What Do We Need to Know about End Times and Why Do We Need to Know It?

What do we need to know about end times and why do we need to know it?

Revelation speaks of end times more than any other book of the Bible. There’s an interesting promise at the beginning of that book:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. (Revelation 1:3)

The last chapter repeats the promise: Jesus is speaking:

“Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (Revelation 22:7)

Who receives the blessing? Who will be blessed by reading, hearing, and keeping what is written in book of Revelation?

  • EVERYONE who reads, hears, and keeps these words,
  • EVERYONE in the first century, when the book was written,
  • EVERYONE during the Middle Ages,
  • EVERYONE at the time of Luther and Calvin,
  • EVERYONE today:
  • EVERYONE who reads hears and keeps these words IN WHATEVER CENTURY.

That implies: These teachings are helpful to all believers in Jesus of all times. Furthermore: that means that the book of Revelation specifically and biblical teaching on end times in general are not primarily concerned to give a timetable of future events. For how would a believer in 100AD be blessed by a timetable of events more than 2000 years in the future? Indeed, how could any reader of the book keep the words of the prophecy if they were primarily giving a timetable?

Instead: Biblical teaching on end times is given so that today we might live to God’s glory, rejoicing in Him, whatever our circumstances.

With that in mind, consider 1 Thessalonians 5:1-2. Paul has just explained that when Jesus returns, all believers from all time will be with Him forever, in new bodies. Then he writes:

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Paul says they need read no more about times and seasons. Why? For they already know what they need to know. They already are aware that Jesus will return unexpectedly. Jesus had said, “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven” (Matthew 24:36). Paul had evidently taught them that in his short time in Thessalonica.

And yet, despite that clear statement of our Lord, despite Paul’s statement in 1 Thessalonians 5:1, many Christian teachers have declared over the years, “Jesus will return on such and such a date.” Why? Because we’re curious. We want to know what God has not revealed to us. And friends, God is under no obligation to satisfy our curiosity.

He does not tell us when Jesus will return. Any person who says he or she knows that date is either a liar or is self-deceived.

Now: in Matthew 24 and elsewhere, Jesus does speak of precursors, signs that indicate the end is near. We are to pay attention. But these are generic enough that all Christians over the centuries have been able to see at least some of them in events during their day. Thus they serve to keep all believers of all time ready for His return.

So today we want to examine 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, asking the question the question above: What do we need to know about end times and why do we need to know it?

Our outline is simple:

  • What do we need to know?
  • Why do we need to know it?
  • What do we NOT need to know?
  • Humility With Firm Convictions

What do we need to know?

In the two previous sermons on 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, we’ve seen that Paul makes several rather simple points about end times. Let’s highlight four of them – four truths that Paul must think are important for us to know.

1) Jesus will return.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. (1 Thessalonians 4:16)

2) All those in Christ, from all times, will be with Jesus forever.

And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16b-17)

3) The time of Jesus’ return is unknown; it will be sudden.

4) Jesus’ opponents will be destroyed

The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (1 Thessalonians 5:2b-3)

It’s not complicated. We can summarize Paul’s teaching in this passage on end times succinctly:

At an unknown future time, Jesus will return suddenly. He will raise the dead in Christ and gather them to Himself together with all living believers, and they will be with Him for all eternity. At the same time, He will overwhelm and destroy all who continue to rebel against Him.

You need to know at least those four truths. Why? Because each of those truths has an impact on you today.

Why do we need to know it?

These truths help us today in at least three ways. We learn the first from other passages; we can see the second and third in today’s text.

1) To warn those who are self-deceived about salvation

Consider these three passages:

Jesus dictates to the church in Sardis:

“You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. … Wake up!… If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. (From Revelation 3:1,3)

Hebrews 10:26-27:

“If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire
that will consume the adversaries.

Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Judgment is coming – and those who are part of the visible church, thinking they are saved when they are not, are in the most dangerous position of all. For they hear the call to repent and think, “That doesn’t apply to me!”

