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!)

The end times aren’t a wild disaster of history going off the rails; they are a story playing out exactly as God intends to bring about His ultimate purposes. As any writer knows, the end of a story is for tying up loose ends and bringing things to conclusion–while also teasing a sequel yet to come!

So what are God’s purposes in the end of the story?

1. He Will Prepare a Mature Bride

When Jesus comes, the church will be fully mature, pure and spotless. Revelation 19:7-8 says “His Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.” Ephesians 4:13 says that the church must continue to grow “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” In the next chapter, Paul writes that Jesus will “present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:27)

You and I both know that this is not what the Body of Christ looks like right now. It’s going to take some doing and no doubt some refining through fire (including a lot of persecution), but we can be confident that when Jesus comes, all of the compromise that plagues the church will have been stripped away, and we’ll be full of the Holy Spirit, desperately lovesick for Jesus, and fully in agreement with the plan of God. Jesus is worthy of a fully mature, equally yoked bride, and the Holy Spirit is going to see that He gets one.

2. He Will Send a Great Revival

Joel 2:8-32 promises a great outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh. In that same context, Joel describes “blood, fire, and columns of smoke” before the Day of the Lord. Peter borrowed from this passage to explain the Pentecost outpouring in Acts 2, but clearly, it wasn’t fully fulfilled on that day. Today, the indwelling Spirit is available to everyone, and God certainly pours out heavier anointing here and there, but it would be pretty anticlimactic to imagine that what the church is currently experiencing is the dramatic outpouring Joel prophesied.

Before Jesus comes back, the Church will experience a greater outpouring of anointing and power than we have ever experienced before, surpassing even the book of Acts, and the world will be filled with bold, zealous, anointed witnesses for Jesus. Signs and wonders at the hands of average believers will become commonplace, and we will be like “burning and shining lamps” like John the Baptist (John 5:35) proclaiming the gospel of the soon-coming Kingdom. As a result, millions worldwide will be saved in a great end-time harvest.

3. He Will Raise Up a Global Worship Movement

In many passages, the Bible promises a global prayer and worship movement that rises to full strength in the last generation, ushering in the return of Jesus. Malachi 1:11 is one of my favorites: “For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering.”

We’re seeing this happen RIGHT NOW under our noses! The proliferation of prayer and worship, even specifically 24/7 prayer and worship, around the globe in this generation has been nothing short of miraculous. God is raising up a mature, anointed, lovesick Bride who will “sing back the King” until His return.

4. He Will Judge Wickedness

Like the blood of Abel crying out from the ground (Genesis 4:10), the sins of humanity have been heaping up for judgment throughout the generations. In His mercy, God has mostly restrained Himself to give us time to repent, but He won’t be silent forever (Psalm 50:21, Isaiah 42:14). In the days right before Jesus returns, the brakes will have been taken off, so to speak, and human wickedness will have been allowed to reach its full potential (2 Timothy 3:2-5, Revelation 9:20-21). It will reach a breaking point where God will finally respond.

God’s judgment is always mixed with mercy, because His goal is really repentance, not destruction (Isaiah 55:6-7). God is using the least severe means to reach the greatest number at the deepest level of love without violating anyone’s free will. Everything He does is meticulously calculated with as much mercy as possible.  However, justice demands that He won’t just “let it slide” forever. There will be a day of recompense.

5. He Will Rescue His People

A large part of this judgment is in direct response to the oppression of His people by the antichrist and his kingdom. In that time frame, the anger of the antichrist will be vehemently directed against both the church and the people of Israel (Revelation 12). It’s not difficult to imagine him following Hitler’s example in setting up concentration camps. We’re going to desperately need Jesus to break in and rescue us. When He returns, He will literally “proclaim liberty to the captives” as Isaiah 61 says.

In prophesying about Israel in the end times, Zechariah 2:8 says, “he who touches you touches the apple of His eye.” In the same spirit, I really like Proverbs 6:34 in the NKJV: “For jealousy is a husband’s fury; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.” Like any good husband, Jesus is not going to sit back and let the antichrist get away with tormenting His people. His judgment is out of fierce, protective, jealous love for His bride. (Yes, the church is His bride, but Israel was the nation He originally chose as His bride, and He is still faithful to His promises to her and is wooing her back.)

