Matt Chandler: Why Studying the End Times Matters for Today
Pastor Matt Chandler says that if we don’t have a right view of eschatology and God’s cosmic plan, we’ll get bored and give ourselves over to moralistic deism. That’s why it’s so crucial to understand that, for example, it doesn’t end with God blowing everything up and taking some people to heaven—He’s creating a new heaven and Earth. Our view of the end times shapes our thought process in day-to-day life.
“Eschatology informs life today,” Chandler says. “… It shapes how we think about life today, how we think about our jobs, how we think about creation.”
Knowing just how wonderful the new creation will be creates a longing in us for God’s presence in the afterlife. It’s going to be a new way of living that’s free of shame, sin and sadness. It’s not just about you and me individually—it’s about God giving all of His people the same heart.
“You’ve got a new way of being, a new way of relating to one another where we’ve got one heart—different perspectives, but one heart,” Chandler says. “… Now, to this day, we can still feel this—Christian or not Christian, we can feel this, and I would argue we’re trying to solve it. So Ecclesiastes 3:11 would explain this phenomenon like this: ‘He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart.’
” … The longing for the fulfillment of these things was given to us not so that we would have everything figured out; it’s that the mystery would draw us into the heart of God. … You know what fills the gap of eternity? Not money—it’s temporary. Not looks—those are temporary. Not success … Everything under the sun, everything in the cosmic universe is temporary, not eternal, until it is made new.”
For more insight into keeping your eyes on the promises of God in eternity, watch the entire sermon here.
