Eschatology Series

By Shaun Shuler

As Rome laid siege to Jerusalem in AD 70, to the turn of the centuries in the years 1000 and 2000, and to the Mayan prediction of 2012, end of the world predictions have been around since the 1st century, but none of them have come to pass.

Is the end of the world just a popular topic for Sci-fi movies and books, or is there something more to it? What is the fascination about the end of times that draws so many in regardless of age, creed, or race?

The study of the end times is called eschatology, which comes from the Greek word eschatos meaning final, last, or end, and together with -ology, it is the study of the end.

Merriam-Webster defines eschatology as:

1: a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind

2: a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind specifically: any of various Christian doctrines concerning the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the Last Judgment.

I need to address one thing, that is being widely debated on in regard to Matthew chapter 24; is this chapter talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 or a future time frame of chaos and pain?

I believe JESUS is mainly talking about a future event. Yes, in verse 2 JESUS says, “…not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down” and was in reference to the destruction of the temple which did happen in AD 70. But in verse 7 JESUS says, “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” and in verse 9 He says, “…you will be hated by all nations…”. It was only Rome destroying Jerusalem in AD 70. Not every nation at the time had even heard the message of JESUS or even knew who Christians were. Yes, there are some things that you can relate to the time frame between AD 30-AD 70 with what JESUS spoke in the rest of the chapter, but overall I think it is clear, that JESUS is speaking about a future time yet to happen and that is the focus of this article.

2,000 years ago, the questions of the end times or the last of days was on the minds of people who encountered JESUS.

JESUS’ disciples asked Him,

‬‬Let us look at the signs of the end times and what JESUS says about when the world will end.

Imposters of Jesus

For years, people have risen up from all over the world to claim they were JESUS returned in the flesh or reincarnated. Some include, but not limited to:

• José Luis de Jesús Miranda, Miami, Florida

• David Koresh, Waco, Texas

• Sergey Torop, Russia, (the Jesus of Siberia)

•  Apollo Carreón Quiboloy, Philippines

•  Alan John Miller, Australia

•  Hasan Mezarcı, Turkey

• Inri Cristo, Brazil

•  Shoko Asahara, Japan

This is just a few of the recent men who claimed to be CHRIST. However, it is not just men claiming this falsehood. Marina Tsvigun, a Ukrainian woman, also identified as the new messiah. After her prediction of the Apocalypse on November 10, 1993 did not come true, she changed her name, moved to Russia, and started running an art gallery.

These people seem odd to most of us, but the truth is, they had, or currently have many followers. People believe that these individuals are JESUS returned or reincarnated. What all of these false messiahs have in common is that they are charismatic and likable. Although they may have predictions of specific days of some end time disaster happening that never comes true, sadly, they are still able to fill a void in a person’s life. This is the reason why it is incumbent of us as true Bible-believing Christians to NOT judge or turn away others that are different than ourselves. Too often, the Church has failed to truly show the love of GOD, and this has led to some people feeling they have nowhere else to turn to until someone comes along providing a false sense of security.

JESUS warned us of these people so we would be prepared when they rise up. Later in chapter 24 JESUS said,

In Verse 27 JESUS is basically saying when He returns, everyone will see Him and know that He is back. So if you encounter a very charismatic person claiming to be JESUS, understand that this person is lying. JESUS will not return in secret; He will return for all the world to see.

Hostilities Between Nations

Just in the 20th century, we had Two World Wars, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the 6 Day War, the Persian Gulf War, several Civil Wars around the world, and many other conflicts. From 1947-1991 the world was in fear of a Third World War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. These 44 years were known as the Cold War. It never developed into armed combat but nevertheless fear of nuclear war gripped the world during this time.

In the 21st century, we still have wars, conflicts, and threats among nations, but we are now living in a time where many nations have the ability to kill billions with their modern weapons.

The LORD’s brother, James, wrote:

James is referring to fighting in the church among its members, but I think it can also be applied to nations fighting each other. The central theme about worldly conflict, is that it is selfish in nature. One person wants what another has, so they fight to take it, or someone feels slighted by another person and they feel the need to enact revenge. One nation wants land or resources that another country has, so they fight to take it from them, or one nation’s hatred against another because of race or simply their way of life and they threaten to wipe them off the face of the earth.

Starvation, Diseases, Natural Disasters

Since 1900, there have been an estimated 8 million deaths from natural disasters. Some areas are prone to certain disasters, but nowhere on earth is safe from having some form of natural disaster.

An estimated 70 million deaths have come from famines since the beginning of the 20th century. Flooding, droughts, and massive insect outbreaks, like the current locusts swarms in Africa and Asia, can still have an impact on causing famines. For the most part, however, they have had a basis in human causes. War, totalitarian regimes, and inflation are some of the man-made causes to famines in modern times.

