Author’s Note: This essay was originally posted under the title “The Eschaton (Musings on the End Times)”. While I thought the title kind of interestingly enigmatic, my wife thought it was so obscure as to render this post “dead on arrival” in terms of eliciting interest. As is usually the case, my wife was correct (wry, somewhat-chastened smile), so I offer this piece again under a (hopefully) less obscure title.
I was raised in a nominal Christian household and have always believed the Bible to be God’s Word — containing a record of true events (including the miraculous), right teaching, and reliable prophecies regarding things to come. I still hold that to be true, even after years of careful research and consideration and engaging with the writings and arguments of various skeptics and critics. In the mid-1980s, the Holy Spirit took hold of my heart, and I put my faith in Christ and regard that to have been the best decision of my life. Like many people who have been in and around the Christian faith, the Book of Revelation and other Biblical passages that seem to refer to events that will take place during what Christians call the “End Times” or “Eschaton”, I have always had a bit of a fascination (and struggle) with trying to understand and interpret those parts of the Bible. As with most Christians, I believe these passages to be meaningful and true, but knowing that even the most highly educated, insightful, and trained scholars of the past two millennia have little to no clue as to how these passages will actually play out in history (or have already played out), I am fearful in trying to take any solid stances other than having confidence that my posture should be to hold these things loosely, seek to faithfully follow Jesus on a daily basis, and to keep spiritually awake and aware of things happening in the world around me. Scripture tells us that no one knows the day or the hour when Christ will return, but is clear in the promise that He will return and that His people should keep themselves always ready in heart, mind, and soul for that day.
That having been said, I have always wondered (even from the time before I gave my life to Jesus), about the possibility that humans might be the principal visible agents involved in the unfolding of many of the end times prophecies. The Bible makes it clear that the primary agency is that of God, who sovereignly superintends all of history, and the Biblical symbolic imagery of seals being opened and angels pouring out bowls or blowing trumpets or acting at His command make this clear. But humans have nearly always been ignorant and blind to the historical actions of forces and beings present in the heavenly realms, instead having visibility (most often without awareness) only of how those actions played out within the sphere of space and time that we can perceive with our physical senses. And we are similarly ignorant of not only the specific timing, but also the time scales and actual physical, observable manner in which God will carry out the unfolding of the end of history. I am generally not one to wildly speculate about these things, as so many have done to their own detriment and often to the detriment the church. But still I have wondered, and in this essay I will share some of that wondering, not for the purposes of claiming any special knowledge or revelation, but more as a way of helping myself and others to keep our eyes open to at least some of the possibilities regarding how all of this may unfold so that we can wait and watch in a (hopefully) more comprehensive and prepared manner.
My earliest musings in this area were primarily around the passages in Revelation that speak of the trees and grass being burned up, of large-scale extinctions, of waters being poisoned and fouled, and of the sky becoming darkened. As I was growing up, we were just becoming aware as a society of issues around human-caused pollution and environmental impacts. Not only was Smokey Bear warning us to be careful with fire in our forests and wild places (“Remember, only you can prevent forest fires!”), but Woodsy Owl came on the scene in the 1970s admonishing us to, “Give a hoot — don’t pollute!” and more recently to, “Lend a hand — care for the land!” Why do I mention this? Just that as a young man in that context, I and many of my friends were developing a real awareness and concern for the ecological damage that human activities were having on the world around us. As I studied Chemical Engineering in college, in the back of my mind I wondered if I could possibly apply my degree in some way to develop solutions for environmental issues about which Americans were only just becoming truly aware. In those days, much of the energy and attention in this arena was focused on issues of air pollution in and around our urban areas, litter and trash accumulating along our highways, acute issues of extreme water pollution in and around the Great Lakes, chemical spills associated with tankers and pipelines, and concerns about the future of waste handling and disposal as landfills began to run out of space and disposal of waste in oceans and waterways began to show up on beaches and coastlines.