6. He Will Marry His Bride

“For the marriage of the Lamb has come…” (Revelation 19:7) After rescuing us, Jesus is going to marry us! This is the great climax of the story. This has been the great desire of His heart from eternity past. Right now, we could say that we are betrothed to Jesus, but there will be an actual wedding day when our union will be made complete.

Our union with Jesus as His bride is the pinnacle of the story because there’s a level of intimacy and partnership in marriage that is not present in any other kind of relationship– not master/servant, teacher/disciple, friend/friend, or father/child, although those are all also true. At the end of the story, the church is primarily identified as the bride (Revelation 22:17), in full and unhindered intimacy and partnership with Jesus for eternity.

7. He Will Rule on Earth Forever

Jesus is going to rule and reign as the actual king on planet Earth forever. He is spiritually king of the universe right now, but He doesn’t currently have the kind of tangible, governmental leadership He is destined to have. Revelation 11:15 describes this transition moment: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

My favorite verses are the ones that zero in on Jerusalem and the temple, which is the literal, physical place on earth from which He will rule as King. God told Ezekiel about the temple, “this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever.” (Ezekiel 43:7) Jesus and the psalmist both called Jerusalem “the city of the great king” (Matthew 5:45, Psalm 48:2). Can you imagine the day when JESUS is actually king on the earth?

8. He Will Fulfill All His Promises to Israel

The story of the Bible is Israel-centric. Ever since Abraham, God has been telling a story to and about the Jewish people; we as Gentile believers in a Jewish Messiah are graciously given a role to play and are no less full children of God, but there are still unique promises to Israel that God has yet to fulfill. The Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12 promised Abraham 1) land, 2) descendants, and 3) blessing. These promises won’t come to full fruition until Jesus comes back and sets up what we call the Millennial Kingdom, which Jews anticipate as the Messianic Age.

Jeremiah 31 promises that God will never cast off His covenant with Israel (like Romans 11:29 says, “the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable”), and also promises that He will bring a new covenant in which He will make them all righteous. Jesus’ first coming was the inauguration of that new covenant, but God’s promise of salvation to all Israel (Romans 11:26) has yet to be fulfilled. When Jesus comes, they will recognize Him and mourn, realizing their mistake for so long (Zechariah 12:10). On that day, God will finally begin to fulfill all of His promises to Israel and they will finally dwell in safety in the land as a righteous nation before Him.

My favorite book about this is One King by Samuel Whitefield.

9. He Will Restore All Things

At the moment, creation is broken. Romans 8:19-20 says that the earth itself is groaning for redemption. Acts 2:31 says, “that He may send Jesus Christ…whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things.” (NKJV) God loves His original plan of creation, and plans to restore earth to that original “very good” state that He spoke over the universe before the fall (Genesis 1:31)–and because the increase of His kingdom will never end (Isaiah 9:7), it will keep getting better forever!

In the restoration, we will be given resurrected bodies that will be flawless, immortal, shining like stars, and much like Jesus’ own resurrected body (1 Corinthians 15). We will live on a restored earth, in restored bodies, interacting with God in restored relationship, forever. Every injustice and loss will be restored, and very tear will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4). No matter how broken it is now, this is the destiny of creation.

My favorite book about this is All Things New by John Eldredge.

10. He Will Unite Heaven and Earth

After #6 (He will marry His bride), this is probably the most deep and mysterious reality of all. One of the things that God will restore is the full union of heaven and earth, as He has intended since the garden of Eden. Ephesians 1:9-10 says, “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” There may be a lot of spiritual overlap in the present age, but this will fully happen when the New Jerusalem comes to earth (Revelation 21).

Then, the plan of God will finally, fully be complete. Jesus will reign with justice and righteousness over the whole earth. He will have His full inheritance in the nations and His glorious bride at His side. The Father will have His family restored and all of creation will celebrate.

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!)

My Story With the End Times

As I have written in several places on this website, my story with the end times starts when I was a child. From my earliest days I was fascinated by the return of Jesus. I remember asking my mom questions about the antichrist and resurrected bodies. I’m not even sure where I heard these terms, but I was insatiably curious.

When I was very young, I asked Jesus one night while I lay in bed, “Why don’t You come back right now? Why are you waiting?” That was the first time in my life I remember hearing His voice clearly: “TO GIVE PEOPLE TIME.” It wasn’t till years later that I realized that He had basically given me 2 Peter 3:9 on a silver platter.

