Vision Week - Part E

On this edition of Connect with Skip Heitzig, we conclude our special series of Vision Week programs. Today, we present a preview of the in-depth prophecy series, The End is Near. Soon, we will present these teachings as part of our daily broadcast schedule. The End is Near also includes an informative study guide and a video commentary special. Stay tuned for details on this major prophecy presentation.

Now, let's get a preview of The End is Near with Skip Heitzig. So, you know how Groundhog's Day works, right? Every year, for the last 137 years since 1886, this guy's been predicting the future.

So, this is how it works. If he sees his shadow, what happens? Six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't see his shadow, he's going to have an early spring. So, from 1886 until now, he has seen his shadow 105 times. He has not seen his shadow 20 times.

And the rest, we just don't have historical records for. According to Storm Facts Almanac, Punxsutawney Phil has been accurate. Okay, so get this. You have a 50-50 chance. You're just going to predict yes or no. You say, maybe it's 50-50 accuracy. His accuracy rate is 39%. That's pretty bad.

That's abysmal. So, that's what happens when you let a rat predict your future. One thing to predict the end of winter is quite another thing to predict the end of the world. People have been predicting the end of the world since the world began. People have looked to the Mayan calendar, Nostradamus, Halley's Comet, the Doomsday Clock, a number of other sources to say the end of the world is near. Every generation has heard this stuff.

Every generation has seen the sandwich boards. But throughout history, that has come from some, I would call, credible sources, credible Christian sources. Some of the great Christians of the past have been predicting the end of the world for the last couple of thousand years.

I'll just throw a few up on the screen for you to just see their depiction. Ignatius, 110 AD. So, this is 20 years, 20 years after John wrote the book of Revelation. Ignatius said, the last days are upon us. Hippolytus, 236 AD, Hippolytus of Rome, wrote that Christ was sure to return by AD 500. Martin Luther in the 1500s says, and I quote, we have reached the time of the white horse of the apocalypse.

The world will not last any longer than another 100 years. Christopher Columbus. You say, Christopher Columbus?

That guy was a sailor. Did you know that Christopher Columbus was also a Bible student, and in particular a student of Bible prophecy? He wrote a book called the Book of Prophecies. Christopher Columbus said the world would come to an end in 1656. And he said this, and I quote, there is no doubt that the world must end in 155 years. So, we know that predicting the end is near has been a favorite pastime of a lot of people for a long time. A few weeks ago, for our New Year's message, I told you the statistic that more than half of all Americans believe that we are living now in the last days. That's significant, because it's not just Christians or Evangelical Christians.

This is Americans. Over half of all Americans believe we are in the last days of history. Now, in this series that we are calling the end is near question mark, in this series I am not going to predict when Jesus is coming back, because I value my life. I don't want to be stoned to death for being a false prophet.

No man knows the day or the hour. So, I'm not going to do that, but we are going to talk a lot about prophecy. In fact, that is the focus of this next series is biblical eschatology. Eschatology sounds like a weird word. Eschatology sounds like a medical specialty or something.

Oh, he's a clinical eschatologist. No, eschatology means the study of last things. It comes from a Greek word, eschatos. Eschatos, last things or last times. The word eschatos is from a word we are about to read in 2 Peter chapter 3.

It means the furthest or the final or the end. In this series, we are going to dig a little bit deeper than we have in some of our past series. I want to make you somewhat of an expert on the subject. I want you to kind of know your way around that theological world. So, I'm going to go a little bit deeper. I hope you don't mind that. I'm going to try to put the cookies on the bottom shelf.

I always do. But I want to show you the different views of the millennium when we get around to it. We'll talk about what an amillennialist is and a postmillennialist is and a premillennialist is and why you should even care about that. Why we view the prophetic scriptures, including the book of Revelation, in a literal way. Why do we do that? We're going to look at different perspectives of an event we call the rapture.

Some people don't like that word. They say the rapture isn't even in the Bible, so why do we talk about it? What are the different views?

And why is one view to be preferred over another? We're going to look at how God tells time in a whole different study. How does God tell time? He tells time geocentrically, using the nation of Israel in specific measure, the 70 weeks of Daniel. We're going to look at things like Gog and Magog, that battle that is coming up at some point in the future.

When does that stage? And among other things, including the coming of Christ. Now, there's a whole lot of Christians that think we should not be studying prophecy. Why study prophecy? They think it's not worthwhile.

Why? Well, for a number of reasons. It's too uncertain. There's too many different interpretations of it. So they say, you know, it's better to focus on more solid aspects of the Bible where conclusions are more sure. I always laugh at that, because show me one area of theology where Christians agree totally. I can't think of any. There's always controversy on every subject.

We think through, we plod through, we discuss it, we dissect it. But they say, yeah, but then there's too many people that sensationalize prophecy. And there's a bunch of alarmists out there. And I get that. I understand that.

