So, You Think Today is the End of the World.

Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and even snow in Hawaii! With all these natural disaster it can mean only one thing, the end of the world is nigh. The prophets of doom will soon be shouting from their websites, blogs, and television station pinnacles about the near and coming end of the world. These Ayatollahs of Armageddon will utilize scripture, Nostradamus, and some form of mathematical sleight of hand with arbitrary numbers to show you that you need to buy their book and get ready for the end of all life. Before we go grab our sandwich board signs and join the prophetic union of demise, I think it may be helpful to pause and take a look at the landmarks to the end of the world as promised by Jesus. It will be helpful to know what to expect, and what not to expect.

#1 War Matthew 24:6 – This passage actually tells us that war is going to happen and that it is not a good sign of the end. Jesus says wars are going to happen, but the end is still to come

#2 Matthew 24:12-14 – Here we find out the gospel will be preached to all peoples as a testimony, then the end will come. Does that mean when the last person who has never heard of Jesus hears about him the end will come? This passage is not very clear about exact times and events because it is more about everyone getting a chance to hear the gospel than a timeline of the end.

#3 Matthew 24 as a whole warns of false prophets. If someone comes saying they are Jesus we shouldn’t believe them, but we can start believing the end may be approaching.

#4 Matthew 24:27 says when Jesus actually comes, you will know the end is here. The problem is that Jesus will come like lighting throughout the whole earth, and then it will be too late to put on clean underwear.

# 5 Matthew 24:36 - The truth is no one knows the end, not even Jesus. These are the type of people you shouldn’t believe when they preach about the end.

1. People who have financial gain at stake. If someone thinks the end is truly coming are they going to really write a book, sell it at a premium price, and open up a new saving account?

2. People who say they are Jesus. Jesus will come with power and we will instantaneously know it is Jesus, he won’t have to tell us or show us his social security number.

3. Someone who spoke to God in a dream. If God doesn’t tell his own son Jesus, than its pretty safe to say that the person just had some bad batch nachos before bed.

4. Anyone with a mathematical formula that predicts the end through careful calculations based on every fourth letter of the fifth word in the second paragraph of each page of the Bible. The end of the world is not a 12th grade calculus word problem. There are no hidden messages in the Bible, it is not Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon if you play it backwards you get a gnarly message from the underworld

5. Anyone. No one knows says Jesus, so that probably means no one knows. Like zilch, nada, zip, and zero. If someone tells you they know the end that means they are saying Jesus was lying, and I wouldn’t stand too close to them, especially in a thunder storm.

While there are many passage about the end, Matthew 24 gives us the best signs to get ready. So what have we learned? Wars don’t mean anything, the gospel will make a global trip, people will start saying they are Jesus, and Jesus will actually come. Jesus gives us these vague clues about the end not so that we can study them and only the really clever can decipher the end date, but so that we will be always ready. Let’s face it the end could come today, and that is the point of Jesus message, always be ready. If we love God and rest on the forgiving power of Jesus than come what may cruel world, whether now, tomorrow, or in 2012. I am heading to the same place either way, and God is still good!