Encouraging Answers to the Question: Are We in the End Times Now?

Whenever war breaks out in the Middle East, many people begin asking if we are heading into "the end times".  And/or they are asking if we are in the Tribulation.  Biblically, it's an easy answer, with lots of points to it, so I will try to remain as succinct as possible.

First let me begin with words of comfort and encouragement to the Christian, to the believer who has repented and put their faith in Jesus Christ, who is our Lord God and Savior!  For one to "be ready" - is to be a believer - as our sins have all been forgiven, and we are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus, and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise!!!  It is nothing that we do ourselves (Ephesians 2:8-10).  

Jesus does everything for us.  In Him we will be "sober and alert"!  All we have to do is accept His free gift of salvation and freedom from sin - which He holds out and offers to EVERYONE.  God desires that all come to know Him personally!

(1 Thessalonians 5:1-11)  Now as to the periods and times, brothers and sisters, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord is coming just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction will come upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then, let’s not sleep as others do, but let’s be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who are drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let’s be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. 11 Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you also are doing.

The word "asleep" in the passage above is a reference to us passing away from earth.  As believers, we are (spiritually) "born again" into God's family (through the blood of Jesus).  As children of God, our eternal home will be heaven, with our heavenly Father who has adopted us at the exact moment we put our faith in Him!  This will all be clearer from the next passage.  Also know that in the next passage, we get the word "rapture".  In the original text language, the Greek word for "caught up" is "rapture".

Also know that as we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, there is nothing that we can do or not do to lose our salvation.  We have eternal security.  We CAN suffer consequences to our bad behavior while here on earth, but once a child of God - always a child of God!  (The unpardonable sin is the sin of unbelief, which is to reject Jesus and His salvation.)

(1 Thessalonians 4:1-18)  Finally then, brothers and sisters, we request and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel even more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 and that no one violate the rights and take advantage of his brother or sister in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you previously and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in sanctification. 8 Therefore, the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

9 Now as to the love of the brothers and sisters, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; 10 for indeed you practice it toward all the brothers and sisters who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to excel even more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we instructed you, 12 so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. 15 For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

God is so very good!  And amazing!  And organized!  In God's will there is purpose!  And to understand God's will and purpose for "the end times" - and all times - which is the study of eschatology, we must start back in the Old Testament.

I've heard many people ask this, "If God is love, why is there so much suffering?"  But let me ask this, "How could a God of love create us without a free will?"  Because He loves us and desires that we love Him back, He has given us freedom to choose.  God never forces anyone to love Him back.  To become a child of God (a believer) is our choice to make.  And He never forces anyone to do His will.  Even as a believer, in every step we take, there is always a decision to make:  will we do this our way (the world's way), or God's way?

Back in the Garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve that everything was theirs to enjoy and eat from - except - from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  This was their one choice.  God's way or their own way.  

Satan tempted Eve, Eve chose to disobey, then Eve tempted Adam, and Adam chose to disobey - bringing sin into the world - which is physical and spiritual death - a separate between mankind and God.  Because God is Holy, He cannot have a relationship with sin.  

Therefore, in God's perfect plan, He always knew that He would come in flesh to live among us, and die on the cross, and rise again, in order to provide a way back to Him.  Where there is sin, there is death, so Jesus paid the price on our behalf, whether we accept Him or reject Him.  

We cannot be perfect or go to heaven in our own efforts.  But because God loves us so much, He comes down to us, giving us an opportunity to be reconciled with Him in order to have a close personal relationship with us - if we choose!

We find the first prophecy of this in the following verse.  Here, we see how it is going to be, as God explains the consequences to the snake (to Satan!!! who possessed and used the snake) to tempt Eve...

(Genesis 1:15)
     And I will make enemies 
     Of you and the woman,
     And of your offspring and her Descendant;
     He shall bruise you on the head,
     And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

Here begins our spiritual warfare between Satan's realm and mankind.  Satan's fight is against God, and we are in his way.   As we are just pawns in his game of chess against God, in Satan's schemes, he not only tries to keep people from believing in God, but he tries to discourage and derail Christians from remaining steadfast.  Satan will do what he can to take what God has created perfectly, and mock it, and spread lies about it, in attempts to distort, deceive, divide and destroy.

We also see here that through Eve's descendants, Jesus would come in flesh.  Satan did what he could to kill Jesus (bruising Him on the heel), while Jesus rose again (bruising Satan on his head)!  The battle continues, for now.  And until the Tribulation begins, Satan is "restrained".  We can see evidence of that here...  

(Job 1:6-12) Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.” 8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.” 9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But reach out with Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will certainly curse You to Your face.” 12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not reach out and put your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.

We can also see here that God still gives us choices, allowing tests and trials to come our way.  So, how are we to manage this?  The answer is always:  go to the Lord and trust and depend on HIs strength and guidance!  He will THEN work things out for good, so that we can see and know!  So that in fearing the Lord, we can be bold and confident, fearing nobody or nothing else!!!

God is Sovereign.  He is all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere-present!  Meaning, He already knows what Satan is up to, and He knows what we are going to think, decide and do (the good and the bad), even when we ourselves don't!  And even with all of that, the Lord is able to carry out His will, design and purpose!  In this big chess game of life, God knows every move that is going to happen (even all the stupid mistakes His own children on His own team are going to make!)

