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Transcript

Bearing Witness Until the End · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
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  It is good to have you with us as we open up another stack of
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  sources. It's good to be here.
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  Today we are looking at a subject that it usually sparks a
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  lot of debate and frankly, A considerable amount of
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  confusion. We're talking about the end
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  times. It's a massive topic, and
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  usually when we say end times or, you know, eschatology,
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  people's minds go immediately to charts, timelines, maybe some
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  very intense fiction books they read back in the 90s.
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  Or survival bunkers, right? Yeah, or survival bunkers.
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  You think of the guy on the street corner with the cardboard
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  sign, you know, screaming that the world is ending.
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  But the material we're looking at today, specifically excerpts
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  from the book Biblical Missions, Principles, Priorities and
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  Practices, it takes a very different approach.
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  It does. We're looking at chapters
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  written by John MacArthur and Abner Chow.
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  And the premise here isn't trying to predict the date the
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  world ends. It's actually about how
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  understanding the end changes what we do right now.
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  That is the key. The whole argument these authors
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  are making is that eschatology, the study of the end, is the
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  fuel for missiology, the study of missions.
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  It answers the question, if we truly believe Christ is
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  returning and, you know, potentially returning soon, how
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  does that reshape the way we share the gospel today?
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  It sets the stage for a really fascinating discussion.
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  Then we are just looking at a timeline.
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  We're looking at a mindset. A mindset, yes.
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  So let's get right into the text.
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  The title of this deep dive is a witness to the end the Church's
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  mission in the last days. The first thing we have to do,
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  which John Parthur does right out of the gate, is define what
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  we even mean by the last days. It's a phrase that gets thrown
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  around a lot, right? MacArthur points out that in
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  every single generation you have these wild eyed doomsday
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  prophets and conspiracy theorists deceiving people
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  claiming they know we're in the last days because of some
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  specific news event. Right.
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  Because of this war or that earthquake or this political
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  leader. Sure, but MacArthur corrects
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  that immediately with Scripture. He does.
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  He says the last days isn't just the final few weeks before the
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  end. No, not at all according to the
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  Bible. And he cites Acts chapter 2 and
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  Hebrews chapter 1 here. The last days actually began
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  with the first coming of Christ. The first.
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  Coming when Jesus died, rose and ascended to the right hand of
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  the Father, the clock started. We have been in the last days
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  for nearly 2000 years. That is a huge perspective shift
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  for a lot of people. It reframes the entire history
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  of the church. So if I'm understanding this
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  correctly, the last days is technically the entire interval
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  between the first time Jesus came and the second time he
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  comes? Precisely.
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  It is the church age. And MacArthur addresses the
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  elephant in the room here. It's been 2000 years.
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  I mean, that's a long time. And our modern attention spans,
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  that feels like an eternity. So people start to wonder, you
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  know, is he really coming back? Is there a delay?
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  You hear that skepticism all the time.
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  Where is the promise of his coming from?
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  Second Peter. Right.
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  But MacArthur argues that the length of time doesn't reduce
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  the pressure, it actually increases the urgency.
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  How so? Think about a ticking clock.
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  The longer it ticks, the closer you are to the alarm going off.
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  We are closer to the end right now than we were yesterday.
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  Logically, we are closer than any generation before us.
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  Spot on. And to understand the mechanics
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  of this urgency, MacArthur lays out a specific sequence of
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  events. And we are going to get bogged
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  down and, you know, chart making.
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  But it's helpful to walk through the timeline he presents so we
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  understand where we sit in history.
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  OK, let's do that. He distinguishes between a
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  couple of different events that I think people often mash
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  together into one big end of the world scenario.
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  They do. The very first event he points
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  to is the Rapture, based on 1st Thessalonians 4.
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  This is the event where Christ comes to catch up His church.
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  The critical theological term MacArthur highlights here is
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  imminent. Imminent meaning it's hanging
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  over our heads. What does that mean?
