Jesus and the End-Time

The End-Time in Outline
 The Close of the Age

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with aloud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect form the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Matthew 24:29-31
The end-time, like all periods of time, has a beginning, a middle and an end. The beginning was Pentecost; the middle was and is the long period of persecution and tribulation which the Church endures throughout her history; the end is the return of Christ; the events that will occur at the close of the age. Our purpose this early in our study is to see the grand sweep of the events as Jesus saw them and taught his apostles to see them.

The end-time gets its name from the events of the close of the age. Every time we use the term we acknowledge that the end-time really does come to an end, that history has an absolute conclusion.

For this reason I find useful the literary distinction between climax and conclusion. The climax of a novel or play is that which resolves the conflict around which the plot is centered. It is almost never at the very end of the work. What usually happens is this: the climax occurs, then the conclusion follows. The conclusion reveals to the reader or audience the implications of the climax, but it will not at such a late point in the work introduce a new conflict or a new solution unless these follow logically from the climax and can be shown as part of its resolution of the main conflict.

Such a minor climax is the desecration of the temple. In these terms the cross of Jesus is the climax of all history, and we have ever since been pointed to the conclusion of all history, which is the return of Jesus.

The events attending his return unfold for us the meaning of his cross. No wonder, then, that a favorite New Testament word applied to these events is parousia, which means manifestation, or that John referred to his vision of the end-time as "the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:1). The events of the close of the age (and of the end-time leading up to it) add nothing to the meaning of the cross, but they reveal its meaning to us.

There are three events in the close of the age as Jesus describes it in Matthew 24: the passing of the present age, the appearing of the Son of Man, and the gathering of the elect Although they are stated as a sequence, it is not likely that there is any real delay between the events. If the present age passes as violently as Jesus says it does, he is describing the collapse of the physical universe; there will be no place for the inhabitants of earth to wait for the other events to happen. As physical, organic beings, we cannot float free in space without heat or oxygen.

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken." When Peter quoted Joel at Pentecost, he used similar language, but he put it in the context of the beginning of the end-time rather than its end. I therefore reserved judgment as to whether his language was literal or figurative. But Jesus is speaking of a cosmic event, the setting for the coming of the Son of Man; if his coming is literal-and the New Testament leaves no doubt about its faith in a literal, physical return for Jesus-then the events surrounding it can also be taken literally. Stated most baldly, at the coming of Jesus the physical universe will collapse, and mankind will be, as we always really have been, dependent on the mercy of God.

As fearful as that prospect may appear, it has its positive side. It shows us clearly that mankind will not succeed in annihilating itself. There will be no germ warfare or nuclear holocaust that will absolutely denude the planet earth of human life. Mankind will survive the earth. It is not man that will pass away; it is the present age with its dependence on the physical earth that will pass away.

So the most insecure position for faith is dependence on the stability of the physical universe. One such position holds that there is no such thing as individual, personal survival, but there might be such a thing as survival of the human race and survival of the earth if we take appropriate measures.1 It couldn't be more wrong or have a more misplaced faith, from a biblical point of view. Of course, we are to be proper stewards of the earth, as long as the earth continues, but the earth is not permanent. The only permanence there is in the world is in individual human beings, and that not by some built-in immorality or other superiority but by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

So the only thing that can save us when the universe collapses is the appearing of Jesus, the Son of Man. "Then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."

The tribes of the earth will mourn because in that moment they will see that they have gotten life and the world all wrong. Alan Redath, for many years the pastor of Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, once said in a sermon at our seminary chapel that when the Gospel is properly preached, "some will be mad, and some will be glad, but nobody will be indifferent." I want to change that slightly and say that when Jesus comes again, "some will be sad, and some will be glad, but nobody will be indifferent."

No one will be able to be indifferent, because in that moment the attention of the whole world will focus on Jesus. All of those things that had claimed the attention of mankind in the present age will fly away with the passing of the sun and the stars. There will be nothing else but Jesus to think about. Right now we each have a thousand options claiming our attention; then there will be but one.

Since everyone will see him, and he will come with "power and great glory," there will be no secret about his appearing; it is this great public appearing that includes within it the gathering of the elect from the four winds. But the gathering of the Church is not the major consequence of his coming. It has its significance, but the point of his coming is stated best in the introduction to the book of Revelation:
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, everyone who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen (Revelation 1:5-7).
Passion and parousia, climax and conclusion belong together. The tribes of the earth will see that the crucified one is the coming King. At the climax of history he came to effect our salvation; at the conclusion of history he comes to be our King. He comes to be rather than to do, because on the cross he has already done all that is necessary.

The third event at the close of the age is the gathering of the elect. "And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

I said that the gathering of the elect is not a major consequence of his coming-not major, that is, as an explanation of the central theme. But, of course, it is of enormous importance to us as individuals; we want to be included in that great in-gathering.

The significance of it is that the unity of God's people will suddenly become visible. Those who belong to Jesus will be visibly united with him and with one another, and what an ecumenical movement that will be! In contrast to those who have gotten life and the world all wrong, who view the return of Jesus as an act of judgment, these who belong to Jesus see his return as the fulfillment of their redemption.

We end the study of the outline of the end-time with the gathering of the elect, because I believe that to be the final even tin time. Anything that happens "after" this belongs to eternity; I am taking the point of view that time is an aspect of the physical universe, so that when the universe goes, time goes with it. In no way does this discount the final judgment; it only places those events beyond the end-time and therefore outside the limitations of this study.

In closing, I want to reflect on three possible responses to the content of this chapter.

First, it is possible to ignore it and live as though there is no end to history. This godless optimism is very attractive and lies at the heart of much public education and most politics. One way or another mankind will triumph, or, if nothing else, he will at least muddle through and survive.

Second, we can live as though the end is coming, but it is meaningless. This also rejects what Jesus said, but while the first response has no eschatology at all (without an end there are no last things to study), this one has an eschatology of despair. The world will end, probably in some horrible way, and mankind will end with it. Perhaps the reason the first response is so popular is that those who make it fear that the second one is their only alternative. It is unbearable to anyone who wants to have hope.

The third response is Christian. All Christian interpretations agree that the end matters. Christians live in the confidence that God will bring his world to a suitable conclusion and his people to an appropriate homecoming. They live in the faith that the Christ who is the climax of history is also the Christ who will conclude history and that when he comes, they will understand more fully what this means.

1 This is the general position that C.S. Lewis attacks in his adult fantasies, Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength.

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