End Time Prophecies: Israel, Fear of ‘Annihilation’ and More
Max Lucado has covered a lot of ground over the years as a pastor, author and gospel communicator. Most recently, he released a book about the biblical end times titled, “What Happens Next? A Traveler’s Guide Through the End of This Age.”
It’s a subject Lucado felt compelled to tackle.
“I’m getting old, and, so, as I get old, I get curious,” he told CBN News. “I really think I have as many loved ones and friends who have already passed on into the next life as I do … here still on the Earth.”
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“[There is] this sense that the world feels super fragile right now … like we’re one press of a red button away from annihilation,” he said. “There’s just … this angst in the world. So, those two things kind of came together, and I began to take seriously more teaching and study on this topic.”
While the topic of the end times can sometimes spark anxiety and worry, Lucado also addressed why these subjects should usher in peace.
“It has been used to scare people or manipulate people,” Lucado said. “It should not. Jesus, when he wanted to encourage His followers on the night before His crucifixion, He spoke about end times.”
He continued, “[Jesus] said, ‘Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. [In] my Father’s house are many mansions.’ He went on to tell them that He would come and get them, and so He used the promise of His return as a way to lift them out of anxiety and sadness.”
Lucado said Jesus’ return is a “key fixture of Scripture” and that it’s mentioned more than 300 times in the Bible and in nearly every book of the New Testament.
“It’s a dominating, primary theme of Scripture, that Christ will return,” Lucado said. “And it should give us hope. In these days, it feels so dark; it feels so desperate. The promise of the return of Christ, in which the world that’s upside down now will be turned right side up—for some people, it’s the only hope they have.”
Lucado acknowledged the many different views that exist under the end times umbrella today. Some of those views, he said, surround Israel, with the Jewish state remaining central not only to current events but also to theology.
In fact, it’s the role of Israel in the end times that often creates debate.
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“For hundreds of years, church fathers and church leaders could not envision Israel being reconstituted as a nation,” Lucado said. “Consequently, many of the prophecies about Israel regarding the reconstitution or repopulation of Israel as a nation were taken allegorically [and] metaphorically. They just couldn’t envision that. Of course, all that changed in May of 1948.”
That’s when the modern state of Israel was created, leaving those who once thought it wouldn’t ever be possible in absolute awe.
“Then, all of a sudden we realized, ‘Wait a second, these prophecies about the return of Israel to the land of Israel, we can take this seriously,’” he said. “I think everything changed when Israel became a nation, and, consequently, our generation is privileged to live in the end of the end times, because Israel is now a nation—and so many of the prophecies—many of the prophecies that could not be fulfilled without Israel as a nation—can be fulfilled.”
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Reprinted with permission from faithwire.com. Copyright © 2024 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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