How Will It End?

In this episode, we’re going to explore different viewpoints on the end of the world—otherwise known as the apocalypse.

¹But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ²For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵holding to a form of [b]godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NASB

A few Bible verses about the end times:

• The Book of Revelation
• Daniel 7
• Daniel 9
• Daniel 12
• Matthew 24

Abrahamic Beliefs

• Christianity
  • There are various interpretations of end time events within the Christian community
  • Commonly agreed upon events are the moral decay of mankind, calamity from war, famine, and pestilence in the land, the return of Christ, and the ushering in of God's Kindgom
  • Most Christians associate fire with the end of the world
• Judaism[4]
  • Judaism is still awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, which is involved in the apocalypse
  • This event will bring about the restoration of Israel and the resurrection of the dead
• Islam[5]
  • Although Islam sees Jesus/Yeshua as a prophet instead of the Son of God, Islamic prophecy expects the return of Jesus during end time events
  • Good will triumph over evil

Science

• The sun will eventually die (probably by supernova[1]). At some point the sun will expand as a red giant,[2] and during this process the earth will be ingulfed by the sun—put plainly, the earth will burn up.
• The earth could also be annhilated by a stray asteroid (or other space debris) colliding into us.[3]
• Climate change also poses a threat
• Nuclear war could also wipe us off the face of the earth

Hinduism[6]

• There is a cyclical view of time which is divided into four Yuga cycles
• The Yuga cycles "descend" from purity to chaos
• We are said to be in the fourth Yuga cycle: Kali Yuga
• This cycle is marked by war and strife
• It ends in a cataclysm event that respawns the first Yuga cycle and takes people back to a state of purity

Jainism[7]

• Also has a cyclical view of time
• Avasarpiṇī and utsarpiṇī make up the two periods of time
• Utsarpiṇī is ascending time (a time of goodness and religion)
• Avasarpiṇī is descending time (a time of decaying goodness and religion)
• According to Jains we are in avasarpiṇī
• At the end of avasarpiṇī, we will return to utsarpiṇī

Norse Mythology[8]

• Ragnarök - "fate of the gods" or "doom of the gods"
• This time period is marked by natural disasters
• "The sun will be darkened, the stars will vanish, and the earth will sink into the sea"[8] (see Matthew 24:29)
• 2 human survivors will repopulate the earth when it reemerges from the sea

Zorostrianism[9]

• A battle of good and evil
• Resurrection of the dead
• Punishment of the wicked

You can see this article for even more beliefs on the end times.

Patterns

While we do not agree on the details, the common thread is that most religions acknowledge we are currently in a state of moral decay and trying to get back to an Eden-like state.

Disclaimer

I believe that all religions and cultures trace their origin back to Adam and Eve. While I believe the Bible to be the true and preserved Word of God, I believe that we can find bits of truth in other religions and cultures. The purpose of this series is to examine the themes that remained universal to highlight universal knowledge--in this case, the pattern of moving from a time of morality and spiritual goodness into sin and immorality, then back to morality.

References

1. Ethan Siegel. "This Is How We'd All Die Instantly If The Sun Suddenly Went Supernova". Forbes. December 27, 2019
2. Matt Williams. "Will Earth survive when the sun becomes a red giant?". Phys.org. May 10, 2016
3. Ryan Whitwam. "NASA: Asteroid Could Still Hit Earth in 2068". Extreme Tech. October 28, 2020
4. Yehuda Shurpin. "Does Judaism Believe in the Apocalypse?". Chabad.org; visited January 2021
5. "Religions on the End of the World". History.com. November 6, 2009
6. "The Yuga Cycles & Yogic Astronomy. What are the Four Yugas?". The Human Origin Project; visited January 2021
7. "Avasarpiṇī". Wikipedia; visited January 2021
8. "Ragnarök". Encyclopædia Britannica; visited January 2021
9. "Zoroastrian Apocalypse". Oxford Reference; visited January 2021

Isaiah 24: All the Earth

Isaiah saw what would happen to the nations surrounding Israel, but He also saw what would happen to the whole Earth. In Isaiah 24, he takes the time to paint the gloomy picture of what life will be like during the final days before God's victorious reign begins.

Introduction

Beginning in Isaiah 13, Isaiah relays judgments on specific nations, most of whom we're familiar with based on their interactions with Israel thus far. However, we already know that when all is said and done, every nation will face judgment. Naturally, Isaiah concludes his list of judgements with a judgement for the whole world. Nothing sounds more urgent and dire than the words of Isaiah 24:1:

Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.Isaiah 24:1 KJV

All People are Equal

The Bible is clear that God does not favor people based on wealth or status the way mankind does, in fact several verses suggest God prefers the poor. When the judgement of the world comes, all people will have to stand before God and account for themselves. The same thing will be happening to those who were in positions of power and had wealth (priests, masters, merchants/CEOs, lenders, etc.) as those who were disadvantaged (congregations, slaves/servants, consumers, borrowers, etc.). Money and power will not absolve anyone from the events of the end time or the final judgement.

The Earth Defiled

I've always found it interesting that if you look at a map of the world, the place where humanity began and has lived the longest, is mostly desert (the Middle East and Northern Africa). There have been many battles fought in these lands and thus, much blood has been spilt upon the land. When Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3:17), God cursed the ground because of our sin. This is the curse Isaiah is referring to in Isaiah 24:6. In both Leviticus 18:24-28 and Numbers 35:33, He tells us that it suffers because of our sin.

One thing climate change scientist definitely have right is that we are destroying the Earth. Many of the behaviors scientist are trying to curb to help slow the effects of climate change (Biblically known as the sign of the times), are rooted in sin—mainly pride and greed. We have become complacent with abusing the world around us to get what we want, because we value our wants and desires above all things.

Signs of Fulfillment

Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Matt Howard

The fulfillment of this prophecy is the end of days, which is more fully described in Daniel and Revelation. However, here, we are given many signs that signal this time is upon us. Some of these signs are fires (Isaiah 24:6), famines (Isaiah 24:7), population decline (Isaiah 24:6,13), an earthquake (Isaiah 24:18-20), and changes in the sun and moon (Isaiah 24:23). The population decline may be difficult to understand from Isaiah 24:13 if you've never worked in a garden or on a farm, but the context would have been very clear for Isaiah's contemporaries. Just before you harvest a field, the plants are abundant with fruit—ripe, overripe, and unripe alike. However, after you have harvested the field the plants are practically bare. The olive tree mentioned in the verse would have very few olives left after the harvest, which means likewise, the cities will have very few people left.

Punishment

Right now, the people in charge rarely face consequences. Those with money and power can get away with murder, rape, theft, and anything else they want. Our justice system is imperfect, and we rely on judges that can be bribed (or are guilty themselves). This is frustrating, but we can be assured that in the end, God will serve justice to everyone. In Isaiah 24:21-22 God promises to gather the powerful together and imprison them for their wrong doing.

The host of the high ones likely refers to fallen angels. The pagan deities that have been worshipped throughout time are likely fallen angels who were hungry for worship like Satan. Like the kings of powerful of Earth who have seemingly been escaping judgement all this time, they too will be held accountable for all their confusion and destruction.

The Lord Most High

At the end of this judgement, God will claim His throne as King of Kings, the Lord Most High. All the world will come to worship Him. His throne will be in the new Jerusalem (Isaiah 24:23; Revelation 3:12).

2 Chronicles 23&24: Athaliah & Joash

A look at the boy who became king of Judah at the age of 7! Plus discussion on the parallels between Athaliah's murders and end of days prophecies.

Introduction

Joash was one of the youngest kings to be crowned in Israel. The youngest son of Ahaziah, Joash was in danger of being killed by Queen Athaliah when she purged the kingdom of Ahaziah's line to usurp power. Fortunately, Joash was saved by his aunt and able to reclaim the throne. Although Joash reigned for 40 years, like Solomon and David, he stilled died at the young age of 47.
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The Purge

There have been 2 obvious attempts by Satan to stop the Messiah from being born. In Genesis 3:15, God tells Satan that the seed of Eve (a reference the New Testament confirms to be about Jesus), would defeat him. As with most movies we've seen, the villain always wants to eliminate the hero before he has a chance to become the hero. Satan's first attempt to foil God's plan came when the Israelites were in Egypt. If they were forced to be slaves forever, they could never cultivate their relationship with God or set forth the laws of God as example for the world to see. Satan didn't want them delivered from Israel, so he inspired Pharaoh to have all the male children killed. Because God's plan always comes to fruition, Moses was spared and came back to save Israel. This paved the way for the nation that would eventually bring the Messiah into the world. Flash forward to Jesus' birth, and Satan inspires Herod to kill the male children to eradicate the real Messiah. Once again, God protects His chosen heir and protects Jesus. Ironically, it is to Egypt that Mary and Joseph flee with the baby. The attempted purge of the Davidic line by Athaliah, was no doubt an inspiration from Satan and another of his attempt to prevent the Messiah from arriving.
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Foreshadowing

What is most interesting about this is the foreshadowing of end times events and the parallel conflict between God and Satan. In the northern kingdom of Israel, they kings were from Omri's dynasty, and God had placed a curse of them due to Ahab's immense idolatry. God had vowed to eliminate Ahab's line from the throne. Meanwhile, in the southern kingdom, the kings were from David's dynasty, and God had promised that they would have dominion forever (a promise fulfilled through the Messiah). While Jehu was cleansing the north of Ahab's descendants per God's order, Athaliah was trying to rid the south of David's descendants per the devil's order. However, there was overlap! Ahaziah was a descendant of both Ahab and David, thus the same was true of his sons and their sons.