In junior high and high school I barreled through the Left Behind books, inhaling one after another. Pre-tribulation rapture theology was the only eschatology I knew, and I was disappointed that there was no chance (so I thought) of being on earth during the tribulation. That seemed like the most exciting time! God doing BIG things, finally shaking the heavens and the earth, and the church standing firm, fiercely faithful to Jesus unto death! I used to speculate about my chances of getting un-saved, missing the rapture, and then immediately getting re-saved. I concluded it wouldn’t work because I couldn’t get un-saved because of love for Jesus; God would know my heart and I would just get raptured anyway.

I remember in 2004 when the final book, Glorious Appearing, was released. This was the great climax at the end of the tribulation when Jesus finally appeared in the sky. I made my mom take me to the Christian bookstore, and I stood in the aisle holding the book in trembling hands. My heart pounded and my breath came shallow as I flipped through the chapters and stopped to read every scene with Jesus in person on the page. JESUS. My Jesus, in person, locking eyes and speaking with us face to face.

Over the years, my passion for Jesus’ return only grew. I would drive around town (a little too fast) late at night with my windows down, dancing and yelling along with Cory Asbury’s lyrics, “One day He’s gonna split the sky and/One day He’s gonna come for His bride/I know it, I know it, I know it!”

Shortly after college, I stumbled across an IHOPKC teaching in favor of a post-trib rapture. That opened the door, and I became a post-tribber. Hallelujah, not out of the story after all!

About a year later I found myself at IHOPKC for the One Thing Internship, and that was where my eschatology started to solidify and really be based on Scripture. My passion only grew as I was finally seeing the story come together, laid out plainly in the Word. I spent long hours in the prayer room, poring over the New Testament, fitting the puzzle pieces together and realizing that the story is loud and consistent cover to cover!

Most importantly, I fell so much more in love with Jesus in all the dramatic, passionate, beautiful ways He reveals Himself in the final chapter of this age.

Why Study the End Times?

Did you know that there are at least 150 chapters in Scripture that are primarily about the generation of Jesus’ return? I’m not kidding! (You can find them laid out here with a note describing each.) To put that in perspective, the four gospels total only 89 chapters!

I’ve heard it said that the entire message of the end times can be summarized as “Jesus wins!” as though that’s the end of the conversation and all we need to know. And while I say YES AND AMEN to that, I also want to suggest that if all God wanted us to know about the end times is that “Jesus wins,” He wouldn’t have put 150 chapters in the Bible about it.

Therefore, if “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work,” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) what purpose are these 15o chapters supposed to serve in our lives?

Here are seven reasons I find studying the end times to be valuable.

1. It’s the End of the Story

Imagine going to the movie theater and the projector cuts out 20 minutes from the end. Would you be confused and upset? Of course! The story doesn’t make sense without the ending. So many things in Scripture don’t make sense without the promises of God that are yet to be fulfilled. There are so many loose ends in our story right now, but there is a climax in store that will tie them all up. As we dive into understanding the final chapter, the whole story will come into sharper focus.

The book It Must Be Finished by Samuel Whitefield approaches the return of Jesus from this perspective, laying out how how the second coming makes sense of the rest of the story. Samuel Whitefield is one of my favorite teachers/authors, and I highly recommend this book!

2. It’s Burning on Jesus’ Heart

This is the one that always gets me: JESUS is passionate about His return. He has plans and desires burning in His heart. Isaiah 63:4 says that the “day of vengeance was in [His] heart.” Song of Solomon 3:11 speaks of “the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart.” This is the day He’s longing for.

The end times still seem ethereal and mysterious to us, but to Him, they are crystal clear and highly emotional. This is the time when He will destroy the works of darkness forever, and marry His Bride! I want my heart to burn for whatever His heart burns for, because I love Him and I want to be with Him where He is.

3. It Reveals Jesus

Throughout much of history, Jesus has been holding back the full expression of His passions (Isaiah 42:14). He hasn’t fully responded to injustice like He wants to. He hasn’t fully swept in to rescue His bride. He hasn’t fully poured out His Spirit in dramatic revival. BUT HE WILL. As we look at the story of what He really wants to do when all the chips are on the table and no holds are barred, we find out just who this Man really is.