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  Practically it. Means it could happen at any
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  moment. There is no specific prophecy or
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  geopolitical event that needs to be fulfilled before the rapture
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  can happen. So it doesn't require a peace
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  treaty in the Middle East, It doesn't require certain economic
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  collapse. Nothing.
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  It could happen before we finish this deep dive.
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  So that is the any moment factor, that's the tension.
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  Yes, and then the timeline moves forward from there.
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  After the church is removed, the world enters the tribulation.
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  This is what you read about in Revelation chapters 6 through
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  18. And this isn't just, you know,
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  bad weather or political unrest. This is actual divine judgment
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  on the earth. That period then culminates in
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  the Second Coming proper, which we see in Revelation 19.
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  And that distinction is vital, isn't it?
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  The rapture is Christ coming for his Saints.
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  The second coming is Christ coming with his Saints.
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  Correct. In Revelation 19, he returns to
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  the Earth to conquer his enemies and that then leads into the
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  millennial Kingdom, the thousand year reign in Jerusalem.
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  But let's let's pull back to the main point for our listener.
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  The key take away for missions is that first part, the Rapture.
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  Because if it's imminent, we are living on borrowed time.
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  That's it. If that can happen at any
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  moment, there is no guarantee of more time.
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  We don't have a promise, 10 years or 50 years to get our act
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  together. We don't have a guarantee that
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  we can reach the next generation.
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  That is where the rubber meets the road.
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  MacArthur says this realization that the end is at hand should
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  fuel a greater evangelistic zeal.
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  He has a really strong language here, he says.
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  We cannot assume God will indefinitely delay his
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  punishment of the wicked. It.
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  Just cuts through all the complacency.
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  Think about it this way. If you knew you had 10 years to
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  finish a project at work, you might pace yourself.
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  You might take long lunches, sure.
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  But if you know the boss could walk in the door literally 5
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  minutes from now and ask to see the finished product, you work
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  differently. You work with an intensity.
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  That's the mindset of the last days.
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  This leads us perfectly into the second major section of our
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  sources, which comes from Abner Chow.
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  He takes this urgency and builds a whole philosophical framework
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  around it. He introduces a phrase that I
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  think is going to stick with me for a long time.
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  He says endpoints determine midpoints.
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  It is a brilliant way to summarize the philosophy of
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  history. Endpoints determine midpoints.
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  Let's unpack that. It sounds simple, but it has
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  some really serious implications.
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  Well, he uses a couple of analogies to make it land.
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  Think about a business. A company has a vision
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  statement, a goal for where they want to be in 10 years.
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  That endpoint determines their midpoints, their daily
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  operations, their hiring, their budget, their marketing
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  strategy. You don't just do random things
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  today, you do things that lead to the goal.
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  Right, or sports. That's his other example.
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  If the goal is to win the game, that endpoint determines the
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  play calling in the fourth quarter.
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  If you're down by three points with a minute left, your
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  endpoint, which is winning, forces you to play differently
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  than if you were up by 20. That makes total sense.
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  You work backward from the goal. Precisely so.
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  Chow applies this to theology. He says what you believe about
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  the cosmic finale of the world ends dictates your strategy for
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  today. Your eschatology determines your
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  missiology. So if you think the world ends
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  one way, you'll act one way. If you think it ends another
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  way, you'll act completely differently.
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  Totally differently. And this is where he gets into a
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  bit of a conflict of visions, as he calls it.
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  He contrasts two major views of the end times and shows how they
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  lead to very different strategies for the church right
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  now. He starts by critiquing post
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  millennialism. OK, so we need to define this
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  clearly for everyone. Right post millennialism is the
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  view that Christ returns after. That's the post after the Church
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  has established a Kingdom or a Christianized society on earth.
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  So the timeline for them is church works hard, society gets
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  better and better, a Kingdom is established, and then Jesus
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  returns to receive it. Essentially, yes.
