almighty Creator who made the universe and within that vast domain is God’s pet project we call “earth.” God’s word says He … hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; (Acts 17:26). God is perfectly capable of managing what He has created and capable of seeing it through to His appointed end, thank you.
God put man in charge of some things. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (28) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Genesis 1:27-28).
The earth is peculiarly designed and peculiarly located to carry out God’s program of creating and redeeming a host of creatures called man and woman. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world (Acts 15:18).
The current furor over the theory of man-made global warming has a very good feature: it announces to the whole world that a global warming is coming that will melt the ice caps. It is wrong in one crucial point: it will not be of man’s making but of God’s doing. I find nowhere in Scripture that God made the earth and man in such a way that the final say of the earth’s survival is in the hands of frail, wicked men. Issues 4 and 5 of The Encourager Newsletter have focused on part of God’s end time program that is just around the corner.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3). That is a square pill for the atheist and the agnostic to swallow. Ω
Warming Your Coffee—Barbara Carr
I recently heard a pastor tell this story. “I love coffee. I go to Starbucks and all the restaurants famous for good coffee and order a cup. In few minutes the waitress comes by and says, “Can I warm that for you?” I always say, “Yes, please.” The reason I always say yes is because no matter what I do to keep the coffee hot it gets cold. I wrap my hands around the cup, I hold the menu up to keep the fan from blowing on it, I do everything I can think of and it still gets cold.”
John writes in Revelation 3:15 about the church of Laodicea. “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.” Coffee is good either hot or cold, but tepid coffee is terrible! The Lord wants us to be hot or cold; not lukewarm. Our Christian life is like this. We are all fired up and before you know it we are lukewarm, or cold as ice. What causes this? It must be the lack of something.
Could it be the lack of searching the Scriptures? Two men were on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ death on the cross. He walked with them, ate with them and opened the scriptures to them and then He was gone. After He was gone they realized it was Jesus. “And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)
This comment tells us of the deep pleasure, the warm glow and intense love they felt in their hearts as He talked to them. Studying the Word of God will warm our hearts as we read what Jesus did for us and that His love is ongoing. Before the foundation of the world, God ordained that Jesus would suffer for our sins. God has big plans for your life! Do we yet understand that?
Could it be the lack of prayer? “And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray” (Mark 6:46). There are many references of Jesus praying. If Jesus needed to pray, do we not need to pray? Unless we are better than Jesus Christ we need to pray. Mark 6 tells us the story of Jesus on the mountain praying and the disciples on the Sea of Galilee in a really bad storm. They were surrounded by wind, waves and blackness, but Jesus walked on the water and saved them.
This could have been us. Jesus has gone to the Father and we are on earth surrounded by the storms of life. We need to stay close to God in prayer in order to survive. Our lives can grow cold so quickly without the times alone in prayer.
Could it be the lack of Church attendance/Christian fellowship? “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
Dan told me a story of man who had been out of church for some time. The pastor had talked with him several times, but he continued to miss church. The pastor went again to his house for a visit. The man opened the door and invited him in, knowing what the pastor was going to talk about. They sat in front of the fire place with a cup of coffee and talked about several things.
As they talked the pastor took the fire poker and pulled a small coal of fire out on the hearth. It was still burning, but as it lay there alone it grew dim and just smoked a little. Finally, the fire went out of the coal completely. When the pastor got to the door to leave, the man said “You have made your point, pastor. I’ll be in church Sunday.” We need each other for spiritual warmth.
Could it be a lack of thankfulness and praise? “Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:” (Psalm 147:7)
In prayer we often just go over some of our many blessings and give thanks for them. In so doing, we realize it is impossible to list them all. But we need to work daily at thanking God because so often we take these blessings for granted. We are told to sing with thanksgiving and praise. Our God is an awesome God and we are to praise Him and worship Him. In so doing we will feel “Our hearts burn within us.”
These are a few things in our lives that we need to maintain or increase in order to keep our fellowship with the Lord hot and not cold. Our pastor says there is no such thing as straddling the fence. He is right. The coffee is either hot or cold and so are we. Ω
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