Revelation 1:1 says that it’s the “revelation of Jesus Christ”. The climax of the story, when all things are revealed and every loose end from history is finally tied up, is the ultimate revealing of the heart of Jesus, finally at its fullest expression.

4. It Prepares Us Against Deception and Offense

As wickedness and deception increases in the earth, and God’s judgments along with them, the church will face two great tests: deception and offense. Jesus told us that deception would be a key defining feature of the end times (Matthew 24:1-3). There will be many false religious movements and an entire culture intent on lulling us to sleep, luring us into sin, and dulling our hearts to God.

On the other hand, offense at God will also be a real danger for the church. If our theology and relationship with God didn’t prepare us to see Him doing the things the Bible tells us He will do, we run the very real risk of being offended and pushing back from Him. We can strengthen ourselves against both of these dangers by a spiritually violent lifestyle of prayer and the Word, sharpened by fasting and wrapped in godly community, so that we deeply know the heart of God no matter what pressures may come.

5. It Prompts Us to Live With Urgency

If you knew for a fact that Jesus would be returning 20 years from now, how would you live? What life decisions would you make? What would you teach your kids? What would you study in Scripture? How would you pray? How would you do discipleship and evangelism?

A person who was living like that would be on fire, in love with Jesus, constantly in prayer, desperate to be in the center of God’s will, willing to give anything, constantly aware of the nearness of eternity. But guess what– this lifestyle should be normal Christianity anyway! Studying the end times helps us believe it’s real, and our lifestyles will come to reflect that urgency.

6. It Equips Us to Partner with God

In giving us the script ahead of time, God is inviting us to play a role in the drama. He could just do everything by Himself without our participation–but that has never been His way. In the middle of the storm, there will also be a great revival as the church shines brightly and the Holy Spirit is poured out like never before. He wants a church living with faithfulness and urgency who are ready vessels for Him to anoint with power.

Just like John the Baptist served as a forerunner for Jesus’ first coming, God is raising up forerunners who “prepare the way of the Lord” (Isaiah 40:3) for His second coming. He’s looking for prophetic messengers who will proclaim who He is and what He’s doing. There has never been a generation more desperately in need of clear voices of truth, like light piercing through a dark fog. We must posture ourselves to be faithful witnesses, in full surrender to the Holy Spirit.

7. It Strengthens Us in Hope

Knowing the end of the story gives us confidence of victory no matter how difficult things get–especially when we spend time learning the actual details and context of that victory. Biblical details cemented in our imaginations are more powerful than general positive statements.

In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul describes the resurrection and rapture at Jesus’ coming and wraps up his message, “Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (verse 18) If we can continually set our hearts on the “eternal weight of glory” that we will inherit on that day, even all the difficulties of the end times will fall into perspective as only “light momentary afflictions”! (2 Corinthians 4:17)

But Will I Get Weird?

Some people are concerned that focusing on the end times will cause them to be out of balance, obsessive, and just plain weird. Honestly, anyone can get weird about anything if they’re not rooted in the Word and submitted to healthy spiritual leadership. Weird generally starts when you get your ideas from the internet instead of the Bible! Stay in the Word, stay in prayer, stay plugged into healthy community, stay submitted to godly leadership, and stay striving for love and humility in all things. You’ll be okay.

I can confidently say that over the past 8 years as I have been prayerfully immersing myself in this storyline, I have fallen so much more deeply in love with Jesus and His word. I’ve only seen good fruit in my heart, and I can’t imagine living without a burning conviction about the story of His return.

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

New Series – Intro to the End Times

Welcome to the first installment of my new series! I’ve been studying the end times for almost 8 years now (though not super intensely in every season), and I’ve fallen so much more in love with Jesus through understanding more of His heart for the climax of history. I’m excited to share this series with you!

I believe we’re right on the brink of a massive transition in history, really THE most massive transition ever–the return of Jesus to the planet to personally establish His kingdom forever. The Bible promises a series of earth-shaking events leading up to that moment, and right now, we’re beginning to realize that COVID-19 might be part of that escalating trend. What better time to dig into the Word and get wisdom to understand the season we’re living in?

Are We Even Supposed to Understand?

A friend of mine used to call herself an “eschatological agnostic,” saying, “Everyone was wrong about the first coming, so we’ll probably all be wrong about the second coming!” However, that perspective is flawed because 1) not everyone was wrong, and 2) those who were got rebuked for it!

