5 Lies Christians Believe About the End Times
This post will be different from the other posts I’ve done on this subject, as more of a catchall post with the many myths Christians believe about the End of Days.
To preface this, I’m not convinced we are currently in the end times. I think things might change even in my lifetime—but that doesn’t mean I think the last of the last days is tomorrow after my morning coffee.
“But the world is so bad! It’s horrible out there. Look at all the sin!” First, the world has been bad since the original couple brought death to humanity. Second, learn what sin actually means. Breaking the commandments of God in the first five books of the Bible is a sin. Anything we think is bad is not what God considers sin. If it isn’t on that list, it isn’t a sin. It’s a sinful world, but not to the depravity of the transgressors coming to the full (Daniel 8:23).
Lie #1: The Seven-Year Tribulation
This is the most popular end-times myth out there and makes absolutely zero sense when you understand Daniel’s 70 weeks were about the coming of the Messiah in the first century. To bring the Antichrist into the picture in Daniel 9 is irresponsible, because the subject throughout is the Messiah. Daniel 9:16–27 should be looked at as a whole to determine the truth.
“‘O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.’”
“While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, ‘O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision.
“‘Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. And for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed. And He shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week He shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.’” (Daniel 9:16-27 [ESV]).
The entire point is an answer to Daniel’s prayer about exile in Babylon. The restoration comes through Cyrus the Great after the Babylonian Exile. The prophecy states that after a set of 483 years (the Hebrew says shavua or sevens) from the time of the decree to restore Jerusalem, the Messiah will come and be killed during the 70th week.
Interestingly, no matter how late they date Daniel, this prophecy shows Jesus the Messiah being killed in the first century and the destruction of the Second Temple during that period as well. It is impossible to get around this, and no serious scholar would think to place Daniel after Christ’s birth.
But the prophecy doesn’t mention the Antichrist. It mentions the Messiah coming after 483 years and being killed. The prince who is to come is Prince Titus, whose soldiers desolated the Temple during the events of 70 A.D. The antecedent to the He in Daniel 9:27 is the Messiah, the last spoken-of individual in the prophecy.
Meaning the New Covenant inaugurated by Christ is what is in view here, not some fanciful Antichrist covenant. Jesus mentions this in Matthew 26, quoting Daniel 9:27. This is impossible to get around, in my opinion.
So, no, no seven-year timeframe where disasters happen and the world is punished while Christians get a free pass.
This prophecy is about Daniel’s question about Israel’s restoration, as he knew Jeremiah’s 70 years prophecy about their banishment. The angel Gabriel also included the Messiah in this declaration for God’s greater purposes of revealing the future before it happens.
Lie #2: The Antichrist Rules the Entire World
This is a common belief among those who mean well in the world of Bible prophecy. But the fact is, the Bible never says the Antichrist rules the entire Earth. Otherwise, what is the point of the Sheep and Goat Judgment of the nations? All nations would be goats.
The Bible states in one place a statement that might make you think the Antichrist rules the whole world. The Antichrist is the Beast, and we know he is a person because the False Prophet and the Beast are thrown alive into the Lake of Fire. It also mentions the Beast’s kingdom being plunged into darkness in Revelation, so the typical beast=kingdom dynamic is dual-natured in the Book of Revelation.
“Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation” (Revelation 13:7 [ESV]).
Seems clear enough, except the Bible also says Nebuchadnezzar ruled over every tribe and tongue. It even says Greece ruled all the Earth, both references being in Daniel 2.
Middle Eastern cultures often use exaggeration and hyperbolic language to make a point. Meaning he will have great authority, but not the entire planet.
We know this because Daniel 11:21-45 shows the Antichrist at war with many nations, including the West.
Also, in Revelation 13, the question is asked, “Who is able to make war with him?”
If he controls the entire world, how can he be at war?
The Antichrist rules over a conglomerate of ten kings.
I suppose the world could one day be divided into ten regions in the future, but that would have to be many decades to centuries out. The Antichrist seems to be Greek or Islamic from the biblical evidence, unless a thousand years pass and new nations come up.
