Everyone who is a student of the Bible has their own idea about when the end of the World will occur. They take into account the things the scriptures say about what to look for and what things that will take place before it happens. Jesus, while speaking about some things that would occur before the end comes said: “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Can we assume that the gospel has already been preached in the entire World by now? Does this mean that every person in the whole World must hear the gospel before the end comes, or does this mean that it will just be preached in every country in the World? Since this is something which is difficult for us to determine, we should not just use this as a determining factor to know when the time of the end is getting close.
Jesus said: “you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. He also said: “”For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in many places.” That’s right because these kinds of things have been occurring for thousands of years, so we know that the end cannot be determined by these things happening.
Many men have studied the many prophecies in the Bible to determine at what time the end of the World might come and have each one determined when they believe it should be. Look at how many books have been written and how many movies have been produced about the subject of the end of the World. So many of us have heard about an Antichrist that should come before the end and everyone is anticipating his arrival, knowing that would be a sign of the impending finale.
There is something I would like for you to look at and consider what is written in the twentieth chapter of Revelations. If you look there you will see that it talks about two separate resurrections of the dead. Verses one through five tells about events that occur up to and including the first resurrection of the dead. It tells us that certain persons were set aside to live and reign with Christ for a thousand years and the second death has no power over them. This means that the final White Throne Judgment that was to take place will not affect these who are mentioned.
This clearly shows that there will be two distinct resurrections of the dead, separated by a period of one thousand years. The first resurrection takes place at the second coming of Christ when those believers who have died and those who are still alive when it occurs, are carried away to be with Christ for one thousand years before the second resurrection and the Great White Throne Judgment takes place. Notice also that during this period of one thousand years, satan will be restricted from deceiving the nations and will be set free for a time after the thousand years is over.
The second resurrection of the dead takes place after the thousand years is over and after the devil has been eliminated by being cast into the Lake of Fire, which is the second death. Everyone who were not carried away at Christ’s second coming will be judged according to their works and if their name was not found written in the Book of Life, they will be cast into the Lake of Fire also, receiving the punishment that the second death affords.
This twentieth chapter clearly shows us that the end of the World takes place only after the second coming of Christ and the first resurrection occurs and one thousand years has elapsed.
Now is the end of the World at hand? Has Christ returned and carried His Bride away and have we been left on the Earth waiting for the end of the thousand year period? If not, then we should not be looking for the World to end like so many of today’s false prophets are telling us. What we should be really concerned with is to be sure we are accepted by Christ at His second coming and carried off by Him in order to escape the final judgment that will not include those who have been reigning with Him for the Millennium.
We might ask the Father: “Sir, is this the time of the end?” Let us be certain that we are found worthy to be taken when Christ returns and escape the possibility of facing the second death.
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