How do we know we are at the end of time?

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Eugene Prewitt

How Do We Know We Are at the End?


Let's bow our heads for prayer. Our Father in heaven, I ask as we study that you would teach us what is right and true, that you would help us know, and I ask for this gift in the name of Jesus, Amen. I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter, 2 Peter chapter 3. What we're looking at this evening will be for many of you nothing more or less than a review of something you know but need to think about and maybe for others there'll be a new thought or more for you. 2 Peter chapter 3 what we're looking at this evening our evidence is that we live not our parents or grandparents particularly but some of them also but evidence is that we today live near the end of this world's history.

2 Peter 3.3-4 Knowing this first, that there will come in the last day scoffers walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished. But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and the perdition of ungodly men. Think through what you've just heard.

When will these scoffers arise? That is in the end of time. And what will the scoffers say? They will say that everything is continuing just the way it's been going. Where's the promise that he's coming back soon?

And these scoffers will be willingly ignorant of the fact that God created the world. Now do you know that that is a fairly recent development? That We live in an age when there are scoffers, persons even who claim to be Christians, many of them here in North America, many in Western Europe, people who, while they claim to be Christians, deny the creation story, deny that God created the world in 6 days, deny that there's going to be a miraculous second coming or that there's a God of judgment. The Bible said that this would come in the last days. It's 1 of the ways that we know that we're at the end of time.

Turn your Bibles back a few pages to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. This is a passage where Paul speaks about the end of time. He says in verse 1, Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that you Do not be soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter that seems to come from us, that the day of Christ is at hand or is close. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day will not come except there come a falling away first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." So what do we have in this passage?

Paul says that in his day the second coming was not close. He says, don't believe any letter that tells you that it is close. Before that day is near, there's going to be a great apostasy. And not only is there going to be a great apostasy, but before the day is near, that great apostasy is going to be revealed for what it is. The man of sin is going to be exposed.

Well, if you know history, you know that great apostasy happened. It happened especially in the second, third, and fourth centuries. That apostasy attained civil supremacy in the sixth century, and it was exposed for what it is in the French Revolution in the late 1700s. So we have there from 2 Thessalonians 2 evidence that we live in a time when we can say that we live in the end, because there has been a great falling away and the man of sin has been revealed, that son of perdition. Turn back to Matthew 24.

Matthew 24 is the passage where Jesus speaks particularly to this question. The disciples asked him, Lord, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the world? And Jesus, in answering their question, he gave them so much, so many ideas. He said that the end of the world is something like the ripening of a fig tree. You don't know the day when it's going to happen, but you can know when it's close.

You can know when it's at the doors. And to give them an idea of when it was close, he gave them signs that they could look at. Look at verse 32. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is close.

So likewise when you see all these things know that it is near even at the doors." Well what are those things? Turn back to verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, that is immediately after the persecution of the Middle Ages, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of heavens shall be shaken." You may know that there was a tremendous earthquake in 1755, an earthquake that was felt over much of the Western world and even parts of North Africa. Then we had that dark day of 1780 when the Sun did not give its light and the moon looked like blood. Then the falling of the stars followed in the same generation in 1833.

In fact, Jesus had said that for these signs they would all happen in 1 generation. The generation that saw 1 would see the other. That's how it was. The signs all came together that showed that the fig tree is almost at the time of ripe figs. So since 1833, we have been living in that period when the fig tree ought to be ripe, a time when it ought to have more than leaves, when the man who's been taking care of it expects to find some fruit on that tree.

In this very same chapter, if you'll go back a few verses, look at verse 12 and 13. It says, And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, The same shall be saved. And then verse 14, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world. Now who's going to do that preaching?

It must be that same class whose love has endured despite the proliferation of evil. The gospel of this kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and then shall the end come." Brothers and sisters, we live at a time when that is just more realistic than ever before. We live in a time when Adventist Filipinos are working as servants in much of the Middle East, when students from countries like Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia are studying in American universities and talking to Adventist missionaries in those schools. We live at a time when even I know many people who are working in Southeast Asia as missionaries in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, the country with the most Muslims of any nation in the world. We live at a time when the work has just begun, even in Bhutan, and when North Korea has invited Adventists to set up a dental clinic there, and when other things are going forward underground in that country that are remarkable.

In other words, we live in a time when the most hard to reach parts of the planet are being reached. And what did Jesus say in Matthew 24? He said, this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness to all peoples, all nations. Then the end will come. But there's more to this.

When the Bible speaks about our time, it speaks about the papacy having worldwide admiration. You should know that when your grandparents were young, that was not an easy prophecy to believe. A hundred and 20 years ago, America was the greatest nation on earth at that time, arguably. America also was full of people who were against the papacy. Even in the first few years of the 20th century, most of the mainline denominations had publications out pointing to the Roman Church as the Antichrist.

The Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Methodists, they all had that same position. What about today? Even this week, the current Pope, Francis I, has received attention for his compassion on the poor, for the work that he's doing to show care for those that are outcast in society. We live in a time when a Pope can die and at his funeral you can have 3 past and current Presidents of the United States, an honor that I don't know anyone else that has received at their funeral. In other words, we live in a time when the Pope has the kind of popularity that would be predicted by the prophecies of Revelation 13, the prophecies of the very end of time.