Also, the Bible names the nations Jesus destroys when He returns and fights the enemies of Israel. They are all in North Africa or the Middle East.
Lie #3: The Trumpets and Bowls Happen During the Great Tribulation
The common scenario where the world is thrown into turmoil and supernatural disasters for seven or three-and-a-half years isn’t in the text. The Rapture happens after the celestial darkening of the sun, moon, and stars from Revelation 6 and Matthew 24, as well as many prophets in the Old Testament (Isaiah 13, Joel 2, Joel 3, Ezekiel 32, Zephaniah 1, etc.) showing the same thing.
When the sun, moon, and stars go dark, the Second Coming happens, leading to the gathering of the saints.
At this point, the wrath of God has not yet come. The wrath of Satan and the Antichrist? Sure.
But not the wrath of Yahweh.
There is silence in heaven during the seventh seal, and then, finally, the trumpets sound and begin the wrath of God. If you follow the order of events, Revelation is largely chronological with some parenthetical sections.
“‘For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand’” (Revelation 6:17 [ESV])?
God’s wrath doesn’t happen before the Second Coming.
Follow the order of events. The seven seals occur, then the seven trumpets, and finally the seven bowls. They happen sequentially, not simultaneously or from different perspectives. There are people I respect who hold to that view (such as my pastor), but I don’t.
What you won’t find is God’s supernatural wrath before the trumpets sound.
The Antichrist kicks off the Great Tribulation with the Abomination of Desolation, then persecution overtakes the world. God’s response to this is His wrath after Jesus returns.
You can’t have any of those events occurring and expect me to believe Jesus comes as a thief in the night to the unsaved world.
“There’s been demonic beings torturing us, angels have been flying around, and waters have turned to blood, but where is the promise of His coming?”
Nope.
Lie #4: The Seven Churches Represent Ages
The seven churches of Revelation have long been thought to be grand-narrative overviews of church history. But the text treats them as physical churches that existed in the time of John, but also exist at the End of Days period.
Revelation 1:10 says John was in the Spirit on the Day of the Lord before going over the churches. Meaning the churches he describes must be end-times entities that will exist during the eschaton proper.
Nothing in the text suggests these are long stretches of history. How can one church escape the Great Tribulation if it exists through history? How can Jesus throw Jezebel’s (perhaps an end-times false prophetess) followers into the Great Tribulation if they don’t repent unless they exist during this time?
The common notion makes no sense, and while I’m not dogmatic about it, I’m skeptical of it being the case that these are overarching spans of time or historical.
Lie #5: We Are Currently in the End Times
This one is more of an opinion that I wrestle with. I will present this in questions.
How can we be in the end times if Daniel 8 and 11 have yet to occur?
Where is the Temple in Jerusalem?
Where is the Antichrist if the nation he comes from doesn’t even exist yet?!
Where is the megacity (great city) Babylon the Great? No city exists like the one described. And it must be a port city in Saudi Arabia/Jordan on the coast of the Red Sea (Isaiah 34, Jeremiah 49, Isaiah 21, Isaiah 13, Revelation 18).
Why haven’t any of the events of the Olivet Discourse occurred in perfect order with Revelation 6?
Where are all the false prophets who can perform miracles?
How can the Abomination of Desolation happen without a Temple?
Is the world being bad a sign of the end times when people used to sacrifice kids to false gods, disease was far more rampant, and famines were much greater?
Are there seven churches in Asia Minor that have been rebuilt?
Why does Jesus destroy cities in Edom that don’t even exist yet?
How can the tents of Cushan and Midian tremble if they don’t exist?
Where are the ten kings of Daniel and Revelation?
Those areas are essentially empty today, and those kings aren’t around. Also, notice they are KINGS with crowns.
Please read your Bibles.
The last days might be around the corner, but Jesus may not return until another thousand years pass.
Are you willing to serve Him to the best of your ability if He doesn’t return in your time?
Prayerfully consider that many pastors are simply misinformed, earning money by swearing it’s the end times, or just don’t read their Bibles.
May the truth of the Lord come to light in a dark time.
And hey, I could be mistaken, too, but think these things through deeply before writing them off.
Blessings and shalom!