Amos 3:7 says, “For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” How could we even imagine that God would do something as massive as the end time judgments and the second coming of Jesus and NOT want His people to understand?

God wants us to know what He’s doing. That includes the end times.

The Bible says a lot about God’s desire for us to understand these things. Let’s look at a few of the key verses (this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start):

1. The Fig Tree

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
(Matthew 24:32-35)

Matthew 24 and 25, together with the parallels in Mark 13 and Luke 21, are known as the “Olivet Discourse,” the time when Jesus taught on the end times from the Mount of Olives. These passages are among the clearest descriptions in Scripture of what to expect, straight from Jesus’ own mouth. If you don’t know where to start in studying the end times, make these chapters your bread and butter!

Here, Jesus uses the natural example of a fig tree; the people were very familiar with how to recognize the changing of the leaves and know that the season was changing. Jesus is saying that the signs of His coming will be THAT clear–but we are commanded to “learn” this lesson so that we pay attention and don’t miss them! Then “this generation” (the generation that sees the signs) will see all of the events unfold and Jesus Himself return.

2. Interpret the Signs

“And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, ‘When it is evening, you say, “It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.” And in the morning, “It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.” You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.’ So he left them and departed.”
(Matthew 16:1-4)

In Jesus’ day, the religious leaders were looking for a sign to test Jesus. They weren’t searching the Scriptures and genuinely trying to recognize the Messiah; they were saying in essence, “Where’s the neon sign? It’s not so obvious to us!” and Jesus was responding, “All the signs are already happening all around you! What more do you want? You know well enough how to recognize weather patterns; why are you so blind to the signs of God moving in your own generation?”

Describing the end times, Peter tells us that “scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say ‘Where is the promise of his coming?…'” (1 Peter 3:3-4) The Pharisees were essentially doing the same thing, deliberately oblivious to the signs because they didn’t want to see them. God makes the signs clear to the hungry and humble, but the arrogant are guaranteed to miss them.

Jesus’ harsh rebuke to the Pharisees serves as a warning for us today: don’t be arrogant against the signs that God is already giving. God wants interpreting the signs to be as normal to us as interpreting natural weather patterns.

3. Suddenly Like a Trap

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
(Luke 21:34-36)

Here, Jesus warns that if we do NOT stay awake and watchful, the day of the Lord will come “suddenly like a trap.” For those who are busy living their own lives, unaware of the storyline, this will be their perspective– it came out of nowhere and now they’re caught in this trap of God’s judgments completely unprepared! By contrast, for those who are staying awake, the events of the end times won’t be a sudden surprise; they will be fully aware of what’s happening as the signs begin to unfold.

Jesus is giving us the prescription to avoid being surprised and caught in the trap: keep alert, and don’t be weighed down by the distractions of this life. By doing these things, our hearts will be strengthened to “escape” the trap of being caught by surprise.

4. It Won’t Come Unless

“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, 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 comes first, and the man of lawlessness 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. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-5)

1 and 2 Thessalonians are a gold mine of teaching on the end times. In this passage, Paul tells the church that the day of the Lord (here referring to the specific event of Jesus’ coming and the rapture, verse 1) cannot possibly sneak up on the church without us realizing what is happening (“has already come”). The events leading up to it will be very clear and recognizable. That day will not come unless several things happen first: the rebellion (the great falling away, in which many leave the faith), the revelation of the antichrist, and the moment when the antichrist sits down in the temple in Jerusalem and proclaims himself to be God (the abomination of desolation–Matthew 24:15, Daniel 11:31). These are clear signs that we are expected to study and recognize.

Paul even said that he taught them about these things while he was with them. This is especially fascinating because according to Acts 17, Paul was only in Thessalonica for three weeks. During that time, he taught in the synagogue, some people got saved, and they became a church plant which Paul taught as much as he could in that short time before getting kicked out of the city.

If the end times was something Paul considered essential theology to cover in his discipleship class while he was planting a new church… that should really tell us something about the importance of these subjects for the church today!

5. Keep What is Written

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 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 1:1-3)

In the first few verses of Revelation, it says that the purpose is “to show His servants the things that must soon take place.” God wants us to see and to know! He wants to show us and to bring us into the story.

