Who Wants the World to End?

This is an excerpt from my sermon on June 22, 2008. The sermon was about the nature of Biblical prophecy and the role it plays in the believer's life, but the message touched on the hope that exists, in my opinion, in every person christian or nonchristian.
So unless someone is out their mind I think it is pretty safe to say that almost everyone wants the world to end. The first response to that statement might provoke someone to immediately object by saying, “No! I don’t want the world to end. I want to live!” Such a response would be indicative that I have been misunderstood by what I mean when referring to “the end.” When I say “the end” I am not referring the end as if to say that humanity will cease to exist. I am referring to the end as in the end of a chapter in this story of redemption through Christ Jesus. I am referring to the end of what the Bible calls “the present evil age” Galatians 1:3, 4 says “the Lord Jesus Christ…gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age…” You don’t have to live long on this planet to realize that we live in a pretty messed up world.

It is from this perspective that I believe we can all agree we want a world with no tsunamis. We don’t want massive earthquakes swallowing up thousands of people. We do not want wild fires in cindering whole communities. These disasters certainly don’t discriminate between male or female young or old. Then there are the wars throughout history that have killed millions upon millions of people. You know some group did a study to determine if there has ever been a time in recorded history where the whole world was at peace and if so for how long. They tried to find a time in recorded history where there was no conflict anywhere and they found it. There was a time in which the world was at peace for about 15 minutes. Seriously, who wants to live in a world where war is never ending? Then there are the terrible diseases. Millions of people die every day because of them. Who wants a world with AIDS? People die because of poverty and starvation. I haven’t mentioned the millions of people that die at the hands of others. There are so many evil people in the world who take pleasure in hurting others. Who wants a world with serial killers? Who wants a world of pedophiles?

Take a good look at the world and you’ll see that they too want it to end. Their actions say so. The world is not happy with this “present evil age” either. This is why you hear the world speak in terms of “a better tomorrow.” That is the language of hope. They too want the evil to end, but the problem is that they have looked inward and not upward for help. The world wants to renew the earth, and look to itself for its salvation from these evils. Jesus said, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Rev. 21:5), but the world has said “Don’t bother yourself, Jesus. We got it.” The world has offered up answers for the ills of the world and to their credit it has helped somewhat. Suffering has been relieved through medical advances, the hungry are being fed, and criminals are being apprehended, but it has only touched a small tip of an enormous iceberg. So from purely a human perspective there is no solution that will completely eradicate these things. So that I am not understood I am not suggesting that believers write off the present world because it is doomed anyway. This would not be a Christian outlook. For the time being we are to provide with as much as within our ability to provide relief to a lost and suffering world. This begins with the gospel of Jesus Christi and showing how the Kingdom of God is already present. Any effort even among Christians that falls short of articulating the gospel is simply another “humanitarian work.” John Piper has a good message on How the Kingdom is present.
The point of my post was simply this. We all want a better world. This hope is in the heart of every human being.