Pestilences or infectious diseases killed 1.68 billion people just in the 20th century.

Baylor College of Medicine stated:

“A W.H.O. [World Health Organization] report released in 2007 warns that infectious diseases are spreading more rapidly than ever before and that new infectious diseases are being discovered at a higher rate than at any time in history.”

I believe the two main causes of this increase is the ease in which people can travel all over the world and the way these diseases can mutate. Infectious diseases are virtually impossible to eradicate, despite our advancements in medicine.

It will not be one specific natural disaster, famine, or pestilence that will cause the end of the world, but expect these to continue up until the very end.

In verse 8, in the original Greek, the term for sorrows used is ὠδίνων (ōdinōn) meaning birth pangs. Just like when a woman is about to give birth, the contractions and the pain increase in frequency, when the end of the world approaches, the frequency and intensity of these disasters will increase.

Christian Persecution 

In America, many Christians will feel persecuted when receiving eye rolls, verbal ridicule, or attacked on social media when people know of their belief in JESUS. However, true persecution of Christians has not hit America…yet.

In other parts of the world, Christians are being forced to abandon their homes, being imprisoned, and even killed. This is the actual persecutions that are going on in the 21st century, but is hardly ever being talked about in the U.S. mainstream media.

Open Doors USA reported the following in just one year (from October 31, 2017 to November 1, 2018):

• 245 million: Christians in the world experience high levels of persecution for their choice to follow Christ.

• 4,136: Christians killed for faith-related reasons.

• 2,625: Christians detained without trial, arrested, sentenced and imprisoned.

• 1,266: churches or Christian buildings attacked.

This isn’t just localized to one country or area of the world. According to the Gatestone Institute, in 2019, Europe saw a massive increase in church vandalism.

“Roughly 3,000 Christian churches, schools, cemeteries and monuments were vandalized, looted or defaced in Europe during 2019.”

These crimes were happening in Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Germany, and the most widespread coming from France.


In England, The Guardian had an article on a 2019 report commissioned by British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, that stated:

“Pervasive persecution of Christians, sometimes amounting to genocide, is ongoing in parts of the Middle East.” 

“The inconvenient truth,” the report finds, is “that the overwhelming majority (80%) of persecuted religious believers are Christians”.

In Asia, the South China Morning Post had a report on the increase of Christian persecutions in Asia.

Nina Shea, the director of the Centre for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute said, “Militant atheism, radical Islamism and nationalism are three basic motives for Christian persecution.” “Asia,” in her words, “is exhibiting all three.”

“There are different reasons for it in each country. It’s baffling that they have all come at once,” said Shea, a former head of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Intolerance is gaining strength, but these trends are not consistent with each other or any pattern. You certainly can’t say it’s from one source.”

I have to respectfully disagree with Nina on that last sentence. There is one source of this pattern of persecution against Christians, be it in Asia or in any place around the world, and that is the devil.

We also know from the book of Revelation, that Christian persecutions will continue to get worse. After the 5th seal is opened in chapter 6, John writes:

False Teaching Contrary to the Bible 

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It’s easy to read this verse and picture some long haired, bearded, guy wearing a robe and preaching things not in the Bible. However, this verse refers to anybody teaching any doctrine that is contrary to the Scriptures in the Bible but still calling it a Christian message.

Before I continue, ponder these questions.

Would you let your young child touch a hot stove?

Would you let your young child just run into the street without looking for cars?

Would you let your young child not go to school, do illegal drugs, or drink alcohol just because they wanted to?

Hopefully your answer is no, but what if they did any of that anyway? Wouldn’t you mend any wounds caused by their disobedience? Wouldn’t you discipline them? Wouldn’t you still love them?

GOD is the same way with us. We disobey, we do what is contrary to the Bible, we sometimes wrongly interpret the scriptures to fit our personal beliefs.

I could go into details below (and I will at one point in a future article), but the point of this is not to go down the rabbit hole of arguments and confrontations, I am just laying out some simple facts based on the writings found in GOD’s Word.

• Any message teaching salvation through any other way other than JESUS or all beliefs lead to heaven, is false.

• Any message teaching salvation through any kind of work, duty, chore, or even money and not simply by faith, is false.

• Any message teaching that innocent life is not precious, even before birth, is false.
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• Any message trying teach that GOD doesn’t have specific desires of what marriage should look like, is false.
  

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This post is not meant to condemn, but it is my prayer to open people’s eyes for the things to come. If you believe any of these examples above, do not simply take my word for it, search and read the Bible and pray for wisdom and discernment to break wrong beliefs and misunderstandings. Just like when we tell our children “No I don’t want you to do that, I don’t want to see you get hurt,” and they respond with dislike, GOD has placed rules and commands in the Bible for our benefit.

