Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Is this the end of the world as we know it?

Back in 1987, the alternative rock band R.E.M. sang their hit song: “It’s the End of the World as We Know It.” The song clamors of catastrophic events devastating the earth (such as earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, continental drifts and military combat), all of which are ushering in the apocalyptic end of the world.

Yet, amidst the terrors of these seismic phenomena, the song includes commonalities: birthday parties, eating cheesecake, enjoying jellybeans. The upbeat mishmash of both doom and “boom” holds in tension the message of the chorus: “It’s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.”

The solar eclipse of April 8, 2024, is just another of the many proposed events to usher in the end of the world. Some postulate it will be the event that triggers the Second Coming of Jesus, while others are assured Christians will be raptured into the heavens as the sun is darkened by the moon. Still others, like Marjorie Taylor Greene (who posted on X on Sunday morning), are more nebulous, speaking of earthquakes and the eclipse as “strong signs to tell us to repent.”

Rick Pidcock, in his excellent Baptist News Global piece, wrote about the foibles of conspiracy theories related to the eclipse and calls us to just enjoy the astrological event.

Not as ancient as you think

Theories about a rapture may not be as ancient as you think. Prior to the teaching of John Darby, there is virtually no evidence of anyone having a view of Jesus “rapturing” believers into the heavens. Although Darby (1800-1882) had no formal theological training, his followers grew and became known as the Plymouth Brethren. Darby espoused that the world was headed to destruction and the British Empire would implode and fragment, resulting in the formation of a super-state in Western Europe. This led Darby to conclude that before things on earth became so saturated with the vilest forms of evil, God will rescue the church from the world and “rapture” believers to heaven.

Darby’s view likely would have fallen into oblivion had it not been picked up and included in the study notes of the popular Scofield Bible of 1909. Cyrus Ingerson Scofield reduced and summarized much of Darby’s theology into what became known as “pre-tribulation dispensationalism.”

Pre-tribulation refers to the rapture of believers, occurring before a period (literally seven years) of utter chaos and horror on earth, which will harken Jesus to come and defeat Satan and all evil forces. Dispensationalism refers to the dividing of human history into eras (dispensations), chronicling the events in the life of the church — past, present and future.

Lewis Chafer, founder of Dallas Theological Seminary in 1924, was particularly taken by Darby’s dispensationalism, further popularizing the view that Jesus will remove his people from the world before the most dreadful era of tribulation and wickedness in human history.

Darby’s views emerged into the mainstream in the 1970s with the publication of Hal Lindsey’s popular book, The Late Great Planet Earth, which espoused that the apocalyptic end of the world was soon coming. This set the stage for Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins to publish their tremendously popular fictional book series, Left Behind. The first book in the series was published in 1995, opening with the rapture of Christian people all over the planet, leaving the world in utter chaos and setting the stage for the remainder of the books that follow.

What emerged in prominently white Christian evangelicalism was a nationalistic view built on these premises:

• Due to original sin and the depravity of humanity, the world is increasingly worsening and headed for global disaster.
• The true and faithful followers of Jesus will be spared from this horrid evil.
• Godly nations must urgently return to a perceived form of Christian rule as we await the soon-coming day of deliverance.
• Unbelievers must be evangelized (through any means necessary) by conversion to the gospel message before it is too late. Rapture theory weds manipulative strategies of evangelical conquest with the national power of government.

Not the view of Jesus

Such pessimism stands in stark contrast to the kingdom of God Jesus proclaimed. Jesus was not oblivious to the impending doom of Jerusalem, which would occur just decades after his crucifixion at the hands of the Roman government. He also experienced firsthand the brute violence of the religious and political forces of his day, warning that such persecution would befall his disciples throughout the ages.

Yet, Jesus spoke of a movement of his people that would be revolutionary because it would not be led by power but through love, meekness and grace. In simultaneous tandem, the kingdom of God advances alongside the persecution of the church.

