Part One
You may be wondering this very thing. What’s so important about the last days, often called the End Times, the Second Coming of Jesus, or the End of the Age? Another phrase is the day of the Lord; these phrases all refer to that season of time leading up to the day Jesus will visibly, physically return to earth.
“Okay”, you say, “So the end times is the time closest to the return of Jesus. What does that have to do with me?" You may say, “Everybody needs to know about the love of God, but why the end times? The love of God is plenty, isn’t it? Isn’t that enough? Isn’t that the most important thing?”
Yes, the love of God is very important. That is one of the first things we learn to experience as a Christian. We can go on learning to receive God's love throughout our lives. As God's love fills our hearts, we get to know Him and catch glimpses of what is in His heart. As we get to see into His amazing heart, we begin to understand and even feel a little of what He feels about every subject. Once we feel what He feels, we want more. The desire to "know" Him grows within those who receive His love. Think about your very best friend. Isn't it so exciting to find out new things about them? To discover what they think and feel about things? What colors they like? What things make them really happy? What things they wish for? It is the same with Jesus. As we become closer and closer friends with Jesus, we begin to love what He loves and want what He wants.
In this and coming blog posts we are going to talk about why it is so very important to study ALL the Bible says about the end times and what effect knowing about the end times will have on you and your life.
We are going to discover that the group of people who will live on the earth, the generation just before Jesus returns, is the most written about generation in Scripture. There are more than 100 chapters in the Bible about this time in human history; these chapters have the end times as their main theme. Jesus talked more about the end times than he did about His own generation. If the Bible talks so much about the end times, then it seems like God wanted us to know about this. Wouldn't we who love the things on His heart want to pay attention?
It wasn't just Jesus who talked about the end of the age. Many of the prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Daniel, talked and wrote much about this generation too. What did they say and why were they so concerned about the end times? If we believe they were true prophets, then we believe that God spoke to them and showed them things he wanted them (and us) to know. Therefore the prophets also show us that this subject must have been important to God. In fact the prophet Daniel said this about the end-time generation,
Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. Dan 12:3
Wow! I want to be wise in that time. I want to shine like the stars forever and ever! Do you? Daniel 12:3 paints an amazing picture of the saints of God who understand the times they are living in and who understand His ways and His heart, helping many people find faith in Jesus.
Next time….
What's the Point Part 2 - The Heart of Jesus, He Will Return