I agree with that. There are a bunch of alarmists out there. I mean, you go to these prophetic websites, and it's all black and red with flames and capital letters with like 47 exclamation points after every sentence.

So people get weary of that. And because of that, the blowback that comes from that notion of oversensationalizing these things is let the future be what the future will be. Just let's find out. Don't even study it.

Don't talk about it. Just whatever will be, will be. I call that Doris Day theology.

Right? She's the one that's saying, que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see.

Que sera, sera. What will be, will be. Well, I want to give you four words that will dispel that notion. Four words that will dispel that notion. Four words that will undergird our study of prophecy in the coming weeks.

The words are prediction, concentration, deception, and motivation. And I want to show you these words from the principles found in Second Peter Chapter three. So I hope you brought a Bible with you today. If you brought a Bible, turn to Second Peter Chapter three. If you didn't bring a Bible, borrow the person who has one next to you. Look over their shoulder or grab the Bible in front of you in the chair.

That is in the back of the chair, not on the person's lap in the chair in front of you. Second Peter Chapter three. We begin with the first word, prediction. Second Peter Chapter three, verse one. Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder.

It's interesting. This is toward the end of Peter's life when he wrote this. So these are Peter's last days. And in Peter's last days, he is focused on the last days. Verse two, that you be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Knowing this first, scoffers will come, here's the phrase, in the last days, in the last days, walking according to their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of His coming?

For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. He talks about the prophets. He talks about the coming of Christ. And implicit in his statement is that the coming of Christ and the last days was something that was predicted in the Bible. A conservative estimate is that one-fourth of the Bible is prophecy. One-fourth. To be more specific, 27%. So for anybody to say, yeah, here's the Bible, and you know what? I'm just not going to teach 27% of it. Because why get into controversy?

If you went to medical school and the medical school said, hey, let's train these doctors in training, everything except 27%, I don't want to go to that doctor. In fact, prophecy is God's calling card. It is what God uses to authenticate Himself, to prove Himself to people. Isaiah 46, verse 9 and 10, it says, For I am God, I alone, I am God, and there is no one else like me. Only I can tell you what is going to happen even before it happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, or I do whatever I wish.

God says, compare me to any other deity, any other god, any other system. Nobody can do what I can do. I can predict the future. I know everything, the end from the beginning. By the way, no other holy book has prophecy. Not the Koran, not the Vedas, not the Bhagavad Gita.

None of them have prophetic literature. The Bible's full of it. So there's prediction. And specifically, the last days are predicted. It was a question the disciples had of Jesus in Matthew 24.

Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Now this phrase that Peter mentions here in verse 3, last days or verse 3, last days, appears five times in the New Testament. Once in the book of Acts, so that was written by Luke. Once in the book of 2 Timothy, so that's written by Paul. Once in the book of James, that's written by James. Once in the book of Hebrews, that's written by, we don't know, could be Paul, could be a number of other people. And once in the book of Peter here. So we have at least four, if not five, separate New Testament authors that use this term, the last days, the last days. In the Old Testament, they speak of the same period under several names, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Micah use the term the latter days. Daniel calls it the end.

He also calls it the appointed time. He also calls it the time of the end, and he also refers to it as the end of days. So the question, the end is near? Is the end near? Are we in the last days? Yes, we are. Yes, we are. But we've been in the last days for the last 2,000 years.

You're going, oh, did you have to add that part? I really like the first part, we're in the last days, we're in the last days. To say we've been in it for 2,000 years sort of diminishes a little bit. Well, I'm going to do a whole study on how God tells time using Israel, Daniel 70 weeks, but technically, the last days began with the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ and will end with the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Now, how do I know that for sure? Because in the book of Hebrews, chapter 1, Hebrews was written how long ago? How long ago was Hebrews written, 100 years ago? 200 years ago? Anybody know how long ago was it written?

About how long? 2,000 years ago. 2,000 years ago, it says this, God who at various times in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son. The writer of Hebrews says the days He was living in were the last days. Then on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the upper room and freaked out everybody in Jerusalem, they thought these disciples were drunk, Peter stands up and says, these are not drunk as you suppose, since it's only 9 o'clock in the morning, third hour of the day, but this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, it shall come to pass in the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters will prophesy. So, yes, we are living in the last days, but so was Ignatius, so was Hippolytus, so was Martin Luther, so was Christopher Columbus.

Maybe this will help. Next week, next weekend, I hear there's a football game. You heard about that? Okay, so let's say in the football game it's the fourth quarter, and let's just say, I'm not going to say this is going to happen, let's say your wife is cruel and she wants to get you out the door like now, it's right in the middle of the Super Bowl, fourth quarter, and you go, we got to go, we got to go, and you tell her, okay, it's going to be over soon. How soon? We're in the last quarter.

