Church Camp Message 8 - Doctrine of the End

The signs of end-times, the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24:4-19. 

Thank God that He promised to come again. If all prophecies were fulfilled in Christ's first coming, then we can be assured that those of the second coming will also be fulfilled. 

- War and rumours of war: the world is gearing up for war, with terrorism more organized and wide spread. (Verse 6)

- Famine, pestilences and earthquakes: these are more frequent and more intense, signifying that Earth and human kind is not well, repent while we can. (Verse 7)

- False prophets proclaiming they are saviour of human kind. They come to confused, deceive and destroy. (Verse 11)

- The gospel reaching all the corners of the world. With technology, this is already possible and happened many times. Once all the elect has been saved, the end time will come.

Jesus, when He next come, He will descend on Mount of Olives, the same manner that He has left in the first coming. God will fulfil His promise to Israel. Jesus will sit on the throne of David when He comes again - a fulfilment towards the throne of David. For all these to happen, Israel must be back as a country, and that has already happened. The time is ripe for His return, it can be anytime now.

What happens during the end times? 

Wrath - Matt 24:21 - this happens during the Great Tribution. The antichrist will come and set himself as king. This will last for 7 years, known as Jacob's trouble, where Israel will be persecuted greatly from the second half of the period (42 months, Rev 7). The antichrist will break the peace with Israel And persecuted them.  Prior to that, there will be 2 witnesses sent to the people, calling them to repent. They will be carrying out their ministry for 1260 days. 

What happen to the church? We will be caught up in the air with the Lord - I Thess 4:16-17. God will save us from the wrath that is to come during the tribulation.

Reign - Rev 20:4. Christ will reign on earth for for 1,000 years. Rev 5:9-10. This is the Millenium - Isaiah. There will be a judgement of the great white throne of the unbelievers, and will then be castes into the lake of fire. 2 Peter 3:7 - destroying the current earth and heaven. 

Eternity - New heaven and new earth -  Rev 21 - the former things will all pass away and God will create a new heaven and earth, where there will not be any tears and sorrow.

Our affliction now in our lives are but light and brief, compared to the happiness in eternity. It is temporary; we need to set our eyes towards the future and live according to God's doctrine to our final blessings. 

The Pre-millennialism Church

Revelation 20:1-6

We believe in the pre-millennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Pre - "before". Millennial - "one thousand years". This one thousand years will be the period of Jesus Christ's reign on earth. This is the physical ruling of Christ on earth. The other school of thought is Armillenialism, where there no physical ruling but spiritual. In fact Christ is ruling in heaven right now, and there is no 1000 years, it just refers to a long time. They also believe that we are now in the millennium, and Christ is already reigning in heaven.

There are couple of reasons supporting pre-millennialism.

1. In the millennium, there is an absence of Satan. Rev 20:2 states that Satan will be bounded for 1000 years. "And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years." If the millennium is now, then we should not see Satan's presence on earth, but this is not the case. 1 Peter 5:8 says we need to be vigilant bacause Satan is still abound. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

2. The reign of Christ is a physical one on earth. Rev 5:19-20
"And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."

The millennium is a period of peace where people worship the Lord on earth. There will not be war, but this is not so today. There are still war abound. There will be no peace until the Lord returns.

The lesson for understanding pre-millennium is to be vigilant, holy and live according to God's will for us. If we are found on God's side, we will be together with him at the first resurrection. Make sure that we are indeed so.