Over the years many people have sought to answer the questions of the end times. Since the time that the Bible was assembled many have debated and asked questions of the book of Revelations. The book is a prophecy, visions that were given to St. John of things to come. But the one thing that the book of Revelations is not very clear about is when all these great and wonderful and even terrible things will come to pass. Over the last few years some extreme church groups have preached "The end is near" or plastered billboards. Some have quoted Nostradamus or ancient Indian predictions to figure out the time when God will make his return.
This question has put people in opposition for years. Because of the vague nature of the time that these things will take place, has made the church curious and caused divisions among the churches. Some speculate that some of the events in the book of Revelations have already come to pass. While some churches put no faith at all in the book, but call it a colorful work of fiction. The one aspect that some overlook is the fact while God gave the visions to John, the timing in accordance to being God's people does not matter much.
If we are as Christian people who live, work, and walk by faith the timing for the "End Times" wouldn't matter. Many new age theorists look at December 12, 2012 as the date that the world will end. But as I post the question why are we people of God concerned with the time of the end? It would seem to me that God works by his own times and methods. If this is true then we as his people need only trust him and follow his commandments. I can assure you that all the things God says he will do, he does but it should be of no concern to those of the faithful. We already know in the end that those who are faithful and seek repentance and are baptised for our forgiveness will be among those accepted into heaven. Those who fear and wait and watch for the end and have not sought out forgiveness according to the Bible are the people with the most to fear.
Some associate this fear in apocalyptic times with the popular "Left Behind" novels. The novels by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye published in 1995, portray a story of the great rapture that happens in which the firm believers in God are taken from the earth into heaven in an instant. Those people who have been left behind begin to panic over these disappearances. These novels are loosely based on the idea of the Bible's book of Revelations along with other Biblical references to the end of times. These novels were only ever intended to be a way to relate Christianity to religious fiction and make a new way for people to understand God's words. The stories were never meant to be used as ant sort of realistic nature or cause panic, but some people not understanding this took the novels to be a literal work of truth.
We see in the book of Matthew, chapter 24, Jesus is speaking about the unknown hour in which the son of man will return:
"But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."(verse 36)
So as we have been instructed we must always keep watch of our faith, do those things that God called of us to do and never stray from those teachings. We must be baptised and repent all things for in that hour God will being all his people together and the glorious will be judged and also the wicked ones. As the old saying goes about all those things that are done in the dark, they will come out into the light. Be a person who follows the commandments and does the work of the son of God. We never have to fear the end of time unless there are things that we have to hide.
No comments:
Post a Comment