This truth about the final condemnation of professed believers serves today to warn us, to cause us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. And that is a blessing today.

Now, understand: The point is not: “All professed Christians, fear judgment! Every time you sin, doubt your salvation!” The point is rather: Believe in the Lord Jesus! And keep believing in Him! See Him as Savior, Master, and Treasure! Repent when you sin! Delight in Him more than in all world has to offer! Seek to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him, to enjoy Him! Then you can look to His return with eager expectation, rather than with a fear of impending judgment.

That’s the first reason we need to know these truths.

2) So that today we might be sober

Recall from last week that 1 Thessalonians 5 speaks twice of being sober:

  • So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. (1 Thessalonians 5:6)
  • But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

Last week we emphasized that we are sober when we think clearly about the truths God teaches us in His Word. To be sober is to have our minds shaped and renewed by His Word so that we see the world as it really is rather than as it appears.

What do we need to think clearly about?

At least four big questions:

a) Who is God?

He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is Creator of all. He is the sovereign ruler of all. He is working all things together for the glory of his Name and the good of His people. He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, but He will by no means clear the guilty.

b) Who is man?

Made in God’s image. The pinnacle of His creation. But we are fallen, sinful, and rebellious. God the Son, however, took on flesh, and lived the life we should have lived. He died as a sacrifice, paying the penalty for our sins. If we believe in Him, the benefits of that death accrue to us: we are God’s beloved children, precious in His sight, forgiven, accepted, and redeemed.

c) What about unredeemed mankind?

Many among the unredeemed will attack God’s people, threatening them, persecuting them, mocking them, even killing them. Yet God will open the eyes of some of them, bringing them to Himself (as He did with the Apostle Paul). The rest of the unredeemed will face sudden destruction and eternal punishment. So don’t fear them. They have no power against God.

d) What about the topics that dominate most men’s thoughts?

Consider politics, accomplishments, technology, entertainment, money, and possessions. Realize that all will be destroyed. Only what is done for God’s glory will last.

We must think clearly about those big questions. Biblical teaching on end times is vital in this regard. For the truths that we need to know about end times teach us:

  • That God is indeed king now and forever
  • That His opponents who look so powerful have no ultimate power
  • That His people who look so weak are strong in Him
  • That He fulfills every promise, every purpose.

So: Why do we need to know these truths about end times? First, those who are self-deceived about salvation can be warned. Second, so that we think soberly about these big questions. Third:

3) So that we can live rightly today

Scripture highlights both right thinking and right acting. This basic teaching on end times helps with both.

Today, when we all have email and cell phones, it’s hard to imagine knowing someone will return, but not knowing when. If a loved one is to be an hour or two late, we expect to be informed.

But try to put yourself back a couple of hundred years. Imagine your husband or father must leave home. He’s not sure how long the journey will take. He may be gone only weeks, but it could drag on to years. Yet he promises: “I will return. Expect me. Have confidence in me. Trust me. Be ready for me.”

Night after night. Month after month. Year after year, you look. Every day you are prepared. Ready. Expectant.

When one day leads to another and he does not return, you are tempted to discouragement, tempted to give up hope. But you persevere, remembering his promise: “I will return.”

Then one day – a day that seems like all the others – the door opens: There he is! You run to him, embrace him, hug him, kiss him! He has come – just as he said.

These basic teachings about end times are like that husband’s promise. They help us persevere in hope today so that right now we can live in light of his return.

Our passage highlights three aspects of right living:

a) As our story emphasizes, we are to be ready for Jesus’s return every day (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

b) We are to live today for Him

Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9)

He has destined or appointed us to obtain salvation. That’s the purpose of our existence – to glorify Him. He has given us, He has dressed us with, the breastplate of saving faith and effective love as well as the helmet of the hope of salvation. Fitted out with such faith, hope, and love, He has destined us for joy with Him. So live like that today! Your life is about Jesus! You have no good from Jesus! So live for Him.

c) Live with Him today

[The Lord Jesus] died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:10, emphasis added)

The basic truths about end times tell us we will live with Him for all eternity. So begin eternity now! Live that out now! He is with you today. His Spirit indwells you. So glorify and enjoy forever the God who is with you.