Okay, ladies, I'm going to help you out a little bit. That doesn't mean it's going to be over soon. The last quarter is 15 minutes, but there's timeouts, there's penalties, there's all sorts of things that make an NFL game three and a half hours, three hours, sometimes more long. So last, we're in the last days. Last doesn't mean short. Last means final. It means there's nothing more after that.

So if you look back in history, there was creation, there was fall, the fall of man, there was covenant, there was law, and now we're in the age of grace. We're in the final quarter. God doesn't have another play after this. He's not sending another message after this or more messengers after this.

This is it. We're in the final quarter. But we saw something in our study on New Year's about the end times. Jesus said there would be signs, signs that pointed out, and we told you that the word for that is birth pains, that the signs are like birth pains of a woman.

That's the word that is used. And birth pains, we told you they happen, well, I don't have to tell you women when they happen and how, but when they are more frequent and they're more intense, you know that the time is coming for the birth. And so we are seeing certain things, and as the time marches forward into the future, as we get closer, the contractions are going to occur more rapidly. So though we can't know the day or the hour, I think we can know the season. We can know the season like, okay, we're getting pretty close to the edge here. Paul said to the Thessalonians, of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write to you. You'll be able to tell what the time is, what the season is. So prediction, that's the first word.

Second word is the word concentration. The prophecies of the Scripture concentrate, focus, centralize on something. Go back to chapter 1 of 2 Peter. 2 Peter chapter 1. I started you out in chapter 3. Go to chapter 1. Look at the 16th verse of 2 Peter chapter 1.

And see if you can figure out what event he's talking about here. For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven, and we were with him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart.

Remember what incident that was? It's called the what? You can say it out loud in church. Transfiguration. The transfiguration. At the transfiguration, Peter was there. Who else was there? James and John. Peter, James, and John were there with Jesus.

Who else showed up? Moses and Elijah showed up. And there was a transfiguring.

They were transformed before the apostles. And you remember what Peter said? Peter said, hey, this is awesome.

Let's build three huts here, three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. I'm so glad that God the Father interrupted Peter. This is my beloved Son.

That's what Peter is referring to. This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.

Like, zip it, Peter. We don't want to hear from you. We want to hear from him.

Listen to him. Now, what Peter is saying here is that Jesus is coming because it's predicted by the Old Testament scripture and we had that confirmed by our own personal experience, the transfiguration. We read about it in prophecy.

We experienced it sort of on that mountain. The transfiguration is what is known in the film industry as a trailer, a preview of coming attractions, a highlight, a clip, if you will. Peter, James, and John got a clip of an event that is more fully described in Revelation chapter 19. That is the glorious coming of Jesus Christ to the earth.

That's the point. The point is the focus of biblical prophecy, the focus of last-day events is not the rapture, not the tribulation, not the European Union, not Gog and Magog, not the Mark of the Beast. The focus of eschatology is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the star on the center stage of prophecy. Every prophetic subject that deals with the last days focuses, centers, concentrates on Jesus Christ. So, for example, there's much about Israel in prophecy. Why?

Because Israel is the genetic national conduit that gave us Christ. There's much about the rapture. Why? Because the rapture is what unites us, believers, physically with Christ.

There's much about the tribulation in prophecy. Why? Because it is that season that will prepare the world through judgment for the return of Christ. There's much, much, much about the millennial kingdom.

Why? Because it describes the literal kingdom of Christ. It's all about Christ, all about Christ. That's a preview of a multi-part series by Skip Heitzig titled The End is Near. Visions of the future abound in film, fiction, and fine art, but none compares to the vision the apostle Paul recorded in Revelation. In this teaching series, The End is Near, Skip Heitzig explains the theology of the end times and points to current events in Israel, Russia, and elsewhere as signs of our times. You can expect an in-depth examination of last day's events and eternal destinations when we present the entire series here on Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Before we close out this edition of Vision Week, here's our current resource offer. What is the purpose that God created man for? Listen to this from Skip Heitzig about God's ultimate purpose. God's creation of man was so that his reflection would be in man, but the ultimate purpose is that God might interact with man and woman.

Fellowship, intimacy, to be conversant with, at ease with, to interact with. Fulfilling purpose requires clarity of vision. You'll want to order our vision resource package for this month, which also includes a full-color magazine about the vision that drives Skip's ministry. You'll also receive an audio copy of Skip clearly outlining his philosophy of ministry in the past, present, and future. Receive your vision package when you make a donation of $50 or more to Connect with Skip. Give your gift by calling 1-800-922-1888 or online at connectwithskip.com. That's 1-800-922-1888 or online at connectwithskip.com. We will be back next time on Connect with Skip Heitzig when we will resume the series, Fight for the House, and present the message, Gloom and Doom, from the Book of Jude.

Please join us then. Make a connection. Make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on his word. Make a connection. Make a connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.