Fast forward to today, where we see mass wildfires on a scope, scale, and frequency never before seen in various parts of the globe as a result of drought and decades of mismanagement of our forests along with mass deforestation (often by use of fire) taking place in the developing world, could this be at least part of the mechanism by which Revelation 8:7 is slowly playing out before our eyes? When we consider the growing issues of fresh, clean water scarcity resulting from drought, increased demand from population growth and development, and wide-scale human-caused pollution, are we keeping an eye on passages like Revelation 8:8–11? As we note the increased prevalence of air pollution globally that shows up as contamination in the polar ice caps, deterioration of the ozone layer, accumulation of greenhouse gases, and loss of atmospheric visibility and clarity in the wildest places of the world along with light pollution that prevents people in the most populous areas from being able to see the sky and stars, should we think perhaps of passages such as Revelation 8:12? Could and should we possibly view the increasingly alarming rates of extinction, largely resulting from human causes, in light of Revelation 8:9 or 16:3? And what about the increasing frequency and intensity of weather and climate-related disaster and destruction? And how about drought, famine, pestilence, and disease? Do we note the parallels of all these things with the imagery of Revelation 16? Perhaps we should.
Humanity has not been a very good steward of the resources entrusted to us. Rather than caretakers, we have been extremely reckless and careless takers and abusers of God’s good creation. Denial of the science and realities of global warming and climate change is especially prevalent among Christians, who should instead be leading the way via practicing the call to stewardship with which the Lord charged humanity. “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.” It does not belong to us, and it is not ours to rape and pillage to satisfy our greed and our appetites. Is this an area where, ironically, those who have been given such knowledge and illumination by the Holy Spirit and the Living Word have become the principal agents of destruction? Similarly ironically, it is those outside the church that are leading the way from a more proper, though not necessarily Biblically informed, stewardship perspective. Perhaps we should stop resisting and fighting them, and should instead come alongside to work together for the good of creation and for the good of our fellow sojourners with whom we share this earth. While some Christians may foolishly maintain such a mindset, I do not believe that we are called to hasten the onset of the end by continuing our wrongheaded ways (as if we could somehow force God’s hand or purposely influence His timing), but rather to remain faithful at all times with the calling we have received to represent and do that which is good in this world. As exiles and pilgrims in this place and time, I believe we as Christians are to conform to what was spoken to the people of Israel in their exile (Jeremiah 29:7): “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
More recently, my musing has turned toward the unfolding of events in the sociopolitical sphere in our world. Revelation speaks of large-scale wars and violent taking of human life and large numbers of people fleeing from danger, violence, famine, poverty, disaster, and war (as well as many shaking their fists at God in the midst of it all). The most recent one hundred years of history have seen wars and weapons with a scope and scale of destruction that would have previously been unfathomable. We have seen genocide, human rights crises, refugees, calamities, and the like on a global scale. Could this possibly be the partial unfolding of elements of Revelation 6:1–8 or 9:1–19? Human agency has been at the core of most (if not all) of these events and crises, and has most certainly been the active agent in a great deal of the resultant, long-term suffering that has ensued. In ever-expanding regions of the world, we have seen a growing hardness of heart — selfishness and pride and hatred — manifested among and between countries and nations and peoples. In many places, there has been a religious core to these movements (including where atheism has been the dominant belief system — such as in Stalin’s USSR or Mao’s China or Pol Pot’s Cambodia). Sadly, Christians and the Christian faith have been co-opted and caught up here as well. Simply view the rise of Christian Nationalism in various parts of the world — going as far back as the advent of Nazism in Germany to present-day, large-scale movements in places like Hungary, Poland, Brazil, and the United States.
As noted before, rather than acting as agents of good, Christians who have been caught up in these movements have instead served to facilitate the onset and/or continuation of these events and to exacerbate their impact in terms of human pain and suffering. Turning a blind eye toward injustice, toward the asylum seeker, the impoverished, the refugee, the immigrant, the prisoner, the widow, the orphan, the outcast, and/or the oppressed is not the way of Christ, but has become the way of far too many in the church. The irony here is depressingly rich. A quick review of Matthew 25 should shake such Christians to the core. In an area where Christians should again be on the forefront of living out the love, compassion, grace, and generosity of Jesus to the least, the lost, and the lowly, far too many mainstream evangelicals and churches are practicing the opposite. The fight against injustice, poverty, and oppression of all types and on all fronts, which should be directly in the crosshairs of the church, is all too often neglected except for a limited and selective outflow of benevolence in our nearest sphere (but only to those who will adhere to our rules) and in the farthest flung areas of missions (so long as they are first and foremost engaged in evangelism). I am not against the evangelistic ministry of the church (I am very much for it), but this should be a both/and, not an either/or, and should have few if any strings attached (after all, the gospel of uncommon and unconditional grace came to us with no strings attached). The world outside the walls of the evangelical church (including the so-called “liberal” church that frankly has quite a bit to teach evangelicals about representing Christ well in the world), is kicking our butts in the areas of upholding and defending human rights and human dignity, and addressing human need and suffering and injustice.
