Are We in the End Times?
Q: Are we in the end times?
A: Probably.
Q: What should I do about that?
A: It depends.
Q: Should I be worried?
A: I hope not.
There’s your summary. Interested in details? Ok, here we go!!
Oh, just a quick note, this topic comes up a LOT in religious circles, and I recently had a relatively new friend on LinkedIn (you can find me there through this link if you’d like to follow my daily posts) ask me to check out an article on it for my thoughts. I’ve been considering writing on this topic for a while, and that question was the catalyst.
The Topic of the End Times
Let’s start by loosely defining the term “end times”. For our purposes, the end times are the years (decades perhaps) preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ to Earth. I won’t attempt to define how long the end times will last…and the reasons why will soon become apparent.
The fact is, movies, books, research articles, sermons, and a LOT of other content has been produced related to the end times. Can I be blatantly open with you?
The VAST majority of the time used to create that content was not only wasted, but a distraction tactic by the enemy. Let me ask a seemingly unrelated question. Do you have a hobby? Crochet, pickleball, stamp collecting, etc.? Most hobbies are good for expanding our mental skills, improving our physical health, or even just to allow us time to recharge doing something that brings us joy. From my perspective, these kinds of hobbies are neither bad nor good in relation to your life as a Jesus follower. They don’t hurt your relationship with God, they might help it, but there’s no major impact.
But wasting time trying to determine exact dates for events related to the end times is bad. Just bad. Why is that? Because it’s in opposition to what Jesus told us to do, and it makes us feel like we are doing Kingdom work, when we’re actually not helping grow the Kingdom at all.
Jesus and the End Times
Jesus talked about the end times on multiple occasions. A couple of examples are in Matthew 24 and Luke 21. Again, I’m not going to attempt to point out every time he talked about them. But I want to focus on some of His words in Mark 13.
“But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
-Mark 13:32-37 ESV
The first part of this passage explains why it is completely a waste of time trying to figure out the exact day or hour of not only when Jesus is returning, and by association, any other end time event. The truth is NO ONE BUT GOD THE FATHER KNOWS! Jesus doesn’t know, the angels don’t know, we don’t know, and we can’t know. It is incredibly arrogant of a human being to think she or he can figure out by convoluted reasoning of Bible verses and world events details that Jesus clearly stated only God knows.
A Little Aside
At the beginning of this post, I stated that we are probably in the end times. I could attempt to make a long, reasoned proof. But I’ll give you just one Bible passage and one related world event upon which I base my belief.
“He will raise a flag among the nations and assemble the exiles of Israel. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth.”
-Isaiah 11:12 NLT
This passage predicts the return of the Jewish people back to Israel. This process began in the early 20th century and culminated with the establishment of the modern state of Israel in literally one day, on May 14th, 1948. There are many more fulfilled prophecies related to the modern state of Israel, you can see some of those here.
That’s just one reason I believe we are in what is called the “end times”. But sisters and brothers, even if we are, there is no way to know how long the end times will last. Jesus could come back today, tomorrow, or many years from when you are reading this post.
Should I Be Worried if We are in the End Times?
No. Jesus told us specifically not to be anxious. And if you’d like some more details about worry and the current state of the world, check out our post, “Should I Be Worried About What’s Happening in the World?”
Well then, what should you do about it?
What To Do About the End Times
Let me help you out here. Back in Mark 37:32-37 Jesus told us what to do. “Be on guard, keep awake” and “Stay awake”. Other translations of that last one say to “Watch!” or “Stay Alert!”
The first thing we need to do is be ready! We must make sure our hearts are in full submission to the will of God and that we are obeying His commandments.
The second thing is to realize that because the time may be very short, we need to focus our efforts on loving like Jesus loved and following Him without reservation.
Beyond these, nothing else matters. Beloved, don’t be distracted by dates and predictions from human beings who absolutely cannot know what they are talking about. Ignore anything that will pull you away from following Jesus and put everything you have into doing the will of God.
If you have follow-up thoughts or questions, feel free to reach out to me directly via our contact form. Also, if you’d like to learn more about me and why I create all this content about following Jesus, check out my About page. If you love the content and would like to support this work, please visit Troy Stoneking (buymeacoffee.com). Finally, would you like to see a list of ALL our blog posts? Here it is!
Love you Jesus follower!