“He said to them: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 1:7-8 NIV).
A lot of people are asking end times questions these days. Christians wonder whether we’re living in the last days before Christ’s return. Even secular people are so concerned with the state of affairs in the world that they are having apocalyptic thoughts.
“Is this the end of time?” They ask.
During times like these there are always “end-of-the-world” prophets that emerge, preaching their prognostications. One such prophet is Harold Camping, a self-described biblical scholar and radio mogul who says the Rapture will happen this Saturday, May 21, 2011, at exactly 6:00 P.M. local time (whatever your local time is). Camping has been making this prediction for several years, a recalibration from his earlier belief that the Rapture would occur in 1994.
In the book of Acts, the disciples asked Jesus this same question about timing. They wanted to know when the world would end and Christ would begin his reign. But Jesus was clear in his response. The answer to the question of when was not for them to know. Only God the Father knows the timing. Clearly, there is a tone of rebuke in Christ’s response to the disciples question. He responds that God will not answer these kinds of questions, saying, “It is not for you to know.”
However, there are end times questions that God does answer.
Questions like “How do you want us to live while we await your return?” are answered. Christ told his disciples that he wanted them to be filled with the Spirit and to be his witnesses to the world. He wanted them to carry the gospel to all peoples to prepare them for his return.
Questions like “Will you return someday?” are answered clearly too.
“After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. ‘Men of Galilee,’ they said, ‘why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven'” (Acts 1:9-11 NIV).
In other words, the angels told the disciples, “Don’t just stand there looking at the sky. Jesus is definitely coming back, so get to work doing what he said!”
It seems to me that we get focused on the wrong “end” of “end times.” In other words, instead of focusing on when the earth will end, we should be focusing on carrying the gospel to the “ends of the earth.” The closest that Jesus comes to talking about “when” the end will come is really based on when we fulfill his commission to “be my witnesses” to the “whole world.”
“And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14 NLT).