What do we NOT need to know

Go back to 1 Thessalonians 5:1:

Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware [and then Paul reminds them of these basic truths] (emphasis added)

Neither Paul nor Jesus nor John nor Daniel sets out clearly the exact order of events in the last days spoken of in these different passages. Neither Paul nor Jesus nor John nor Daniel sets out clearly the details of those last days or the details of what the new heavens and new earth will be like.

Why?

Because we only need to know what will help us live to God’s glory today.

As stated earlier: God doesn’t care about satisfying our curiosity. He cares about glorifying Himself through His people. He cares about conforming us to the image of Jesus. He cares about our joy in Him

So we can have attitude of David in Psalm 131:

O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Meditate on what He has clearly revealed. Trust Him to fulfill those clear promises. Live today for Him and with Him. Your following Him does not depend on your discovering what He has not clearly revealed.

Humility With Firm Convictions

Before concluding, let me address a wider, related question: How do we teach and lead on controversial topics, those that Bible-believing Christians disagree on?

My point is not: “Only teach and emphasize what all Bible-believing Christians agree on.” For we disagree on some vitally important matters.

We should have convictions, as Paul says when speaking of such disagreements:

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14:5)

I have no problem with those who convictions about end times teaching go well beyond the basic outline we emphasized today.

But we all must have humility, so that we give grace to one another, so that we are able to listen to one another, to test what each is saying.

Let me make a confession – I am not perfect! Maybe some of you have noticed that! I am not Jesus, so I am not perfect. Thus, I know some of my theology is wrong – I just don’t know what. If I did, I would change it.

So it is right to have strong convictions and to listen – to my fellow elders, to you all, to others today, to other teachers across the centuries.

If I’m teaching on a topic which is in dispute, I must test my interpretation to see if it is idiosyncratic. If so, I need to check it more thoroughly by seeing how it meshes with the context of the passage and with the entire storyline of Scripture. I need to interact with other interpreters who come to different conclusions.

If after that checking I’m still convinced my unusual interpretation is correct, how should I preach? As if anyone who disagrees is a heretic? No. I may well say something like, “I’ve become convinced this passage is saying X. Consider if that might be helpful for you.”

On this morning’s controversial topic: In my opinion, it is an error to require all members of a church or even all elders to agree on a particular interpretation of the timing and order of events. For such details are not the main point of any biblical passage that teaches on eschatology, and the application of those passages to our lives today do not depend on one interpretation on those issues. Indeed, to focus on timing and order distracts from main application point of those passages.

So, yes, study the Scriptures and have firm convictions. And be humble, recognizing that some of your firm convictions are wrong.

Conclusion

Peter tells us that God has granted us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) – that is: everything we need to live today to His glory, everything we need to be redeemed, to be incorporated into His body, His church – everything we need to rejoice in Him always, to depend on Him, to serve Him, to be His ambassadors.

But He has not granted us everything that will satisfy our curiosity.

He assures us: Jesus will return. All in Jesus from all centuries will be raised with Him forever. He will return suddenly, without warning. He will destroy His enemies.

  • Focus on those truths.
  • Live today in light of those truths
  • Trust Him today to return at exactly the right time

All that happens today is preparatory, one further step along the road that leads to the new heavens and new earth, one further advance toward Jesus’ return.

He is coming back.

Are you ready – today?

[This sermon was preached 2/13/22. The audio is available at this link.]

