Title Is there really an end?
Contents
Matthew 24:3-14 Is there really an end?
People are very interested in what will happen tomorrow in the world we live in. In particular, I am very curious about whether there is an end to the world we live in. Of course, it may sound unwelcome to say that the end is coming to those who are living happily now. But people who are very pessimistic and negative about this world will say, “Hey, what a damn world! The end will come quickly.”
Jesus' disciples were also deeply interested in the end of the world. So I asked Jesus. “Jesus, tell us. What will be the sign at the end of the world? Then Jesus did not say, “Children, there is no end of the world,” but rather the signs at the end of the world. In other words, the end of the world must come to an end.
Chapter 24 of the Gospel of Matthew we read today is also called the last chapter. Because Matthew 24 has many prophecies of Jesus about the signs of the end times. If you look at the signs of the end that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24, it is roughly as follows. Wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes in various places, people hate each other and love grows cold, the sun and moon darken and the stars fall, the gospel is preached to the ends of the earth, and false prophets and false Christs appear and deceive many. I did.
Ladies and gentlemen, delusion and temptation have different meanings. The person who is tempted remains in his conscience a sense of good and evil, saying, “Oh, this shouldn’t be happening…” However, once the delusion is overcome, the awareness of good and evil disappears. So, even though he fell into a lie that is not the truth, he thinks he belongs to the real truth. And furthermore, he shows great zeal to spread the lie that he believes to be the truth. This is what we refer to as ‘the zeal of heresy’.
In the last days, the spirit of delusion will try to deceive us as Jesus prophesied. In particular, in Matthew 24:24, Jesus said this: “False Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders, and if possible they will deceive the elect.” In other words, the spirit of delusion is targeting even believers who believe in God as their target.
In particular, heretics cause great confusion in our faith by conveying wrong ideas with an eschatology that many people are curious about, and furthermore, they lead us to the wrong way of believing in God or to give up our right faith. Therefore, today, as we face the last days, we want to strengthen our faith by examining false heretical doctrines about the end times.
1. Heresy that there is no end
From the 17th century, as industry and science developed, optimism about history was strong. So people thought that all problems could be solved with human wisdom and power. So, old man, I came to think that there was no need for a nobleman named Jesus to come back to this earth to save a well-to-do man. Such an optimistic view of history and strong humanistic adherents say that the world has no end. However, the theory that there is no such end is a heretical idea that does not fit the Bible.
2. Heresy saying that there is an end but that Jesus does not need to return
Intellectuals know logically and experientially that everything has an end. I believe that history and the world have an end, just as grass and trees have their end of life, animals and humans have their end of life. That is why people often say the words of the last days without thinking even if they do not believe in the eschatology of the Bible.
But I don't think it has anything to do with the end of all things and Jesus. Just as Jesus lived in the country of Israel 2,000 years ago and was executed on a cross, he has now cut ties with history, and asks the question, what can he have to do with our history living in the 21st century? Therefore, I think there will be an end to the world, but it has nothing to do with Jesus. These ideas are also heresy. Because, according to the Bible, everything is governed by the Triune God, especially Jesus Christ and human history have a direct relationship, and everything will be judged before Jesus in the last days.
3. The heresy that Jesus did not come personally but sent an agent
There are quite a few lay people and liberal theologians who believe that Jesus will not return directly to the world. They think that the president of this world does not come personally, but sends a secretary or a special envoy, much less that Jesus does not come to this earth in person. And they send their agents to save and judge people.
This heresy has resulted in the birth of numerous self-proclaimed Adventists here and there. In the Korean church, Sun Myung Moon, the head of the Unification Church, says that Jesus only saved spiritually and that physical salvation failed, so he must save himself. And a man named Myung-Ho Park, who founded the Elijah Gospel Mission, said that God gave birth to a son, Myung-Ho Park, who would save mankind, on Mt.
And Myeong-seok Jeong, who created the group called JMS, insists that the second coming of Jesus will select those who have received the Spirit of Jesus to carry out the mission of the age and claim that he is the one who was sent in this age. However, the Bible clearly states that Jesus will come personally, not that he will send an agent. Rather, it is said in the last days, "Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many" (Matthew 24:5).
4. Heresy That Jesus Comes Only Spiritually
Many people think that spirit and body are fundamentally different beings and therefore cannot be united with each other. So they say that when Jesus was resurrected, it seemed that he had a body, but it was an illusion of the people (disciples), but in reality it was not. And since Jesus is spiritually present in heaven, when Jesus comes to this earth again, He will not come as a physical person, but spiritually.
