This Is Not The Apocalypse.

Earlier this week I read a Facebook post on our city notification page, in which the person cried out regarding the coronavirus pandemic, "Aaah, it's the apocalypse!!"

This is not the apocalypse, and we know that it is not from Bible prophecy. There are people whose minds are full of zombie movies, science-fiction thrillers, talk-radio conspiracy theories, crummy paperbacks, and half-remembered stuff about the number "666." We need to ignore them, and turn to the Word of God.

That sort of end-times panic has happened before. In the ancient city of Thessalonica, the Christians there began to believe they were living during the "Day of the Lord" (the final outpouring of God's wrath on the earth in the end-times). They were listening to false prophets, and heeding forged letters which falsely claimed to be from Paul.

The apostle Paul, in chapter two of his second letter to them, told them not to be deceived about the Apocalypse. He said this:

"Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God."

This is the Apocalypse. Although all false prophets are antichrists in a lesser sense (1st John 2:22), the Bible predicts one great, final Antichrist. In this passage, Paul calls this person the "man of lawlessness" and the "son of destruction." He will sit in the Jewish temple, and declare himself God. He will also manifest Satanic powers and deceptions (2 Thess. 2:9).

This is not happening, and it has never happened. Nero wasn't this man. Neither was Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, or Saddam Hussein. The Christian Church has a long, rich history of being totally wrong every single time we named some cruel world leader as the Antichrist. Not even Barney the Dinosaur was the Antichrist.

The Jewish temple doesn't exist (yet), so there's no Holy of Holies for anyone to sit in. Vladimir Putin is an evil world ruler, but he hasn't worked signs and wonders.

More, Christ said His return for us, His Church, would be completely unpredictable. He said this clearly, repeatedly, and dogmatically, in Matthew 24:36, 42, 44, 49, and 25:13. He also said our removal would be before the end-time flood of God's judgment came (Matthew 24:38-39).

We are not in the end-times now, nor will we ever be. So looking for signs of the end is a waste of time anyway. We have more important things to do.

Even if you believe the Rapture happens at the end of the age, it is still not the Apocalypse right now. There's no Jewish temple. The Antichrist has not manifested. He who restrains his manifestation (either the Holy Spirit or one of the arch-angels, see neuter "what" and masculine" he" in 2 Thess. 2:6-7) continues to restrain. The other divine judgments described in the book of Revelation aren't happening.

Pestilence is a divine judgment on man's sins, for sure. Dealing with this coronavirus is bad enough. We shouldn't wrap it in end-times robes.

But this isn't the Apocalypse. Follow the Bible's actual teachings about prophecy, not Hollywood's hysterical mash of fearful nonsense.