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  The idea is that the church is successful in changing culture,
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  government, society, ushering in this golden age.
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  And Chow knows that this view has actually gained a lot of
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  popularity right now, especially among younger people.
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  I've noticed that too. Why do you think that is?
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  Why is that specific view resonating so much?
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  Well, look around. Young people see Western
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  civilization crumbling. They see moral degradation,
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  confusion, the breakdown of the family.
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  And they have this, you know, this righteous desire to fight
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  back. They want to fix the culture.
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  Post millennialism gives them a theological reason to engage in
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  culture wars and politics and social reform because they
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  believe their job is to fix the world so that Jesus can return.
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  It gives them a sense of agency. I can build the Kingdom.
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  It does, but Chow identifies a significant danger there.
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  He argues that this view, while it's well-intentioned, leads to
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  frustration, anger, and even militancy.
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  Why militancy? Because the Bible, specifically
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  in Second Timothy 3, predicts that evil men and imposters will
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  proceed from bad to worse. If your theology says we're
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  going to fix the world, but the Bible and frankly reality show
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  the world getting darker, you are going to be constantly
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  frustrated. OK, I see that you're.
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  Going to be angry at the culture for not being fixed.
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  You end up fighting a battle that scripture says you won't
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  win in that. Way.
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  That's a heavy critique. If your goal is to fix the world
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  before Jesus comes, you're just setting yourself up for
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  disappointment because the trajectory is just wrong.
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  So Ciao contrasts this with premillennialism, yes.
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  Which is the view that Christ returns before.
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  That's the pre, before the Kingdom is established.
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  He returns to destroy the kingdoms of this world and set
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  up his own. And to defend this, Chow uses a
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  really powerful image from the book of Daniel.
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  Daniel Chapter 2. The statue.
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  The statue. This is Nebuchadnezzar's dream.
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  You have massive statue representing the empires of
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  history. Babylon is the head of Gold
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  Meadow. Persia is silver.
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  Greece is bronze. Rome is iron.
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  It looks impressive. It looks permanent.
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  But the climax of the vision is what matters, right?
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  That's the whole point. A stone not made with hands
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  comes from heaven and strikes the statue.
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  And that stone is Christ. It's Christ.
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  And notice the action Chow is very specific here.
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  The stone doesn't gradually infuse the statue and turn the
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  iron into gold. It doesn't Polish the statue.
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  The stone strikes the statue on its feet and pulverizes it.
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  It destroys the nation's and then the stone grows into a
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  mountain that fills the whole earth.
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  That is a crucial distinction. It's a collision, not a
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  renovation. Correct.
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  Chao says the Kingdom is a divine intervention, not a human
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  achievement. The stone destroys the nation's
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  it doesn't gradually change them through social programs or
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  political victories. So if we accept that, if we
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  accept that the world will go from bad to worse until Christ
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  intervenes to smash the system, what is the mythological
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  implication? What is our midpoint?
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  The midpoint is that we are witnesses, not builders of the
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  earthly Kingdom. Yet we are not here to make the
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  world comfortable for Christ's return.
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  We're here to declare him until he comes.
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  That is liberating. In a way it is.
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  It clarifies the mission. We're pulling people out of the
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  fire, not trying to put out the fire of the whole world.
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  Right. We're in a rescue operation, not
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  a construction project, and that leads to the four specific
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  attitudes that MacArthur says we need to have if we're going to
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  live this. He uses 4 words starting with F,
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  fortitude, fervency, focus, and faithfulness.
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  I like the structure. It's easy to remember, so let's
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  start with the first one, Fortitude.
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  This comes from John MacArthur's section.
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  He takes us to Second Timothy, Chapter 4.
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  Yes, and this is Paul's final letter.
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  The context here is just it's heartbreaking and inspiring at
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  the same time. Paul is in a dungeon.
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  He knows he's about to be executed.
