Intro to the End Times is a series walking through some of the key themes of the story of Jesus’ return from a historic premillennial perspective, with special focus on knowing the heart of Jesus as we partner with God through the most dramatic chapter of human history.

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

---

Unfortunately, the study of the end times has been one of the areas that has been under attack in the church. The enemy is eager to create confusion about this most glorious and vital subject. In this post, I want to identify and briefly respond to some of the ideas that are currently floating around in the church. A few of these especially could be whole posts in and of themselves– leave me a comment and request which ones you’d like to see further developed!

I personally used to hold some of these ideas, and other people close to me still hold some of them. This post is not meant to shame or attack any individual who finds themselves resonating with any of these statements, but I want to be clear and honest about the truths that I see in Scripture. We’re all on a journey, and it’s maturity and wisdom to continually be open to refining.

1. Things Will Basically Continue Like Always

People have a tendency to imagine that life as they know it will continue basically undisturbed for a long time. It’s hard to wrap our minds around the proposition of everything changing overnight– but it’s happened before, and it will happen again. The best example is the flood in the days of Noah, when the people of that time thought life would continue indefinitely like normal, until they were caught off guard by judgment. Jesus made the connection clear (Matthew 24:37-39), and Peter followed suit (2 Peter 3:3-7):

“…scoffers… will say, ‘Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”
(2 Peter 3:3-7)

Of course, as I highlighted in part 1 of this series (Does God Want Us to Understand the End Times?), we aren’t supposed to be caught unaware. We need to take seriously the fact that one day everything will change, and prepare ourselves to thrive as the church in that day. As I write this in May 2020, COVID-19 is already starting to shake up our “normal,” but this is only the slightest tremor compared to the cataclysmic shaking that will come.

2. Studying the End Times Is a Distraction From More Important Things

It’s true we ought to “major on the majors, and minor on the minors”. However, if we’re taking our cues from how much the Bible talks about the end times, it turns out that it’s actually a rather major point! In fact, every single New Testament writer wrote about the end times. In total there are over 150 chapters in Scripture  that are primarily about that generation. Paul even made sure to teach the new church in Thessalonica about the end times during his brief three weeks there (Acts 17:1-2, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12).

Keeping our hearts set on the day of Jesus’ coming and God’s end time purposes will actually push us into focusing on all those other things with a sharper perspective. I care far more about sanctification and evangelism, just to name two things, now that I see them in context of eternity and Jesus’ return. In fact, Jesus and the apostles regularly used the end times to motivate people into holy living. Check out my previous post in this series (Why Should We Study the End Times?) for more practical benefits of focusing on the end times!

3. We Can’t Understand the End Times Anyway

I sympathize with those who feel overwhelmed, but allowing that to be a permanent obstacle isn’t wise. God put 150 chapters about the end times in Scripture, Jesus commanded us to understand, the whole Bible is “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16), and the subject is the most glorious, dramatic, global transition in human history…. it really seems like God wants us to get it! He knew that it would seem overwhelming, but He gave us everything we need in His Word and He gave us His Spirit to help us know the mysteries of God (1 Corinthians 2:9-16).

This understanding isn’t reserved for the elite or the educated; most of humanity throughout history has been fairly uneducated. You don’t need a doctorate or access to a huge theological library to understand the main and plain truths of God’s plan. All you need to do is cry out in humility and diligently seek wisdom (Proverbs 2:1-5). (For more, I suggest the first post in this series, Does God Want Us to Understand the End Times?)

4. Revelation Is the Scary Book

In addition to being confusing, Revelation is often perceived as the “scary book”. Of course it has some pretty intense and dramatic events, but the first verse sets the tone for the rest of the story– it’s the “revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1)! It’s not called the revelation of the antichrist or the end times. First and foremost, it’s meant to reveal Jesus.

Even in the intensity of the storyline, we see the heart of God on display. The judgments don’t start till chapter 6, and before that we see the beauty of Jesus in His glory (ch. 1), the faithfulness and kindness of Jesus toward His church (ch. 2-3), the glory of the heavenly throne room (ch. 4), and the worthiness of the Lamb (ch. 5). Even the judgment series are intercut with declarations of the goodness of God and His love for His bride, and the final chapters climax with our wedding to Jesus Himself when He comes to set up His kingdom, uniting heaven and earth forever (ch. 19-22). This is a glorious storyline that ushers us directly into the heart of Jesus!

5. It Will All Just Pan Out

Some people eschew terms like pre-trib or post-trib and call themselves “pan-trib,” as in “everything will just pan out.” This sounds clever, but it’s really an irresponsible approach. Even the saying “hope for the best, prepare for the worst” usually means “let’s hope we’ll just be raptured out of the way before the scary stuff starts” and doesn’t really embrace the glory of what God wants to do through the church during the time of the “worst”. Personally, I’ve never met a “hope for the best” person who is actually taking seriously preparing for the “worst.”

