God began history by speaking the universe into being. He has never been absent from history, has always been purposeful in directing history and will someday fulfill His purpose in His timing, by His power and for His glory. There are various non-Biblical views of history:
1. Life exploded out of nothing and through chance mutation over time evolved into everything. There is no scientific basis for such a completely unreasonable theory of creation. Life does not explode out of nothing nor is there any evidence that the complexity of the universe or the complexity of one cell of human DNA was formed by chance mutation.
However, the result of this unscientific, irrational concept of creation is the exclusion of God from history, allowing human beings to invent their own gods, to reimagine themselves as gods, leading to the death spiral of humanity into every expression of depravity and violence. History without God becomes a swirling chaos descending into a darkness which has no design, no end point, no purpose, no goal — just random de-evolution into an undetermined future.
2. History is only a continual recycling of events with no end point, advance followed by decline, progress followed by disaster and disintegration, societies rise and fall endlessly with no discernible progress other than new technologies which only serve to compound and multiply the fallenness of humanity.
The Christian understanding of history is radically different. We believe that God, a being of unfathomable intelligence and power, created this universe. History has a beginning, a Genesis point:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1).
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host (Ps. 33:6).
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him (Col. 1:16)
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being (John 1:3).
We believe that God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit working together in unity created this universe — not only physical creation, that which is seen, but also angelic beings, that which is unseen. And God created the laws and forces that govern creation.
God not only created the universe but also upholds all things by the word of His power (Hebr. 1:3). The Lord continually sustains all He created through His ongoing, powerful decree.
God created time and although God exists before and beyond time, He meets us in time. This God has never been absent from history but is present creating, redeeming. We believe that behind the rise and fall of empires is a God won its present, sovereignly pulling down that which is evil and building up that which is good.
We believe that history not only has a Genesis point, a beginning, but also has an end point which was established by God from the beginning:
Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’ (Isa. 46:9,10).
The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, ‘Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand’ (Isa. 14:24).
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation (Ps. 33:11)
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it (Isa. 55:11)
It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding (Dan. 2:21)
He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless (Isa. 40:23)
And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation (Acts 17:26)
After God humbled the arrogance of the Babylonian king, the man testified, But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth; and no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ (Dan. 4:34,35)
History has a beginning and an ending and God is purposefully moving history toward the fulfillment of that which He purposed from the beginning. Paul declares that this is the God who works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). As God has revealed Himself to us in the Bible, we see the revelation of the meaning of history.
1. History is the story of God creating humanity like branches on an everlasting vine, enabling our first father and mother to draw life and wisdom from their Creator. In His kindness God warned the first of our family that if they ever chose to reject this relationship they would separate themselves from their Creator and thereby they would create the reality of death.
History is the story of that ancient fall from grace.
2. History is the story of God choosing to redeem fallen, sinful humanity.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace (Eph. 1:3-7).
When Adam and Eve fell from grace, the Lord immediately came to them, called to them, covered them and made promises to them of a someday deliverer. But in fact, that act of grace was determined before they sinned, before they were created. Before the foundation of the world the Lord chose to set His saving grace upon lost humanity. History revealed in the Old Testament is the story of God making covenant with a particular people and preparing that people for the coming of that deliverer.
History revealed in the New Testament is the story of God born in human form, And when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law (Gal. 4:4). It is the story of the God / Man, Jesus, offering Himself as the atoning sacrifice for the sin of the world, thereby reconciling to Himself those who were separated from Him by sin, who trusting in His sacrifice, are forgiven of sin, declared to be righteous and reconciled to God.
History is the story of God choosing to create and redeem.
3. History is the story of the Sacrificed Lamb rising from the dead and sending forth His messenger of grace, the church. This is the history we are now living, the history we are writing with our lives. We are commissioned to carry the Good News of redeeming grace across the earth. This is what time it is in history— the Age of Grace. And because there is nothing more that God needs to do, this is the End Times, the Last Days. All of time since Jesus died, rose and ascended to heaven is the Last Days, the final age.
4. History is the story of the redeemed being conformed to the image of Jesus.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:28,29).
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come (2 Cor. 5:17).
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18). History is the story of redeemed new creations being made new, transformed in the likeness of Jesus by the power of God.
5. History is the story of Jesus returning and establishing His kingdom on earth:
It has already been declared in heaven: The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15).
Daniel saw that day, And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed (Dan. 7:14).
Isaiah prophesied of that day, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this (Isa. 9:6,7)
The angels promised that day. As the disciples gazed at Jesus ascending to heaven, two angelic beings said, Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven (Acts 1:11).
Jesus promised that day, And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory (Matt. 24:30).
In that day of the Lord’s return, He will be enthroned as King of all kings and Lord of all lords. All evil will be put away, the righteous will be rewarded creation itself will be restored.
6. History is the story of the entire universe finding its fulfillment and unity in Jesus:
This is the goal of history, The summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth (Eph. 1:10). Jesus shared with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the beginning of history. He shares with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the movement of history. And Jesus is Himself the end point of history. He is the Alpha but also the Omega, the Beginning and the End. This world, so tragically and grievously marred by sin and the depravity and violence and the suffering that sin produces, will someday find its unity and fulfillment in Jesus.
For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together … For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself … (Col. 1:16,17, 19, 20).
