“Free Spirit Conservatory,” , Anna Marie Horner
The Study of End Times and End Things, Eschatology, is perhaps the most prominent field of study next to Theology and Evangelism (Missiology). What is clear is that Eschatology is the most divisive topic in Christendom today. Brothers and sisters who agree Jesus Christ is the Son of God and died for their sins on the cross and rose from the dead are split asunder over end times views ranging from Pre Millennial to Post Millennial, from Pre-Tribulation to Post Tribulation and everything in between. The End Times is such a hair raising and tense subject that many either choose to become dogmatic in their view and assert its truth with autocratic zeal or they choose the non-committal view of “Revelation, in the end we win. Enough said.”
The polarizing effect eschatology has on the church has made me come to the conclusion that what The Law and Talmud (commentaries on the Law) is for Old Testament Jews, Eschatology is to New Testament Christians. Instead of arguing over if we can “spit on the rock or the soil on the sabbath,” we wage ideological war over whether “the trumpets and bowels are the same as the seals.” We have become so obsessed with the details of the end, we’ve forgotten the purpose of it. Just as the Jews made the Law equal God in their focus, we have made the end times and how they will unfold our focus over Jesus coming back and being with Him as His Bride (Revelation 19:7-11). Our preoccupation has become the sequencing of the end times events and as a result we have taken our eyes off Emmanuel and made our passion about a particular Pre or Post-Trib view or a Pre or Post Millennial View.
Eschatologists would have you believe their zeal and ardor for the end times comes from Christ’s warning, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. – Matthew 24:42-44, NIV),” but this must be held within the larger prism of keeping our hearts and eyes fixed on Jesus, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God,” (Hebrews 12:2 NASB) and loving Him, “[Love the Lord God] with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This is the chiefest and greatest commandment..” (Matthew 22:37-38). What the end time scholars are doing by paying attention to the signs is not the problem, it is the overemphasis of the signs and the loss of focus on the Bridegroom. They become so obsessed with when Wormwood the Comet (Revelation 8:11) will fall they forget in the same Book of Revelation Jesus warns, “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.” (Revelation 2:4-5). Like the Law, Eschatology blinds them. What is more eschatologically relevant is keeping our first love and eyes on Christ (Revelation 2:4-5, Hebrews 12:2), and keeping His testimony (Revelation 14:12), not keeping a record and proving which trib view is more accurate! The signs of the end times must come second to the Son of God! We should know the stages, that at the Second Coming of our Lord there will be tribulation (Matthew 24:1-51), a Man of Sin (2 Thessalonians 2:1-11, Revelation 13, whole chapter), and so forth; but let us not let the signs of the sun going dark and moon not having light eclipse our relationship with the Lord Jesus! Eschatologists are like a bride who gets so wrapped up in the Wedding and every detail that they are missing the wedding itself and the Bridegroom Himself!
I am not advocating ignorance of the end times. What I am advocating is that our Alpha and Omega (Jesus Christ) be the beginning and end of our focus and that the signs of the time of His Coming not overshadow Him! I have shared before and I will share again that the name of the last book of the Bible was not Revelation, it was the Apocalypse, which translates “unveiling.” Unveiling of what? The unveiling of the Bride of Christ at the Wedding Supper!, “Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God,the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him.
For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb (Jesus), and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.”For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.” (Revelation 19:6-8). The very name of the last book was to remind us what is important! That Jesus is coming back soon (Revelation 22:9-22) and we the Bride should be ready with passion and love to see Him and feast with Him! The signs and segments of the Last Days are important to know, like the seating chart, head count, how the ceremony will be and etc. at a wedding, but the wedding is really about the two lovers, the Bride and Bridegroom and they fixing each others eyes on one another as they make a covenant in their shared love. Let us not lose our perspective, knowing the end times signs are important, but more important is knowing Jesus (Phillipians 3:8, Matthew 7:23). Amen.
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