2012 - It's only 2 years away! I am sure you have heard about it. They even made a movie about it. Some Mayan calendar ends with our year 2012. And so people think that maybe something will happen. But no one seems to know exactly what will happen. It could be anything or it could be like Y2K and nothing.

But if nothing happens there are all the other impending disasters. What about the threat of third world powers having nuclear or biological weapons. With the dissolution of the Soviet block their are nuclear weapons out there. What if some should end up on the black market. It could make the World Trade Center bombing or the Oklahoma City bombing look small.

And what about the environment. The hole in the ozone layer is bigger than ever and a huge chunk of ice has recently broken off of Antarctica. If the trend of warming continues the polar ice caps will melt and the oceans levels will rise and coastal areas will be flooded. But look on the bright side. Cayce Beach will be a lot closer than Myrtle Beach.

And what about overpopulation? The human race continues to grow. With advances in medicine people are living longer and having children longer. What happens when there are too many of us for this planet to feed? What will happen when there are too many of us for the water or air supply?

Then there is the danger of pandemic. It took decades for the Black Death to travel across Europe in the middle ages. But with our global transportation system it would only take a matter of hours for a local outbreak to become global.

And if we survive all that there is the inevitable comet or asteroid. Scientists tell us that sooner or later a comet or asteroid a few miles in diameter will hit the earth. The end result will be giant tectonic disruption. Earthquakes and volcanoes. And years of darkness and cold caused by the debris cloud.

But we Christians have the biggest disaster. The Mother of all disasters. The disaster the end all disasters. It is nothing less than the end of the world. It is the Day of Judgment. God the Creator will come and judge the earth.

It will be a day of destruction on a cosmic scale. You can't build a bunker to protect you from the fallout of Judgment Day. You can't track it like an asteroid and sent up a rocket to ward it off. You can't engineer new technologies of soil conservation and food production or epidemic strategies to head it off. You can't employ and army of programmers to reprogram the working systems of the universe to keep it from happening.

It is coming. And there is nothing the human race can do to prevent it. Somewhere on the calendar of the universe is an expiration date and it is coming closer every day. The world as we know it will cease to exist. And we can't stop it!

But we Christians have a unique perspective on this impending disaster. We don't try to explain it away. We know that it is coming. And our scriptures are brutally honest about its destructive force. Just read about it in Revelation. Jesus our Lord even told us about it. He said that not one stone would be standing when it was over. He told us that there would be earthquakes and wars and fire and blood.

But he also warned his followers not to be deceived. That many would come claiming to be the One but not to believe them. And he told them that they would not be spared the troubles of those days but to stand firm. He told them to trust in the Lord and not their own abilities. Even thought they be martyred they should trust in the Lord.

We Christians know that the end is coming and God's Word does not shrink from describing its magnitude. But it also declares that the end is not the end. Isaiah says it: "I am about to create a new heaven and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind." John in Revelation foresaw it: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the former things had passed away." For God the end is just the beginning. The end of this world will be the beginning of heaven. It will be the end of injustice and the beginning of Divine rule. It will be the end of death and pestilence and the beginning of eternal life. It will be the end of evil and the beginning of the eternal reign of good.

Say, that puts 2012 and all those other little disasters in perspective doesn't it? No matter what happens we know that God will have the last word. The earth can be polluted and the asteroids rain down and we know that ultimately God is in control. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to clean up the environment, track asteroids and prevent pandemics. But it does mean that we don't have to live in fear. We know the end is coming, but we also know that in God's hands the end is a new beginning.

Perhaps this can put the little disasters in our lives in perspective. The loss of health and wealth and loved ones. I don't mean to diminish or belittle the pain of those losses. They are real and personal. The loss of a loved one or of one livelihood is literally the end of the world as the individual knows it.

But in God's hands the end can be the beginning. God can take the old and make it new. God can take the tattered shambles of our old life and make them so new that the old will not be recalled. That is the way of the universe. The old temples will fall, and their fall will be great and devastating, but the new that God will build will be greater than anything we have ever known.

