by James B. Hartline
Where in the world did we get the idea that "time" was going to come to an end?
Isn't it prophecied in the Bible? If you read only the King James Version, you could get that idea.
In Revelation 10:6 & 7, the KJV says there will be "no more time." Where the KJV says "no more time," the NASB is more faithful to the Greek "chronos" rendering it: No more "delay."
The word "Chronos" means "a space of time." It doesn't say "time" (sequence of events) will cease to exist. It actually says that there will be no more "delay." Time for a specific purpose was to end, not "time" itself. Read it! You'll see!
(It is also translated delay in the Amplified Bible.)
I can find nowhere in the Bible that says "time" will come to an end. There will never be an eternal "now." If you know of a scripture that says time will end please share it with me. The idea that time will come to an end, is largely from the KJV rendering of Revelation 10:6 & 7.
Rev. 10:6: AND SWORE BY HIM WHO LIVES FOREVER AND EVER, WHO CREATED HEAVEN AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE EARTH AND THE THINGS IN IT, AND THE SEA AND THE THINGS IN IT, that there shall be delay no longer, 7. but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants, the prophets.
Not a word about the end of "time," but the end of the "mystery" of God. There is much more to this than meets the eye. In the Greek it says in verse 7: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to trump, then is also finished the mystery of God, according to the good tidings which he declared to his bondmen the prophets."
Now we can see that this mystery has to do with "good tidings" which is elsewhere translated "glad tidings," or "gospel." For some reason, most translations of the Bible left out the "glad tidings" in Revelation 10:7, but it is there in the Greek text. This you can find in a good interlinear Bible.
The Greek word used in this text (eueggelisen, a variation of euaggelion) means "gospel." Another variation on this word (euaggelistes) means a "preacher of the gospel" and from this we get our word "evangelist.":
Another fact is that Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse did not speak of the end of the "world" as the KJV translated it. The word translated world was "aion" which actually means "age." Some of the later translations rendered it correctly as "age." Jesus was really proclaiming the end of the age, which was the winding down of the Old Covenant based on the law, as the New Covenant, based on grace, was replacing it, forever.
Daniel was promised a resurrection at the end of the age (Dan 12:13). He was also told to seal up the book until the time of the end (Dan. 12:4). This was not the "end of time" as the NASB rendered it. In this case, the KJV is true to the Hebrew text.
If your mind-set is such that you are thinking of "time" coming to an end, it would be easy to make a mistake in rendering Daniel 12:4 from the Hebrew. A lot of our Bible renderings have been "colored" by preconceived ideas.
Why do we think that time has to come to an end? I believe it is because we, are finite beings, having a beginning and an end in this physical existence, therefore, we see everything as having a beginning and an end.
Of course, we know that God always existed and will always exist, although we can't fathom such an idea. He also promised us that we could have "eternal life," if we trusted in Jesus Christ for our salvation.
So, if we believe this, and I do, we have a physical beginning and a physical end, but if we have a spiritual (Holy Spirit) beginning then we do not have a spiritual end. We come into physical existence by procreation and go out by physical death (it is appointed unto every man once to die), but because we have accepted Jesus
Christ's atonement for our sins, we are given an extension of our spiritual existence to last eternally. Instead of our corrupt body of flesh, we will have a new spiritual body! That's fantastic! We are crucified with Christ and are raised from Spiritual death through His resurrection! So we already have eternal life residing in us by the Spirit.
But why do we want "time" to come to an end?
Why do we think that we are the last generation on earth?
Where do we get this escapest mentality?
I believe that life on earth goes on perpetually. God commanded His word to a thousand generations. "He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a THOUSAND GENERATIONS." Psalm 105:8.
If you take Psalm 105:8 literally, based on 100 years for a generation, as indicated in several places in scripture,1000 generations equals 100,000 years. That does not say that time will end after a hundred thousand years, but we don't have to worry about it, time goes on. How long has life on the earth existed? If we believe Genesis, it has only been 6,000 years. That's nowhere near 100,000.
In Psalm 104:5 it says: "He established the earth upon its foundation, so that it will not totter forever."