This is why the book of Revelation was written. Instead of viewing the last book of the New Testament canon as a futuristic description of end-time events, the book was penned as a cloaked message of hope to Jesus followers in the midst of extreme persecution and is full of symbolism about the unveiling of the kingdom of God on earth.

Hence, the term “apocalypse” (which comes from the Greek term apokalupsis) does not mean the end of world as we know it; rather, the term refers to the “unveiling” or “uncovering” of the hope of Jesus who walks with us through our experiences of tribulation and persecution, while we live according to the heavenly principles and values of his kingdom.

Things are improving

Conditions in the world are improving rather than deteriorating. For example, life expectancy continues to rise. According to the CDC in 2022, people in the United States live, on average, to the age of 77.5 years (a rise of more than a year over 2021). Moreover, education and literacy rates across the world never have been higher. Extreme poverty remains in a steep decline over the last two decades (cut nearly in half worldwide).

While we are inundated with news about wars in places like Ukraine and Gaza, many historians believe we are living in one of the least violent eras of human history. The kingdom of God is coming to earth as we humanitarianly seek to care for others as Jesus modeled for us.

When I was preaching in Bucharest, Romania, back in 2020, I used an American colloquialism that stumped my translator. I said the world was not “going to hell in a handbasket.” He paused and looked at me in wonder and confusion. I quickly realized the error of my terminology and rephrased what I wanted to say.

What I failed to process until later was the reason for his perplexity: European and American histories are quite different. Many nations across Europe (especially Eastern European countries like Poland) experienced the hellacious acts of Nazism, the Holocaust and World War II in a far more devastating way than we did in America. Over much of the last 75 years, Europe has developed and strengthened through a period of tremendous renewal. With the fall of Nazi Germany and communism, historic buildings were renovated to their former glory, economies grew and stabilized, and peace and tranquility came to much of the war-torn soil of Europe. Their world has not “gone to hell in a handbasket.”

In America, we get so shortsighted. When we hear someone suggesting we need to return to the greatness of past generations, we are lulled into an embrace of the nostalgia. We are enticed to idealize the past, labeling it “golden years,” and become cynical of our current state of affairs. This pessimistic view must hope for a God that will rescue us from self-destruction by rapturing us to heaven.

Making excuses

However, the escape of the rapture becomes our ingrained excuse to avoid being kingdom bringers in this world. We do not need to care for the environment if it all will soon burn. We are absolved of demolishing systems of injustice in our society if God’s judgment throne soon awaits. We can neglect loving our enemy if we must prioritize warning people of their impending eternal damnation. “Why bother?” doomsdayers say.

Yet, the reason we must centralize the compassionate care of the world and its people is because this is the right thing to do and the singular emphasis of Jesus: the kingdom of God is at hand. Sharing threatening messages about coming destruction is not “good news.” We should avoid trying to interpret the stars, heralding some form of “rapture” (a term never used in the Bible), which is antithetical to the message of Jesus. Rather, we should seek to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth as Jesus taught us to pray and to act — by loving our neighbors through serving others, especially the less fortunate and the outcast.

The people of the gospel should embrace a message of greater cosmic hope.

What if the church of America was less caught up in a hope to get to heaven and more enraptured to live by the values of a heavenly kingdom while here on earth?

Perhaps we would be less concerned about the sun being eclipsed and more interested in the Son being exposed. Perhaps we would be less enamored about the moon blocking the image of the sun and more intentional to avoid being an incumbrance to others seeing themselves as the image of God. Perhaps we would not just wear appropriate protection to gaze at the blinding light of a gaseous star but be even more fervent to help others see Jesus in how we live and treat one another.

Thy kingdom come, Lord Jesus!

Patrick Wilson has served as a pastor for 25 years in Dallas and Austin, Texas, and most recently in in Rolla, Mo., where he now leads a new community of faith, CrossRoads. He is a graduate of Baylor University, earned two master’s degrees at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry degree from Logsdon Seminary.