What did the First Christians believe about the last days? Forget about the expression the End of the World—the end of the planet is a long way off. It is plain, though, that the First Christians believed there was to be an end of the age (however one might take that) because that is what they asked Jesus about one day on the Mount of Olives.
They were familiar with the Old Testament prophets and their view of the last days and end of this system. Peter cited Joel with clarity on the day of Pentecost. He would be less
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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What did the first Christians believe about the last days? Forget the expression, the end of the world. The end of the planet is a long way off, like maybe three, four billion years from now. But nevertheless… It’s plain that the first Christians believed there was to be an end of the age, however one might take that, because that’s what they asked Jesus about one day on the Mount of Olives. They were familiar with the Old Testament prophets. They understood their view of the last days and of this system. Peter cited Joel with clarity on the day of Pentecost, and he would have been less than human if he had not seen taking place in front of his eyes what looked for all the world like the initial phases of the end times. And yet, Christ would not come in his lifetime, or for some 2,000 years to come, and for all we know, more yet. The prophets were told of a day of the Lord, a day of God’s wrath, and while they saw it as a near-term thing, there’s good reason to think they also saw it as a distant event, an end-of-the-age event. It would be so cataclysmic that the destruction would boggle the mind, and they also saw it ushering in a new age. Not only did the first Christians have the prophets, They had Jesus’ Olivet message to make them, well, a little hypersensitive to prophetic events or anything that appeared to be an end-time deal. Peter and the others thought they saw it coming, but they were also quite careful to avoid crying wolf. They had good reason for that as well. On the Mount of Olives, after they asked Jesus, “‘What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ Jesus gave them a lot to think about. He had already warned of a future destruction of the temple standing before them. He also said, When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is near. Then let them which are in Judea flee into the mountains, let those who are in the midst of it depart out, let not them that are in the countries even enter it. Now, there would be enough warning, it would come in 70 A.D., that the saints would have gotten clear of Jerusalem before it actually took place. History tells us they did. They actually cleared out of that city possibly as long as two years before the Romans finally took it down. So they saw, perhaps, Jerusalem encompassed with armies. Who knows what else they saw? And who knows what else their own prophets revealed to them? They got out. Well, Jesus went on in Matthew 24 to say this, except those days should be shortened. There should no flesh be saved, but for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened. Now, he’s not talking about being saved like you are at a tent camp revival. He’s talking about flesh being saved alive, human beings. I don’t know what the disciples thought about this. The idea of the destruction of all flesh, was a little beyond their horizon. We thought we could see it coming in the days of the old Soviet Union when we had enough nuclear weapons and hydrogen bomb between us to really wipe out most of the population of the earth. But even then, we couldn’t have brought about the end of all flesh. One example I ran across on the Internet some time ago, I saw a graphic laid out of what might happen in the event of a nuclear exchange between Pakistan and India, both of whom have nuclear weapons. And what it showed me was if all of the known weapons that Pakistan would have were all used against India, they showed in a pattern on the map of India the extent of the loss of life from each of them. Now, when you consider a country the size of India and the population of India, it would have been a terrible disaster, but it would not have been the end, not even the end of India, much less of all flesh. The loss of life, who knows, 10, maybe 15 percent of the population of India, but you still got a lot of human beings left to carry on after that. So, you’ve got to understand, as bad as nuclear weapons are, they don’t necessarily herald the end of all flesh. The Russians and the Indians are rational people, and no one has died under a nuclear weapon for more than 50 years. Now, that led me to contemplate the creation of something new for a while, although I had no idea what it might be. But now… We have an irrational, arguably insane leadership emerging in Persia, and all bets are off. Now, living in Texas as I do, I worry more about an al-Qaeda operative smuggling biological weapons across the Rio Grande than I do about nuclear. A mere, what, five years ago, none of us gave a second thought to the reality that’s now on our threshold. But Jesus went on to explain to his disciples, Then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ, or he’s over there, don’t believe it. There will arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect. False Christs, false prophets. What are we supposed to make of this kind of a statement? That they could show signs and wonders. Good grief, if they can show signs or wonders, isn’t that of God? No, not necessarily. All the way back in the Law of Moses, we are warned that if a man performs great miracles in your sight and then says, let’s go serve other gods, it says not only don’t you follow him, you put him to death. We can’t very well do that today, but at least we can ignore them. Jesus said, look, I have told you before. So if they shall say to you, behold, he’s in the desert, don’t go out there. Behold, he’s in the secret chambers, don’t believe it. For as the lightning comes out of the east and shines even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. Hey, what is he saying to us? He’s saying the coming of the Son of Man is not going to happen in secret. No one can avoid it. For wherever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. What a strange thing to say. If I didn’t know better, I would say it’s out of context. But when you look at it in context, what he is saying is, don’t worry. When I come, we will all be together. You won’t have to be told about it. So all these idiots who want to tell you that Christ has already come, or he’s over here, or he’s over there, and giving you all this stuff about Christ this and Christ that, if you’re a Christian and you’re not with Christ, he isn’t here. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Now, this is a huge astronomical event. We haven’t seen anything like this, nor do we know about anything in recorded human history like this. It seems to be describing a huge meteor shower. Later in Revelation, it will tell us that the stars of heaven fell to earth even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she’s shaken of a mighty wind. Now, if he was here in East Texas, he would have compared it to a pecan tree shaken by the machine they use to harvest pecans, which leaves little pecans falling all around your head. If it’s meteors, of course, that’s going to be rather another story. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to visualize the disaster that enough meteors of size striking the earth could would come close to ending human life on the planet. And the spooky thing about this is, we know it has happened before, just not while humans were here. In fact, if you’ve got a pair of binoculars, go outside on a nice moonlit night and look at the moon, and you will see signs of just exactly this kind of devastation. Then shall appear, he said, the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and all tribes of the earth shall mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. My, you would sort of think people would rejoice at the return of Christ, in that it would save them from the disaster they brought upon themselves. But no. No. Most of the world, it seems, is going to be very unhappy about the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. He’ll send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. That’s important. They will then gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Now, go back to the fig tree. When his branches tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near. So likewise you. When you see all these things, know that it’s near at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away. My words will not pass away. Now the disciples can be forgiven for thinking that this was an event that would come in their lifetime. But it appears that Jesus meant that the generation that sees these things start will see them end. But then he throws a caution in their direction. Stay with me through this short break.