So as you face the year 2012 and all the other impending disasters of life, remember one thing. God can replace the old devastated parts of our world and our lives and make them new. So put 2012, the ozone layer, and your life in His hands.

The end is coming! The end is coming! People do some crazy things with the Biblical idea that God will end the world and all its wickedness. If you have been watching the media you have seen what I mean. A while back they reported about a church in Korea. This church believed that the end would come in the morning on October 28th that year. People quit there jobs and sold all their belongings. They gathered at the church to await the end. Of course October 28th came and went and nothing happened. No rapture, no final judgment. The next day the church leadership apologized if they had caused any problems. Before that some guy wrote a book "88 reasons why the world will end in 1988." Well 1988 came and went and the world is still here.

I imagine this kind of craziness won't end any time soon. I thought with the year 2000 coming and going that kind of thing would fizzle out. But people will use most any excuse to go crazy. So people will keep claiming that the end of the world is coming. And they will keep doing and saying crazy things until - well, until kingdom come.

There is something about this doctrine of the end times. We all find it somehow attractive and fascinating. It is one of those things that lifts us above our mundane lives and makes us think of things cosmic. Those alive when it happens will witness an event as cosmic and profound as creation itself. So people today, like those in Jesus' day, look for signs of the end to predict its occurrence.

We Christians need to be careful lest we are dragged into their ridiculousness. We need to understand this doctrine of "the end" so that we don't participate in the popular culture's desecration of it. As Jesus put it to his disciples, "Take heed lest you be led astray." People will claim to be saviors and will lead people astray, and others will predict the end and later be ridiculed. We need to listen to what God says about it lest we do something crazy when others start losing their heads.

The doctrine of the end can be traced back to the Old Testament Prophets. They called it "The Day of the Lord." The Old Testament presents history as having two ages. There is the present age with all its evil and death. And there is the coming age in which God's will is realized. That is what we pray for when we say "Thy kingdom come they will be done on Earth as it is in heaven." The transition between these two ages is "the Day of the Lord." It is the day when God or God's Messiah would come to fulfill all righteousness. It would be a day when the world would be literally turned upside down and inside out.

One aspect of this day is that it would be a day of judgment. That is why we still call it the "judgment day." It is a day when the arrogant and evildoers will be burned like stubble in an oven. It is the day when God will wipe every hint of evil off the face of creation. It will be like the great flood, only more thoroughgoing - fire instead of water this time.

"The day of the Lord" is a day of judgment, but it is also a day of salvation. It will bring destruction to evil, but it will also bring vindication to the righteous. In this age people persecute the righteous, they oppress the poor, they take advantage of the unsuspecting. And these people cry to God for relief from the evil that is inflicted on them. On the Day of the Lord their prayers will be answered and God will save them from their persecution and oppression.

I love the imagery that Malachi uses to depict this in the closing verses of the Old Testament. He describes the Day of the Lord like a fiery furnace that consumes the wicked. At the same time it is rising Sun, a ball of fire, that shines on the righteous and brings warmth and healing as it rises.

In the final days before his crucifixion Jesus spoke to his disciples about the end times. These teachings took place shortly before the Last Supper. Jesus was about to die and he wanted to prepare his disciples for his death. At the same time he wanted to prepare them and us for the day of the Lord. As we have already said he warned them about being led astray. Against following those who claimed to be him. Christ's return will be as unexpected as a thief in the night.

But Jesus wanted to be honest with them. He was realistic about the things that would happen before the end. The temple, the center of religious life for God's people back then and the symbol of God's power and might would be destroyed. There would be times of war and times of upheaval. And Christians would be persecuted, and they would be turned over to the authorities by their own families.

But this was not all. Through all those disasters and persecutions God would sustain them. Their troubles would not be in vain. Others would see and believe because of their faith. The Holy Spirit would give them words and act as their counsel during the trials.

And that is what has been happening. The 2000 years since then has been a time of hardship for the righteous. There have been persecutions and disasters and trials and wars. All these evils have persisted. But God has sustained the faithful through it. Many Christians gave their lives in these troubled times. But their testimonies have not been forgotten. Their witnesses have moved millions to faith. And the promise still remains that in that day the righteous will bask in the healing warmth of God's love.