In Revelation, there are two women featured; one represents the true church of God and the other represents the false church. Here, David's line represented the true church of God, the rightful heirs to the throne, while Ahab's line represented the false church. Most of David's descendants attempted to follow God, though many made mistakes and ultimately succumbed to idolatry. The kings of the north made no attempt to follow God at all. However, unlike the explicitly pagan nations surrounding them, God hadn't declared a separation between these two. There was nothing the forbade Jehoram from marrying Ahab's daughter the way Solomon had been forbidden to marry his pagan wives. This ushered in a new lineage in the southern kingdom that was actually the product of both lines. This foreshadows the daughters of the whore of Babylon. In Revelation 17, we are told that the false church is the mother of harlots, which means it produces more like itself. Similarly, Ahaziah followed the ways of Ahab (the false church). Today, we see a mixture of paganism and Biblical teachings and the two have become so intertwined that we cannot differentiate between them. Just as the true line of David has to be restored, the true church of God has to be called out from Babylon (Revelation 18:4).

Satan adds to the confusion by mimicking God's actions. We know which is which because we are reading about the events and hindsight is 20/20, but during the end times, we won't have the benefit of hindsight. We will need to be able to recognize the true church from the false church and differentiate God punishing the false church from Satan persecuting the true church.
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Joash Spared

DISCLAIMER: No one knows what anyone from the Bible
looks like, this image is just a reminder of Joash's youth.
Photocredit: Unsplash.com/Joseph Gonzalez

Ahaziah's sister, Jehoshabeath, smuggles the infant Joash from out of Athaliah's clutches. She takes the baby to her husband Jehoida, who was a priest, for safe keeping. Joash spends 6 years hiding out under the protection of the priests in the Temple. (Can you still see the parallels to revelation?) During the seventh year, Jehoida calls together an army to protect him so that he can ascend the throne. It was likely a hard task to keep the boy confined to the Temple. Further, Athaliah was damaging Israel's relationship with God, so it behooved them to put a man of God back on the throne as soon as possible.

Jehoida's army was strategically placed around the Temple with weapons to guard the young king. Once they were in place, Joash is anointed king. This act causes great jubilation and rejoicing which attracts the attention of Athaliah. When the queen comes to investigate the noisy celebration, she is killed by the army set to protect the young king.
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Joash's Reign

Joash starts off a great king; he follows God and honors the law. One of his first orders of business it to make repairs to the Temple, which has become run down. Between aging over time and the carting off of its riches, it stands to reason that at this point in time, the Temple may have been a bit shabby. Having grown up in God's home, Joash would have been quite aware of these damages and probably had a stronger desire than any one else to restore the Temple.

However, like many of Judah's kings, during the end of Joash's reign, he succumbs to the devil's temptations. A son of Jehoida the priest named Zechariah speaks out against the idolatry that has crept back into Judah. Zechariah prophesies destruction if they continue down that path. This enrages Joash to the point that he has Zechariah stoned! In doing so, Joash is not only rejecting the message of God, he is allowing and even sanctioning sinful behavior in his people. Further, Jehoida would have likely been the only father figure Joash had ever had and it was because of him that Joash was even able to reclaim the throne. How cruel is it that Joash has Jehoida's son, who may have been like a brother to him, stoned? Naturally God punishes this change of heart. Joash's fall is so great that when he dies, he is not buried with the other kings of Judah.
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Zechariah

The first question I had after reading these chapters, was if Zechariah the son of Jehoida was the same Zechariah in the Book of Zechariah. Apparently this is quite the hot topic.

In Matthew 23:31-35, Jesus says that Zechariah was the son of Berechiah and that he died between the Temple and the altar. The Zechariah of 2 Chronicles 24 was stone in the courtyard of the Temple and is the son of Jehoida. Does this mean there's a contradiction? Or are these passages referencing different Zechariahs? Or, are these passages saying the same thing in different ways? There are enough similarities to suggest that the court of the Temple was located between the Temple of the altar and since "son of" could refer to distant ancestors, both Berechiah and Jehoida could be the "fathers" of Zechariah. However, if we read Zechariah 1:1, we see that the Zechariah Jesus is referencing ruled during the reign of Darius I of Persia, some 300 years after the Zechariah of 2 Chronicles 24 lived. Thus, these are not the same men.^[2]
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References

1. Revelation 17
2. Tim Chaffey. "Was Jesus Wrong About Zechariah’s Father?". Answers in Genesis. February 2012