Lest we judge the disciples too harshly, take a moment and put yourself in their shoes. Jesus had just told them that the temple, which hadn’t even been completed at the time, would be destroyed anew to such an extent that not one stone would stand upon the other. No matter how you cut it, this was a revelation, a prophecy of a future time. He’d also been warning them of His soon-coming departure and the promise of His return, preparing them for what was to come, but as far as timing was concerned, He had not elaborated. Wouldn’t you want to know more?
A couple of years back, someone paid a cool $19 million to
have lunch with Warren Buffet. Granted, what he’s done throughout his life is impressive,
but ten of him wouldn’t hold a candle to one of Jesus, and here were the disciples
getting to ask questions of the Christ regarding things that had yet to be for
free.
Here He was, telling them of things to come, and the
disciples saw it as the perfect opportunity to inquire about something more
than the temple’s destruction, something that likely weighed heavy on their
hearts. They likewise wanted to know what would be the sign of His coming and
the end of the age.
These were two separate events, one which Jesus had spoken of
and elaborated upon, the other which He’d hinted at but never fleshed out. The
disciples wanted to know more because who wouldn’t? Wouldn’t you have questions
if you got to sit with Jesus and have a conversation? Wouldn’t you want to know
some things that were as yet unknown to you? I do not fault the disciples for
having inquiring minds. I do not fault them for asking Jesus when He would
return. They were, after all, human, and believing that He would one day
return, they were interested in a timeframe.
The key to understanding Christ’s words is the acknowledgment
that He is referring to two separate events, separated by millennia. One is the
destruction of the temple, a prophecy that came to pass in 70 AD; the other is
the advent of His return and what the events preceding it would be.
Since the aforementioned individuals who go without being
sent have been busy cranking out prophesies as soon as their vain minds can
produce them, I thought it prudent, even necessary, to see what the Bible says
the last days of the world will look like, and if they look anything like the
newly minted prophets of this, the most lukewarm generation to ever exist since
the genesis of the church, insist they will look like.
It’s funny how even though the world seems to be in a
cataclysmic storm of hatred, vitriol, bloodlust, and violence, the would-be
prophets of the modern age continue to insist that it’s nothing but blue skies
and sunshine for as far as their futile eyes can see. All you have to do is
pack your bags and be ready to go because surely we’re not going to be around
for when it gets really bad, even though it’s gotten really bad, but not as bad
as it’s going to get.
Some of them are starting to sweat, going so far as insisting
that Jesus somehow got delayed in His return because, by their calculations, we
should have been gone already, currently enjoying the marriage supper of the
Lamb and feasting to our hearts’ content and not being witness to the world
crumbling under the weight of its own hubris.
More concerning still is that ever so slowly but
methodically, the sights are being recalibrated to target the followers of
Christ with such purpose and intent that even those who insist that we’ve
reached coexistence with the darkness are scratching their heads in
befuddlement as to why so many new laws are being explicitly tailored to
persecute and prosecute the Christian worldview.
In certain states, you can beat someone senseless as though
they were a tambourine and be released without bail before breakfast the following
day. Dare to pray, quote scripture, or sing a hymn in front of an abortion
clinic, and you’re likely to spend years behind bars sharing a cell with
someone doing life for multiple homicides.
The godless have no qualms about perverting the law. It’s not
as though they are driven by principle or justice. Whenever it suits them, they
will use the law to buoy their position, but it’s situational, and when the law
attempts to constrict their agenda, they ignore it or pretend as though it
doesn’t exist.
It’s important to know what the Bible says about the last
days of the world because knowledge is power, and knowing what to expect will
keep us from second-guessing, growing anxious, or thinking that we somehow
missed the bus.
Since the question the discipled asked was twofold, so was
Christ’s answer. Yes, it is interwoven throughout the chapter, but one can
intuit which is referring to which based on the initial question.
Without going further than this one chapter and its
counterpart in Luke, we can know what the world will look like during its last
days and understand the timing of Christ’s return based on His own words. If we
would rather build our foundation on the hopes, opinions, or feelings of men
rather than the words of Jesus, then we will have no one to blame but
ourselves. It’s not Jesus who lied to us about the last days of the world or
the timing of His return; it is we who have lied to ourselves.
It’s a telling thing that rather than take the words of Jesus
at face value, we look to the sun, moon, and stars for insight, as though He
were not Lord over them as well. If Jesus spoke certain things, they were for a
purpose. If they were included within the pages of Scripture, that too was for
a purpose.
I’ve prayed over how to approach the topic of the last days
from a Biblical viewpoint for some time and have concluded that the best way is
to discuss the last days of the world and then the last days of the church as
separate studies. By the last days of the church, I am referring to the
spiritual condition thereof rather than any timetable for when we will no
longer have to contend with being strangers in a strange land.
The Bible is clear on both counts. By diligently studying the Word of God, we can know what the last days of the world and the last days of the church will look like, and in so knowing, not be swayed by the noise, the static, and the myriad of voices saying here is the Christ, or there.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
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