Tuesday, January 13, 2009

1. End of the Age and End of the World

These two statements refer to different events. When referring to the second coming of Christ, people often say it's "the end of the world". That is simply not true by Bible standards. The second coming of Christ will actually happen at the end of time. But isn't that the same thing as the end of the world? The end of the world is actually at least more than 1,000 years from now. How? The answer is in the last book of the bible, Revelations chapter 20. Here, the apostle John sees an angel descend from heaven with a huge chain to put Satan away in the abyss "until the thousand years were ended". These are the thousand years of the reign of Christ on earth with His capital in Jerusalem. Then after the thousand years:

"7When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." (NIV)

Then comes the end of the world in Revelation 21:

1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (NIV)

So, really, the end of the world is more than 1,000 years away. Now, the End of Age, although it won't be the definitive end of the world, it will sure be close to it.

The end of the age ends when Jesus Christ returns to earth to fight in the battle of Armageddon when all the enemies of Israel have risen against it and have it surrounded and He defeats them with a mighty host of angels and sets free the nation of Israel. Then Jesus establishes His new kingdom in Jerusalem to then reing for 1,000 years.