We are now looking at the end times. This will be the final topic in our biblical worldview study. The way we live presently, our view life now, and how we live is determined to a large degree on what we believe will happen in the future. What does the future look like? The Scripture talks about that a great deal. We are going to spend these next five sessions looking at the end times and what it means to see what is happening in the future.
We start with the fact that we are all going to pass away some day. We are going to die. Scripture verifies that. Life verifies that. So, as we think about that, there are various ways that the future is viewed.
Here are many of the ways the future is viewed throughout the planet:
1. You Only Live Once View. Many people believe we simply cease to exist. We no longer are. We go back to the ground that we came from. If you believe that, then your whole life is wrapped around the pleasures of the moment. Their goal is to see what they can get out of this life now because there is nothing later. The old commercial, “You only go around once in life, so grab for all the gusto you can get,” is basically the worldview of a huge number of people, especially American people.
2. Reincarnation View. This is not as prevalent in our country, but throughout much of the world it is. It is the idea that we cannot stand the thought that this world ceases, or we cease. We are going to come back, but we are going to come back in a different form. If we are good, we will come back in a better form. If we are bad, we will come back in an inferior form. Maybe if we are bad, we will come back as a bug or something. That is the idea of reincarnation, we come back over and over and over and over.
3. Universal Absorption View. Buddhists and some others believe this concept. We simply become part of a universal glob. We do not have individualism. We do have a future in this big mass of the universe, whatever that is. You hear a lot now about people talking about the universe wants you to do this or the universe acts this or that way. That is the kind of worldview those people have.
4. Face-to-face with the devil. Some people believe they will go out of this life, and they will meet the devil or some evil force of some kind. If you believe that, you live in fear all your life of what will happen after death.
5. Face-to-face with some form of God. Some people believe they will go out of this life and meet some form of God. For example, He might be a “grandfather.” A benevolent old man who really doesn’t care how we live and will give us a pass on anything we have ever done anyway, so why worry about how we live now.
6. Face-to-face with a good god. Some believe they will run into a good god, but he is a god who is angry. It is a god of judgmentalism. He is looking for ways to discipline us and punish us. They are fearful of one day standing before a god who will do that to them.
7. Face-to-face with the Holy God of Scripture. The biblical worldview is that we will stand before a holy God of love. Someday we will all stand before Him as the one that we love and the One that loves us. The One who loves us so much He sent His only begotten Son to die for us so that we could live forever, eternally with Him. That is the God of Scripture and if that is our view of God that will shape and determine every aspect of our lives. We serve a holy, loving, and gracious God who does not look the other way from our issues and our sins but deals with them properly and wholly and with wisdom. Nevertheless, He is the God that loves us so much that He wants us to spend eternity with Him . . .