But the Bible doesn't teach that. After the Resurrection, Jesus existed as a unity, the perfect union of the spirit and the body at the same time. Of course, the body of Jesus' resurrection is different from the body we have now, but clearly Jesus' body was visible to people, had flesh and bones, and ate food. And when Jesus ascended into heaven, 500 Galileans looked at him, and an angel appeared and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand and look into the sky? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
5. The heresy that Jesus had already returned without anyone knowing
Among those who are tired of waiting eagerly for the Second Coming of Jesus or those who have mistaken themselves for the Second Coming Jesus, it is said that Jesus has already returned without anyone knowing. Those who think so often form pseudo-Christian sects, gathering their followers to lead separate and collective lives. Jehovah's Witnesses say that Jesus was already seated at the right hand of God's throne in 1914, which is the second coming of Jesus. From then on, Jesus is said to be the king of the earth, and he has been cultivating the thousand-year kingdom. Of course, this is a heretical idea that does not fit the Bible.
6. Heresy That Can Foretell the Date of Jesus' Second Coming
The Second Coming of Jesus is mentioned in several places in the Bible, so it is an unquestionable truth. However, although there are many signs of the Second Coming, nowhere in the Bible does the Bible mention the date of the Second Coming. The second coming of Jesus means the end of the world, and Jesus himself is saying that God has not revealed the date to anyone. Nevertheless, there are heresies that measure the second coming of Jesus in the time used by humans, and that Jesus will return in a few years, months, and days.
For example, William Miller, the founder of Adventism, said that Jesus would return on October 22, 1844. At that time, there were about 100,000 people who believed this idea. Because the Bible was interpreted and interpreted plausibly, many people were deceived by it. When the October 22, 1844, which they believed, they were nervous and prepared to meet Jesus. But Jesus did not come.
At that time, one of the Methodists who were looking forward to the Second Coming of Jesus wrote this. “Our expectations soared, and we waited for our Lord to come until the clock struck twelve o'clock in the evening. But the day passed, and the disappointment was certain.... We wept and wept until dawn.”
There are many such apocalyptic theories in Korea as well. A typical example is a person named Jangrim Lee of Dami Mission. He designated October 28, 1992 as the day of the public second coming of Jesus and foretold that the rapture would take place on that day. But that day also ended in an accident. At that time, a famous American television broadcast broadcasted this live, so a man named Jang-rim Lee of Dami Mission became a world-famous heretic.
However, once they fall into the theory of time-limited eschatology, if the date they set ends in error, they quickly realize the Bible and modify it by saying, “Aha, you do not know the date of the second coming of Jesus and the end of the world!” But people do not want to admit their mistake. Because they so clearly claimed that day and even preached it to others, they lose their presence when they admit their mistakes.
Therefore, if the date of the Second Coming is not set up in this way, they create a second theory, and they tend to enter deeper heretical ideas. In the case of Adventists, when the date of the Second Coming was not set, the daily newspapers at that time mocked them severely with caricatures. Then they came up with a second complicated theory that Jesus would enter the Holy of Holies in heaven on the day Jesus was supposed to return and conduct investigative judgment. This theory was born because the accusations and ridicule they had to bear were too great to honestly admit their wrongdoing.
In a way, Adventism is truly sad and sympathetic. They have many doctrinal similarities to orthodox Christianity. We, like them, look forward to the Second Coming of Jesus, but they have not been properly informed that the day is unknown, the easiest and simplest principle of the Bible. And as a result of studying the Bible hard enough to tear up on my own and trying to find out about that day, I fell into a false heresy.
7. Heresy to give up worldly affairs because of Adventism
Churches and saints must act within history and society. No matter how good your faith is, you must not deny the present society and the cultural life of living in relationships with the people of the world in the present society. Jesus did not tell you to leave this society and go into the mountains when the end of the world comes. However, among the heretics, since the end of this world is near, they tell them to put away all their possessions and come to their place of residence. They tell me to stop going to school and work.
However, the life of the last days according to the Bible is not like that. Rather, it is to make more efforts to become light and salt in this world. To save the people of this world, we need to put more effort into spreading the gospel. Conclusion. The end of this world must exist. The end coincides with the second coming of Jesus. But no one knows that day. Therefore we must be awake. And in that day there is praise and judgment. On that day, we all wish you a place of praise and reward.