The End is Near?

This Sunday I am preaching from Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18. It is a fun and scary text. Here are some thoughts that I have as I work on the sermon

MAIN IDEA – I have to be honest, I don’t think about the end, i.e. the final coming of Christ. I would rather think about my children growing old, about my own dreams and successes. It is probably out of a sense of fear that I don’t consider the end. If I embrace the idea that Jesus is coming any time, then shouldn’t I live life much differently? I suppose that depends how I view the end. If it is something that we should be working towards, then I need to get more involved in the world and do what I can to prepare the world for the coming of Christ. If it is something that we just need to wait for, that I should be working to strengthen my faith and the faith of my family. It is something that I think about, regardless of my approach or theological understanding, it is something that affects the way I live out my faith.
Yet I need to have the idea of the return of Christ; it is important and essential to my faith. I need to know that some day things will get better. Actually I need to know that some day things will be the way that God intends, that things will reach perfection. This is because there are days when I struggle and struggle and look for something to claim as a source of hope. I need to believe that some day there will be a return of Christ.
I think it is something that I need to consider more often. It is something that I should take more seriously because it does challenge the way I live my faith. It may not always be easy, but it is the support that I need and the grace that I can receive.

I want to believe that some day things will change. I do believe that some day things will change. I know this can convict me of my laziness in my faith, but it also can inspire me in living out my faith. Let that truth of Christ’s return stir on my heart so that I may follow those who lived out this faith and find that glory land. Amen

THEOLOGICAL IDEA – Eschatology, eschatology, eschatology. There are two approaches that I am considering in this sermon: dispensational premillennialism – the idea that the millennial kingdom will be ushered in by divine manifestation at the second coming which will happen when the conditions of life have reached their greatest tribulation; postmillennialism – the idea that the last things are being extended in the world through preaching, works, and the like, and that Christ will return at the end of a long period of righteousness and peace.

I lean towards a realized eschatology, which in some ways is similar to postmillennialism except for the belief that our good works can usher the Kingdom of God. Our good works can usher in an experience of the Kingdom in the here and now, but will not hasten or slow down the second coming of Christ. We do not know the time or the place, so we do what we can now for the now. The saints that have gone before us, I believe, have embraced this approach to living out their faith.