Furthermore, there is a special blessing promised for those who:

• read it aloud — in John’s day, this letter would have been read aloud to the church that received it, so the reader wasn’t only reading privately but was in fact proclaiming it.
• hear it — which surely means more than simply hearing the words but also humble, attentive listening.
• keep it — i.e., hide it in their in hearts and live in active response to it.

Let’s be those who read, hear, and keep Jesus’ word to us!

But Didn’t Jesus Say “No One Knows”?

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only… Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
(Matthew 24:36, 42-44)

These verses are often used to tell us that since “no one knows”, we might as well check out and not focus on it. However, we must be careful that we don’t let one verse cause us to overlook all the other verses that paint a larger picture. Many passages clearly say we can and should know the season–the general timeframe if not the exact day or hour–and therefore must KEEP AWAKE. Not knowing exactly should be motivation to pay close attention and keep watch, so that we can recognize the season when it comes.

Not even the Son knows? We must remember that Jesus was speaking as a man on earth at this point. The exact nature of how Jesus’ omniscience played out during His earthly life is a larger topic, but it may be possible that He didn’t know the details at that moment, but He does now, as the glorified, ascended Son sitting at the right hand of the Father!

Thief In the Night

I remember a song that said, “Like a thief in the night/Like a runaway train…/I’m ready now/but somehow I know you’ll take me by surprise.” It was an exciting song, but this is not the testimony of Scripture! The idea of Jesus coming as a “thief in the night” is not intended to tell us that everyone will be surprised no matter what we do.

What clinched it for me was a passage in 1 Thessalonians 5 that directly addresses this exact argument.

“For you yourselves are fully aware that 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. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:2-6)

This is Paul’s commentary on the Olivet Discourse passages in question. Look at the clear distinction he is making.

“While people [the unbelieving/sleeping world] are saying, ‘There is peace and safety’ [the temporary, false peace that precedes the antichrist and the most intense judgments], then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape [the trap that Luke 21 describes].”

Is it for the church to be so caught off guard? NO! We are not in darkness for that day to surprise us like a thief!

Paul’s prescription is to stay awake. Be aware. Watch and pray. We must study, pray, fast, and give ourselves to a lifestyle that will set us up to be ready and awake when He comes.

Merry Christmas! Two years ago during the Christmas season I wrote a post called Incarnation: The Humility of Jesus. It’s still one of my favorite posts I’ve ever written, so I haven’t much wanted to try to top it, but this year I do have something specific on my heart to share.

I was listening a recent episode of the CBETS podcast featuring Pastor Isaac Bennett on the topic of how the first coming of Jesus points to the second. I listened to it at least three times, feeling my heart awaken to these ideas, and I feel this is a post worth sharing this year.

During the Christmas season, the church excels at focusing on the first coming of Jesus. We rightfully celebrate the story of God becoming flesh, being born in a humble manger, to live and die as a flesh-and-blood human. We meditate on the wonder of light breaking into darkness, God dwelling with man, Emmanuel, God with us. We imagine the world holding its breath, the silent night, midnight clear shattered by angel armies heralding the arriving King with songs of “Glory”. We enter into the anticipation and experience the profound joy of the Son of God entering into His creation, inaugurating a new era, a new kind of kingdom the world has never seen. It’s a beautiful season of anticipation, joy, and hope.

But it’s only the beginning of the story.

He didn’t come as a baby only to live, die, resurrect, and give us spiritual new life now, and the promise of heaven when we die. All of that is amazing enough, but the Christmas story (and even the Easter story) lays the groundwork for the ultimate climax of the story: the Day He comes back to rule and reign forever.

In fact, there are so many references to His second coming and Millennial rule hidden in plain sight right in our favorite Christmas passages.

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
(Matthew 2:6, cf Micah 5:2-4)

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days… And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.”
(Micah 5:2-4)

Micah 5 promises that from Bethlehem will come a ruler and shepherd over Israel who will be great to the ends of the earth (see also Mal. 1:11) and will give Israel secure dwelling in the land. This has not happened yet; although Jesus is a spiritual King who gives spiritual peace now, the fullness of this is a promise for the Millennium.

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
(Luke 1:31-33)

Again, Jesus is not currently ruling and reigning on the throne of David, and He didn’t do that in His first coming. This will happen when He comes back.

