Will the world come to an end?

There are numerous horror movies and novels, portraying  how the world will end for it is subject that many people are fascinated by.  Is it something we need to be concerned about?

The only One who can see the end from the beginning is God, so we need to know what the Bible says, for this is the information God has placed in the world for us. The straight answer to this question is ‘Yes.  The world will come to an end.’  God tells us why, and how, but He does not tell us precisely when.  Instead He gives us signs so that we can look around us intelligently and discern where we are living on God’s timescale.

So, what are the milestones to look for as we approach the end of all things – Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 tell us many of them.  There will be earthquakes in different places, famines, epidemics, and all around will be fear.  You may think, these things have always happened, but what Jesus says is that when we see ALL of the signs happening at the same time, then we know that the end is near.

Jesus also says when a good and true witness for God has been taught and demonstrated by faithful people in every country of the world showing what God is like, and how much He loves everyone and longs to change their hearts and lives, then the predicted end will come. He is waiting for the very last one who is going to respond has repented for He does not want anyone to perish. Only then the end will come.

But He is also waiting until Satan cannot become any more evil and he has fully shown how much He hates Jesus and his followers and law of God.  Satan has total hatred for God.  The final thing he will attack is the Law of God.  He will try to supersede it, making it of no effect in the world, by removing God’s identity from the law of God.  This will involve a decree from Satan’s agent that by religious and civil law all the world must now consider Sunday as the global day of worship, not the seventh day, the Creation Sabbath that God setup for the blessing of everyone. God’s identity is that He is the Creator of all things. Satan is determined to remove all evidence of the living God.

When this takes place then Jesus will suddenly and unexpectedly take action and the end will have begun. So, we have been warned, and we have been given markers to follow. 

But God also speaks of a way of escape.  In order to escape the great conflagration that He warns of, God tells us we need to have a certain character – the way we think and act. If we are thinking in love towards God and doing all we can to bring honour to Him, here and now in this world, then we can know that we will escape.   The opposite to this is live to do one’s own thing with little or no thought of God.  If you are like this then you are veering to Satan’s way of thinking. He and his angels are the ones for whom these fires are intended.  You do not have to be affected by their punishment. They were not intended for you but if join hands with them, you will go down to ashes with them.

Why will God destroy this world?  The Bible tells us He is going to make a New Heavens (with no space junk and more) and a New Earth (with no pollution, no nuclear weapons and no cruelty) His new world will be pleasant and pure. So it makes sense that the citizens of the new world must also be pure.  This is what God is looking for.  Currently He is making up His citizen list.  This is another way of describing what the Bible calls the judgement. First of all God will look at the lives of those who claim to be His supporters.  Are they living true to what they say?  You see, if he took any one over to the new earth, who was not transparently pure for God, it would not be long before the old ways would arise all over again.

When all these Bible signs are at the full, then God will intervene and Jesus will come in the clouds of glory as an overwhelming surprise.  The world will begin to crumble, islands will disappear and mountains be moved out of their places.  There will be the greatest earthquake the world has ever seen.  Jesus will show that He is Lord of Lord and King of Kings, and no one will be able to fight against Him.  Those who said there is no God will be killed by the fires that surround him and the brightness of his appearance.  There will be much wailing as they realise how wrong they had been.  At the same time, there will be a resurrection of all those who had followed Jesus. The sheep and the goats will have been separated!

Now the righteous will go to the homes that Jesus has prepared for them.  When the earth is eventually destroyed by divine fire and brimstone then God can recreate it, to make it beautiful for then and for always. This delightful new earth will be inhabited by those, who with God’s help, are making themselves ready now. The world will come to an end, but by God’s doing, not by warfare or bombs or climate change or any sudden extinction from a man-made cause.  It is God’s world and He is in control.

But no harm will come to any who are on His side.  The way of escape is still open. Will you look for it, and accept God’s coaching for another Life?