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I’ll be right back and tell you what he said. The Real Prophets series, which includes the entirety of the prophet Jeremiah, is available in album form. If you would like to get in on the story from the beginning, write or call and ask for your free introductory CD titled Real Prophets. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. That’s 1-888-242-5344.
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So here’s Jesus standing in the middle of his disciples, all of them with their eyes as big as saucers because of what he’s just told them. And then he says, But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Now, that is an awfully comprehensive statement, because Jesus at this point seems to even not include himself in it. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. For as in days before the flood they were eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they didn’t know until the flood came and took them all away, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.” So what we’re visualizing here is complete normalcy right up to a point. He then said, then there’ll be two in the field. One will be taken, the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. The one will be taken and the other left. It’s this passage that underlies the left-behind books and the whole idea that in the event of the rapture, this car will be driverless. You may have seen those bumper stickers on cars from time to time. Frankly, I would think maybe if instead of putting the bumper sticker on a car, people ought not to be allowed to drive the car, but never mind, I’ll go a different direction. And one could wonder, with all the events preceding, how would anyone still be working or getting married? I think part of the problem arises with the interpretation of the word rendered taken. I think it’s a reasonably good translation, but taken where and taken how? Well, Jesus made this statement in another place, Luke 21, 20. When you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation is near. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let them who are in the midst of it get out. Another place, Jesus said, if you’re out there working in the field, don’t go back to your house to pick up anything. Just start walking. If you’re on the housetop, don’t go back down in the house. Just start walking. Don’t try to carry a bunch of stuff with you. You’re going to die if you do. And so they were all supposed to just saunter off, nobody paying them any particular attention. If you were working out in the field, you’d just throw your coat over your shoulder and just humming a song, head off toward the nearest foothills. So this separation of people takes place a little before the final judgment, the final destruction of Jerusalem. I can understand how that would be. All of us are still in Jerusalem working away on our craft or doing whatever it is we do. And we see something. We hear something. We learn something. That Jesus told us, when you see this, get out. That would be the point when we all begin to make our move. And so we are separated. We won’t be there when the final calamity takes place. So I can easily see, given everything that we’ve read so far, the first Christians developed a lot of expectations. You can’t help yourself. You start imagining things and developing scenarios. Now, continuing in Matthew 24, though, Jesus wants us to understand something. No man knows the day or the hour. Watch, therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord does come. Know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. So this is going to be completely unexpected, except that those who know what to look for will start noticing things. Then he says something I think extremely important. Therefore, be you also ready. Notice the choice of words. This is a small word, but think about it. He didn’t say, therefore, get ready. He said, be ready. For in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man comes. Now, hey, he’s talking to his disciples here. Of all the people you’d think would know when it’s going to be, they’d be the ones. He says, no, you’re going to sit here not thinking. You’re going to be reasonably sure it’s not right now, and this is when it is. So be ready. So have you heard of anybody setting dates for the return of Christ? He’s wrong. Period. End of discussion. Get away from him. So what were the disciples of Jesus to do about this information he had given them? Well, he went on, he said, Who is a faithful and wise servant whom his Lord has made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. I tell you the truth, he’ll make him ruler over all his goods. Now, you know, this sounds very mundane, doesn’t it? Live your life, do your job, take care of your family, and I will take care of you. That’s what it all means. He said, But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, All my Lord delays his coming, he’s not coming right away, and he begins to mistreat his fellow servants, to eat and drink with the drunken, just to go living a riotous life with no consideration, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he is not looking for him, in an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him apart and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There are two major errors that lurk behind this. One is to cry wolf, to set dates, to publish articles and booklets about earthquakes and famines and all these things that Jesus said would come, overlooking the fact. He said there will be famines, there will be earthquakes, there will be wars and rumors of wars. Be not disturbed. The end is not yet. But there have always been those who did that, it seems, at any given time. They say, oh, this is a sign of the coming return of Christ. That’s one of the errors. The other error is to assume that it isn’t going to happen in your lifetime or anytime soon. I am persuaded that the first Christians in the main got this straight. They realized that they did not know. They thought they saw the signs, but they avoided crying wolf. Now here is what I take away from all this. Our job is to maintain a level of readiness that we can keep up over time, however long it takes. There is a risk in burning out. There’s a risk in crying wolf and becoming desensitized. There’s an interesting illustration of all this in a pair of letters from the Apostle Paul.
