Where we are on God’s timetable? When will Jesus Christ come again? What’s next?
We don’t know, of course. Jesus clearly told us that
It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. (Acts 1:7)
But there are things we do know.
We are in the last days.
In these last days [God]has spoken to us in His Son. (Hebrews 1:2)
When Jesus came, God spoke through Him, and that started the last days.
We see these things at work, and getting worse:
At least some countries have gone through the steps in Romans 1:18-32.
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (2 Timothy 3:1–4)
Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18)
Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Peter 3:3–10)
The End of the Beginning; The Beginning of the End
Winston Churchill, after a significant victory in north Africa, spoke about where the world was in the course of World War II:
“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The End of the Beginning
John the Baptist was the last Old Testament prophet. Perhaps we can say that John the Baptist marked the end of the beginning.
The Beginning of the End
Now that we are in the last days, we are in “the beginning of the end.”
So, back to the original question: Where are we on God’s timetable?
There are “milestones” during end times. We are seeing 1 Timothy 3:1-4, for example. Jesus talked about certain signs being the beginning of birth pains. (Matthew 24:8)
But we don’t know.
What we do know
What we do know is that we are to be alert. To be ready. To trust God working His holy plan.
