Just about every century we hear about it. Doomsday predictions, the End of the Age is here! Time is calculated, a year is proclaimed, the day is set and faithful followers of a dynamic prophetic leader sell all their earthly goods, run to the mountains and await the coming of a New Age. But the next day, disappointed and puzzled, they slowly descend their mountaintop while their leader reworks his (usually a he) calendar, re-calculating events, epics, times, dates and prophetic passages and reschedules a new rendezvous with the End Times; if, that is, he and his followers did not already commit mass suicide in anticipation of the longed for New Age.
Nevertheless this is a valid concern. Someday Jesus’ promise of an End Time and His warning to humanity that we should be alert, be ready, and understand the Signs of the End, will come true when we least expect it. I wouldn’t be surprised that, by the time the End is finally and really at hand, the boy will have cried wolf once too many times and we will simply laugh. And we’ll confidently assert that we’ve got everything under control, that we know what we’re doing, and that we can handle it; whatever “it” may be. Do we? Can we? Do we really have everything under control? Can we really “handle” it?
The disciples asked Jesus directly, “Tell us, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” And, in response, Jesus said things like, “you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.” “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the birthpangs.” He adds that many false prophets will arise and mislead many and that the love of many will grow cold because of the increase of lawlessness. “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” “Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” [Read the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 24.]
I’m not saying that THIS is the year, or that even next year is our final one, in spite of the notorious predictions about 2012. I’m not even saying that the next ten, twenty, or fifty years will see the fulfillment of End Time prophecies. But here’s my thinking: each and every generation needs to consider what it is doing to this earth and how it is living on this earth, as if it were the last generation living in the End Times. According to the Bible, the End Times will result in the Final Judgment. As it is, each generation lives and then, yes, dies anyway. And after that, comes judgment—thankfully not humans judging humans (a horrid thought, considering how unjust we are to each other), but God judging humans—a blessed thought depending on which side of grace and mercy one believes he/she is on.
Human hubris, excessive self-confidence and arrogance, is our greatest problem. We dismiss God as a fairy tale while we rape the earth, destroying the very source of our livelihood, and then turn around and blame God for all the ills and ailments that we ourselves have set into motion. We build beach front houses in hurricane territory and wonder why so many “innocent” families lose their homes every hurricane season. We build nuclear power plants over unstable earthquake faults and wonder why God didn’t stop the earth from shaking and destroying everything. We build thriving communities at the foot of active volcanoes and blame God when the volcano viciously spits out its lava and swallows them up live. Still we refuse to humble ourselves and follow the precepts, principles, and virtues of God as our Creator.
Whether Jesus’ prediction of the End Times is just around the corner or is yet another millennium away, what matters, is our present attitude, behavior, and belief. We are responsible for our actions. We cannot avoid the consequences of our own choices as nations, societies, and communities. The wasteful use of earth’s natural resources, everything from fresh water pollution to over fishing and over cutting of the rain forest, to human-spread famine and disease due to our ongoing wars and squabbles, is a source of great human misery. But we collectively live as if we’re answerable to no one but ourselves, as if there is no End Times, no Final Judgment, and no God.
The earth is beautiful. But it is sick. And we are its illness, the human race; yes, us! God so loved the world that He gave in order to save. Yes, we need a Savior. One can’t look at the world and the mess that we humans are making of it and not realize that we’re in big trouble. It’s not just the economy, not just the ecology, not just one earthquake, hurricane or tornado, not just this one war or that one over there, it’s not just an oil problem or a fresh water problem, a food problem or a land-use problem, an overpopulation problem or a drug and injustice problem; it’s all of it, everything put together. We’re not doing well. And we don’t have things under control. We need the Kingdom of God with His Righteous King to rule over us. We need the “Son of God,” who is Messiah/Christ (God’s Anointed One) to be our Lord and to save us.
Easter is just around the corner. That is its message. Death and resurrection, renewal and a promise of a new heavens and a new earth where there will be no more death and dying, no more tears and sorrow, no more pain and sickness. Yes, I believe Jesus. Someday the end will come. Jesus promised. And as that end gets nearer, the world will feel the weight of its illness more and more, more suffering, more heartache, and more agony, not less.
Now is the time to turn around, change one’s heart and attitude, and seek God’s salvation and renewal. With God’s help by His grace and in anticipation of Jesus’ Second Coming, we can do better in the here and now and can also be prepared for the end, whenever it may come.
Maranatha! May the Lord come quickly!
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