A Picture of Mao in Hell

[Sunday February 6 we consider 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11, which says in part: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, ‘There is peace and security,’ then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” Randy Alcorn’s book Safely Home attempts to describe what this destruction looks like. The book tells the story of Ben Fielding, a high-powered corporate executive in a multinational firm with factories in China, and Li Quan, Ben’s college roommate whom he locates after twenty years and visits. Expecting Li to be a successful university professor, Ben instead finds that his Harvard-educated friend is a strong believer in Jesus, a leader in a house church, and – because of persecution – a locksmith’s apprentice. Li Quan’s faith, the persecution that he encounters, and Ben’s reaction to that persecution form the structure of the novel. Alcorn is not trying to write great literature; instead, he is trying to communicate biblical truth in a way that is engaging, interesting, and accessible. By that standard, this book is excellent. Alcorn is a reliable interpreter of the Word, and uses the medium of the novel to teach:

  • the reality of persecution today;
  • how to fight the fight of faith in the midst of suffering;
  • the reality of the spiritual world around us;
  • the nature of heaven;
  • the nature of hell

After reading the first hundred pages, I found myself praying more regularly and more fervently for our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world. That alone makes reading Safely Home worthwhile. I strongly recommend it.

Below find Alcorn’s picture of Mao Zedong – the founder of the People’s Republic of China – in hell. Read it – and weep – and witness – Coty]

Where is my palace? Where are my servants? Does no one know who I am?

The vast, cold darkness cut into his face. It felt like intense frostbite, burning his skin.

I was the most powerful man in Zhongguo. I created the People’s Republic. I was the revered father of my country. They worshiped me. I was god! He waited, listening to the silence. Cannot anyone hear me?

His voice disappeared into the great dark void. It did not echo, for there was nothing for it to echo off. It was immediately absorbed into infinite nothingness. His words went no farther than his blistered lips.

A parade of untold millions marched inside his mind’s eye. His sentence was to relive the suffering of each of his victims. He had been here over twenty-five years. Every minute of those years he had relived the sufferings he inflicted on others. Every torture his regime inflicted he now received, one after the next after the next. Eventually, perhaps, they would start over, so the millions he had already endured were but the first installment. The pain was unbearable, yet he had no choice but to bear it. There was no escape into unconsciousness – no drug to take, no sleeping pill, no alcohol. That which he had laid upon others was now laid upon him – endlessly, relentlessly.

He longed to pluck out his eyes, to keep from seeing what he saw, to puncture his eardrums to keep from hearing the wailing misery, to pull out his tongue to keep from tasting the awfulness he had legislated. But he had no ability to destroy himself. He had no control now over his destiny, no power over himself or others. There was no one he could command to fix the situation, no one to prepare him an eight-course meal to assuage the eternal hunger, no one to do his work, no one to punish for their errors. No one to salute him, cower at his voice, or bow heads in his presence.

Where is everyone?

Misery loves company, and he had long sought the consolation of others. But all others were still on earth, secure in heaven, or confined to their own private hells at distances immeasurable.

The aloneness was stifling. He could hear nothing but his victims’ cries, feel nothing but their pain, see nothing but their blood, taste nothing but their vomit, sense nothing but their torture. He had only himself. He could not enjoy his own company, for he saw himself as he really was. It was an ugly sight, revolting beyond comprehension.

He felt a burning. A fury welled up inside him. Anger and bitterness, unfocused hostility, frustration leading him to lash out. But there was no one to lash out at. No incompetent aide, no dissident, no Christian pastor, no helpless peasant. No one to beat or shoot or hang or starve. No one to cower in fear at the power of the great chairman, architect of the Republic. No one to shine his shoes or rub lotion upon his burning feet.

Grief and rage warred within him. His hell was a growing cancer, gnawing at him, eating away at him, devouring him. He was like a bush that burned yet was not consumed, so the burning could never stop.

He had come to death entirely unprepared – and now it was too late to prepare. If the torture was not enough, a sickening feeling of foreboding had gripped him from his first moments here. He had hoped it would subside, that he would get used to it. He hadn’t. It only got worse.

