Preaching Goes Viral

Is the Pandemic a Sign of the End of the World? Part One

Apocalyptic belief: Is it the end times or NOT?

1. Two Realities. And this points to the two realities of the end times. Our experience of life in the present is both “already” and “not yet”. There is a temptation for us in a year like 2020 to see everything as all “not yet”. To see the world around us as “all bad”. And when we see the world as all bad, maybe even evil, and we start thinking, “Well this must be the End.” We certainly all want it to end! But that’s not how Jesus described the world we are living in. He told us what it would be like to live in the last days. 2. Weeds and Wheat. In Matthew 13 he told a story of a farmer who planted wheat in a field. But while the farmer was sleeping, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat. The wheat grew up and the weeds started to grow up with it. And when the farmer’s hired hands learned that there were both weeds and wheat growing at the same time, they came to the farmer and asked, “Do you want us to pull up the weeds?” And he said, “No, if you do that you might pull up the wheat along with it. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at that time, I will gather the wheat into the barn and throw the weeds on the fire.” 3. Life a Mixture. Jesus said that living in the last days will be a mixture of both good and bad. A life where some things feel blessed and other things feel cursed. A life where you take two steps forward and one step back. A life where there is a pandemic raging in the world, and yet you feel the peace of Christ. A life where your marriage might be struggling, but you recently saw a breakthrough in your relationship with one of your kids. A life where you see the world melting down because of racial injustice, but at the same time, you’ve got a few close friends of a different race who love you and support you. Jesus says that this is the nature of the world, and will be that nature of the world up until the very end.

2022-12-16

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Eric Pickerill