God’s plan is that in the fullness of the times He will bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth (Eph. 1:10). (Or God’s plan is to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
As all things were created by Christ and are upheld by Him, so are all things being reconciled to Him, brought into unity in Him, under His authority. All that has been divided and fragmented by sin will someday find unity in Him. All the diverse threads of the universe will be finally weaved together in one glorious tapestry revealing the portrait of our glorious Savior.
6. History is the story of Jesus finally exalted:
Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phlpn. 2:8-11).
This is the meaning and direction of history: the exaltation of Jesus.
Knowing this and knowing that this is the final age of history, we want to begin this study by defining two terms: The Day of the Lord and End Times.
The Day of the Lord is a term used by Old Testament prophets in reference to an outpouring of God’s judgment on Israel because of unrepented sin. It was a judgment to be experienced by that generation or a generation soon to be born. However, in addition to this near fulfillment, there was often a far or future fulfillment, though the prophets did not always recognize this time gap.
For instance, on one Sabbath Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners; to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord (Isa. 61:1,2). However, Jesus stopped in the middle of verse two — He did not quote, and the day of vengeance of our God because that is future.
God has always been active in history, judging sin. In that sense, we may say that each generation has experienced the Day of the Lord. But there is an end time judgment coming, the Day of the Lord at the end of this present age when judgment will be poured across the earth and the God-rejecting world system will be destroyed.
End Times refers to all of time between the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus and His second coming. This end time is the Age of Grace, the Church Age, as the Gospel is proclaimed across the earth. It is the final era of world history because there is nothing more God needs to do to redeem fallen humanity. The atoning sacrifice of Jesus was and is sufficient for the salvation of any one who trusts in the Lord. All that remains is for the Gospel to be proclaimed across the earth. Jesus said, This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14).
However, what has often been perplexing to the followers of Christ is where we are in this End Time. That was certainly true of the first generation of disciples. As Jesus was walking toward Jerusalem and the final week of His earthly ministry, the disciples supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately (Luke 19:11). The word appear means to come in sight of something. It is the same word used in Acts 21:3 as Paul, sailing toward Israel, came in sight of Cyprus. The expectation of the disciples was that the kingdom of God was in sight.
That’s understandable — they had seen miracle after miracle, they had heard the profound wisdom of Jesus and when Peter testified, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16), Jesus Himself had confirmed the truth of that statement.
Every generation of Jews prayed for the coming of the Messiah and when John the Baptist began to minister, it seemed that the prophecies of Malachi (3:1) and Isaiah (40:3) had been fulfilled. In fact, Jesus Himself had confirmed this, that John was the fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy of a forerunner of the Messiah (in Matt. 11:10).
Though Jesus had warned the disciples that He must first suffer before His kingdom could come, the disciples had not understood this. That’s not surprising — the Old Testament prophets had not seen a time gap between the first and second appearance of the Messiah.
So when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people waved palm branches and shouted, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest! (Matt. 21:9), it is only natural that the disciples believed that the kingdom hope of Israel was being consummated at that moment.
When He was arrested, tried and murdered, the disciples were shocked, devastated. They did not understand the necessity of the atoning sacrifice. That is why, after Jesus rose from the dead, He spent forty days teaching them of the things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 1:3).
Even after that forty day Bible School with Jesus, in the moments before He was lifted up from them into heaven, they were still asking, Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6). Jesus responded, It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:7).
In commissioning His church, Jesus said, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matt. 28:19). While we await our Lord’s return, we are the witness of His presence.
But to this day the followers of Christ ask, “When is the final consummation of your kingdom purpose O Lord? When is the end of all things? When will you return?”
The Apostle Paul speaking of Christ’s return for His church said, Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord (I Thes. 4:17). Notice the pronoun — we who are alive. Paul believed the Lord might return in his life time. It seems that the Holy Spirit has encouraged a passionate expectation of the Lord’s return in every generation.
But the Holy Spirit has also counseled patience. The Apostle Peter, responding to the ridicule of those who were mocking the promise of Christ’s return, said, But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Ptr. 3:8,9).
We are to wait patiently while passionately proclaiming the Good News of salvation which includes the return of our Lord and the fulfillment of His purpose on earth and in this universe. This passionate expectation energizes our patience, gives us hope. Our lives, our ministries, our prayers, are not meaningless. History is not an unending spiral of violence and depravity. There is an end point — our Redeemer will return. We do not know the exact time when this will occur and people who say they do know are liars and deceivers.
However, the Holy Spirit wants us to be aware of the signs of the times, especially as we move deeper into this final season. Jesus criticized the religious leaders of His generation for being able to predict the weather but being completely oblivious to the timing of God’s Messianic purpose, Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? (Matt. 16:3).
We will not know the exact moment of our Lord’s return but we can be discerning of the signs of the times. Our brother the Apostle Paul wisely exhorts us, Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night … But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief (I Thes. 5:1,2,4).
Paul reminds us, For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). He exhorts us, You are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (Eph. 5:8). We are children of light. We carry light in our hearts.
Light shines before as the Psalmist reminds us, God’s word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path Ps. 119:105).
And though darkness is multiplying and will continue to increase as we move deeper into the last days, we are not intimidated. Isaiah prophesied, Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you (Isa. 60:1,2).
In the following lessons we will examine what Jesus and the apostles said about the signs of the times so that we can be discerning. So we can walk in the light.