Wednesday, March 13, 2024

THE END OF TIME AS WE KNOW IT

Theologians are an unreliable bunch in this age. Once reliable, they now change centuries of interpretation. For instance, the entire chapter of Matthew twenty-four, for them, is not about the end of time, but the end of Judea, Jerusalem, and the Temple in the period A.D. 66-70. If that is true, then little is known about the end of time.

A technique in the Bible is for the inspired writers to use examples from the past or present to forecast the future. Matthew did just that when he wrote, “When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, whoso reads it, let him understand. (Mat 24:15). Theologians, many of them, have read the Book Of Daniel, but still fail to understand.

What is confusing them? “Verily I say unto you, ‘This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled’” (Mat 24: 34). Indeed, that generation did not pass until those things happened. The historian, Josephus, recounted many of those things, but history repeats itself.

For instance, scripture compares the end of times to the days of Noah. What happened in those days is history recorded in the Bible that Matthew said would happen again (Mat 24:38).

In the days of Noah, not only was it the Holy Land that was destroyed, but a global deluge. Matthew hinted that what he wrote, inspired by God, was not just a local travesty but a world-wide tribulation — a Great Tribulation — “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Mat 24:21).

Even the events of Noah’s day would not match that great tribulation. It would exceed the destruction by water to be utterly destroyed by fire. The destruction of the Temple could not match that!

The Temple was destroyed by mechanics and fire, but it was nothing like what had never been before. Indeed, the Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonians and made an abomination by Seleucid Antiochus IV Epiphanes who ended twice daily sacrifice in the Temple and desecrated the Temple by placing a statue of Zeus within it.

Daniel foresaw that desecration, but neither was the Book of Daniel about soon coming events. The warning of Daniel is this: 

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. (Daniel 12:10-11)

 Those days are 3-1/2 years. That corresponds with the one-half the tribulation period during the end of days. Scripture clarified about what time Daniel spoke: “But go thou your way till the end be: for you shall rest and stand in your lot at the end of the days” (Dan 12:13).

Jesus was not speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem; He was speaking about the end of the world as we know it. He was speaking about global destruction on a par that had never been before.

Jesus said, “From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up; there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (Mat 24:11).

Jesus was not speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple but the destruction of the whole world. The ‘abomination that makes desolate,’ is the ‘Great Tribulation period of 3-1/2 years.

It is written in Daniel, “Many shall be purified, and made white;” at the abomination that is made desolate. Compare that to what John wrote of that time, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14).

It is written that those sealed in their purity were 144,000 of all the children of the tribes of Israel (Rev 7:4).

That brings us back full circle to Jesus who said, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Theologians take that literally. The destruction of the Temple was soon after, for some, in that generation.

However, in the Greek, it is genea; it could mean “generation, time, age, nation,” or even “nativity” (Strong 2006). The Revelation of John was about their nativity — the Jewish nation that would suffer great tribulation before 144,000, who then are the faithful and wise servants (Mat 24:35).

Although Jesus was speaking of the Jewish nativity, should we apply the end of time abomination of desolation to only the Jews, or will it be a global calamity?  Perhaps not: 

Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Mat 24:12-13)

 Matthew wrote of iniquity abounding; that depravity was widespread. That included not only the Jews but Gentiles as well. Us! Everyone’s love will become cold. No longer will goodwill for God and others exist in the hearts of the people of the world. Speaking, not just about the Jews, Jesus wrote that those who endure to the end shall be saved.

The English word, “he,’ is not in the text of the scripture at all, but the translators were alluding to those who hold fast to their faith. Anyone in general, not just the Jews, but the whole that would include the Jewish people.

Those who will fail to endure to the end are those whose love would wax cold, or those whose goodwill for God and others will die out. Goodwill for God that waxes cold is defection (apostasy) from God and is the loss of affection for both God and mankind. It is not just a hatred by the Jewish, but the world’s apathy about God and all humanity.

Both Christians and their Jewish brothers must endure to the end. Endure what? Not just the world and its temptations, but also maintaining their goodwill for God until the end.

When is the “end”? Death is the end in general, but for some, many Gentiles and 144,000 Jews, the end will come in the great and terrible day of the Lord when Jesus will sort out who goes where!

Goodwill toward God — agape-type love — is essentially maintaining faith in Him in the Person of Jesus. Faith must be enduring; it implies time. Faith cannot be just one time but steadfast throughout time. Paul wrote about the importance of maintaining faith: 

Exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today;’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we (Christians) are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; while it is said, “Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation” (Heb 3:13-15)

 That hardening of the hearts is the hearts’ waxing cold. The “confidence” of which Paul wrote is steadfast faith itself. The Christian begins confident, and to the end maintains that confidence. It is not a one-time event or even erratic faith. Enduring to the end is maintaining confidence to either your dying day, or until the end of time.

That you must endure implies that there is a possibility that you may fail to endure. Sin, according to Paul, will harden the hearts of Christians. Hardening is not just one sin but sinning many times without feelings of remorse and the need for repentance. It is sinning with impunity as if there is either no God to appease, or even if there is, there is no desire to revere Him.

The Bible is the building of the Estate of God, the rules for living on God’s Estate, and His Last Will and Testament to reward those of His adopted children are to share in His glorious Estate. It is His Paradise to do with as He pleases, and those of His adopted ‘children’ who desire emancipation, will be emancipated with no mention of them in the probation of His Estate.

Theologians have it right but are short sided. There was an abomination of desolation when Zeus was erected in the Temple of God, and there was another when Rome assumed control of Judea because there was no king in Judea who could do that!

However, short-sided as they are, there will be a much greater tribulation in the end that will make all the abominations of desolation that were before, seem trivial. It will not just be the Wars of the Jews but the War of the Antichrist against all the faithful everywhere.

picture credit: FreePix



 

 

 

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