He could see now through all his rationalizations. His arguments against belief in a Creator had never been intellectual ones, as he had claimed. By rejecting a Creator he thought he could rid himself of a Judge. But it had not worked. His atheism had been the opiate of his soul and the executioner of uncalculated millions. But now his comforting atheism could no longer exist, even for a fleeting moment, for he had been forever stripped of the power to deny reality.

He had lived his short todays as if there were no long tomorrows. He had believed the lie that all were accountable to him and he was accountable to none. He had believed the lie that death would slip him into eternal unconsciousness. He knew now – how well he knew – the curse of always being awake, ever alert, unable to allay his suffering with a moment’s sleep or distraction.

The winds of hell blew upon him. On them floated sounds of laughter and joy from a place far distant. These voices were torture. Many he recognized as belonging to Christians he had persecuted, worshipers of the Carpenter he had murdered. He relived what he had done to them, this time on the other end of the cattle prod. By the time he had died, while he and all he stood for were in decline, they and all they embraced were in ascent. They had beaten him. Their King had dethroned him even in the other life – how much more in this one.

As they celebrated in their far-off realm, at first he had imagined they were cursing him, celebrating his demise. He thought of them as his eternal enemies who would forever speak of what a great foe he had been to them. But he had come to realize something far worse. They did not curse him. They did not relive his great campaigns against him. No. They simply did not think of him at all. He was unimportant. Insignificant. In the eternal scheme of things, he did not matter.

Not matter? How dare they ignore me! Don’t they know who I am?

He had said, “I want there to be no God; I want nothing to do with him.” His atheist’s prayer had been answered. The everywhere-present God had chosen to withdraw his presence from this single place, turning it into a cosmic desert. This was a ghetto of massive proportions, yet so small it could slip through a single crack in the tiles of heaven. It was located in some distant and empty place, never to be feared or even stumbled upon by the citizens of Charis. His life, with all his supposed accomplishments, was but a puff of smoke, dissipating into nothingness.

Stop what you’re doing and listen to me! Stop or I will… I will…

No power to give meaning to a threat. No reason to be listened to. And no one to hear him.

Thirst without water to quench it. Hunger without food to satisfy it. Loneliness without company to alleviate it. There was no God here. He’d gotten his wish. On earth he’d managed to reject God while still enjoying his blessings and provisions. But it was excruciatingly clear now that God was the author of good. Therefore the absence of God meant the absence of good. He could not have it both ways, not here. No God, no good. Forever.

He had wanted a world where no one else was in charge, where no order was forced upon him. He had finally gotten it. He had secretly wondered if there was something beyond death, but if he went to hell, he’d fully expected to rule there. Yet there was no king, for there were no subjects. Only one prisoner – himself – in eternal solitary confinement.

He missed the sound of laughter. There was no laughter here, nor could there be, for laughter cannot exist without joy or hope. An awful realization gripped him. There was no history here. No story line. No opening scene, no developing plot, no climax, no resolution. No character development. No travel, no movement. Only a setting of constant nothingness, going nowhere. Excruciating, eternal boredom. Nothing to distract him from the torment of the eternal now.

He had charmed his friends and cheated his enemies, but death he could not cheat, hell he could not charm. This nameless, ever-shriveling man writhed in terror. Faced with his own deeds, punished by them, he was receiving in himself the penalty for what he had done. He longed for a visit from a foreign dignitary, delivered by a courier, a request for an audience in his illustrious presence. But no. He knew now none would ever come, or even want to. He could not return to Beijing – and knew Beijing itself would soon be gone, a flower withered in a summer’s wind. Perhaps it was gone already.

No one to fear him. No one to revere him. No one to hear him. No one to think about him.

He who had claimed to be savior was forever without a Savior. Ignored and insignificant. Empty and embittered and regretful. Without a following. Without a heart. Without a hope.

Forever, time without end.

[From Safely Home by Randy Alcorn (Tyndale House, 2001), p. 327-330. The first chapter of the book is available online. Visit www.epm.org for more resources from the author, or to order the book. Note that all royalties from its sale are used to help persecuted Christians and to spread the Gospel in their countries.]