The Bible is not like Burger King where we can “have it our way" it has always been GOD’s way only. We can’t pick and choose what to believe to fit our lifestyle. It is the enemy’s tactic to twist GOD’s Word just enough to change the whole message. It is like preaching salvation without repentance, heaven without hell, Christianity without CHRIST, or prosperity in earthly things but leaving out persecution for CHRIST’s sake.

Uplifting verses are found all over the Bible, but some Scriptures are used to correct us, just like when we correct our children.

The best way to combat false doctrine, is to get into the Bible and see what it says. That way if someone comes to you with a “message from GOD”, you will be able to see if it matches His Word. Just because the Bible records GOD saying something thousands of years ago does not mean it isn’t true today. Yes, the world is always changing but He never changes.

Disorder and Hatred

You don’t have to search hard to find any news on TV, in print, or online that isn’t full of anger, hatred, violence, murders, and scandals.

From shootings, violent protests, to local and national political discord, it’s all oozing with anger and seems to be on the rise. How does this correlate to the end times?

Does what Paul wrote to Timothy in these verses describe the world around us today? I think that’s a resounding yes.

18th century Theologian Matthew Henry writes:

“Men love to gratify their own lusts, more than to please GOD and do their duty. When every man is eager for what he can get, and anxious to keep what he has, this makes men dangerous to one another. When men do not fear GOD, they will not regard man.”

Christianity.com

Unless there is a major revival throughout the world, I do not see people turning from this spirit of hatred and lawlessness and truly loving GOD and each other.

Then the End will come...

Verse 13 implies salvation through endurance (work), but that is not what JESUS is saying. The Bible is constantly pointing out that salvation is through grace by faith, not of works. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

John MacArthur explains verse 13 in his commentary:

“This does not suggest that our perseverance secures our salvation. Scripture everywhere teaches precisely the opposite: GOD as part of His saving word, secures our perseverance. True believers “are kept by the power of GOD through faith for salvation” (1 Peter 1:5). The guarantee of our perseverance is built into the New Covenant promise. God says: “I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart for Me” (Jeremiah 32:40). Those who do fall away from CHRIST give conclusive proof that they were never truly believers to begin with (1 John 2:19). To say that GOD secures our perseverance is not to say that we are passive in the process, however. He keeps us “through faith” (1 Peter 1:5)—our faith. Scripture sometimes calls us to hold fast to our faith (Hebrews 10:23; Revelation 3:11) or warns us against falling away (Hebrews 10:26-29). Such admonitions do not negate the mini promises that true believers will persevere (John 10:28-29; Romans 8:38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:8-9; Philippians 1:6). Rather, the warnings and pleas are among the means GOD uses to secure our perseverance in the faith.”

When you look at verse 14, keep in mind JESUS is talking to His disciples in the 1st century. There were no planes, trains, automobiles, phones, internet, Skype, FaceTime, until recent history. And they had no idea how large the world was at the time.

Today, in a matter of seconds, from the United States, my wife can talk and see her parents and sisters even though they are thousands of miles away in the Philippines. We are at the point technologically that we can get the soul-saving message of JESUS CHRIST to the entire world.

But even with all of our technology, I think what JESUS is referring to here is found in Revelation:

When will the world end?

As I have outlined within this article, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that a lot of bad things have already happened and are still currently happening throughout the world.

So what is GOD waiting for?

The idea that GOD is an angry, vengeful GOD, only out to make mankind suffer, is just not true. He loves us all, even in our disobedience. He still loves us and wants everyone to accept His SON JESUS as LORD and SAVIOR.

Towards the end of Matthew 24, JESUS says,

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In my early years after becoming a Christian, I spent way too much time reading Revelation, looking for signs of the times, trying to predict when I think He would return. But as I matured in the Word, I learned that there is no point in wasting time trying to figure out when JESUS will come back, or when the end will actually come, because it can happen at any time. And knowing the when is not the point of GOD’s Word.

As Christians, what we should be concerned about is following the commands of JESUS, love GOD with all our heart, mind, and soul, love one another and…

You may have observed that I left quite a bit out in this discussion, but the goal of this first article is to focus on the topic of WHEN the end will come, and WHAT we are to do in the meantime.

This is just the beginning of my series on the end times. There is much more to get into like the ‘abomination of desolation’ mentioned in Matthew 24:15 and how that relates to the biggest thing that has not come to pass yet for the nation of Israel. There are the theories on the Rapture, what it is, will it occur and if so, when? Then of course, all the other mysteries found in the Book of the Revelation. We will be diving into all of this in the coming months.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you enjoyed this. Please leave any comments, questions, prayer requests, or ideas for new topics you’d like for me to discuss in the comment box below.