The End

I am writing this post because I keep seeing articles and such on Facebook and other social media about when the world is going to end. Also, some of these are even from people who claim to have studied the Bible and have figured out when the end will come through different passages in the Bible, particularly the book of Revelation.

Let being first by saying - this is not one those posts. I am going to share in this post what I think the Bible says about the end. Ready? The words of Jesus:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” - Matthew 24:35-36, NIV

So if the Bible was studied and an end was concluded - it must have been a Bible that didn't include the book of Matthew or Matthew 24. Also, the book of Revelation is a vision that John had about the things that are to come. However, these visions were a "revelation of Jesus Christ" [1] and "He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John." [1] This says to me that these visions include nothing about when the world was going to end - because Jesus and the angels were involved and as we know Jesus and the angels do not know [2].

But I will say that the signs and other things the Bible tells us about the end are important for us to know and that is why they are there. But trying to line them up and figure out an end date of the world is a waste of time. God would rather time be used more wisely.

I picture it like this: If an outbreak of robberies broke out on your neighborhood and there was a pattern to be found - there would still be no guarantee when your house would be robbed or if it would be robbed at all. The robber could change his pattern, change neighborhoods or even have gotten captured. So then it would be a waste of time to keep trying to figure out when it was going to happen. The Bible says this also about the return of Jesus:

"Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) - Revelation 16:15, ESV

"But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into." - Matthew 24:43, ESV

God wants us to be ready for the return of Jesus - not because we know when it's going to be - but because we don't. The only thing we know for sure is that the end is closer than it was when started reading this post.

_________________________

1] Revelation 1:1, NIV

2] Matthew 24:36, NIV

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