Show me in the Bible where it says that life on earth will cease. Destruction by fire, you say? This was only prophecied to happen to the Jews and it happened when their world, the city of Jerusalem and the Temple, was destroyed by fire in A.D. 70. Read Luke 19:43-44, Matthew 23:34-38 and Luke 21:20. Although these scriptures don't use the word "fire," history tells us that the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70 was largely by fire.
Read Luke 21:20-24. These verses describe the "Great Tribulation." In A.D. 70, the vast Roman army, led by Titus burned Jerusalem and the Temple. This was to fulfill the words of Jesus in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. The tribulation period actually began at Masada about AD 66, when the Jews attacked the Romans that were there. The great tribulation period ended in A.D. 73, when the Romans came to attack the Jews who were holding Masada. The Jews at Masada committed mass suicide rather than be killed by the Romans. Many catastrophic events, foretold by Jesus, occurred in this seven year period.
In Noah's day, when the world was destroyed by water, it still remained and was re-populated. Destruction by fire did not mean the end of all existence, a remnant was left. Many of the Jews were taken into captivity and scattered into other nations, but they were not all destroyed.
All of the descriptive types in the New Testament, used to describe the heaven and earth passing away and the sky being rolled up like a scroll were figurative language, much of which was used by prophets in the Old Testament.
Suppose we were the last generation to live on the earth
If we were the last generation, what would be the significance of that? I believe the Bible teaches that the earth will continue forever. People will continue to be born, and many of them will accept Jesus as their saviour and God's kingdom will continue to increase. "Of His increase there will be no end." There is no limit to the number of people who can have eternal life, "whosoever will."
GOD DOES NOT HAVE TO QUIT WITH US!
What if those people living in the 19th century who believed they were the final generation were right? We would never have been born. We would never have been given the good news of the gospel and could not have eternal life. God does not have to quit with us. Why should we think He would? Is it because our preacher keeps saying the time is short and the end is to come soon? Why does he say this? Is it because he has not taken the time to study the truth concerning what the Bible calls the "time of the end?" It doesn't say the "end of time," but "the time of the end," different
thing.
If we could only realize that the Bible gives us a written record of the words that Jesus spoke to His disciples who were in His presence, listening to Him. These words were not spoken to us. Of course the principles that He taught apply equally to us, but the events that He foretold were to come upon "that generation," and not another. Luke 21:32, "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all things take place." If someone tells you it means another generation, they are not telling the truth. He precluded a repeat of those events by saying it would be the worst ever and would never be that bad again, Mt. 24:21. That only allows for ONE fulfillment. Are we so blind that
we can't see that?
Re-read Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 and see if you think that we have a future "great tribulation" coming that will be world-wide. You can't prove it from the Bible.
The Great Tribulation Jesus foretold was for Judea, not for the whole world.
How does it serve Jesus for us to sit around waiting for Him to "rapture" us out of this old sinful world? We have misunderstood His promises?
If Jesus comes back again, as so many believe, and sets up a kingdom on earth for 1000 years, then at the end of the 1000 years everyone goes away to heaven, then there could never be other humans who could be saved. What of our descendants?
It would all come to an End! Why? God is eternal! For God, there will never be an end.
But. . .If we live our lives, serve Him, and at death we enter His everlasting kingdom, and the earth goes on perpetually, many more people will come to know Him and His salvation, and they too will enter His eternal kingdom and it goes on, and on, and on.
Jesus told his disciples in John 14, 15, & 16 that He would send the Holy Spirit and He would be with us forever. Jesus is with us, in fact, He is IN US, by His Holy Spirit, and He always will be. (I am speaking of born again Christians, of which I am one.)
We can live this life in constant victory because of His divine presence. We are not perfect, but He is. It is HIS righteousness that allows us to appear pure, not OURS. By His power, we are more that conquerors. We are His body NOW, we do not have to wait until "He comes." He is already here, in His body, the church. If we could only grasp this, we could accomplish much for His kingdom.
We should expect death to be our transition into eternity, not "rapture." "Rapture" is not in the Bible, and the concept is not taught there. It is fabricated by mistranslation and misunderstanding of scripture.
Jesus said, in Luke 17:20b, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; Luke 17:21b, "For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst." (within you).
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