DOES THE BIBLE REVEAL WHEN THE WORLD WILL END?

Charles E. Burch

This is a very popular subject among many today. We should be more concern about our readiness for this event, than the time in which it will happen. Through the years man has set dates for the world to end. Those dates came and went, yet the world still stands. This should prove that man can know nothing, on this subject, except the Lord reveal it in His Holy Word. What does the Bible say?

The apostle Peter wrote, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" (II Peter 3:10). Now when does the thief come? When he is least expected, so will Christ come also, when He is least expected to do so.

What about all the signs that people say are in the Bible to let us know?  THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF THE END OF THE WORLD GIVEN IN THE BIBLE! Many turn to Matthew 24 and apply this to the end of the world. Jesus here was giving the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Notice what he said, "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled" (Matthew 24:34). A generation, as stated here, is about 40 years. In other words, the things Jesus was foretelling would come to pass within about 40 years. In a parallel of the destruction of Jerusalem, Luke penned it this way, “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh” (Luke 21:20). He was revealing what would happened at the destruction of Jerusalem, so the faithful would be able to escape before the enemy arrived. The event recorded, in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, has nothing to do with the second coming of Christ.

What did Jesus say about the time that the world would end? Listen to Him, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only" (Matthew 24:36). Jesus said, (NO MAN KNOWS, NOT EVEN HIMSELF)! Why does many men claim to know when it is going to happen? Notice what Jesus did say. "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24:37-39). Jesus said, it will be a normal day, nothing unusual, no warning! God, the Father, is the only one who knows when it will happen.

What preparations have you made to be ready? Baptism without a faithful life in the Lord’s service will not prepare anyone! Jesus said, “...be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).