How can I be ready for the end times?

Imagine this: you're on a big ship when someone tells you, "This ship is going to sink!" They don't know exactly when, but there's no doubt—it will happen. They offer you a life vest. They show you where there's seat on a lifeboat. What do you do? It seems obvious: put on the life vest and get in the lifeboat. Right?

What if there were others who were also told the boat will sink—but instead of getting in vests and lifeboats, they're focused on arguing. Will the ship sink in ten minutes or an hour? Will it sink nose-first or upside down? Will the ship break apart before, during, or after it sinks? Are we going to get wet in the lifeboat? What about our luggage? Are we really sure this boat is going to sink at all?

Meanwhile, some have vests and some don't, and not everyone's in a lifeboat. But everyone IS panicking. Even people in the boats are freaking out, arguing with each other about how and when the ship will sink. Does that seem like reasonable behavior? Or are they acting strangely?

Common sense says you can't stop the ship from sinking. You should get people in vests and lifeboats ASAP, then let everything else just happen. It's going to be scary and intense. But once you're secured, the other details don't matter. Life vest, lifeboat—plain and simple. You're "ready" whether the ship breaks, dives, rolls over, or turns into a balloon and floats into the sky. Wet pants and a bumpy ride in a lifeboat might not be fun, but that's very temporary compared to death at sea.

Putting Things into Perspective

This same range of attitudes describes how we look at the "end times." Those are the events Scripture depicts around Jesus' second arrival on earth (Luke 21:11; 2 Timothy 4:3-4; Joel 2:28-29; Zechariah 12:3). It's the "apocalypse" period associated with words like Antichrist, tribulation, rapture, mark of the beast, Armageddon, four horsemen, and such (Revelation 13).

Within the Christian community, there's intense debate about when all this will happen—even though Jesus explained that no one can know (Matthew 24:36). There's even more arguing about exactly what will happen. (The book of Revelation can be a very challenging read.) Naturally, that makes people anxious.

There's no way to escape ALL nervousness. "The end of the world" is a frightening prospect. But believers don't need to panic. Saving faith in Christ means we're already in our vests and lifeboats. We could lay out a plan of the end times, then turn it upside down, backwards, or scrambled—and our destiny won't change. Some of it might be terrifying, even painful—but that's also true of life in general.

How We Can Resist End Times Anxiety

Rather than going crazy with worry about whether some politician is the Antichrist or if the rapture is tomorrow night, saved Christians can rest. That means trusting God with everything we don't know.

No doubt—what's described in Revelation is intense. But the outcome is guaranteed. Believers don't need to waste time arguing about details or crashing out over what might happen. Instead, we can make sure we're "ready"—with saving faith in Christ—and lead others to do the same.

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." —Matthew 5:14-16

We can't stop the end times from happening. We can't make them happen sooner or later. We can't make them better or worse. God's schedule is set. But that's actually a good thing. It means He is 100% in control. And He promised that anyone who trusts Him for salvation is on the winning side (John 3:16-17).

Satan wants us paralyzed with fear or wasting our time bickering over trivia that doesn't matter (1 Peter 5:8). Jesus wants us to be confident; we have useful work to do between now and whenever these things happen (Mark 1:15; James 4:7).

The best remedy for fear about the end times is realizing how easy it is to be ready: put on that life vest of salvation and get into the lifeboat of faith in Christ. Then call on others to follow your example. Everything else will take care of itself.

"The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." —2 Peter 3:9

 

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TL;DR

There's a lot we don't know about the end times—exactly when Jesus will come back and how exactly things in the world get even crazier. That makes some people nervous. But we can't change anything about the apocalypse. All we can do, and all we need to do, is to be sure we're saved by faith in Christ (John 3:16-17). Then, instead of panicking, we can work on helping others do the same. No matter what happens in the end—or when—believers in Jesus are guaranteed to be on the winning side.

Writer: Jeff Laird

Jeff is a staff writer with Got Questions Ministries and used to be a mechanical engineer. When he's not accidentally setting things on fire in his workshop, or petting strange dogs, he loves helping people better understand God’s Word and how it applies to our lives. Jeff's calling is to untangle the "big picture" of Christian faith, making it easier to understand.

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