Daniel 12:1-3
In those days, I Daniel,
heard this word of the Lord:
“At that time there shall arise
Michael, the great prince,
guardian of your people;
it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress
since nations began until that time.
At that time your people shall escape,
everyone who is found written in the book.
“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake;
some shall live forever,
others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.
“But the wise shall shine brightly
like the splendor of the firmament,
and those who lead the many to justice
shall be like the stars forever.”
Mark 13:24-27, 29, 32-33
Jesus said to his disciples:
“In those days after that tribulation
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from the sky,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in the clouds’
with great power and glory,
and then he will send out the angels
and gather his elect from the four winds,
from the end of the earth to the end of the sky….
[W]hen you see these things happening,
know that he is near, at the gates….
But of that day or hour, no one knows,
neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
Be watchful! Be alert!
You do not know when the time will come.”
The times we live in being unsettling, there are talks of the end days.
To that I would respond that surely, our times cannot compare to the horrors of the Second World War (1939-1945), which took the lives of 70–85 million people worldwide. Surely, those living in that time had thought they were in the end days. Whatever distresses and travails of our time can hardly compare to theirs.
Jesus Himself said that “But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
So it really is pointless for us to speculate whether or not we are in the end days. What purpose does it serve?
Instead of engaging ourselves in apocalypse porn, think of this in another way — we all will die one day, most likely not in an apocalypse, but in a prosaic manner, whether from an accident, illness, and plain old age. Our death, for all intents and purposes, effectively will be the end days for us.
So we should heed Jesus’ injunction to “Be watchful! Be alert!” and live our lives responsibly and in truth because “You do not know when the time will come”.
May the peace and love of Our Lord Jesus Christ be with you,
~E
I think the prophesy as shown above from the Book of Daniel is exquisite in that we can be assured that if “we are written in the book of life” (presumably all those who have lived righteously, regardless of the temptations which were set upon them, or those who repented from sin and brought their lives to be in line with the teachings of God, are assured they will be able to “escape.” Those who have continued to sin against God will evidently “be a horror and disgrace.” Excellent Sabbath Day Devotional, and so pertinent to the time we live in.
Thank you DrE for bringing us this wonderful, uplifting message. May God Bless you abundantly for all you do in feeding His sheep.
I’d never thought about “The End” in those terms. As I just read,when I die,THAT is the end of times for ME. So many people are thinking of “THE END OF TIMES”,the ultimate end of Humanity save for those who follow their God,but I feel like they’re over-thinking it. It’s not a bad thing to consider the capitalized end of times,but THAT isn’t something to be concerned with in that scale,because it’s out of our hands-all we can do is be our best people in God’s eyes,and hope and pray our future is better than indications would predict.
I can do little to put off anyone else’s end,I can do NOTHING to PREVENT anyone’s end. That’s ALL in the hands of God-I have no say in how that will come about.All I can do is be the best Man I can be,and honor God the best I can. This is just how I see it-I live in a scrambled up world,so I could be all wrong on this.
It is useless to pinpoint a date, let alone the year. Jesus is correct: it is known to the Father alone.
That being said. I believe the Anti-Christ of Revelation is alive on this Earth RIGHT NOW, and, if Agenda 2030 cannot be defeated, some 80 to 90% of us will not be here in about ten years. All of humanity shall endure horrors never before seen. The Anti-Christ shall come, seemingly from out of nowhere, and he shall broker a false peace, and work false miracles and demand to be worshipped as God. And he will kill anyone and everyone who shall dare to refuse his Satanism!
There shall be Tribulation. There shall be NO Rapture. At this time, God will be looking for witnesses to His Glory, to His Power. In the end, Our Lord shall kill him “with His breath.”
I believe that Jesus shall come, in all Glory and Might, to judge the Living and the Dead sometime later in this Century. I do not expect us to be here. But I do strongly believe that infants and young children—-or their children—-shall be alive to see it.
It shall be Glorious. It shall be terrible! But, I do believe that the Three Days of Darkness shall happen first, before Jesus cuts down the Anti-Christ.
Make No Mistake: We were born for times like this!
Thank you Dr.E for this absolutely wonderful and wise post! Bravo! There have been and are various cults and sects formed proclaiming they knew or know when the end of days was coming, in complete contrivance to Jesus’ admonition. (Alexander Pope said, “…It is always the worst of times…”) For example, David Koresh, the self-proclaimed messiah, clearly one of the false prophets of our times, set forth that we lived in the end times and we know what happened in Waco, such a terrible and horrifying tragedy. Koresh’s beliefs were based upon living (or being) in the end of times. Listen to Jesus, not false prophets who claim to know only what God the Father knows! As Dr.E says, we must watch how we live our lives so that we are prepared for when we die, remembering what Jesus taught us and living our lives according to His commandments. .