Veronica Neffinger
I remember when I first became a Christian at about the age of eleven. I began attending an evangelical church with my family. I discovered that there was a book that contained so many of the stories I had been familiar with growing up: Adam and Eve, Noahās Ark, Moses, and of course, Jesusā death and resurrection.
I soon discovered that this book–the Bible–also contained prophecies about the end times and Jesus second coming. It wasnāt long before I began hearing terms like āpre-trib, āmillennial reign,ā and Ā ārapture.ā
I discovered that beliefs about the end times were not only important to Christians, but that they varied widely.
In his article āDisagreement about the End Times: Must it be Verbal Armageddon?ā on Logos.com, Michael S. Heiser, while not arguing that studying the end times is unimportant, suggests that the Bible is intentionally vague about what will happen.
There are a number of systems of belief about the end times which include the timing of events, what certain biblical symbols mean, and what is literal and what is metaphorical. Many Christians ascribe wholeheartedly to a certain system and attempt to make Godās Word conform to what they believe to be true.
While studying what the Bible has to say about the end times, we must remember that, as Crosswalk.comās Ryan Duncan notes in āEnd Times Errors Christians Need to Avoid,ā placing too much importance on ironing out the details of the end times (something that God has chosen not to unambiguously lay out for us) can distract us from living for Him right now:
āAs I stated earlier, the most important time for Christians is the here and now. Our study of the End-Times shouldnāt distract us from the opportunities of today. God has commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31), to seek justice for the weak (Psalm 82:3), and share His gospel with the world (Matthew 5:14-16). Letās not get ahead of ourselves. God will take care of the future, we still have work to do.ā
The Bible tells us that only God the Father knows the exact timing of Jesusā return (Mark 13:32). If only God knows the details of this event, then itās safe to assume our limited human brains will not be able to conclusively figure it out.
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This doesnāt mean we shouldnāt continue to study Godās Word regarding the end times and pray for wisdom as we seek to discern what God is revealing to us, but, as Heiser stresses, we should ābe gracious and charitable with believers who may not make the same interpretive decisions you do.ā
One thing we can be sure of regarding the end times: Jesus will come again, and if we have believed in Him, we will one day be with Him in heaven. Let us not allow the ambiguous details of His return to deter us from living wholeheartedly for Him right now or from loving fellow Christians who may hold different views than ours.