Think back fourteen years. We were nearing the end of 1999. Nearing the end of the twentieth century. People looking forward to the dawning of two-thousand and excited about the twenty-first century. But there was also apprehension, anxiety. We heard all sorts of wild rumors about electronics not being coded to make the transition to a new century, a new millennium. Computers were going to crash. Everything digital would go haywire. If you had money in the bank, you’d be wise to withdraw it and put it under your mattress. All government records would disappear. Your TV, your computer, your cell phone -- all that was going to die at the stroke of midnight as two-thousand got underway.
Along with that, people were urged to install gasoline-powered back-up generators and store up food and medical supplies so they could survive the catastrophe which was surely coming on January first in the year two-thousand. If you didn’t get those beforehand, people would go crazy when the crash came. Like the run on the supermarkets when Anderson has the forecast of snow. People go running in and buy up all the bread and milk.
Among a certain segment of the religious community, there was also the expectation, even the hope, that the start of the year two-thousand would also be the start of a spectacular chain of events which would lead to the return of Jesus Christ.
To the best of my knowledge, neither of these cataclysmic events took place. Computers did not crash. The nation’s infrastructure did not collapse. The Rapture did not occur.
Fourteen years later, we hardly remember the scare about computers crashing and everything digital being destroyed. On the other hand, the passing of fourteen years has done nothing to quell the excitement over the presumption of Jesus coming soon. People get stirred up so easily by preachers on television and radio who claim to have figured out the end. Well, for what it’s worth, this preacher on this radio program this minute has no idea when Christ is coming back. So, if that’s what you’re hoping to hear, you might want to change stations. The only prediction I offer at the moment is that this Baraca Radio Sunday School broadcast will end about ten minutes before eleven.
MATTHEW 24
The Gospel of Matthew devotes two lengthy chapters to the end time. It would take from now till Christmas to do justice to that entire passage. So I want to pull out two separate sections, looking first at a few verses from chapter 24 and then a longer passage from chapter 25 later in the lesson.
Teachers know it’s next to impossible to get everybody to learn what needs to be learned. And if everybody does learn what needs to be learned, some will forget it. So we have to start all over.
I wish it were simple to tell people -- one time -- so they would hear what Jesus said. Jesus Himself said He didn’t know when the end would come. Only the Father knows. Three times in Matthew 24, Jesus says we don’t know the time. But people don’t listen. So let’s hear these words. And please try to listen this time to verses 36-44:
In verse 36: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. [37] As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. [38] For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, [39] and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. [40] Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. [41] Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.
Again in verse 42: Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. [43] But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into.
Then a third time in verse 44: Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
You’d think three times over would get the message across. But you’ve heard an exasperated mother say, “I’ve told you and told you and told you. And I’m not going to tell you any more!” “Third time’s a charm.” But those rules don’t always apply. Sometimes we have to keep telling.
At this point, Jesus is telling them to be watchful. We need to watch our own lives as we watch for the end -- the end of our lives or the end of time. But Jesus also tells us to work as well as to watch:
[45-46]: "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.”
The faithful and wise servant carries out the responsibilities his master puts in his charge. So we have heard the two-fold warning here regarding the return of Christ: watch and work, with the emphasis on working rather than spending so much time watching. Or if you do watch, don’t try to set your watch to tell when Jesus is coming back. Rather, set your watch to remind you to work for Christ.
But it’s more fun to guess about Jesus coming back than to work for Him.
The first time these predictions caught my attention, I was eleven or twelve at the time, growing up in Texas. Daddy would listen to preachers on high-powered radio stations whose transmitters were based in Mexico across the border from Del Rio or Laredo. Because these stations were not in this country, the Federal Communications Commission had no control over their signal, so these stations could be heard all the way to Canada. Some preachers on these border stations were sure they knew when Jesus was coming back. And I was young and susceptible to this religious trash.