Biblical prophecies about the end times also depict that several human figures will arise over some unknown period of time in opposition to God and God’s people, culminating in the appearance of the Antichrist and a final battle between the forces of heaven and hell, which will result in the final destruction of Satan and evil and pain and sorrow and death. Prior to the 2020 election, I wrote an essay making the case for Donald Trump representing a partial fulfillment of Biblical prophecies regarding the Man of Lawlessness, an End Times figure whom many equate with the Antichrist (https://douggee.medium.com/man-of-lawlessness-f581a6b7bf3a ). In that piece, I did not see Trump as THE Man of Lawlessness, but rather as a TYPE of Man of Lawlessness. At that time, a Christian brother who had been instrumental in grounding me early on in my faith, posted an article from Breakpoint that stated something along the following lines (my paraphrase): “One thing of which we can be certain is that neither Christ nor the Antichrist will arrive on Air Force One.” I can only agree with part of this statement — the part the echoes what Chuck Colson (the founder of Breakpoint) actually articulated: “Salvation won’t arrive on Air Force One.” In Matthew 24:30, Jesus says the following in reference to his second coming, “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” This passage makes it quite clear that when Christ returns, it will be incredible and obvious, and there is no question that He won’t be coming back aboard Air Force One. However, I find nothing in Scripture that would indicate that the Antichrist, who will be a human figure and seemingly a human ruler of some sort, could not possibly show up on Air Force One. In fact, with the United States at present being the most dominant military and economic power in the world, it would actually make a lot of sense to me that if the Antichrist shows up in my lifetime, it could very well be in the person of POTUS or a person with massive power and influence over POTUS.
In every way that I can think of, Donald Trump is the polar opposite of Jesus Christ and thereby clearly represents the spirit of antichrist, if not the person of antichrist, in our day. The Bible indicates that many representing the spirit of antichrist will arise in history, and Trump is certainly not the first among humanity to so clearly manifest in that manner (one of the earliest was almost certainly the Roman emperor Nero). Thankfully, Trump did not win the 2020 election — good triumphed over evil in this instance, but this has not always been the case under similar circumstances historically. I have to wonder if he had, would we have been witnessing the actual ascendancy of THE Man of Lawlessness, being raised up ironically by the unquestioning and undying support of the very people who purport to love, follow, and serve Jesus Christ? Christians are called to oppose evil in all its forms and should yet again be leading the opposition to Donald Trump, but instead far too many are either standing silent on the sidelines of, sitting in the bleachers cheering for, funding the booster squad for, or actively in the game playing, for Team Trump. That’s not where Jesus would be and not where His people should be.
Throughout my adult life, I have heard faithful Christians saying that they believed the Antichrist to be alive somewhere on earth and waiting to be revealed at the proper time. Presumably, these were titillating speculations originating somewhere within the church, and they may or may not be correct (it is not for me to say; only to remain awake, aware, and prepared). I would guess that somewhere among Christians in every age, there have been such rumors floating around. In any case, I do not think it is a major stretch to anticipate that the Antichrist, when he does arise, will do so via the agency of human beings. Sadly, based on what we have observed over the past four years, it would also not be surprising if professing Christians were one of the core constituents enabling that to happen. After all, it was the Jewish leaders and the Jewish mob, God’s chosen people, who were the instrumental agents in the crucifixion of Christ, cursing Him and hurling insults at Him even as He died on their behalf and for their forgiveness (and for ours as well). It would then not be surprising if the Pharisees of our day and their Christian MAGA mob were to serve as the agents of ascendancy for one representing the spirit of antichrist, if not the person of Antichrist himself. They did so in 2016, and did their damnedest (literally) to forcefully impose their will to do so again in 2020. Come 2024, will we potentially see our brothers and sisters again serving as the agents of Antichrist? I pray it would not be so, but as I viewed the golden image of Trump erected and unveiled a few weeks ago for the worship and adoration of his acolytes at the Conservative Political Action Conference (ala King Nebuchadnezzar of old), I have to wonder how many of my fellow Christians will be bowing down.
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:3–6
Doug Gee, 2021