Thursday, January 12

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Matthew 24:12-14

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

The beginning of a new year is a time when most of us find it natural to think about the future. We wonder what the coming year will hold for us, for the economy, for our nation, for the world. And there is no shortage of people willing to predict the future! From the storefront “psychic readers” that dot the landscape of our small towns, to “psychic hotlines” we can call 24/7, to people like, “Rosemary the Celtic Lady” who advertises herself not only as an “Animal Communicator” but that her predictions for people are 97% accurate (I actually looked her up on the American Association of Psychics website)! In fact, “psychic consultation” is now a $2 billion industry in America every year!

Now when most of us think about the future – we think about the “near future,” We think about what might happen in the coming year – or we wonder what might happen in the next 3 years or 5 years. But we don’t usually think about the future in an ultimate sense. We don’t usually think about what happens when there is no more future to think about. We don’t usually think about the “end.”

Yet Jesus talked openly about the end of all things. In Matthew 24 Jesus tells his disciples that the day would come when the great Temple of Jerusalem would be destroyed. Incredulous, they ask him,

“Tell us…when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Matthew 24:3

Jesus responds with nearly two chapters of teaching about coming persecution, the arrival of many false prophets, his own return to earth and other signs that will usher in the end of all things. While we will address some of these subjects in the weeks that lie ahead, for now I want to focus on what Jesus says in the middle of this long discourse.

“Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

He simply says there will be an end. This is extremely significant. I’m not an expert in world religions, but I do know that many religions teach that both history and life itself are cyclical. That is, many believe that both history and human beings continue to reinvent themselves continuously and indefinitely as human consciousness and civilization continues to evolve toward perfection. Jesus is saying the exact opposite. History and life itself are not cyclical, but linear. Time had a beginning and time will have an end. Life had a beginning and life will have an end. Which means on the personal level, of course, that my life had a beginning and will also have an end.

Let me try a rather clumsy sports analogy here. It’s as if the Bible is telling us that we are not playing baseball – with the endless possibility of extra-innings! Rather, we are playing football; when the clock hits zero, the game is over. (And if the game is tied, there is something wonderful called “Sudden Death”!)

As a pastor, one of the great privileges of my life is to be invited into people’s lives at moments of crisis – and in particular the crisis of death. Just last week I stood with a grieving husband beside the bed that still held the body of his dear wife – who had passed away after a long illness. I was reminded of the preciousness of the life and love God has given to us as a gift from his own image; and I was also reminded that this life will have an end.

When we think of prophecy, we often think of the spectacular and cataclysmic events that many think will precede the end of the world. We speculate about when and how the end will come. And while there is nothing wrong with such speculation, sometimes it can obscure the main point – which is that our lives will come to an end; someway, somehow, sooner or later, we will each face our own mortality. And then what?

Biblical prophecy points us to the truth that all things will have an end.

Prophecy points to the truth that each of our lives will come to an end and then we will face eternity.

Prophecy points to the truth that we can know with certainty how we will spend that eternity.

And all prophecy points to the truth of Jesus.

“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.” Revelation 22:7

Thank God that while we cannot know the day when history will end for us personally, through Jesus we can know with certainty that we will spend eternity with him!

Pastor Brian Coffey