As we approach the season of Advent, the Church spends the last few Sundays of Trinitytide considering the End and Judgment Day. This is worth considering, because we see and hear a lot of propaganda and teaching about what the End will be like and what to look for, but these teachers are usually not Christian or certainly not Lutheran, and take a very narrow view of what the Scriptures have to say about the End. We also want to consider the End, because it is both a day of fear and one of joy. For us Christians, we should not consider the Last Day lightly. On that day all deeds will be called into account, and every idle word will be called to remembrance. However, we should also remember that this is the Day on which Christ will vindicate His people, who may have suffered in this life unjustly at the hands of the wicked, and the Day on which sin, death and the devil will be sent to hell and defeated permanently, never to harm us again.
The End is Near, claims the corner preacher. The so-called “rapture” was supposed to take all your elect friends to heaven in September (though they all still seem to be here). The Mohammedans, or Muslims, claim they can enact the End by converting everyone to Islam. Many Christian congregations across the United States are studying the book of Revelation, looking for clues as to when the End will come, and what it will be like. Even among Christians, there is disagreement as to how the End will play out, or what’s supposed to be happening.
Most people want to jump to St. John’s Revelation, because well, the whole book seems to be about the End – why wouldn’t we want to look there? We should look there, that’s true, but we should start with the clearer passages, and use them to interpret St. John’s Revelation. Below I’ve compiled and discussed a few of the clearer passages about the End of the World and Judgment Day.
Christ’s Second Coming
Jesus teaches us that the Day will arrive suddenly, and no one can predict it. He compares it to the days of Noah and the Flood, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.” (Matt. 24:36-39)
In the verses immediately following, we hear: Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. This raises the question of the so-called “Rapture.” Some people may try to teach you, that this is how the End will be. I even received a letter to my house, announcing that if I was reading it after Sept. 23, I had missed the big day and the ‘true’ believers had gone to heaven, while I was ‘left behind’, and that the days to come were going to be troublesome. But let’s take a closer look: The man condemned is not the one ‘left behind’, rather it is the man taken. The ones taken in Noah’s day were the ones condemned by the waters of the Flood, but Noah and his family remained. “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.” (Matt. 24:42) This ‘rapture’ is part of the Judgment, a component of the Last Day. Jesus clearly teaches us that this is all on the same day. So do not be afraid of the so-called ‘Rapture’, or any other secret ending of the world. As we will see, you will not miss the Day; you won’t sleep through it.
Resurrection of the Dead
St. Paul shows us that the triumphant, visible return of Jesus will be followed by the resurrection of the dead, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (1 Thess. 4:16) St. Paul says again, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.” (1 Cor. 15:52) Jesus teaches us that this resurrection of the dead is not limited merely to the righteous, but that it is everyone, good and evil, will be raised bodily, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29) This last passage brings us to the next event:
Judgment
Following the raising of all the dead, we“must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” (2 Cor. 5:10) So all, righteous and unrighteous, are called before Christ, to give an account for his deeds. Jesus gives us a glimpse of the Judgment, in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25. The Sheep are separated from the Goats, that is, those who believe and trust in Christ (are righteous) and the unbelievers, the unrighteous. The Sheep did love their neighbors and cared for the poor even as they trusted in Christ, whereas the Goats did not recognize Jesus. They never saw Him, and now He no longer recognizes them.
End of the World
St. Peter writes that Christ “will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodieswill be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.” (1 Pet. 3:10) He connects the judgment of the deeds done on the earth with its destruction. The world, the universe is corrupted by the fall of man into sin. So it needs be destroyed, in order that it might be made new. In contrast to the destruction by water in Noah’s day, the final End will be accomplished with fire – “the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!” (v. 12) But St. Peter gives us the assurance of the new creation: “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (v. 13) Jesus confirms, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” (Matt. 24:29) The heavenly bodies are destroyed, in the converse of Creation in Genesis. (cf. also Lk 21:33)
Eternal Life & Eternal Damnation (Respectively)
The Prophet Daniel describes the resurrection, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” (Dan. 12:2) After the raising of the dead and the division of the Sheep from the Goats, both are led to their eternity; some to eternal damnation in hell (not only soul, but soul and body reunited!) and some to eternal life with the Lord, in the new heavens and the new earth. As St. John writes in the Epistle lesson for All Saints, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appearswe shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (1 Jn 3:2) We do not know what it will be like in the new heavens and the new earth, only that it will free of sin and death, and that we will be with Jesus Christ forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Samuel Scheltens
Thanks to Rev. Joseph Greenmyer and his blog ‘In Summa’, whose post ‘Israel and the End of the World’ helped me structure and form this article.
I recommend giving it a read. It can be found here: https://revjosephgreenmyer.substack.com/p/israel-and-the-end-of-the-world