are we in the end times?

 Today we read from these verses in the One Year Bible:

Numbers 6:1-7:89
Mark 12:38-13:13
Psalm 49:1-20
Proverbs 10:27-28 

Let's look at Mark. Jesus is telling His disciples what will happen in the "end times". If you look at what He says, you see that everything happened like He said. His followers WERE flogged and taken before kings and leaders. They DID share the gospel all over the world, and many nations became Christian due to their evangelism. 

Many people today think that we are NOW in the "end times". That Jesus is going to return any minute, and we are seeing the signs all around us that this story is in its final chapters. The fact that the Euphrates River has dried up is one of the signs that people point to and say, "See? It's time. The world will end soon."

But we need to remember that every generation, all the way back to the people alive during Jesus's time, thought this too. In the 80s there was a very popular book titled "88 Reasons the Rapture is in 1988". As you can probably imagine, it didn't happen. 

There are a few things we know for sure about the end of the world. It won't happen by flood. God promised that back in Noah's day. It won't come until God decides it's time. Even Jesus said He didn't know when it would be, only the Father knew. And that's the third thing we know for sure about the end of the world: we don't know when it will be. We CAN'T know. 

So the take home lesson is we should be living our lives READY for Jesus to return any moment, but also invest in a future that includes His returning many years, even centuries, from now. We need to invest in our kids, and our planet, in a way that assumes He won't be coming back soon. But keeping ourselves in a prepared state to welcome Him if He decides to come back tomorrow. 

God, thanks for reminding us that the world might end tomorrow - but whenever it does, You're in control.