One of these radio preachers set a date, a certain day in September. He knew Christ was coming at ten o’clock on a Monday morning. This preacher was actually in California, but his sermons were carried on the station out of Mexico. So Jesus was coming back at ten o’clock, California time. Several of my school friends had heard about this day being the end of the world. So we nervously watched the clock in the school room and heaved a sigh of relief when ten o’clock came. Of course, at ten o’clock Texas time, it was still only eight o’clock in California. So, if Jesus was coming back at ten o’clock where the radio preacher was, we were letting down our guard a couple of hours too soon. Anyway, Jesus apparently didn’t come back at ten o’clock that day, Texas time or California time.
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
You probably have your own end-of-the-world story you could tell. You don’t have to go back sixty or seventy years to remember that kind of preaching.
While you’re thinking, let me tell you about scare date from a few years back. You know how end-of-the-world folks are always playing around with numbers? Their favorite number is 6-6-6. Back about seven years ago, in 2006, they started thinking: June is the sixth month; the sixth day of June is another six, and the year was two-thousand-and-six. So June sixth, two-thousand-and-six lines up as 6-6-6.
So the wooly-boogers are coming out of the woodwork, saying something drastic was going to happen on the sixth day of the sixth month of this sixth year of the 21st century. When all that hurrah was taking place in 2006, a friend of mine told me about this prediction, so I decided to go to the Internet to see what the crazies might be saying in cyberspace.
I went to the Google site which is a gateway to all sorts of information and misinformation on the Internet. I typed in, “Is 6-6-Oh-6 doomsday?” Lo and behold, I found several dozen sites dealing with this subject.
Let me read you a bit from the most fascinating one I found on the Internet--from a man who said he was “searching the Bible Code for guidance and direction as to June 6, two-thousand-and-six.”
My claim is that God has given me "wisdom and understanding", so I can correctly
interpret Bible Prophecy and Revelation and reveal this to whoever will listen, to all
who have "ears to hear". Thru this divine Wisdom and Understanding, ON JUNE 6 2006,
I will reveal who Antichrist is, (as we read in Rev:13:18), unless of course, prophetic events
supersede. (Walther)
That preacher is still going. It didn’t seem to faze him when the Antichrist failed to show his face on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of this new century and new millennium. He probably didn’t miss a beat. I looked at his blog this past week as I was preparing this lesson.
Like many others who are sure about when the Lord is coming back, the man who prophesied the June 6 date believes a great war is supposed to start any day now in the Middle East. He put another date up on his blog a month or so back: Last month, the fifth of September was supposed to be significant in preparation for that anticipated war. To get ready for the Battle of Armageddon, our country was supposed to attack Syria, and this predictor was eager for that to take place. But this man blamed President Obama for backing out or backing down from those plans. When the President interfered with this man’s vision of September 5, the preacher set a new date. Now, his end-of-time war has been projected till some time this month, October 2013. It might help if the man would read Matthew 24.
Before we completely brush aside these preachers who hope and pray for Armageddon, there’s one thing we might want to take seriously. Some of these religious zealots think they have a divine commission to hurry things up so Christ will come back to fulfill their hopes. These warrior Christians are so eager for things to break loose in the Middle East, they might do something dangerous to bring on their version of the Battle of Armageddon. With that in mind, I wouldn’t rule out some members of a religious fringe group doing something outrageous on a date they predict. They didn’t do this on the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year of the new century. But they might feel led to help Christ out by trying to start World War Three. I’m certainly not predicting anybody will actually do this, but these are strange times.
I was talking recently with a friend who had been to a meeting where she heard a speaker tell about a new scientific invention he believes will bring evil. In fact, the man thinks this is the Mark of the Beast. And my friend believes we probably are very near the end. I didn’t argue with this friend.
I wouldn’t argue anyway. You don’t win friends if you win the argument. But I did ask a question: What will they point to next year? What new scare will they point to the year after that? People with this mindset are always looking for evidence that we are in the last days.
Back in the 1930s, when President Roosevelt got Congress to pass the Social Security plan, the end-of-the-worlders were sure the Social Security number was the Mark of the Beast. More recently, it was the barcode in the retail store. A few years back, it probably was the postal zip code. You can rest assured other things will come along that make people say the end is near. That’s why I asked my friend what new sign will they come up with next year and the year after that and the year after that.
