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The Timing of the End Matters to Your Confidence

Timing is very important to your view of the last days or end times. My view is very different from most of the popularizations of these terms. Imagine, if you will, that you’re a player on a football team, and you show up for the game after it’s over but don’t know it. You might go out on the field to do battle for your school with no other team mates. You might end up playing for another team whose game was scheduled after yours. If you lost because you played another team all by yourself, having missed the game, you would go to school the next day and report your bad news. Your school mates might tell you, “Hey, we won, don’t be so down. But where were you?” You might be happy to know your team won but sad to know you weren’t part of the effort. What if no one told you and let you go away thinking you had lost the game? What if it were the championship game and ruined your entire year? You get the point. Timing is not everything, but it can sure mess alot of things up.

Notice that both John the Baptist and Christ tie repentance to the coming of the kingdom of God/heaven and the timing of its coming.

John: “And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Mt. 3:2.

Jesus: “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:17.

Jesus: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Mk 1:25.

Obviously, both Jesus and John equated the kingdom of God with the kingdom of heaven, so we can dispense with the foolishness of vainly trying to distinguish between them. Why do they consider the coming of God’s kingdom important in their message? First, because it is true; it was coming. As opposed to the past, there apparently was coming a change in the authoritative ordering of things for human beings on earth. Even though God had always been king of the universe, of heaven and earth, there was coming a time when His kingship would be manifest in such a signficant and palpable way that all men must order their lives to accord with that kingdom, before it arrives.

Recognizing the timing was important. Jesus made it clear to the Pharisees that they had missed the timing profoundly. They had not listened to John’s message and, according to Jesus, had thereby showed themselves not just apathetic but arrayed in opposition to that kingdom. There was still hope for them, for Jesus told them he spoke as he did in order that they might believe, but apparently the hour was getting very late as the hour of Christ’s death approached. Mt. 24.

What of the timing? Why did both John and Jesus emphasize the timing? Why not just say, “God rules over all the universe, including you; therefore, you should repent?” Isn’t that always the case for humans? They owe their lives and being to Him and should honor Him with their obedience. So what’s up with the timing portion of the message?

Mt. 24 is Jesus acting in his prophetic office. He brings the indictment against his own people, the people of Israel, and predicts the coming disaster, like nothing they’d seen before, as a consequence of their rejection of their true king, Jesus Christ. Jesus made the timing of that event very clear – “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” Mt. 24:34. Any attempt to get around the plain meaning of Jesus’ words of timing in this passage are worse than dishonest; they are silly. Typically, these attempts to change the timing to a later generation cut out the meaning Jesus intended for his disciples who asked the question as to the timing of Jerusalem’s destruction after Jesus told them that the temple would be utterly demolished. We even have the indisputable history of Jerusalem being destroyed in 70 AD, thereby fulfilling his prophesy within about 40 years after he uttered it.

“At hand.” What does that phrase mean to you? How close is your hand to you? What did the people listening think? Did they think, “Oh, he must be talking about the 2nd coming of Christ?” “He must be talking about death and our meeting God in heaven.” No, the plain meaning was that the kingdom (in its new presentation) was imminent; therefore, repent or you’ll miss out. What was new about it? First, the king himself came to earth to proclaim its arrival. In fact, he was its arrival. That’s why Christ went around “doing good, healing all that were oppressed by the devil.” Acts 10:38. He as king over all had power over all and expressed it in goodness to humanity, also showing his good and kind nature as king. He showed he was sovereign and good. With his prediction in Mt. 24 of Israel’s destruction he showed that a new order and people were going to continue the covenant election/choosing of those to represent Him on earth. They were heirs by faith of Abraham, Gal. 3, but they need not be physical descendants (they actually never needed to be; remember Rahab, the Canaanite; Ruth, the Moabitess; etc.)

What about the disciples, after the resurrection and during the events in the Book of Acts? Would they have thought, “Oh, remember what Jesus and John said about the kingdom being at hand? We think they meant a kingdom in the sky after our death or some long time into the future.” Really? Is that what they would think as they opposed the entire Jewish nation, as they faced up to the mightiest empire on earth, the culmination of Daniel’s prophecies of coming kingdoms, the kingdom of iron and clay that would cruelly tread down all in its path? And during which another kingdom would be set up, not made with hands? Do you think there might be a parallel between what Jesus claimed upon the imminence of the kingdom and Daniel’s prophecy in Daniel 2? Weren’t they presenting a new kingdom, for the present and not future, to replace the old ones? Weren’t they emissaries for their King?

Do you still think Jesus and John were not talking about something to happen in their day or at least the days of their followers? I’d like to know why you believe that and how you justify it biblically?