Good morning Church family,
I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s service, even more, I pray that you were encouraged, built up, and challenged to live in the light as God is in the light (1 John 1:7).
I hope that you gained some insight into eschatology (a study of the end times) yesterday from 1 Thessalonians 5. I emphasized what Paul emphasized, not the certainty of how the world ends or exactly how Jesus returns, but the certainty of how we live in the middle of the unknown.
I’ve experienced a lot of eschatological teaching over the years, and the risk is always to become so certain about the unfolding of the future instead of how God’s Word emphasizes eschatology: helping us live better presently today because of what we know (somewhat, as much as pregnant woman’s birthday–1 Thess. 5:3) about the future.
Eschatology, oddly enough, should be more focused on today than on tomorrow. It sounds like an oxymoron. Why would a study of the end times lead the Christian to focus more on today?
- First of all, because that’s how Paul applies the end times in 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11. He seamlessly moves from describing the downhill plight of the world to the great hope for us as Christians and encourages us to “wake up” today (v6) and encourage one-another with the hope that lies ahead (v11).
- All good eschatology must be focused on eschatological hope and encouragement. When you see that Jesus is coming back and we will dwell with Him in an environment without night someday (Rev. 22:5), that gives us comfort and hope to carry on knowing that there is an end to our pain and suffering.
But knowing that this world is headed to destruction should also encourage us not to live for worldly things that fade and will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:10-11!). If eschatology has not done that for you, then your eschatology is wrong, no matter how right you are about predicting the future.
When you look at the Old Testament and how prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah and others prophesied about impending judgment, their future telling was always interwoven with encouragement and exhortation towards God’s people. Why? Because future judgement is connected with present day actions. God’s judgement (“day of the Lord”) will come somebody predicated on the evil of mankind and the fact that God’s kindness which is meant to lead to repentance (Rom. 2:4-5) has officially been rejected with no more opportunity for repentance (2 Peter 3:9-10). Therefore, what should our eschatology do for us? Make sure that we’re rescuing folks out of the darkness and making sure we’re not walking in the darkness (1 Thess. 5:1-11).
For another example of the importance of eschatological application more than eschatological prediction, and the importance of the eschatological present instead of the eschatological future, look at Acts 1:6-8 which Matt Durkee touched on yesterday:
- “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom of Israel?” (isn’t that the same question that so many of us ask too?) 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into heaven.” (aka: get to work!)
- Notice how the disciples wanted to know when Jesus would restore Israel. They want to know the future. Jesus essentially responds by saying, “it’s none of your business. here’s what you should be doing: get to work on the mission (Acts 1:8) of being My witness and sharing the Gospel into the ends of the earth. That should be your main focus in-between My first coming and second coming.”
While we wait for Christ to usher in the next epoch of human history, a new heavens and new earth, we’re to be busy with world evangelism. That’s what eschatology should do to us: Make us remember to depend on the Holy Spirit in our mission to the nations.
In Matthew, Jesus says, “the Gospel will be preached to the whole earth, then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14). So if we want to play a role in bringing about God’s return, share the Gospel, serve like the Gospel and join the mission of God. Therefore, eschatology is related to the Church’s Gospel responsibility.
Finally, I want to reiterate one main point from my sermon: that while the world is getting darker (1 Thess. 5:1-3, 2 Tim. 3:1-2), the light of the Gospel is actually spreading and making it brighter.
You get this sense in Matthew 24:9-13, you see this paradox as the world escalates into more and more apostasy and deception (vv9-12) BUT God’s mission is still progressing too as v14 says “And this Gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
So as lawlessness increases, the Gospel is spreading to every nation, and the Gospel is God’s light (2 Cor. 4:6).
Therefore, the emphasis for us, WOL Chapel, must be light rather than darkness (1 Thess. 5:1-11) Morally, we must fight not to get pulled into the darkness (Rom. 13:12-14). We must depend on Jesus Who is the Light of the World to defend us against dark desires, because we all know that Christians can do some dark things or think some dark thoughts.
Therefore. Let’s stay close to Jesus, Church, Who is our Light and Who dawned into this world in a new way 2000 years ago (Luke 1:78-79). He has opened up our eyes and shined into our hearts. We’re no longer ignorant or darkened in our understanding. We who were at one time darkness, are now light in the Lord (Eph. 5). So let’s live as such as we know God says the times will grow darker. BUT, they’ll grow brighter too, and this is in someways dependent on our walking in the Light, focusing on Jesus and letting His Word be “a light to our path and lamp to our feet (Ps. 119:105). If we love God’s Word and live according to His Words, then we’ll walk in the light of God’s goodness and enhance this dark world for the better. Let’s be that city on a hill whose light cannot be hidden (Matt. 5:14-16!).
I’m praying that we continue to be this in our families, in our communities and in our world.
With love in Christ,
Aaron