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
People try to put a lot of things in the Bible that just plain are not in there. Did I tell you about a Baptist lady named Amy who lived in a city in another state many years ago? Amy has long since gone on to be with the Lord.
In Amy’s adult Sunday school class, the teacher distributed a list of well-known sayings, some from the Bible, some from other sources. “Cleanliness is next to godliness” was on the list, and Amy argued that the saying was in the Bible. The teacher told her this was said by Susanna Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley, the founders of the Methodist denomination.
Amy continued insisting the saying was in the Bible. So the teacher loaned her a concordance, which helps locate words and phrases in the Bible, and asked Amy to find the statement and bring her report to class next Sunday. When she returned, the teacher asked, “Did you find “Cleanliness is next to godliness” in the Bible?”
Amy said, triumphantly, “It’s in my Bible. I wrote it in.”
Our Amy has many counterparts who interpret things pertaining to the end times. They write in concepts that simply were not put there by the men who wrote the Bible. They do that when they start trying to set dates for the Lord’s return.
WATCHING AND WORKING
We’ve done enough with Jesus saying even He didn’t know when the end would be. There’s the need to be watching and working. We’ve dealt with watching. Now, let’s think about working.
Jesus climaxes His discussion of the end time in the last part of Matthew, chapter 25 (31-46). You probably can quote some of this by heart:
When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'
Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'
Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Think for a moment: Jesus has talked at length in two lengthy chapters about being ready for His return. And we’ve just read or heard the very last things He says on this subject. He says nothing about figuring when the end is coming. He simply points to what you have done in His name to help people in need. Or what you have failed to do.
In a parable by the Afghani novelist Khaled Hosseini, a woman tells how her father would get rid of her bad dreams and replace them with good dreams. After the father tucked his daughter into bed, he would sit on the bed and pluck bad dreams from her head. He would put his hands on her forehead, search behind her ears and the back of her head. When he found bad dreams, he would would put them in an invisible sack in his lap and tie the drawstrings tightly together.
Then, after a search, his face would break into a broad grin as he sang out, Ah, here is one!" Then he would let the dream fall on her forehead. He would tell her, the good things in life were fragile and easily lost (Hosseini 506).
Together, we reach out to people whose lives are bad dreams and pluck those bad dreams away, through Anderson Interfaith Ministries, providing food for the needy and provides money for heating as cold weather will soon be here. We pluck away bad dreams for homeless families through Family Promise. We replace bad dreams with good by supporting Haven of Rest ministries and Meals on Wheels. Also, we as individuals replace bad dreams with good dreams by reaching out as Christ commended and commanded: Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.
So, as you think of Christ’s return:
Don’t worry about when and how the world is going to end.
Don’t try to figure when and how you’re going to meet the Lord.
Until you meet Christ -- in death or in life -- heed the songwriter B. B. McKinney:
Then live for Christ both day and night,
Be faithful, be brave and true,
And lead the lost to life and light.
Let others see Jesus in you.
From the Baraca Radio Sunday School Class
WRIX-FM, Sunday, October 13, 2013
First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina
ARE WE NEAR THE END OF THE WORLD---SOURCES
**From May 28, 2006
James W. Clarke, “The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians,” The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 11. New York and Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1955.
E. P. Gould, “Corinthians,” An American Commentary on the New Testament, Volume V. Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1887.
Khaled Hosseini, And the Mountains Echoed. Detroit, New York, et al: Thorndike Press, 2014.
B. B. McKinney, “Let Others See Jesus in You,” Baptist Hymnal. Nashville, Tenn.: Convention Press, 1975. Number 294.
James Moffatt, The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, The Moffatt Commentary on the New Testament. New York and London: Harper and Brothers Publishers, No date given.
Harry Walther, “Antichrist to Be Revealed on June 6, 2006.” http://www.satansrapture.com/antichrist.htm
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