SIGN OF THE TIMES. Matthew 24:6

American Evangelicals are steeped in conversations about the End Times.  Ever since Hal Lindsay published THE LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH in 1970, Christians have been reading, writing, preaching, and making movies about the end of the world.  There are so many films about it, my pal Robb Brunson was even in one–he has his own page on IMDB! https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3045887/.

When I was in middle school, John Bisagno preached a year-long sermon series on the Second Coming.  About six months later he decided he needed to re-visit some things, and he preached on the end times for another two years. Sermons like these were being preached all over America, and the Christian books on end-times topics were legion. Then in 1995, Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins published LEFT BEHIND, the first novel of the multi-media franchise that would grow to 16 novels, five films, seven spinoff books, graphic novels, children’s books, and video games. Like I said, the church culture that Protestant Christians swim in is soaked in the End Times. 

They say that fish swimming in the ocean have no concept for water because they have been immersed in it their entire lives. Evangelical Christians are so immersed in a highly specific pre-millenial, pre-tribulation view of Last Days Eschatology, most of us cannot imagine any other perspective.

As a high school senior I was so familiar with the prevailing interpretation of the book of Revelation that when a friend asked me about it, I was able to sketch out a calendar for all the events that would happen during the seven years of tribulation, beginning with the rapture of the church—which would kick off the whole thing.

Then as a college student I read Revelation and told my dad, “I have a Post-It note filled with questions.”  He was astonished:

“You fit all your questions on a Post-It note?”

He had read Revelation many times and knew what a difficult book it is. I have read it many times since and I agree with him—there are so many things that are hard to understand. There are only a few things we can state clearly about the end times: Paul predicts a rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. There will be an Anti-Christ and a seven-year tribulation.  Then Jesus will return and God’s enemies will be judged.  But I am not convinced that all the super-specific details predicted by writers and preachers are really stated in the book. For example, many say “Gog and Magog” from Ezekiel 38:2 are Russia and China.  But Messianic Jewish Rabbi, Jason Sobel, a believer in Jesus, argues that the Bible is unclear, and that Hebrew Rabbis do not agree.

Here’s the thing: There is no scripture more difficult to interpret than prophetic scripture.

I am not a scholar of prophecy by any means. But my whole professional life is words. And when I read the words of Revelation, I see little support for many of the things on the accepted End-Times calendar. 

More importantly, consider the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament: they were significantly misunderstood.  We look back today and understand that there are TWO COMINGS of Christ, a first coming as a babe in Bethlehem, and a second coming as a Conquering King on a white horse.  But no one in the time of Christ understood that.  NO ONE.  These were not stupid people.  They knew the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. They were able to interpret some of the prophecies correctly. But no one on earth understood that the Messiah would be born, then die on a cross, be resurrected, ascend to heaven, and return later.  NOT ONE PERSON understood those details.  They were not stupid.  And they were not without the Holy Spirit.  God spoke to prophets through His Holy Spirit all the time. 

If no one among all the children of Israel understood Messianic prophecies correctly, it is because God chose not to reveal everything. 

In the same way, God may have chosen NOT TO REVEAL EVERYTHING about His Second Coming to us.

There are far too many Christians, including preachers, writers, and filmmakers, who are repeating non-Biblical assertions that they picked up from sources OUTSIDE the scripture itself.  If you can read the Bible and find your map of the future in its pages, then preach on.  But if you are relying on the film “A Thief in the Night,” or books by Hal Lindsay or Tim LaHaye for your material, perhaps you should stop repeating things that you cannot find in the scripture for yourself. 

That’s not to say the opinions of those experts are not valuable. I’m in favor of a good Biblical commentary—every good Bible student should consider the interpretations of wise men who have gone before.  That is how you learn, and how we protect against heresy.  We SHOULD check our interpretations against the interpretations of wise, respected scholars who have gone before.  But the ultimate authority is the scripture itself.

Given the overwhelming difficulty of interpreting the highly poetic, dream-like language of prophecy, I believe we should be vigilant about keeping an open mind. We should not draw conclusions and become dogmatic about them.