“And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord…He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.'”
(Luke 1:46-56)

Mary’s prophetic song celebrating God’s faithfulness is very eschatological. She celebrates His upturning the world’s power structures and fulfilling His promises to Abraham. Her praise isn’t necessarily about spiritual salvation for the whole world but about the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and the Messiah who would establish the kingdom of Israel in its rightful place.

(For more about the Abrahamic covenant and its fulfillment when Jesus returns, read my post “What Are God’s Promises to Israel?“)

“And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”
(Luke 1:67-75)

Zechariah declared that Jesus would be the Son of David who would deliver Israel from her enemies and fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. Again, this hasn’t happened yet. Both Zechariah and Mary were inspired by the Holy Spirit; they weren’t just confused about Jesus’ purpose. In the heart of God, the first coming is intrinsically connected to the second coming.

So as we meditate on Jesus’ first coming in the Christmas story, what insights can we glean to prepare our hearts to anticipate His future, final coming?

1. Jesus is human.

In our celebration of the Christmas season, one of the things we celebrate is the humanity of Jesus—the fleshliness of the babe lying in a manger. His newborn cry strikes our hearts, and His tiny feet with real baby toenails move us to awe. God took on flesh. This was the biggest change that had ever happened to the Godhead; God had never been human before. He had appeared in physical shape now and then, perhaps, in what we call the theophanies of the Old Testament, but in the incarnation, Jesus became human… forever.

Forever.

Ever since the Holy Spirit touched Mary’s womb and Jesus was conceived, He has been truly, fully human. He has DNA. He didn’t stop being human when He ascended, even as you and I won’t stop being human and turn into angels or some other species when we pass into the presence of God. Jesus is human— right now, at the right hand of the Father, a Jewish man with skin and arm hair is sitting in a throne. He is radiant in glory, to be sure—but human, nonetheless.

“This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
(Acts 1:11)

When He comes, He will be a real, physical, human King. His actual feet will kick up dust on the Mount of Olives (Zec. 14:4). His holy, glorified butt will sit on the real throne of David in Jerusalem (Ps. 132:11, Is. 9:7, Is. 16:5, Mt.19:28, Lk. 1:32).

When we meditate on the incarnation of Jesus as a baby, let’s also meditate on how that same human will one day descend from the sky to rule the earth as a real, human king.

2. The prophecies are trustworthy.

Defending on how you count it, there are somewhere around 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah. (This list from Bible.org is a good starter.) When we study His life in the gospels, we are in awe at how precisely the prophecies were fulfilled. He really was born of a virgin (Is. 7:14). He really did enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zec. 9:9). He really was offered sour wine to drink on the cross (Ps. 69:9).

In the first coming of Jesus, God proved that He was serious about fulfilling His Word very specifically and literally. Zechariah 9:9 (“Behold, your king is coming to you… humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”) wasn’t written just to give us the general truth that the Messiah would be humble. Of course, a whole point can be made about the humility of a king who rides on a donkey rather than a war horse, but the donkey wasn’t only symbolic. It was a was specific, literal detail that Jesus fulfilled in a specific, literal way.

In the second coming of Jesus, there are specific, literal details to be fulfilled. Jesus really will come riding on a white horse carrying a sword and wearing a robe spattered with the blood of His enemies (Re. 19:11-15, Ps. 45:3-5, Is. 63:1-6). His actual feet really will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will split in half (Zec. 14:4). He really will reign on the earth for an actual, literal 1000 years (Re. 20:2-7).

God always fulfills His promises precisely and completely. We can take His Word at face value and put our hope in it.

3. Prophetic information is given.

It’s fascinating to look at the Christmas story and see how individuals responded to the prophetic information about Jesus’ coming.

• Mary saw an angel and believed and acted according to its message.
• Joseph had a dream and believed and acted according to its message.
• Zachariah saw an angel and first doubted, was disciplined, and then believed and acted on its message.
• Elizabeth (and the baby inside her) recognized Mary’s child and believed and acted on this recognition.
• The shepherds saw angels and believed and acted according to their message, even preaching the news far and wide.
• Simeon received a prophetic promise and believed and acted on its message
• Anna recognized Mary’s child and believed and acted on this recognition, even preaching the news far and wide.
• The magi saw a star, understood its reference to prophecy, and believed and acted on its message.
• Herod heard of the prophecy and believed and acted on its message (less positively!).

