I’ve observed several blogs and email warnings crossing the internet over the past several days speculating that the End is near. It is all in the context of, first, the COVID-19 pandemic, and second, a lot of political radicalization that has painted “the opposition” as being the anti-Christ. So, whatever it’s worth in an ocean of internet opinion on the subject, I thought I would weigh in with some important observations from the Bible.

First, the Bible tells us that the End will indeed be a turbulent time, but only for Christians. Jesus said that when the End comes that people will be going about their daily lives as if nothing were wrong: “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the day of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did to understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matt. 24:37-39). Notice that men will be making plans for the future as if there would be many more days ahead. Paul’s teaching was in accord with this, too, “For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, ‘Peace and safety!’ then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape” (1 Thess. 5:2,3). 

However, things will be different for Christians; Satan will be loosed and God’s people will be under malevolent attack, surrounded as in a siege (Rev. 20). Jesus put it on a parallel with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (AD 70) in His dual prophecy of Matthew 24. 

Secondly, you should know that before the the End comes, there will a great anti-Christ, however, he/she will be, generally speaking, universally hailed as a great leader and even a god. The tendency down through the centuries has been to label every authority that we don’t like as evil and an anti-Christ. The Pope, Hitler, Stalin, and others have been so labeled in the past. Today different parties point the finger at Trump or Pelosi, depending on your political leanings. The book of 2 Thessalonians 2 gives us more details, and I would invite you to read it for yourself; but suffice it to say that the things said in that prophecy don’t match anything that we can see in current events.

But what about the current pandemic? The Bible tells us that there will be disasters, earthquakes, famines, plagues, wars, and more that will continue to curse the world; but they are not signs of an imminent end of the world. Sometimes they are punishments from the Lord (I know this is politically incorrect to say these days, but it is very biblical), sometimes they are just random things that happen in this old fallen world, and sometimes they are the consequences of men’s sins. But the Bible tells us that we may expect such catastrophes in the normal course of history from time to time. 

So, while it is absolutely certain that the End will come, that Jesus will return, that this world (and universe) will be destroyed, that all of the dead will be raised, and that everyone will be judged by the great Judge Jesus; it does not appear that any of the events that are roiling our current lives are signs that the end is near.

But now, if I may, I would like to say a word to those who are suggesting to others that the End is truly near, that we are in the “end times”. Although I am confident that your intentions are good; you want to motivate people to finally come to the Lord. But there’s a problem that you might not have thought about. When Christians go around telling people that the Lord is coming very soon, and it doesn’t happen, it disappoints and gives the Bible and all of Christianity a bad name. When it doesn’t come to pass, it destroys faith and makes it almost impossible to reach them again — “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

Now, I don’t say all this to pat everyone’s hand and say, “Don’t worry about things, you have plenty of time to come to the Lord.” The end of the world may not be at hand, but our individual ends could come within an hour of reading this. Any one of us could get infected with COVID-19 and be one of the unfortunate folks who dies from it; you could cross the street and get sideswiped by a car; you could pick up something heavy and have a stroke; etc. Jesus’ counsel is to get ready and remain ready to meet your Maker. You get ready by becoming a Christian: believe in Jesus as the Son of God, repent of sin, confess Jesus as Lord, be baptized for forgiveness of sins, follow Jesus faithfully — including to church.