Is this the End Time that the Bible talks about? Many Christians feel it is. Even many secular students of history are warning us about a foreboding sense of doom they feel. We should be aware of what’s going on around us. In this article I would like to focus on two aspects—that of the end of the Age and our own personal end time.
If we will realize more how short life is, it can help us to focus on what is most important. There is a reason the Bible tells us this. Below are three scriptures that make the point:
Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days let me know how fleeting my life is (Ps 39:4 NIV).
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14 NIV).
For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall …” (1 Peter 1:24 NIV).
Too often we live in denial at the brevity of life. Even if we should live to be 100, there just is not that many days in a human life span.
My dad died five months ago; and this lesson was driven home in my mind even more, as I was caretaker for him. I’m 68 years old, and have had my own health problems for decades. I lived with him at home; and he was in a wheelchair the last few years of his life. And he used to tell me many times that he never thought he would wind up like this. One day, in a warm-hearted conversation, I asked him why he thought that because many, if not most of us, wind up suffering and dying a slow death in hospitals or rest homes, yet we often reason to ourselves that it will not happen to us. He seemed to agree as we talked about it, and realized we live in denial of death and suffering.
One of the reasons I’m writing about this subject matter of not only the end of the Age, but our own personal end time, is because over the years I have seen where some brethren became angry or bitter at God as they saw brethren with old age and sickness sitting in rest homes with Alzheimer’s or other afflictions. And I feel it is dangerous to blame God in this way. Most of the brethren I have known who have died, thought the end was near, and they have had to deal with these struggles of old age and sickness, not the end time they thought was coming in their lifetime. This was the big trial they had to deal with.
And I heard one man say he feels that because of the way we have looked at end time prophecy, in feeling the end was coming before the end of our lives, or even that we would be taken to the place of safety, or some other end time belief system, that it only added to the problem of living in denial of what may await us in rest homes and hospitals; and therefore made it even more difficult because of the denial when it did happen. Think about that. So would it not be wise to focus on how to deal with the struggles of life and our own personal “end time” in the meantime? I’m not against studying prophecy. I still study it. And I do believe the end of the Age Jesus talked about is drawing near. So I’m talking about balance in our studies. Years ago, I realized that my studies into prophecy were out of balance; and it did little to aid me in my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. So I spend more time in prayer now, realizing Jesus Christ gives us peace to deal with all our trials, including old age and health problems like I struggle with now.
My dad and I used to talk about the saying: “Old age is not for sissies.” And we would have a good laugh each time we talked about it. Laughing about it, I found helped him cope. And we needed all the laughs we could get.
He and I would watch all the chaos on the news each night and he would say, “This world is falling apart”, and he would ask “What’s going on with this world? Sometimes I tried to explain that things could get worse, and it was possible that the end time was near. And a few times he said: “Well, it’s a good thing it’s almost over for us, being two old men, but I feel sorry for the young people.” It reminded me of what an elderly man of God told me one time 40 years ago when he said: “Some old-timers will be put to sleep before the Tribulation.” And when that man of God told me that many years ago it made me think of the Scripture that says: “Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die” (Isaiah 57:1-2 NLT).
I’m not trying to suggest we should seek death—no, God has a task for us to complete; and life is a blessing; but these scriptures did come to mind, because I do believe we are closing in on the end of the Age. And you do not even need a lot of insight to see this nation is headed for chaos.
My dad and I would watch end time programs on TV; and he would ask me questions about it. And he felt the “end times” was when your heart stopped beating. And he knew his time was not long. He wanted to go in his sleep. He got his wish. He died at home in his sleep, just like my mother did. Oh, how I want to see them again in the resurrection. I did not realize how good my parents were until after their passing. I was blessed. It reminds me of the old saying, “You don’t know what you got till it’s gone”. This is one of the reasons God tells us to give thanks in all circumstances. It seems you do not learn the lessons of life till it’s almost over. Here I am less than two years away from my threescore and ten, and it’s taken that long for me to see how much God blessed me with two good parents all my life.
I told my dad about a year before he died that we took it for granted with my mother cooking all those meals for over 60 years. My mother always had delicious meals for us. When I used to change her diapers during the last few months of her life, I used to joke with her and tell her, “Mom, I’m paying you back for all the diapers you changed for me”. And she used to laugh every time. Never having served this way myself before, this also got me to thinking of all the work women do in taking care of their children and I look at things differently now. Their job is one that should be given much honor and respect. The ones who were blind like me—they will know in the resurrection when God honors these women.
When I first started to take care of my dad, I looked at it as a burden for a few years, and then God brought me to repentance and a change of heart. My dad noticed it and one day he said: “Your attitude has changed”, and I said to him, “God showed me it is a blessing to take care of you.” So God brought me from the attitude of burden to blessing. I thank God.
Part of what I’m sharing here is I needed God’s strength to get the job done as caretaker, which was the most difficult task I ever was involved with; caring for my dad’s needs in old age, as his dementia got worse and he was bedridden in diapers. At the time, I knew this role of caretaker was taking a toll on my physical health. But God knew it would aid me spiritually, and this was part of the process He used. The physical is secondary to being healed spiritually. Again, this spiritual principle is laid out in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, where Paul kept asking to be relieved of his torment in the flesh, but God left the pain in order for him to grow spiritually. This principle can apply to many brethren’s trials. I thank God he gave me the strength to help my dad till the end.
God moved to have me realize I was not as close to Him as I thought. And God used these trials to get my attention.
I used to wander off until you disciplined me; but now I closely follow your word My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees” (Psalms 119:67, 71 NLT).
Being caretaker this way was the most difficult matter I have ever been involved with, and God used the suffering to pull me closer to Him.
What this suffering did was drive me to prayer. I had never prayed like I prayed when my dad was bedridden. I had never experienced anything like this before. I needed God’s strength to serve my dad; and I prayed for weeks with almost non-stop praying, not even leaving the house for weeks because my dad needed me there. I did not realize it at the time; but God was using this situation to pull me closer to Him.
This time of constant prayer that I experienced with the situation with my dad reminded me of an account by Luke in Chapter 18: Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up… However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1,8)
Jesus gives us admonishment about the importance of continuing in prayer until the end time.
Since God used the suffering to have me draw closer to Him, what’s that worth? The suffering cannot be compared to the blessing of having a closer walk with the Prince of Peace who gives me peace in the midst of my agony and trials.
My dad’s death made me think of the scripture: “It is better to spend more time at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die and you should think about it while there is still time.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2 TLB). What does your future hold; will someone have to care for you in your old age? Life is short, and it’s something that is surprisingly easy to forget. Seeing the brevity of life can help us focus on what is most important.
I do believe that the end of the Age is drawing near. And whether it’s the end time Jesus talked about or our own personal “end time”—the best thing we can do is examine where we are at with our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Ask Him to take you by the hand and lead us through the Scriptures so that you will get to know Him. We get to know Him through prayer.
Get out of the rat race. Learn to live a simple life. Pray and stay with God. Do not let all the chaos, consumerism, and distractions of the world distract you from your contact with God. The days ahead will be difficult; but if we learn to trust and rely on God and stay with Him in our prayers and meditations then we will have nothing to fear. He will sustain us. Jesus told us to watch our spiritual state and pray always.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say with confidence, “The LORD is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6 NIV).
