Adam L. Mathis ⎮  Winter 2012

Search for "end times" with Google and four of the top five search results were created by authors who are trying to convince everyone that we are at "the precipice of the wrap-up of human history." One site claims the "shortening of days," presumably the enforcement of daylight savings time, was the result of an angel blowing the fourth trumpet in Revelation (8.12).

Pretend for a moment they are right. Soon, perhaps within our lifetimes, the world as we know it will come to an end. Jesus will return in glory and everything will be set aright.

Does it matter?

Most people who believe the end is just around the corner use this chronology to make a simple point: get ready. If you have not recognized Jesus as Lord and God then you need to now because you might not get another chance to be on the right side of the coming judgment. However, for Christians, this eschatology is redundant. Its focus is evangelical and really does not say anything new to those who recognize that Christ is Lord and will come again.

The Hubbub about the Millennium

This concern about the series of events leading up to Christ's return stems from a particular literalist reading of Scripture--primarily portions of Daniel and virtually the whole of Revelation. Recently, in America, this reading of the Bible was pushed by premillennialists. Premillennialism gets its name from their interpretation of Revelation 20.2-3:

        "He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over him, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended" (NRSV).

As their name suggests, premillennialists believe that Christ will return to collect his saints before the 1,000 years mentioned in the above quotation.     However, the very fact that they the reference to 1,000 years literally gives away their interpretive scheme. Their fundamentalist reading allows them to search Revelation for specific signs--such as the shortening of days--as to when the millennium is coming.

A Different Approach

Whether the literalist approach is right or wrong is irrelevant. There is a famous story that floats around Christian circles of a wise teacher planting a tree. A student approaches and asks if the teacher knew the world would end tomorrow, what would he do. The teacher replies that he would continue to plant the tree.

The problem with focusing on when Christ will return is that it does not encourage holiness--indeed, it should not. If we are doing what we should be in the present, even if it is planting a tree, then there is no reason to change that even if Jesus returns tomorrow. Love, not the time of Christ's return, should motivate us to serve God now. If we feel threatened by his return, whenever that might be, then we should change our lives and examine our love of God and others.

It is what happens at Christ's returns that should motivate us rather than when. The what, the resurrection and the restoration of creation, tells us about the daily life of holiness. If the goal is becoming like Christ and God's creation returning to its blessed state, then we can strive to love and serve others in such a way that we start the kingdom of God now and work to make creation more like the blessed state that it will become. The goal, not the time, tells us how we should run this race.