Tim LaHaye’s view might have merit.  Or it might be wrong.  The question is, can you back it up with scripture?  Same with Hal Lindsay’s ideas in the LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH. He may be right about everything.  But if I don’t see it clearly stated in the Bible, I’ll keep it in mind, but I won’t assume it is the only possible correct interpretation.

BUT WHY DOES IT MATTER? DOES OUR VIEW OF THE END TIMES HAVE ANY IMPACT ON OUR DAY-TO-DAY LIVES?

Yes. Our view impacts us in several ways. First, because Evangelicals are so committed to an end-times narrative, that narrative impacts the way we interpret global events. Everything that happens becomes symbolic. Nothing that happens is just a thing that happened—everything has to be a SIGN.  Floods, wars, pandemics, and vaccines—everything is symbolic. 

Second, our view of people becomes overly black and white. Just as the LEFT BEHIND novels were criticized for Manichaean characters, so fans of the series (and all of us who were raised on this apocalyptic narrative) begin to see everyone in Manichaean terms: everyone is either ALL GOOD, or ALL BAD. 

There are no normal people that are flawed but maybe have good intentions.  Everyone is pure evil, or pure good—and that is especially true for everyone who is in the news.

President Trump is seen by many evangelical Christians as pure good (in spite of a long record of evils), but Trump’s Chief Medical Advisor, Anthony Fauci, is pure evil (in spite of Trump’s faith in him and his long career in medicine). 

Such a black and white view of people is wrong.  Both men—like nearly everyone else in the news—are flawed.  And on some level, both probably have good intentions.  People are rarely all good or all bad.  Life is just not that simple.

In 1988, there was a little book interpreting everything in history and current news as a sign of the times: Eighty-Eight Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. 

The writer was sure Jesus would return that year.  He was so sure, he said if there were a king willing to make the bet, he would bet his life on it.  The book sold 4.5 million copies. Needless to say, the Lord tarried beyond 1988.  The writer, Edgar Whisenant, wrote three more books predicting Christ’s return in ‘89, ‘93, and ‘94.  Then after getting it wrong FOUR TIMES, he died in 2001. 

In early 1988, while everyone was caught up in the hysteria and hype generated by that first book—and kids my age were upset they would never have a chance to get married—my dad said something to me that I have never forgotten:

“Steven, you gotta remember.  People have been predicting the Lord’s coming for 2,000 years.”

And they have.  Sure, Israel’s gaining statehood in 1948 is probably a critical puzzle piece in the end-times calendar.  But the rest of it is not so clear.  Even a careful reading of prophecy is like trying to see through the frosted glass of a bathroom window.  Things are not transparent but opaque.  God wrote prophecies that way on purpose, just as He did with Messianic prophecies about the birth of Christ.  We should study them, of course.  But I want to offer some cautionary statements for those of us fully immersed in this ocean of the apocalyptic:

1. Remember that just as God did not reveal everything about the first coming of Christ—not one of His Chosen People understood that some prophecies applied to a FIRST coming and others to a SECOND coming—so also He may not have revealed to us everything about the Second Coming.
2. Don’t be so attached to the popular End Times story that you lose sight of what is—and is NOT—revealed in scripture.  Every now and then you should re-read Revelation, Daniel, and other scriptures about the Second Coming and remind yourself how few of the “facts” being preached from America’s pulpits are clearly stated in scripture.
3. Keep an open mind; don’t try to assign meaning to everything that happens in the news.  We don’t know who Gog and Magog really are, for example.
4. Don’t interpret every news event as a sign of the times.  Sometimes bad things happen and don’t mean anything.  Jesus said “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come” Matthew 24:6.  In other words, wars will happen, but they are not necessarily connected to the Second Coming–even wars in the Holy Land.
5. Don’t assume everyone in the news is ALL GOOD or ALL BAD.  In my experience, most politicians are men of generally good intentions, but questionable integrity.  Even the worst of them usually thinks he is helping–but the number one concern of every politician in every party is his own power.
6. Finally, remember that “People have been predicting the Lord’s coming for 2,000 years.” Take things with a grain of salt. Read Revelation, and pray as it instructs us to pray, “Even so, come Lord Jesus” Revelation 22:20. 

God, teach us to properly interpret your word and to properly interpret the news events in our world.  Free our minds of “End Times” details that are not in the scripture.  Even so, COME LORD JESUS.

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