Are we living in the “End Times?”

One of the questions I often get as a pastor is about the “end times” and if we are currently living in them or not.

With everything that has happened in our world, especially since 2020, I totally understand why this question would be asked.

In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by Pew Research, it found that 4 out of 10 Americans believe we are currently living in the end times. These figures include 63 percent of Evangelical Christians. You can read more about that and how these views impact religious understandings of the environment here.

All I want to do is give a few comments on this question theologically and biblically.

First: the church has historically seen the time after Jesus ascension into heaven and his second coming as the “last days.” So, we have been living in the “end times” for the last +2,000 years.

Second: trying to isolate a particular period of the “last days” comes from a dispensational urge that is cautioned against by Jesus, who said about his second coming, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Mt 24:36) In other words, “I don’t even know, so be focused on other things, like serving the least among you, because that’s what I am going to focus on when I do return” (as the very next chapter in Matthew shows in 25).

Third: as with all apocalyptic/prophetic literature in the Bible, the Book of Revelation is best read through the lens of the author’s intent. John of Patmos was not trying to give us a literalist foretelling of future events, but was writing about what was revealed to him about what was accomplished through Jesus Christ on a cosmic level while warning about the church shifting its allegiance from Jesus to the empire (Babylon/Rome).

John employs several stark metaphors to convey the relevance of this revelation in his current context, like the seven headed dragon with one head wounded signifying the seven mountains of Rome and the assassinated Nero rising from the dead (out of the sea), which was a current rumor that it would take place (Rev. 13). Even the Christmas story makes an appearance and gets retold through an epic narrative of a dragon chasing a pregnant virgin through the desert, who’s son then defeats the dragon (Rev 12).

When we read Biblical Books like Revelation as a literal foretelling of things to come, we actually miss the deep significance for our time, its critique on our inclinations between church and state, and the hope that is revealed in Jesus Christ. After all, that is why the book is called “revelation.” It is talking about all that has been “revealed” through Jesus, for all of time and eternity. Yes Jesus is the lion of Judah, yes he is shown as returning on a white horse with his robes dipped in blood. But even though he has all cosmic power, he still comes as the slaughtered lamb. The blood on his robe is his, the blood he shed out of love for the world. This is why John describes hearing the roar of a lion, but turning and seeing the slaughtered lamb (Rev 5).

We keep asking for a warrior king. Jesus keeps showing up as the slaughtered lamb.

We can also miss the significance of things like the number John employs. Dispensationalism has made things like the Mark of the Beast (666) rather like a conspiracy, a boogyman that is lurking around every corner, store receipts, microchips, or even vaccines. In reality, when you add up the characters of the biblical languages used (Greek/Hebrew), it will spell out Nero Caesar. This interpretive practice is called “Gematria.” So, the beast is Nero and the death dealing empire he represents. Baring that “mark” means functioning in the predatory ways of Nero and his empire, including its politics and economy. The church is called to bare the mark of the Lamb and his kingdom of love instead (Rev. 14).

Lastly, and this is the most important thing, SO much of the narratives around the “end times” shape it with so much fear, but it is about Jesus coming back! Jesus is the prince of peace! His returning should fill us with hope, not fear!

In Revelation 19, we see the cosmic defeat of sin and death. Yet, it isn’t in the way we have heard it described. The angel armies are all gathered there, but they remain still. The “battle of Armageddon” is actually no battle at all. What happens? Jesus ends the reign of evil the same way God created: through the Word! For it is a fragile god who needs weapons and armies to fight their battles for them. It is a powerful God who brings life and puts an end to death just by a Word. It is this powerful God who loves all of creation and is not seeking to condemn or destroy it, but redeem and restore it (John 3:16-17).

A healthy theology of the “end times” then begins not with fear but with hope. Jesus is coming to redeem and restore all things, including the earth (Rev 21), not to destroy all things. The things Jesus will dismantle and destroy is all that produces death and evil in creation, including hell itself (Rev 20:14).

A healthy theology of the “end times” is centered on preparing for Christ, not on the fear of an antiChrist. It is centered on the mark of the lamb, not the mark of the beast. It is centered on the hope for all things being redeemed, not on all things being destroyed. It is centered on hope, not on fear.

So yes, we are in the “end times.” We have been for the last +2,000 years. All of which have been filled with wars and rumors of wars (Matthew 24: 6-13). Yet, we who follow Christ are not to allow the alarm of these to distract us from what he has called us to. We are to wait with hopeful anticipation of his return, heeding his words in Matthew 24 and joyfully be about his work among the vulnerable, the marginalized, the oppressed, the captives, the sick, the hungry, and the thirsty, so that when he does return, we will be counted among those who have anticipated him faithfully. For as he says, “whatever you do (or not do) for the least of your brothers and sisters, you do (or not do) for me.” (Matthew 25).

I pray this brings you hope.

If you’d like to read a wonderful book on this topic, I would highly recommend “Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation” by Michael J. Gorman. It is absolutely wonderful.