Of course God’s plans will come to pass with or without your understanding and participation, but no one on earth will be able to escape dealing with this. The question is, how will it pan out for you? Will you be found standing with God in agreement and partnership with His desires? Or will you and those who follow your example (your family, etc.) be confused, offended, and deceived?

6. Every Generation Thought It Was Them

This is a common misconception, but a brief survey of history shows it’s not quite true. While there have been localized communities of believers scattered throughout history that believed they were living in the final generation, it’s always been small groups not even representing 1% of believers on earth. There have only been two generations in which a majority of the global body of Christ has sustained a conviction (temporary surges of belief provoked by world crises notwithstanding) that they were the last generation: the first century church, and the modern church in the earth today.

Almost every time I’m in a conversation and share my belief that Jesus’ return is near, to my surprise, I gets nods and agreement! The Holy Spirit is growing this conviction in the church today, and it’s even impacting the secular world. What does it tell us that apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is an entire genre in the Christian and secular entertainment industries alike?

7. Jesus Is Coming Any Minute to Rapture Us Before the Tribulation

This is a very common belief in much of the Western church today, although it wasn’t common until the early 1900s and doesn’t appear at all until 1825. It’s a far larger topic than I can cover in detail here, so for the moment I’ll point you to a teaching session from Brad Stroup at The Prayer Room called Disproving the Pre-Tribulation Rapture Theory. Another excellent resource is the book Not Afraid of the Antichrist by Dr. Michael Brown and Dr. Craig Keener.

Just to give a couple of verses to start you in the right direction, check out 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 and Matthew 24:29-31. Both give clearly discernible, sequential timing indicators as to when the second coming and rapture will occur, including 1) the great falling away, 2) the revealing of the antichrist and his claiming to be God in the temple, and 3) the tribulation.

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him [rapture], we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion [great falling away] comes first, and the man of lawlessness [antichrist] is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-4)

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect [rapture] from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
(Matthew 24:29-31)

If you’re interested in a more thoroughly developed post on this subject, leave me a comment!

8. Bible Prophecy Is All Symbolic Anyway

I remember reading prophetic passages in Isaiah and being so confused because I had no idea where they fit in the story of God, so I concluded they must be symbolic. That was easier because I could make them mean whatever vague, encouraging thing I wanted. However, the Bible isn’t meant to be read like that. One of the keys to Scripture interpretation is to take things for their plain-sense meaning. In other words, assume things are generally literal unless the text clearly indicates otherwise.

So many things in the history of Scripture are fantastic and hard to imagine, but really did happen! The flood, the parting of the Red Sea, the virgin birth– all literal! When Jesus came the first time, there were so many specific prophecies that would have been easy to take symbolically, but they were in fact fulfilled exactly as written. (I wrote more about this in my post What Jesus’ First Coming Says About His Second Coming.) The end times are no different. God will be faithful to fulfill His word; we don’t have to make up symbolic interpretations that leave Scripture subject to any convenient meaning.

9. The End Time Prophecies Already Happened

Many dear friends of mine, plus teachers and ministries I respect deeply, believe that the end time prophecies in Matthew 24, Revelation, and the other prophetic scriptures already happened in 70 AD at the destruction of Jerusalem, or progressively at other points in history. This leads them to conclude that there is not an end time tribulation in our future, and things will mostly just get better and better until Jesus comes back.

There are a number of problems with this theology (and much of it is tied to our theology of Israel– God still has many future promises for His people! I recommend One King by Samuel Whitefield and When A Jew Rules the World by Joel Richardson.) but this post is already too long so here I’ll just say that none of the events in history, including the destruction of Jerusalem, can account for ALL the details that are promised in the end times. Matthew 24:21-22 says “there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved.” The scale of the global end time drama is off the charts, even nearly causing the extinction of the human race. That has never even come close to happening!

Why Does It Matter?

As I wrote previously, what we believe about the end times has huge impact on how we live and how we prepare. If we really are living in the end times (stay tuned for a post on how to recognize the signs), then it is urgently important for the church to have a biblical perspective of not only what will happen, but how God feels about these events and what response He’s looking for.

My passion in talking about these things isn’t to argue over details or to be right for the sake of being right. I have a burden for the church to be in allignment with the heart of Jesus for the sake of love. He deserves a bride who is in full agreement and partnership with Him as the most crucial hour in human history begins to unfold. Lord, help– renew our minds and conform our hearts to Yours!