This should be a huge relief for us.  God is in control and we have nothing to fear.  We don't have to beat ourselves up thinking that we are somehow going to thwart God's plan.  Satan wants us to beat ourselves up and feel worthless and useless;  but God wants us to keep running back to Him and His will and His love, in order to find His strength, protection and rest in His peace, joy and grace, and find comfort and encouragement in our certain hope!

At the moment, God's Holy Spirit is with us here on earth.  For believers, as we allow, He guides and works in and through us.  And for unbelievers, the Holy Spirit is able to convict and restrain evil.  In other words, without the Holy Spirit's presence, just think how evil mankind could get!  And this will happen during the Tribulation.

(2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)  Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, 2 that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. 5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is removed. 8 Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; 9 that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved. 11 For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.

It stands to reason that because believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Ephesians 1:13-14), when the Holy Spirit is removed from the earth (no longer to restrain Satan and those who will work in the world during the Tribulation)... we will be "removed" along with the Holy Spirit!

When the Lord Jesus came in flesh the first time, the Israelites rejected Him, because they were wanting their Messiah - a King - who would bring physical peace!  They expected Him to take the throne, remove the Romans from their promised land, and fulfill all of God's promises (God's covenants to the Israelites.)  In this, God clearly says that through them, all nations will be blessed!  What they didn't understand is that all of it is only possible through Jesus and His salvation. 

Therefore, Jesus came in flesh the first time in order to bring and provide spiritual peace for all people.  

(John 3:16-21) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God.”

So why do people struggle with this so much?  It is mostly because believing in Jesus, realizing and confessing that He is God, and accepting Him into our hearts - involves - a humble heart, in order to realize that we need the Lord!  That we are sinners in need of His forgiveness and His salvation!  And then as believers, because we will still struggle with sin as well as the evil in this world, we still need His help and guidance!  Because people are all about themselves and doing things their own way, it is difficult to think about putting God in first place!  Yet, mankind still finds other gods and idols to worship and follow, be it a religion, or another person, or money, or power, or fame, or pleasure, or drugs, or...

The name of Jesus does divide!  And His sword is the word of God (the Bible).  Now, Jesus came to bring spiritual peace to those individuals who turn to Him, so we can know that the following verses refer to physical peace.

(Matthew 10:32-39) “Therefore, everyone who confesses Me before people, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before people, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

34 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I came to turn a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and a person’s enemies will be the members of his household.

37 “The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on My account will find it.

Wars are fought because of Jesus!  Meanwhile, I have heard people say things like, "If the Church (Christians) would just back off, people would not get hurt, and there would be peace!"  Hm.  So according to the world, it is the Bible and the Church's fault that there is war and evil.  Unbelievers would have us altering God's words to please them and their lives.  But let us not be deceived.

(1 John 4:1-6) Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world. 4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world, therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us; the one who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

One can wonder what is taking God so long in all of this.  Going back to the verses that spoke about the harvest time, one must understand that God is fair and just!  Because He knows who will choose to believe in Him or not, He is able to give everyone the time needed to come to their decision with full opportunity!

(Matthew 13:24-30) Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and left. 26 And when the wheat sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also became evident. 27 And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No; while you are gathering up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

We can see God's patience here, as well as His fairness!  The "wheat" can also be considered those who have not yet become believers, but will do so at some point!  

Putting this all into context of the entire Bible, we can know that this takes place during the Tribulation (AFTER the rapture).  I can say this for several reasons.  Later, I will go through the covenants of the Israelites and explain the Jewish Age, along with their allotted years.  As well as the "signs" given for the second coming of Jesus at the end of the Jewish Age (that being the end of the Tribulation).  The Tribulation is the remaining seven years of the Jewish Age, before their covenants will be fulfilled in the Millennium.

We see many verses in the Bible regarding the time of the harvest.  For example, in the middle of the book of Revelation, there is an interlude of sorts, where John's vision gives a summary of what is to happen at the end of the Tribulation...

Revelation 14:14-20) Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trampled outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of 1,600 stadia.

This is a visual illustration of what will occur at the battle of Armageddon, where evil and the unbelievers are removed from the earth.  This is much different than the rapture.  Later, I will be going over other verses that refer to this event, as well as all the other events (explaining the reasons for all these "ages" and "times).  

To sum up this portion, the Bible answers our question, "Are we in the Tribulation?"  The answer is "no."  Right now in the Church Age, we will and do have tribulations, we do have antichrists, and lawlessness is in the works.  An antichrist is anyone who is against God, or tries to take the place of God.  Anyone who is not a Christian will struggle to confess that Jesus is God!  

THE Antichrist will be possessed by Satan and will first convince the all nations that he has the solution to worldwide peace.  It will actually be when there is peace in the Middle East!  So we are not in THE Tribulation, and the man of lawlessness (aka son of destruction, aka THE antichrist, aka the beast along with the prophet) has not yet been revealed.  

To answer the question, "Are we in the end times?" (the last days)  We are, meaning that as time ticks on, we are always getting nearer and nearer to the time when these things will occur.  Even the apostles thought that "this could be it!"  

I believe that God always allows situations in our lives which will keep us on our toes and on our knees.  But not in fear.  We need not fear, when we are embracing the Lord and His word.  God is more powerful than all powers put together!  And...

(1 John 4:14-18) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

So what are we to do?  Continue living for God, drawing ever closer to Him, meeting with the saints to be equipped and encouraged, and sharing the good news with others as we have opportunity!

In the next post, I plan to go into more detail as to what the Bible says about the different times and ages.