What We Know about the End
What We Know about the End
Main Topics: end times, second coming
People have been speculating about the end times and the second coming of Jesus since He ascended into heaven.
Within my lifetime, books and songs have been written about it, movies have been made depicting different imaginings of how it will happen, and supposed prophets have appeared to prepare us for what’s “about to take place.”
Can I be honest with you? This is one of my least favorite topics in Christian circles. (I’m actually surprised that I’m writing this right now, but for some reason, it was weighing on my heart when I sat down to write. So here we go…)
I get uncomfortable when preachers and Bible scholars study Revelations with the intention of explaining it all to the rest of us. Why? Because it’s prophetic about something yet to happen — like many of the Old Testament passages that talked about the first coming of Christ were.
Now, you and I can read those Old Testament prophecies today, in retrospect, having seen them fulfilled, and we can understand them.
But despite how familiar good Jews (especially the religious leaders and teachers) in Jesus’ day were with the prophecies about the Messiah, and how hard they’d tried to decipher those prophecies, not a single one of them — not even John the Baptist, Jesus’ mother and brothers, nor Jesus’ twelve closest followers — understood how, or even that most of those prophecies were being fulfilled in real time, right before their eyes.
Why? Because the fulfillment didn’t look like what they’d expected it to look like.
It looked nothing like what they’d been told or taught it would look like.
How Jesus actually fulfilled those prophecies did not come close to meeting their expectations nor imaginings.
Those who did understand the prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming, only really understood them in retrospect.
So, it’s insane, to me, that we think we’re going to somehow be different — any better or smarter at deciphering future events for which we too have only been given prophetic words.
What we’ve been given is as much as we need to know, to be able to prepare our own hearts for the second coming of Jesus, to care about those around us who don’t know Him yet, and to live out our days until Jesus returns full of hope and on mission.
That, really, is as much as we understand. But that is also as much as we need to understand.
Sure, we can speculate about the rest; though if we do, I think our speculation should come with a heaping dose of humility. Nobody has it all figured out. (If someone tells you they do, you should probably run fast in the opposite direction.)
Some of the things God has revealed to us about the future are for us to know what’s coming; but other things, I believe, are for us to simply know and rest in the fact that He has the future all figured out.
I don’t believe you and I are meant to have all the answers, or even to try to figure it all out. But here’s what the Bible tells us we can know, for sure, about the return of Jesus…
(1) Jesus is coming again.
“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.” - Jesus (John 14:1-3, CSB)
This is pretty straight-forward, but Jesus felt like we needed to hear it straight from Him. So He put it on the record. He’s coming again, because He promised He would come back for us.
(2) We have no idea when Jesus will return.
“Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels of heaven nor the Son—except the Father alone.” - Jesus (Matthew 24:36, CSB)
It baffles me how many Christians still fall for it, any time someone claims to have figured out when Jesus is coming back. Partially because it’s yet to happen within any timeline these self-proclaimed end time prophets have told us it will. But the bigger reason is that Jesus, Himself, told us that nobody but the Father knows.
Of course, people being people, we come up with loopholes like, “Oh, Jesus only said that nobody knows the day or the hour. So we can still figure out the year, or the month...”
That’s all good and fine, I suppose. But I think anybody who gets caught up in those speculations is missing the point Jesus was making.
Exactly when, or even a rough estimate of when it’s going to happen isn’t for us to figure out, and frankly, it shouldn’t matter to us.
If it did matter — if God wanted us to know — being the good Father His is, who doesn’t withhold good gifts from His children, He wouldn’t have made it a mystery. He would have simply told us.
When it happens, it will be the perfect year, season, month, day, moment, and second for it to happen; and it’s enough that God knows exactly when that will be. That was the whole point.
(3) When Jesus returns, it’ll be impossible to miss.
“If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Over here!’ do not believe it. For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Take note: I have told you in advance. So if they tell you, ‘See, he’s in the wilderness!’ don’t go out; or, ‘See, he’s in the storerooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” - Jesus (Matthew 24:23-27, CSB)
This passage, right here, is such a comfort to someone like me. I’m an over-thinker. (Anyone else?) If there is more than one possible scenario, my brain will try to come up with and consider every single one, so that I can problem-solve for each scenario.
