After writing the first contemplation on this subject, I decided to take another look at the Scriptures about “end times” and saw again, as I did in my childhood, plenty of Scriptural evidence for many of the “end times” teaching.
I spent an entire day before the Lord, listening to whatever He would say to me. I was ready to go to any lengths, even to closing down the website, if I felt the Lord telling me that I was being misled myself and misleading others. What was entirely new to me during this time of prayer and meditation was the absence of any sense of fear (other than “godly fear”—see Godly Fear) or condemnation. I was rejoicing that I had finally come to the place of receiving the perfect love of God which casts out the fear that brings torment (1John 4:18). I knew that I was (and have been for many decades) seeking God with my whole heart, at least as much as I knew how to do that. I was willing to hear and obey whatever I heard the Spirit inside speaking to me.
It was after dinner when my husband and I were taking a walk that I felt strongly that I was to stop thinking about all this and write a contemplation I had been meditating on for a long time—Parables as a Teaching Tool. While writing it, I was once again reminded about how much more important it is to walk in love than to experience the strife that comes from arguing about doctrine. By the time I finished writing that contemplation, I knew that as far as my spiritual growth is concerned, it doesn’t really matter which of the “end times” doctrines is right (if any of them are). What matters is what Jesus says matters—walking in right relationship to God and to others (Matthew 22:36-40). As Paul told us, we can “have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge” and “have all faith, so that I can remove mountains,” but if I’m not walking in love “I am nothing” (1Corinthians 13:2). This is the same Paul who wrote a great many of the Scriptures which have resulted in the most unloving behavior on the part of those making their various doctrines based on these Scriptures. Even in my lifetime I have heard of people spending all their money, acting very irresponsibly toward their families and going up on mountaintops to await the “rapture.”
I know that I no longer have to be afraid, as I was for so much of my life, of death, resurrection or judgment. I know that I am in Christ and He is in me now (John 14:20), that I am His temple (1Corinthians 3:16), the place where He resides (John 14:23). I know that He will be with me always (Matthew 28:20), and that I can never be separated from His love (Romans 8:35-39) NOW, not after I meet Him in the literal clouds or air.
I know that I have believed in Him and will therefore “never die”:
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
I know that I already have “a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2Corinthians 5:1), the same body of light that Jesus, Moses and Elijah had on the Mount of Transfiguration, though it is invisible to the human eye. So when I leave this physical concept of body behind, I will be “clothed” with that body. I don’t have to wait for a physical resurrection to get that body.
I know that I have been “created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24) and that I was judged to be righteous when Jesus became sin for me:
2Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
I know that Jesus is my righteousness:
1Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.
I know that righteousness is a free gift which cannot be earned (Romans 5:17), that it comes to me by grace and not by works (Ephesians 2:8-9) (see What Qualifies Us for Heaven?.
I therefore have no need to fear judgment.
I think the BIG mistake made by the church is thinking that all these “end times” teachings will persuade people to “get right with God.” It is an attempt to frighten people into becoming Christians. No, fear (of being “left behind” or of being thrown into a lake of fire to burn forever) brings torment (1John 4:18), not the peace that characterizes the kingdom of heaven (Romans 14:17). It is the “goodness [not terror] of God” that brings man to repentance (Romans 2:4).
I really have no interest in all these “end times” teaching. I’m not storing up supplies for the apocalypse. Would I be willing to shoot my neighbor to defend those supplies? If I have no fear of death and judgment, I can say with Paul:
Philippians 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.
We are “in this world” for one purpose only—to ourselves make the journey out of the darkness of our humanity into the light of our Christ identity (or, as Jesus said, to bear witness to the truth) and then to be the “light of the world” that brings others to the same light.
I have but one desire—the same one Paul had:
Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings
I think perhaps “his sufferings” may refer to the “grieving” of the Holy Spirit that comes as a result of our using the Scriptures to justify the most abominable actions on the part of Christians, as any study of history will show—the Inquisition, the Crusades, the witch hunts, slavery, the Ku Klux Klan and general cruelty in both word and deed.
I don’t concern myself with whether or not Jesus is going to set up a government in Jerusalem and rule on this earth a thousand years, whether or not there is going to be a tribulation and who is going to be on the earth to go through it, or any of the other doctrines that Christians argue about. Just as Esau and Isaac, sons of the bondmaid and the freewoman, are “an “allegory” of law and grace (bondage and freedom) (Galatians 4:21ff), I can easily read the Scriptures about the “rapture” and the “tribulations” as an allegory of my spiritual journey out of darkness into light. As you can read in these contemplations, I have experienced the most awful “earthquakes” and “tribulations” in my mind as my Father has rooted up that which He did not plant.
I feel my Father has given me permission to post what I have written in these last contemplations, not because I feel I have the last word on the subject, but because what has been revealed to me may be of benefit to someone else on his or her spiritual journey. We can share only that which has been given us. I have no axe to grind, nothing to prove. I know that I’ve been crucified with Christ and that He is now living my life. To the best of my ability I just listen and attempt to obey whatever I receive during those times of communion. It helps me to articulate it in writing. Hopefully, it will help someone else.