Ambassadors to the End of the World

Many people are looking to the Bible to figure out if the end is near, and that’s fine. But many do not seem overly concerned with what the Bible says to do about it if it is. They’re buying guns, storing food, and moving to Montana. (None of which are bad things!) But what does the Bible say to do?

Letting the major end time books be our guide, let’s start with Daniel.

• “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself . . .
• in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.
• Daniel was there until the first year of King Cyrus.” (Daniel 1:8-21, ESV)

So Daniel kept himself morally pure and served better than the natives. He represented God well and was rewarded for it. Interesting example. His friends told the king they would not bow to idols whether or not God saw fit to rescue them. They were able to stand, one way or another, because they did what God said to do regardless of the consequences (which they leftto Him).

What about Jesus’ Olivet Discourse? (I will leave the question as to what this is specifically referring to for now). In Matthew 24 Jesus gave the following commands:

• See that no one leads you astray [if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.]
• See that you are not alarmed,
• when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place… then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
• stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

Here Jesus warns against following false Christs, unjustified alarm(!), and to flee Jerusalem if the abomination of desolation appears on the scene. Again, nothing about storing food or building bomb shelters.

The Book of Revelation has many commands which I will not list here but they are mostly to remain pure and not become Satan worshipers.

Whether or not we are living in the “end times,” I think it helps to remember that we are just passing through this world, and we have a job to do. 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10 says,

“We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

What are some features of an ambassador? An ambassador is not living in his own country or culture, and while he must respect the authority of the country in which he resides he is not to violate his own. An ambassador speaks for his country and under its authority. Ambassadors were usually sent to others to make an alliance of some sort.

All of these fit the commands for believers quite well. We are citizens of the Kingdom of God – not the world. And our job is to warn the world of its coming doom. But unlike ambassadors of old, we are not guaranteed safety from this foreign world – we don’t have an embassy where we can hide out in safety.

When the Roman senate decided that a country should become a province they sent ambassadors to discuss the terms of peace with the vanquished people. But this foreign country has not yet been subjugated, so we will often suffer as ambassadors. The idea that God will keep believers from suffering is unbiblical. In the passage above Paul went on to say,

“so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger

While ambassadors were never to be mistreated, Paul was an ambassador in chains (Eph 6:20), he had been imprisoned, beaten, stoned, was hungry, thirsty, and exposed to the cold (2 Cor 11:23–28). While some ambassadors wear gold chains, Paul’s insignia is his chains (2 Tim 1:16). He goes on:

through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.”

Paul’s role did not change regardless of the circumstances, and neither does ours. We have the same guidebook for every time and place (2 Tim. 3:16). There is no “In Case Of Tribulation Break Glass” emergency kit in the back of our Bibles somewhere!

So . . . are we in the end times? Consider the following circumstances:

• False worship abounds, some of it centered around immoral activities.
• Divorce is common and many openly ridiculed marriage.
• Abortion is practiced by doctors.
• Homosexuality and bisexuality is accepted.
• Pornography and perversion in art are common.
• Drunkenness and other substance abuses abound.
• Big business swallows up smaller businesses forcing people out of work.
• The state provides food and entertainment to placate them.
• Crime rates are rising, and violent gangs roam the streets.
• The government agencies are engaged in continued power struggles resulting in national instability.
• Government leaders are involved in sexual scandals.
• Christianity is seen as subversive and targeted for elimination.

An apt description of America today? It is actually a description of 1st Century Rome! Things were actually a lot worse back then, especially for Christians. And yet Christianity became the dominant religion in Rome soon after. It would be difficult to blame first century Christians for thinking they were living through the tribulation and the end of the world – but they weren’t. Maybe we are, but maybe another 2,000 years of human history lie before us. Perhaps we can learn something from first century believers who did not give up the fight even under genuine persecution.

American Christians have enjoyed a unique time and place where it is rarely the case that we suffered true persecution. But this is not because of some biblical right. We may be facing seriously bad times ahead, but in the grand scheme of things this is not unusual. The Church has survived worse than Obama, the European Union, the Illuminati, or anyone else today. It not only survived, but thrived. We might be in the end times. We might not. It’s been worse. It might get worse. Or it might not. The most important thing for believers with regard to suffering is that  tribulation will not separate true believers from His love (Rom. 8:35).

Whether we face the end times or not, we have our marching orders.