We don't have time in 1 sermon to go through Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 and Daniel 11 and 12. But when you run through those great empire prophecies, those timeline prophecies, you find in Daniel 2 that we are in the toes. You find in Daniel 7 that we're in the judgment that comes just before the destruction, the final destruction of the Romish power. You find in Daniel 11 and 12 that we are in the very last verses of a prophecy that comes in 12.1 to the time of trouble such as never was, and then the special resurrection. In other words, in Daniel 11, you have 45 verses leading up to 3 verses of the time of trouble and the second coming.

And where are we in those 45 leading verses that cover between them 2400 years? We are in the last 2 of them. When you come to the Laodicean message in Revelation chapter 3, that's the last of the 7 church ages, it so describes the church of today. A church with the most precious truth, and yet a church that is so asleep that people that are lifelong neighbors of believers know little more about the truth than they would have had they lived next to atheists or infidels. I know that we're at the end of time because of what it says in 2 Timothy 3.

It says, In the last days that perilous times would come, and men would be lovers of themselves more than lovers of God, that they would be lovers of pleasure, that they would have a form of godliness, but they would deny the power thereof. Well, here we are, in an age when people who claim to have the precious truths for this time, some of them even deny the reality of victory over sin. Many take more interest in sports and games than they take in the promotion of the gospel and its spreading on the planet. Of course that passage says, from such to turn away. Then if you'll look at 2 Timothy chapter 4, 2 Timothy chapter 4, this is a passage that speaks about pastors in the last age, and I'm turning there myself, 2 Timothy chapter 4, we're looking at verse 3.

It says, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lust they will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. What does the Bible predict about preachers in our day? I would compare them to dogs and cats. I mean, a dog loves to be scratched behind the ears. A cat loves to be scratched behind his ears.

And today we have men that have itching ears. These are the kind of preachers that are popular. The Bible says that in the last days that People will heap these kind of preachers to themselves. They'll give them notoriety. They'll put them in important positions teachers that love the praise of men Even more than the praise of God We see that today We see men who are willing to compromise and to preach soft and pleasing messages when we live in a dangerous time.

I know we're at the end of time because the seventh trumpet, right near the end of the seventh trumpet, Revelation 11 18, it says that the time has come for God to destroy those that destroy the earth. Do you know that we live in the only age when men have succeeded in destroying the earth? At time when things are changing so rapidly because of human development How could the Bible have predicted that the earth would ever get to such a point as where we are today? And yet it not only predicted it, but it predicted the judgment for that. That there would be the time for that punishment would be in the very last stage of earth's history.

We know more generically that we're at the end of time because the 3 angels' messages are being preached. And when you look in Revelation 14, you can see those 3 messages. Right after those messages conclude comes the second coming of Jesus in the latter part of that chapter. As these messages are going to the world, it is itself 1 of the signs that we live in the time of the end. For those who recognize the gift given to Ellen White as a messenger, we have other evidences.

I'll mention only 1 of them. She said that just before the close of probation, she was shown that the most uncouth things would happen in worship. That music would be played in worship services, even in our camp meetings, that would lead people to be untrustworthy in terms of their reasoning abilities. They would not be able to make good conclusions regarding doctrine. She said that that music would be similar to what was played in the fanaticism of Indiana.

Well, what do we see today? Something that never could have been predicted naturally. We see just that kind of music and worship being conducted in youth meetings and camp meetings in various places. A sign that shows that we are just before the close of human probation. So the message tonight, a short 1 for our family studies, maybe not new to any of you, is the fact that we are at the end.

That ought to make us awake. It ought to give us urgency to do something, to redeem the time and do what can be done. The man of sin has been revealed. The sun has been darkened. The moon has turned to blood.

The stars have fallen. The great earthquake has happened. The gospel is approaching even the most difficult countries, the pope is popular, the judgment is nearing its end. We are in the later 40s of Daniel 11. Laodicea has shown its colors and the scoffers of 2 Peter 3 are here.

The perilous times of self-loving and pleasure-loving have come. The preachers who are preaching smooth messages of peace and safety are doing their work now before sudden destruction comes, the earth is being destroyed as the seventh trumpet predicted, and the 3 angels' messages are going to the planet. Do we have enough evidence that we're at the end? We have enough of the most real and serious and solid type. It isn't so much, though, by what I see or have heard in the news that I know that we're at the end.

It's by these Bible evidences, And it's by the fact that God is moving his people to prepare their hearts and put away sin. I think you and I both know that those final rapid movements, those 4 winds are held in check. And why are they held? Because the servants of God are not yet sealed in their forehead. It's while that sealing process is going on, that is what is holding the end back from arriving finally.

But are we near it? We're there. The fig tree has its leaves. It's the time for ripe fruit. And may we do what we can to make sure the fruit comes in good time.

Amen. Let's kneel for a prayer. Our Father in heaven, I ask that you would prepare us, that you would show us where we lack, that you would use your testimonies to accomplish the things that you want to accomplish. I thank you and I ask for these gifts in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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How Do We Know We Are at the End?

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