End-Times Kingdom: Understand the Hour of Jesus’ Coming

A vital part of healthy Kingdom thinking is having a clear and proper understanding of what Scripture says concerning the return of Christ and other apocalyptic themes.

This is important because as Kingdom citizens we have a critical role in preparing for Christ’s return. There is a lot of confusion and misinformation in the church on the issue of the end times. We have a responsibility to be well informed, based on what the Word of God actually says, and we must avoid at all cost the speculations and interpretations of today’s prophecy teachers.

One day Jesus’ disciples put to Him a question that people throughout the ages have pondered:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of Me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:3-14).

When Will The End Come?

This question seems to interest everyone, believers and nonbelievers alike. This passage from chapter 24 of the Gospel of Matthew is one of the favorite scriptures for those who are seeking information on the end times. It speaks of wars and rumors of wars, famine, earthquakes, false prophets, tribulation, hardship, and the increase of evil in the earth. Many preachers and teachers cite these events and point to current-day examples, and then proclaim, “The end is near! Do you see all these things happening around us?”

We need to be cautious and discerning when it comes to prophecies such as these and the people who proclaim them. Our generation is not unique; prophecy teachers have been around for centuries. Many of them are legitimate and are careful students of the Scriptures, but many others study the Word of God just enough to be frightening. They see “signs of the times” in every event, large or small. You hear them say: “Do you remember that earthquake in India? That means Christ is returning soon!” “The Lord said there would be pestilence and epidemics in the last days. With the scourge of AIDS spreading to so many people around the world, we know that Jesus’ return is just around the corner.”

What these teachers often fail to mention and many believers fail to see are Jesus’ cautionary words in these verses. He says there will be “wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” Famines and earthquakes are merely “the beginning of birth pains.”

The real key to understanding the timing of the return of Christ and the end of all things is verse 14:

And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14).

The sign of the end of the age will be this: the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom throughout the world. This verse reveals the timing of Jesus’ return, but not the hour. It is quite clear that the “hour” is known only by the Father. Jesus Himself said, “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt. 24:36). The end will come when the gospel of the Kingdom is preached “in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” The Greek word ethnos (nations) refers to every people group, every culture, every race, every tribe, every tongue, every political system, and every national state. After the gospel of the Kingdom is preached to all of these, then the end will come.

Who will do this? The answer cuts to the very heart of our dominion mandate. It is we, the believers and followers of Christ and the citizens of God’s Kingdom, who bear the responsibility of proclaiming the gospel to the world. That is the commission that Jesus charged us with when He commanded, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20a). When will Jesus return and the end come? When our commission is fulfilled. The specific hour of His return is in God’s hands, but the general timing of it is in ours.

It is sad that we have spent so much time speculating on the hour of the return and so very little time on fulfilling the real sign that will usher in His return.

A Kingdom Key—Preach The Gospel of the Kingdom

If Jesus has not yet returned, it is because our commission to preach the gospel and make disciples in all the world has not yet been fulfilled. How many churches today are actively and conscientiously preaching the gospel of the Kingdom? They preach prosperity, they preach healing, they preach faith, they preach deliverance, they preach tongues, but how many preach the Kingdom of God? Not just any message will do. These are all legitimate themes but they are secondary when compared to the proclamation of the message of the Kingdom. Jesus will return only when the message of the Kingdom has been proclaimed in all the earth, and that proclamation is the Church’s responsibility.

Generally speaking, the Church as a whole has fallen down on this responsibility. All we have to do is look around us to know this is true. Why do we have so many Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Scientologists, animists, atheists, and all of the other “ists” futilely searching for God? Why are there so many people who go through life with little or no knowledge of His Kingdom and what it can mean to them? It’s because the Church hasn’t done its job.

God knows what every person on earth needs and is looking for, even when we do not. The possibility of their salvation is contained in the Kingdom message. Throughout His earthly ministry, Jesus focused on preaching and teaching about the Kingdom:

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field” (Matt. 9:35-38).

Where are the Workers?

Jesus said that the harvest is plentiful. There is an abundant crop ripe and ready for the harvester’s sickle. He was surrounded and followed everywhere by crowds of people who were “harassed and helpless,” people who were wandering without hope or direction, people who were ripe for picking.

What was true in Jesus’ day 2,000 years ago is still true in our day. Our world is filled with people searching for the truth, yearning for God, and stumbling in a gloom of spiritual darkness. There is nothing “wrong” with these people; they are still ripe for the picking. Whether they realize it or not, people want to get picked. Everyone wants to know that life has meaning and purpose and that they have a heavenly Father who loves and cares for them. We don’t have to “ripen” a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Muslim or anyone else for the harvest. They are already ripe, and have been for 2,000 years.

The problem lies not with the readiness of the harvest, but with the availability of harvesters. When Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few,” He was talking not only about quantity of workers, but quality of workers as well. A twofold problem exists: many believers who should be working in the harvest field are not, and many of those who are working are not doing a very good job. The entire world is ripe for the Kingdom of God, but we who are the citizens and representatives of that Kingdom are failing in our responsibility to bring in the harvest.

He appointed twelve…that they might be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach (Mark 3:14).

There is a time to sit at the feet of Jesus and enjoy His presence but there is also a time when we are sent out to preach this gospel of the Kingdom. Now is that time.

Many people who come into the Church get saved because they want “fire insurance.” They want to make sure they don’t go to hell. That’s why we see so many backsliders, or spiritual dropouts. Someone gets afraid of the fire and comes to a meeting where a preacher tells him how to avoid hell by turning to Christ. Out of fear he runs to the front of the church, confesses his sins, accepts Jesus, gets his fire insurance policy, and calls it “salvation.” After a couple of months he eventually becomes bored, frustrated, and depressed with this new “religion” thing and ends up going back into the world. Why? Because the world promises the very thing he expected to find in the Church but what the Church failed to deliver: power for living. The Kingdom of God is all about power, but many believers and others miss it because few churches truly teach it.

All of us want power in our lives. We all like to be in control. That is why we resist people’s attempt to dominate us. It is why we hate to owe people money, because whoever we are indebted to controls us. We are looking for the power to control our circumstances. Humanity’s quest for power is what makes the message of the Kingdom so appealing. The Kingdom of God represents power.

During His earthly ministry, thousands of people from all walks of life were attracted to Jesus—drawn to Him—because everything about Him spoke “power.” He demonstrated power over sickness, power over nature, power over death, and power over sin. Everyone came to Him— rich, poor, it did not matter—because they felt powerless in their circum- stances. Each one, in his or her own way, was looking for the Kingdom.