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  He's writing to Timothy, his young protege, and he gives him
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  this charge. I solemnly charge you in the
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  presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the
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  living and the dead. That is an intense way to start
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  a letter. It's not.
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  Hope you're doing well. No, it's the ultimate
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  accountability structure. MacArthur calls this the
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  audience of 1. Paul is reminding Timothy that
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  he doesn't answer to the culture, he doesn't answer to
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  his congregations preferences, and he certainly doesn't answer
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  to the Roman Emperor. He answers to the one who is
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  coming to judge. And why does Timothy need this
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  reminder? Why does he need fortitude so
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  much? Because of the temptation to
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  compromise, MacArthur highlights this phenomenon, described in
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  verse 3, called ear tickling. Ear tickling.
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  It sounds funny, but it's deadly, isn't it?
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  It is, Paul warns, that a time will come when people will not
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  endure sound doctrine. They will want teachers who tell
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  them what they want to hear. They want to be validated, not
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  challenged. We certainly see that today.
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  Tell me I'm OK Tell me God just wants me to be happy.
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  Don't talk about sin, the algorithm of life, just give me
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  more of what I already like. Yes, and the pressure on the
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  feature or any Christian witnessing to a friend is to
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  capitulate, to soften the message so people will like you
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  to remove the offense of the cross.
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  MacArthur says the church's response must be fortitude.
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  We must preach the word. We cannot change the message
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  just because the culture hates it.
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  And MacArthur clarifies what the content of the message actually
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  is. He says doing the work of an
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  evangelist isn't just saying God loves you and has a wonderful
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  plan for your life. No, it's much more robust than
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  that, he says. If you're going to be faithful
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  to the end point, which is the judgement, you have to declare
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  God's law and His Holiness. You have to establish that God
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  is holy and that we have all failed to meet His standard.
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  So it involves talking about the reality of sin.
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  It has to, and it involves warning about righteousness and
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  judgement. You cannot have the good news
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  without the bad news first. Precisely.
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  If you skip the bad news, the condemnation, then the grace of
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  God doesn't make any sense. Why do I need a Savior if I'm
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  not actually lost? MacArthur insist that we have to
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  magnify the glory of the cross and salvation by grace alone,
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  sola gratia. But you only get there after
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  you've dealt with the reality of judgement and proclaiming that
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  that takes courage. It does.
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  People do not like being told they are sinners under
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  judgement. MacArthur points out that we
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  should expect resistance. He quotes John 15.18.
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  If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it
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  hated you. So we shouldn't be surprised
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  when people get angry at the gospel.
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  If we're being faithful, we will be offensive to the carnal mind.
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  But here's the comfort MacArthur offers in this section.
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  Despite the hatred, despite the ear tickling culture, the gospel
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  will reach the ends of the earth.
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  God will save his elect. Our job is to have the fortitude
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  to speak. God's job is to save.
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  That moves us to the second F fervency, and this deals with
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  the emotional side of things. It's not just about gritty
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  determination. There's a passion here.
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  Yes, MacArthur talks about the emotional engine of the
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  believer. He points to the attitude of
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  loving his appearing. The early church had this cry
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  Maranatha, which means come Lord Jesus.
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  It employs a real longing, like you're homesick for a place
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  you've never been right. And MacArthur brings up the Book
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  of Revelation here. This is a really important
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  correction he makes, he says. The purpose of revelation isn't
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  for us to draw complicated charts or decode which
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  politician is the Antichrist. Which is often how it's used,
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  isn't it? It becomes this like puzzle
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  book. Sadly, yes.
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  But MacArthur says revelation was given to encourage the
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  church. It's there to show us the
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  victory of Christ so that we have hope, and that hope
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  produces fervency and lights a fire under us.
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  He describes his fervency as looking in two directions,
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  looking down and looking up. This is a powerful image.
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  First, we look down into the reality of hell, MacArthur says.