“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”
(Amos 3:7)

Not only was there abundant prophetic information already available in the Scripture about the birth of the Messiah, but God gave clear and specific prophetic information to a number of people. He wanted His Son to be recognized, even though His goal at the time was still relative anonymity compared to the global drama of the second coming!

God loves partnership. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in their day for missing the signs of what God was doing in their generation (Mt. 16:2-3). God really, really wants people to recognize what generation they’re living in and respond accordingly.

4. Preparation is necessary.

A few people played preparation roles in Jesus’ first coming, including John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna. John the Baptist was born roughly the same time as Jesus, and while Jesus was in Nazareth learning to be a carpenter, John was out in the desert being prepared to be “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.'” (Mt. 3:3) He lived a lifestyle of prayer, fasting, and no doubt study of the Scriptures and learning to hear God’s voice. He served very clearly as a forerunner for Jesus’ ministry, calling the people of Israel to repent and receive Him.

Simeon and Anna did not live to see Jesus’ ministry as an adult, but they were among the few to recognize Him as a baby. Simeon had received a promise from the Lord that He would not die before he saw the Messiah, and he lived in faith and anticipation. He isn’t described as a priest, but was merely an ordinary man “righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” (Lk. 2:25) He had prepared his heart for the coming of the Messiah, and God gave him the great gift of seeing it with his own eyes and prophesying over His family.

Anna’s life is even more extraordinary. She was married (likely as a young woman) for only seven years before her husband died, and she spent the rest of her life single, completely focused on God.

“She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.”
(Luke 2:37)

Because she had cultivated a lifestyle of prayer and fasting in the house of the Lord, she was also prepared to meet and recognize the Messiah, and she then became a messenger, spreading His name to anyone who would listen.

In the drama of the second coming, too, God is raising up those who will live with intentionality and focus, prepared to prepare the way. He is coming soon, and He is looking for those who live with prayer and fasting in His house like Anna, set their hearts on the consolation of Israel like Simeon, and be bold messengers prepared in the wilderness like John.

5. He comes in an unexpected way.

Though some did recognize and agree with what God was doing in their generation, many missed it because they didn’t know what to expect. Jesus visited His own hometown and was rejected because they were incapable of reconciling the boy they had watched grow up with their vision of a conquering warrior Messiah. (Mt. 13:53-58) There was a certain level of pride and confidence in their own expectation that didn’t allow them to see the unexpected thing God was doing right under their noses.

From our 21st century perspective, we shake our heads at their short-sightedness because we can clearly see the kid from Nazareth as the Son of God. We have acclimated to the gentle, lowly picture of Jesus, the exact picture Israel was not expecting. We see Him more as the meek and lowly lamb rather than the mighty warrior king… and therefore we run the risk of missing Him the second time.

Israel’s expectation of a mighty, delivering warrior wasn’t wrong; they just didn’t understand the timing. He had to come first as a sacrificial lamb. But if we forget that the warrior really is who Jesus is, and see Him only as “so lowly, meek, and mild”, we may find ourselves making the exact reverse of the mistake that Israel made the first time.

In any generation, we don’t want to be those who are out of alignment with His plans. Let us be like Simeon, Anna, John, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary, who had tender hearts open to agree with what God was doing. This is why preparation in a lifestyle of prayer, fasting, and the Word is so crucial.

6. God desires nearness.

Ever since the Garden, the heartbeat of God has been for nearness with us. He has longed for no separation. The incarnation was dramatic proof of that– Emmanuel, God with us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a lifetime among us, a pure representation of the heart of the Father. He got close, broke bread with us, had friends and best friends, and opened His arms to all who would come.

In His second coming, again His deep heart cry is for intimate nearness. He wants to be back on the ground here with us. When God created the earth, His desire was to dwell on it with us, forever. Sin interrupted that plan. The incarnation was a foretaste, paving the way. The second coming is the fulfillment of His dearest dream.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…”
(John 17:24)
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'”
(Revelation 21:3)

This is what He wants.

The incarnation–Christmas, the first coming–was Phase I. Phase II will be more glorious than we can imagine.

As we celebrate and meditate on the Messiah born for us, let us celebrate and meditate also on the same Messiah coming for us, to make all the wrong things right, fulfill every promise, and to be with us forever.

Emmanuel.

Come, Lord Jesus.