I think maybe it’s because I grew up in an era when Christians, largely driven by fear rather than faith, were encouraged and even taught to make sure they were as prepared as possible for the end times. And consequently, there was a lot of discussion and debate about what exactly the end times would looks like. (Because if you’re not sure what’s going to happen, how can you be prepared?)
That being said, I was so confused and, frankly, scared out of my mind about the whole thing!
For years, I wouldn’t read the book of Revelation or any passages that talked significantly about the end times, because these passages stirred up within me more anxiety than faith. So what I was left with were all the conflicting “facts” that had been thrown at me by well-meaning Christians who were overconfident in their knowledge and understanding of things beyond human understanding.
Then one day, I actually had this thought: What if I miss it?
For several days, I was truly scared about that possibility — not because I was unsure about my salvation, but because I didn’t know what Jesus had actually said about His second coming. I only knew what other people had told me.
But isn’t it just like Jesus to know that some of us — anxious over-thinkers like me — would wonder if they could possibly miss it by being in the wrong place at the wrong time? And isn’t it so like Him to make sure He told us, “Don’t worry, child. You can’t miss Me.”
When Jesus comes back, every single one of us is going to know.
(4) For those who are in Christ, the second coming of Jesus will be a wonderful day.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are still 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 4:16-17 (CSB)
For those of us who are in Christ, the so-called “end times” are only the beginning.
(5) For those who are not in Christ, the second coming of Jesus will be a terrible day.
“As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. This is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding grain with a hand mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore be alert, since you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. But know this: If the homeowner had known what time the thief was coming, he would have stayed alert and not let his house be broken into. This is why you are also to be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” - Jesus (Matthew 24:37-44, CSB)
An end is coming to life as we know it. Jesus warned us about that day.
And just as in the days of Noah (Genesis 6:5-7:23), God made a way for you and me to be saved from our coming destruction.
But also, just as in the days of Noah, there will be some who won’t heed God’s warning. Some will find it laughable… until the things God has warned us about come to pass, that is. And on that day, those people won’t be laughing anymore. On that day, they will face a terrible, terrible end.
But just as Noah built an ark to save his family from the flood, Jesus became the perfect “ark” for us. And anyone who, by faith, climbs aboard will not have to worry or wonder about whether or not they’ll be saved on that day!
Because just as happened with Noah, for those of us who have put our faith in Jesus, God has come behind us and closed the door; and it is His Spirit who has sealed it shut (Ephesians 1:13-14)! For those of us who are in Christ, that door is already closed behind us, securing our eternity!
But for anyone who has not yet received the good news of Jesus for themselves, that door still stands open for now, and you can still come aboard. But what you need to understand is this: Just as in the days of Noah, a day is coming when that door will shut. And anyone standing outside will be destroyed.
For those not found in Christ on the day of His return, the second coming of Jesus will be a terrible day.
(6) God wants the day of Christ’s return to be a wonderful day for every human on the earth.
Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance. - 2 Peter 3:8-9 (CSB)
Even in the Apostle Peter’s day, less than 100 years after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, people were beginning to murmur and question why Jesus was taking so long to come back. (I bet they would’ve been shocked to hear, two-thousand years later, we’d still be waiting.)
For those who are already saved, today would be a great day for Jesus to return — right? Because life, this side of eternity, is hard and painful; but we’ve been promised an eternity with Christ — one that is full of hope and joy. For Christians, the return of Jesus cannot come soon enough!
But God, though He loves us and longs to be with us, also loves those who are not yet His children. And He’s not willing to settle for having given some, or even most the chance to know and experience His love. So Jesus will not come back until every single person whom God has imagined into being — those already in existence, and those who have not yet even been conceived — has had the opportunity to know Him.
We’ve waited for thousands of years. And who’s to say it won’t be a thousand more before Jesus returns. (After all, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”)
But of this, we can be certain: One day, Jesus will come back for us; and not one person will have missed the opportunity to know Him and to be loved by Him for all eternity!
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