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  We need to consider the terrors of hell and the judgement of the
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  wicked. That sounds harsh to modern
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  ears. Very harsh.
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  It does, but he argues it's necessary for true compassion.
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  If you saw a blind man walking toward a Cliff, the most loving
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  thing you could possibly do is scream.
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  Stop. Right.
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  If you really believe people are going to an eternal judgement,
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  it drives you to warn them. It shakes you out of of apathy.
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  You can't be casual about evangelism if you believe in
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  hell. That is a sobering thought, but
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  then you also have to look up. You look up to heaven, you see
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  the joy of sinless fellowship with the triune God.
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  You see the glory of what is to come.
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  You see what we're inviting people to, and that motivates us
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  to invite others into that reality.
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  We want them to experience that joy.
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  So fervency comes from realizing the stakes are infinitely high.
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  Eternal punishment on one side, eternal joy on the other.
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  There is no middle ground. Anne MacArthur adds one more
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  layer to this fervency. It's the guarantee we labor with
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  unyielding fervency because we know the end of the story.
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  Revelation 5 tells us the people from every tribe, tongue and
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  nation will be there worshipping the Lamb.
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  So we aren't hoping for a victory.
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  No, we are fighting from a position of victory.
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  Success is guaranteed by God. That is a huge motivator.
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  You know you aren't wasting your breath.
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  God will use it. OK, let's move to the third F
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  focus. Focus.
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  This addresses the question of priority, but Gartha goes to 2nd
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  Corinthians 5, verses 18 to 21, the ministry of reconciliation.
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  And he poses A logical puzzle here that I found really
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  helpful. It's one of those questions that
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  seems obvious once you ask it. He asks why does God leave
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  believers on earth after they are saved?
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  It's a great question. If the goal of salvation is just
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  to get us to heaven, why not just beam us up the moment we
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  believe? Why leave us here in this
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  fallen, messy world? Yeah, why?
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  MacArthur argues that almost everything else we do as
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  Christians worship, fellowship, service, singing praise.
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  We can actually do better in heaven.
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  Our worship will be pure there. Our fellowship will be
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  unhindered by sin. Exactly.
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  So what is the one thing we could do here on earth that we
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  cannot do in heaven? Evangelize lost people.
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  There are no lost people in heaven to evangelize.
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  Logically, the primary reason God leaves us in the flesh in
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  this fallen world is to be ambassadors to the loss that is
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  our unique function in this time interval.
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  That really sharpens the focus. If I'm focusing all my energy on
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  things that I could do better in heaven, or worse, things that
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  don't matter at all, I might be missing the point of why I'm
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  here right now. Right, we are here for the
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  ministry of reconciliation. MacArthur breaks this down.
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  The bad news is that all people are alienated from God.
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  They face what Jesus calls eternal fire in Matthew 25.
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  Again, he doesn't shy away from the hard truth.
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  He can't. The message of reconciliation
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  implies there's a conflict. You don't need reconciliation if
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  everything is fine. But the good news is the word of
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  reconciliation, that God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be
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  sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the
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  righteousness of God. And he emphasizes the Reformed
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  doctrine here. Clearly, salvation is entirely
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  God's doing. Yes, Ephesians 2 verses 8:00 and
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  9:00. We cannot save ourselves.
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  We cannot bridge that gap. God did it all.
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  Our job as ambassadors is to beg people to accept that peace
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  treaty that God offers. MacArthur uses the language of
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  pleading or begging. We must not get distracted by
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  activities that have no eternal value.
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  Our focus must be on this one mission.
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  OK. We have fortitude, fervency and
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  focus. The final F is faithfulness and
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  this speaks to the standard of success.
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  How do we know if we are doing it right?
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  MacArthur takes us back to the Great Commission in Matthew 28,
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  and he makes a very important distinction here.
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  The command isn't just to make converts or get decisions.
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  We often count hands raised at an event as the metric for
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  success. Right, but the command is to
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  make disciples. What is the difference there?