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When I come back after this short break, I’ll explain. For a free CD of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only and request the program titled About the Last Days. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791 or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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Paul had been in Thessalonica. He had preached there for some time. Opposition arose. He went down to Berea. It was trouble wherever it was that he went, it seemed like. And after he got down to Corinth, as things developed up there, any number of the disciples in Thessalonica had been killed. Persecution was severe in that area. Paul learned about all this, and he wanted to encourage them. And he wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep or grieve like the rest of them who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him. Now, again and again, the biblical writers speak of death as a kind of sleep. And what the first Christians believed and practiced is revealed here. He said, according to the Lord’s own words, we tell you that we who are still alive and are left until the coming of the Lord will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. Now, it’s an odd thing in a way, and I don’t know of any Christian doctrine today, certainly, that thinks that we go and then later on those people come. It seems rather the contrary. But that’s not really exactly what he’s driving at. What he is saying here is that we who are alive and are left until the coming of the Lord, this means that while Paul couldn’t set dates, it certainly sounds like he expects to be alive when Christ comes back. And you can certainly feel that the Thessalonians could be excused for thinking that’s what he said. He said, The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore, encourage each other with these words. Now, one thing is abundantly clear. All categories of the saints, dead or alive, in all places, meet Christ at the same time. We don’t go in waves to meet him. So any rapture of the saints comes at the same time as the resurrection of the dead at the Trump of God, which Paul will later identify as the last trumpet, which is when the resurrection takes place. And it’s only at that time that the saints who are still alive on the face of the earth will be caught away. I think that word is rapture is where it comes from, to meet the Lord in the air. Now, Paul knew what he had done here, so he went on with a caution. This letter was read to the congregation. They couldn’t take it home with them. And what Paul has just written is so profound, I think a lot of people who were there did not hear what came next as the reader continued to read. Now, brothers, Paul wrote, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well. that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Paul is saying, I’m not setting any dates. I don’t know when it’s going to be. I just think it could be in our lifetime, and here’s what I think will happen if it is. While people are saying peace and safety, Paul wrote, destruction will come on them suddenly like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so this day should surprise you like a thief.” Now, I can see how they might have taken this to mean that while the world at large would not see it coming, they would. But this is an allusion to the words of Jesus, which had to do with permanent preparedness and being ready, not getting ready because of what we see. You are all sons of the light, sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness. So let’s don’t be like others who are asleep. Let’s be alert, self-controlled. For those who sleep, sleep at night. Those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let’s be self-controlled. Putting on faith and love as a breastplate and the hope of salvation as a helmet. Now, he’s really laying it on them pretty hot and heavy as he goes through here. He’s doing his best to encourage a church that had suffered severe persecution. But there are always some who miss the point. It turns out a second letter was needed to correct the mistaken impressions of the first. 2 Thessalonians 2. Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him. He didn’t mention the first letter at this point, but that’s what he’s talking about. We ask you, my brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some, by this or that prophecy, report or letter, supposed even to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Now, I don’t know what Paul had heard, but he obviously had gotten some feedback from Thessalonica about how people felt about that first letter. In fact, he had inadvertently alarmed them himself with the first letter, which they had not heard everything he said. Don’t let anyone deceive you, he wrote, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Now, the temple was still standing, so this is a natural allusion to that. From this, some people take it that a temple must be built before Jesus returns. To that I can only say, maybe. Maybe. The Apostle Paul wrote, Remember when I was with you, I used to tell you these things? And you know what is holding him back now so that he may be revealed at the proper time. I have heard endless speculation about that verse. But that’s all it is, speculation. The Thessalonians knew what Paul meant because it was a reference to previous teaching that he gave in person that you and I don’t have. We can try to construct it from what we know elsewhere, but we should not trust our constructs. He says, Then, verse 8, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the splendor of his coming. Okay. We now got a fairly complete picture of what this is all about. And it’s all in concord with what Jesus said would happen, and it probably refers to what elsewhere is called the abomination of desolation. Study this, remember it, and avoid trying to explain it on the data at hand.
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It’ll become clear to those in the know when it comes to pass. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-877-7000. 888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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