The End in 12 Years?

“And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”  Matthew 24:14

Jesus’ disciples became very curious for Jesus to tell them the sign of His return and of the end of the world.  It is interesting to note that after Jesus was crucified and before He arose on the third day, His disciples thought He was gone.  They weren’t looking for His resurrection even though He had told them on several occasions that He would be killed and rise again.  To their credit, though, God had withheld certain revelations from them prior to Jesus’ crucifixion.  We have the advantage of hindsight, that is, we have the knowledge, those of us who believe the Word, that Jesus did rise again, but before His resurrection, the disciples did not fully understand Jesus’ mission, that of dying for man’s sin and rising again for man’s justification.  They were of the mindset that Jesus was soon going to set up His earthly kingdom and rid Israel of Roman rule.

In their asking Him about the future, we see that His teaching did have an effect on them.  They did have an eye toward eternity.  Since He had peaked their curiosity by pointing out that the temple would be destroyed, perhaps they were referring to that event, which did eventually occur in 70 A.D.  However, the answer that Jesus gave them indicated that He was referring to the end times and His second coming.  Several indications that His return would be imminent would be the presence of people claiming to be Christ, wars, famines, earthquakes, the persecution of believers, betrayal, and hatred among people.  He went on to say that things would be like they were when Noah built the ark.  People would be busy with their selfish pursuits and would be suddenly taken by surprise.  And the very last sign is when the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached across the entire globe to give folks an opportunity to repent and trust Christ before it’s too late.

There are some politicians in our nation who are proclaiming that the world will end in twelve years if we don’t become totally dependent on the government by giving up our freedoms that thousands and thousands have died to preserve.  While there is nothing wrong in being careful and considerate to not be wasteful but rather be good stewards of all that God has provided for our sustenance and comfort, the government is not our god.  The government was designed by God to keep law and order among the citizens of the nations and not to be depended upon for our every need.  That’s God’s task.  He is our Jehovah-Jireh, the God who provides.

The world as we know it will end one day, but not because of combustion engines, electricity, or cow flatulence.  It will end when God determines and not one second sooner or later.  Jesus said “that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (Matthew 24:36).  So, while these “green” politicians make their doomsday predictions, I can rest easy knowing that God has “got the whole world in His hands.”  These politicians shouldn’t be fearing how the world will end; they should be fearing the One who will bring it to an end.