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  I mean, what's the practical difference?
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  Well, a decision might be a fleeting moment of emotion, a
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  disciple as a learner, A follower.
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  The Great Commission involves baptizing, which implies
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  bringing them into the visible Church and teaching them to
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  observe all that I commanded. So missions isn't just a quick
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  sales pitch and then you move on.
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  No, MacArthur calls it didactic missions.
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  Didactic just means educational or teaching based.
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  He uses the example of Paul and Barnabas in the book of Acts.
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  They didn't just get people saved and leave town, they
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  returned to Lystra and Iconium and Derby to strengthen the
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  souls of the disciples. They did the hard work of
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  grounding them in the faith. They did.
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  And MacArthur points out that the content of this teaching
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  must be the whole counsel of God.
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  He references Acts 20.27, both the Old and New Testaments.
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  You cannot build a strong disciple on just a few verses or
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  emotional highs. You need deep roots in the Word.
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  And what is the goal of all this teaching?
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  Why is this part of the End Times discussion?
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  The goal is sanctification. The imagery MacArthur uses is
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  the bride Christ wants to present the church to himself.
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  Having no spot or wrinkle missions is essentially
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  preparing the bride for the wedding.
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  I love that image. We are washing the bread with
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  the water of the word so she is ready for the grooms return.
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  That's it. Faithfulness isn't just about
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  the numbers you report. It's about obedience to the
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  method. Are we teaching the Bible?
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  Are we making mature disciples? Because that is how we prepare
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  for the end of the age. We aren't just trying to get
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  people into the lifeboat. We're teaching them how to row.
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  We're preparing them to meet the King.
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  Wow. We've covered a lot of ground.
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  Let's let's try to synthesize this.
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  We started with the idea that the end is fixed.
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  Christ is returning. He's going to judge the world
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  and establish his Kingdom. And because that endpoint is
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  fixed, our midpoint, our life right now is defined.
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  We aren't guessing what we're supposed to be doing.
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  We operate with fortitude, that bravery to speak the truth even
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  when it's hated. We operate with fervency, a
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  passion driven by the reality of hell and the glory of heaven.
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  We operate with focus, remembering that evangelism is
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  the main reason we're still here.
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  And we operate with faithfulness, making disciples
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  who are washed in the Word. And I think the Reformed
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  reflection here is so important. It brings so much peace.
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  We realize that God is sovereign over the nations.
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  We saw that in Daniel, too. The stone is cut without hands.
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  It's God's work. We don't have to carry the
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  burden of fixing the entire geopolitical world.
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  That is Christ's job. When he returns, we just carry
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  the privilege of announcing the King.
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  That really takes the weight off.
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  It changes the mission from Save the World, which is impossible
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  for us to serve the Savior. Exactly.
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  We are faithful in the witnessing.
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  He is faithful in the winning. Before we wrap up, I want to
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  leave our listener with a provocative thought, something
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  to chew on. This week we talked about how
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  endpoints determine midpoints. So I want you to look at your
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  own midpoints, your daily schedule, your To Do List for
• 22:23
  this week, your calendar. Here's a question.
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  If you truly believed, like actually believed in your bones,
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  that Christ could interrupt your life before this day is over,
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  what item on your To Do List would suddenly drop off is
• 22:39
  completely trivial. And more importantly, what
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  conversation would you immediately seek out?
• 22:45
  Does your calendar reflect a belief in the return of Christ,
• 22:48
  or does it reflect A belief that this world is your permanent
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  home? It's a tough question, but it's
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  one we all need to ask ourselves.
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  It changes everything. It changes how you look at your
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  neighbors, your coworkers, even your own family.
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  It really does. Thank you for joining us on this
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  deep dive into biblical missions and the theology of the end
• 23:04
  times. We hope it has challenged you
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  and maybe given you a fresh perspective on why we are here.
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  Until next time.