End Times Part 1

End Times

Charles Spurgeon once wrote

“I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.”

I believe that totally and as we move to the end of this age, no matter what circumstances befall us we should never forget that God is in control- how reassuring is that! But what is this “age”?     We are living in the “times or the age of the gentiles”

Luke 21:24 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled

The age of the Gentiles began in 605BC when the Jews were exiled and went into captivity in Babylon and the age ends at the second coming of Jesus. Following this age is known as the Kingdom age.

Today I want to have a look at some of the signs indicating that we are coming every close to the end of this Gentile age. This is what we call the end times.

We will start at what is now known as the Olivet Discourse in Matthew. Jesus and His disciples are walking from the Temple down into the Kidron Valley then up to the Mt of Olives

Matthew 24:1-8  The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times

24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”

3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains

Keep in mind that Jesus is 48 hours away from being crucified when this happens. This Temple is a massive structure and a great feat of engineering 

When Jesus says that this massive structure would be destroyed, the disciples ask an obvious question, because this will be a calamitous event. They ask “When will this happen”? 

But then they ask “ …. and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”  Remember they did not know at this stage that He was going anywhere, let alone to be crucified.  BUT they recognised Him as the Messiah, and in Daniel 7 they know there will be a trampling and a crushing at the end of the age and the Messiah will bring in  an everlasting Kingdom

Daniel 7:23-27

23 “He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. 24 …….

26 “‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.

So clearly they think this is the end of the current age, and the coming of the Kingdom age. Then Jesus explains the signs of the end of this age. Keep this in mind, the signs Jesus gives us we cannot mistake, they are very clear. He firstly explains what are NOT signs

1.  What are not signs. These verses are clearer in Luke

Luke 21:8-9 8 He replied: “Watch out that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first, but the end will not come right away.”

So Jesus first response is what are not signs i.e. people claiming to be Jesus, regional wars, these happen but that’s not the sign. Powers threatening each other, Middle East conflicts, terrorist activities are not in itself signs.

2. Then Jesus does give us some signs . And he says these are like birth pains, in other words the contractions and pain increases in severity and frequency until the end, until there is new life, until there is a new age, a Kingdom age, heralded in by the 2nd coming of Jesus. 

Jesus says in verse 7 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. In Jesus day this term was not used as an ordinary war, but Rabbi’s used it to indicate a global conflict or a World War. And we have never in the history of the world had a war on the scale of that in 1914 when we had the “Great War” ie World War 1 and then, not long after that WW2. Wars and world wars are different things. The World wars were and are early warning signs for the coming birth. So the signs have started and we are watching them unfold!

3. v7 There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains

During the 20th century, an estimated 70 to 100 million people died from famines across the world. Half of whom died in China, with an estimated 30 million dying during the famine of 1958–61.  In 2017 The UN reported that world hunger had increased for the first time in 15 years

4. The number of earthquakes in the 1960’s of magnitude 6.0- 7.0 was about 70 a year. In the 2000’s the number of the same magnitude earthquakes was about 150. So the warning signs given in Matthew are unmistakeable.

5. Luke 21:11 gives us another sign in this same discourse on the Mt of Olives

“ There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven” 

ie pestilences or plagues. Keep in mind that none of these signs individually may suggest that the end times are imminent. Using the birth pain analogy however, signs taken collectively and increasing in severity or frequency cannot be ignored.

4. Lets look into the next sign 

Matthew 24:9-139 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved

In other words at the end of this age persecution will increase and there will be a falling away in the faith, people will be deceived and the love of most will grow cold.  

“The Greek word translated “grow cold” in this verse describes a fire dying out and becoming cool to the touch. This is the image Jesus uses to describe the state of love in the world at the end of the age. Even the Church becomes lukewarm in the end times

1 Timothy 4:1-3

4 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

3 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

To fully get a grip on this let’s take a look at the book of Revelation.

One of the key verses in understanding the book of Revelation is

Revelation 1:19  Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.

We know that the apostle John writes down what he sees in Chapter 1 of Revelation and in Chapter 4 opens with

Revelation 4:1  After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

So in Revelations Chapter 2 and 3 is what is happening now. 

These are the letters to the seven churches. (The number seven in the bible – means all or 100% of) And while it was applicable then, it is applicable now as well.

 In fact as we study it we see that it is a timeline of the Church age which starts off in Pentecost and end with the resurrection of the Church as the bride of Christ. The seven churches represent all the churches throughout the Church Age. And while each represents a type of church that existed at the time of John, it also clearly represents the stages the churches go through to the end of time. That’s why it is in the book of Revelation! It’s a revealing of what is going to happen. So it is a clock, counting down to the end of the church age In fact they are even numbered in a clockwise direction geographically

(From Verse by Verse ministries)

So we are the Church of Laodicea!

Revelation 3:14-22 To the Church in Laodicea14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

We see the church in our current Laodicea age materialistically rich and spiritually poor, technologically literate but blind spiritually. The Laodiceans  (and us) were so proud of their medical system they even had a famous medical school in the city, but Jesus says put salve or ointment on your eyes so that you can see. And while they (and us) had this textile industry they were proud of, Jesus says they are naked spiritually. So Jesus says buy gold refined in fire. Buying gold comes at a cost – do it to get that which is pure- puriefied by fire. Then clothe yourselves in white- the clothes of the saints, clothes of righteousness Then He says do this- “ So be earnest and repent” ie get serious and repent. Because time is now close- he is standing at the door and knocking. This is the last of the churches.

5. There is still a lot more I need to cover which I will do next time. But I would like to end on this final point

Matthew 24:32-35

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away

The fig tree is often in the bible a reference to Israel 

(Hosea 9:1010 “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; then I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.)

In the winter the fig tree looks dead, Israel looks dead scattered. Then suddenly buds and leaves appear and it looks like a fig tree, alive and well. In 1948 the tree took on life and the state of Israel was formed

Amos 9:14-15 

I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,” says the Lord your God.

Jesus says 

33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.

 Now we know that the 2nd coming of Jesus from Daniel takes place 7 years after an agreement is made between the Jews and the Antichrist and when sacrifices begin again at the Temple. But we do not know when the resurrection of the Church (what we call rapture)  will occur. For me it seems quite clear that its just before Tribulation starts

The message for today is however clear, firstly we do not need to worry about a thing

• Don’t put your trust in your wealth instead buy gold refined with fire from our Lord

• Don’t put on the clothes of the world but be clothed in white robes of righteousness.

• Put on the ointment of the Holy Spirit on your eyes so you can see and finally

• Get earnest, get serious and repent

And when you overcome you will sit with our Lord in the heavenly places and behold the mysteries of events that have befallen us and this world. The hope of resurrection.