Preaching Goes Viral

Is the Pandemic a Sign of the End of the World? Part One

Flag: Resize your highlight, please

Apocalyptic belief: Is it the end times or NOT?

The expectation at the time of Christ was that the end would come in one stage: Messiah would come, the old age would end, and a new age would begin. The enemies of God would be judged, and God would bless his people and bring total renewal and restoration. But Jesus upended those expectations. The early Christians began to see that God’s plan for renewal would happen in two stages. They had seen that a new age had begun when Jesus came into the world. The writer of Hebrews speaks of those who put their faith in Jesus as those “who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age” (Hebrews 6:5). We can taste the future now. It’s not a full meal. But it is real. And yet we are still living in this broken imperfect world and still live with sin, and sickness, and death. The early Christians believed that we were living in two realities. The old age has not yet ended, but the new age had already begun. [Slide of 2 Ages] 4. Interview. If you would have had a chance to interview Jesus’ disciples after his death, resurrection and ascension, and you asked them the question, “When is the end going to come?” They would have replied, “the end has come, and it’s still coming. The beginning has come, and it’s still coming!” They would say to you, “Listen, Christians have been living in the End Times for the last 2,000 years! This is nothing new!”

2022-12-16

h1975

Eric Pickerill