This YouTube algorithm issue leading down bizarre, unproductive rabbit holes is quite concerning. It creates real danger, necessitating articles on the topic – especially when it involves spiritual matters like this.
As someone adhering to traditional “Nicene” Christianity – the kind everyone avoids when discussing “spirituality” nowadays – I’m not referring to some vague, new-agey, deistic spirituality. I mean the spirituality relating to a personal God, the one dismissively called “Sky Daddy”, and how we relate to Him and the reality He has created.
I’m considering whether the end times, eschatology, is an important thing to discuss right now. But I’ll start with my personal perspective before transitioning to a more theological, biblical take (as I should).
Personally, I don’t find much value in getting overly fixated on future world events if they don’t directly impact my life today. Obviously, “all scripture is God-breathed and useful”, which is where I’ll dig into how I think we should properly view and discuss Revelation and other biblical prophecies about the end times.
It’s quite counterproductive to treat Revelation as some puzzle to solve – guessing how these prophecies will literally play out in reality and unlocking their mysteries. I get that people need Scripture grounded in the real world, including current events, and are drawn to signs and prophecies unfolding. But there is a right and wrong way to approach it.
Hope-Setting, Not Intellectual Amusement
Perhaps I’ll point out that Jesus’ coming was never accurately anticipated beforehand in its details. People tried understanding the exact circumstances, but few succeeded – as 1 Peter 1:11 says, the prophets “searched intently…trying to find out the time and circumstances.” But there was an intent here – they put effort into “finding out the time and circumstances” not for amusement or mere intellectual curiosity, but to “set your hope on the grace to be brought…when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:13).
So in studying prophecies, even the intentionally veiled ones (strange, since much Scripture is already unveiled and we’d do better focusing on that), we shouldn’t approach it as mere academic exercise, but to “set people’s hopes on the grace” through Christ’s coming – the unmerited favor of avoiding eternal condemnation because Christ bore it. The mindset and purpose matter.
Biblically Proportionate Fascination
Part of “rightly dividing the word of truth” is considering how much bandwidth Scripture allocates to certain topics. I’ll venture that while it deems eschatology important in the redemption story and gospel, it doesn’t spend most time on unlocking its mysteries or details – or the near/distant future generally. It’s a target, a goal, a motivational tool (like, how could you be alright losing everything in this life for Christ if there’s no Heaven?).
To be precise, it focuses on the present – what people must do and think now (even if that means rehearsing the future the way the Bible does: we win). It doesn’t instruct us to primarily solve end times riddles or unlock apocalyptic hidden meanings. Even Jesus didn’t dwell much on specifics, and when He did, He was cryptic and vague, often just warning about imminent judgment for Israel first, then the Gentiles – a call to repentance, not analyzing prophetic codes as events unfolded.
Matthew 24:36 comes to mind, when asked a specific end times detail – the “when” – and no real information was given except that day will come like a thief. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 implies the best they knew was not knowing when judgment day would strike – its jarring, thief-like nature, yes, but while jarring for the world, for Christians it signals imminent, complete salvation.
But trying to decipher Revelation’s exact coded symbols and linear timeline of events? I don’t see Scripture itself applying that overly technical treatment to its own end times content, and I think we’re best served following suit as would-be Scripture followers. What’s the point if you think you’ve cracked all the specifics? Jesus’ word still stands – you won’t know when, you can’t accurately guess all the details. That approach gets ahead of Scripture, blowing the emphasis out of proportion.
Disproportion = Distraction = Sin
Why is avoiding disproportionate, consumption with any spiritual aspect important? There are biblical cases where this led to issues. The clearest is in Thessalonians, where some grew idle awaiting the end times, perhaps thinking, “Why work if eternal bliss is guaranteed?” It makes sense in a way, but wrongly divorces eschatology from sanctification. If justification disconnects from sanctification and glorification, it becomes unbiblical and fertile ground for error. Error begets sin, subverting our calling to completely belong to God.
In other words, fixating on heaven’s conveniences highlights heaven’s products over its Maker, God. Heaven is anticipated but not its center – God is. Affection for God spurs righteous action, not self-serving inaction like idleness because heaven awaits.
This principle extends further – Scripture warns against being captivated by “hollow and deceptive philosophy”. Being complacent about what captivates you (no matter how biblical-seeming) can breed strange, even heretical ideas, like in Colossians 2:8-9 where some concepts spreading questioned whether Jesus was actually God or a lesser divine being.
Many things vied for the early church’s attention beyond growing in Christ-centered holiness. There was even controversy around angel worship and formalism, perhaps people enamored with liturgical tradition – again likely missing the point of glorifying Christ.
A modern example of overly dwelling where Scripture doesn’t is mariolatry and sacramentalism. In Scripture, Mary is barely a main character, in stark contrast to contemporary practices treating her as the focal point through constant rituals, festivals, and infrastructure done in her name – again missing the point of deepening devotion to Christ.
Conclusion
Maybe briefly entertaining guesses about end times details is fine, since the prophets likely tried guessing the Messiah’s circumstances too, per 1 Peter 1:10. But they were never meant to fully know – the reason being it wasn’t yet time…and perhaps not really for them to fully comprehend. I think this principle applies to the redemptive arc’s final chapter too – it’s not yet time for us to know the details…and perhaps we’re also not ultimately meant to fully grasp them either.
God has made so much clear in the present – guiding principles, unveiled revelations, verses on being reconciled through Christ, paragraphs on finding joy in Him, passages on spiritual warfare against sin, entire epistles on love and the Fruit of the Spirit.
Compared to all that, eschatology is rightly treated as a punctuation mark, not the entire sentence. So let’s approach it that way, not overly fixating on it.
Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric: https://www.pexels.com/photo/view-of-cityscape-325185/
Disclosure: This post has been edited with Claude.AI. Here’s how much of this article is AI: I write a draft and I simply ask the AI to edit it for me while preserving my tone. I read it a couple of more times for my own tweaks, and that’s how I arrive at this piece. Surprisingly, compared to other services, Claude does really well in changing not really a lot in my original draft. So, that’s great! Makes everything more convenient and more… “mine”. It’s a personal blog so, this is fine for me. Use AI responsibly, folks.