If you’re like many believers, you may have developed a fascination with the last days. On Faith and the Future, Dr Kameel Majdali and Neil Johnson discuss what they believe is the nature of the end times. How will we know when they’re actually upon us?
Kameel believes we know these are the last days because the Bible tells us so. In 1 John 2:18, it says “Dear Children, this is the last hour.” God means what He says and says what He means. We need to take God at His word and live as if it’s the last hour.
‘We will organise our lives,’ says Kameel. ‘We will plan. We will conduct ourselves in a Biblically sound, spiritual manner. If this is the last hour, then let’s get ready.’
The Nature of the End Times
There is a sense in which believers throughout the past 2000 years have had to contend with this idea of living their lives as though it’s the last days. There was an anticipation Christ was coming. ‘Certainly, in the year 1000 everybody thought Christ was coming,’ Kameel says. ‘But at the same time, it really is the last hour. Because if Jesus doesn’t come to us in our lifetime, we go to be with Him one way or another. We all have an appointment with the Lord.’
The Bible also tells us there are sceptics, and they have always been around. 2 Peter 3 anticipates them. They’re called the scoffers, and they ask when Jesus is actually coming. Peter goes on to write that they are willingly ignorant.
In verse 8, it also says that a day is to the Lord is a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. The God of the Bible is so big He is beyond space and time. He didn’t insert himself into space and time, He created it. From His perspective, if He says it’s the last hour, it is the last hour.
‘The fact is we have a job to do,’ says Kameel. ‘It’s called the Great Commission, the only homework assignment ever given to the church. Let’s fulfill that job and the end will come. That’s one thing.’
Jesus Will Come Again
The second thing is that key verse in John 2:18. We will know when it’s the last hour because the Antichrist is coming. Antichrist doesn’t just mean being against Christ. It also means to be in the place of Christ. There are people who will put themselves in that place.
‘I believe the Bible is very clear,’ says Kameel. ‘We’re not to be looking for the Antichrist. There’s plenty of them around. We need to be looking for just one person, Jesus Christ himself. The Son of God at the right hand of God is coming again.’
‘The Antichrist is neither to be feared or dreaded. It is merely a milepost along the way.’
Listen to the full discussion below:
