From the very beginning, the Church has lived with an expectation of the imminent return of Jesus, in the end times. This is evident in their inspired writings, our New Testament. It is also a central theme of several of the parables Jesus told. God could have inspired someone to caution His church that the end times wouldn’t come to fulfillment for a few thousand years, but He didn’t! He cultivated and allowed a healthy sense of expectation and He continues to do so. He tells us clearly to be ready; to observe the signs of the end times, and not to be caught unawares. Above all, He warns against complacency.
If we believe in the ‘end of the age, as Jesus and the early church clearly did, then time will most certainly take us there. We will eventually find ourselves in a time such as this, when the ‘end’ is truly nigh. Will we recognize the signs of the times? No-one knows the day or the hour but so many mature Christians in our broad circle are convinced that we really are in a unique phase of history, with the ‘end times’ truly upon us. My sheep hear my voice. Some have had dreams and visions, consistent with Joel 2:28, others have had personal revelation.
Remember the boy who cried ‘wolf’? There are lessons in that story for all of us. Of course, crying wolf prematurely can be detrimental. Yes, there have been mistakes and deceptions about the end in the past. Scripture warns us clearly about these. But we mustn’t be deterred by those false alarms; the wolf eventually came. More importantly, Jesus IS coming! – just as He said He would.
Are you Ready?