So, what do we make of this "End Time," "The Day of the Lord," "Judgment Day?" For Christians "The End" is ultimately a source of hope. For Christians "The End" of this world is the beginning of a better world. In the end of this age when Christ returns, he will institute a new age. In this new age all the things that God's faithful people have been praying for throughout the ages will come to pass. God will completely heal the damage done to the cosmos by the sin of humanity. The light of God will shine in the darkness of human lives and all will see God face to face.

In the mean time we all face hard times. In this age the things that oppress the human spirit and soul are widespread. We know sickness and death. We know depression and sorrow. We know poverty of body soul and spirit. But the end of all that sin sickness and death is coming. And all of us who love the lord will participate in that end. We will see the end of darkness. And the light of Christ will heal all that he shines on.

So when you hear people talking about the end, don't let them scare you. For we who have placed our trust in God it is a day of hope. There will be turmoil in this world until it comes, but don't let that disturb you either. Because we have the promise of God's loving protection.

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"Y2K" It is computer lingo for �year 2000� The �Y� stands for year and �K� is computerese for thousand so �Y2K.� It also refers to a glitch built into many computer programs also known as the millennium bug. Do you remember when your checks used to have the 19 already printed in for year on the date? The will stop doing that soon because checks that they print now may be around in another 14 months when the 19 will be outdated. But when computer programs were first being written people were still printing the 19 on their checks so the write their programs with the 19 already in place. In other words some computers cannot go beyond the year 1999. On midnight of 1999 the will flip over to 1900. The problem with this is that is won�t compute and computers all over will be shutting down. If you don�t own a computer you might say �So what.� But the water treatment plant, and the power company, and the communications system and the banking system, and food distribution are all run by computers. What will happen if only a few of these systems shuts down. No water or power or money or food or communications. It could be a disaster.

But that is nothing compared to the other impending disasters. What about the threat of third world powers having nuclear or biological weapons. With the dissolution of the Soviet block their are nuclear weapons out there. What if some should end up on the black market. It could make the World Trade Center bombing or the Oklahoma City bombing look small.

And what about the environment. The hole in the ozone layer is bigger than ever and a huge chunk of ice has recently broken off of Antarctica. If the trend of warming continues the polar ice caps will melt and the oceans levels will rise and coastal areas will be flooded. But look on the bright side. Greenwood Beach will be a lot closer than Myrtle Beach.

And what about overpopulation? The human race continues to grow. With advances in medicine people are living longer and having children longer. What happens when there are too many of us for this planet to feed? What will happen when there are too many of us for the water or air supply?

And if we survive all that there is the inevitable comet or asteroid. Scientists tell us that sooner or later a comet or asteroid a few mile in diameter will hit the earth. The end result will be giant tectonic disruption. Earthquakes and volcanoes. And years of darkness and cold caused by the debris cloud.

But we Christians have the biggest disaster. The Mother of all disasters. The disaster the end all disasters. It is nothing less than the end of the world. It is the day of Judgment. God the creator will come and judge the earth.

It will be a day of destruction on a cosmic scale. You can�t build a bunker to protect you from the fallout of Judgment Day. You can�t track it like an asteroid and sent up a rocket to ward it off. You can�t engineer new technologies of soil conservation and food production to head it off. You can�t employ and army of programmers to reprogram the working systems of the universe to keep it from happening.

It is coming. And there is nothing the human race can do to prevent it. Somewhere in the programming of the universe is a divinely written glitch that will cause it to come under eternal judgment. And the world as we know it will cease to exist. And we can�t stop it!

But we Christians have a unique perspective on this impending disaster. We don�t try to explain it away. We know that it is coming. And our scriptures are brutally honest about its destructive force. Just read about it in Revelation. Jesus our Lord even told us about it. He said that not one stone would be standing when it was over. He told us that there would be earthquakes and wars and fire and blood.

But he also warned his followers not to be deceived. That many would come claiming to be the One but not to believe them. And he told them that they would not be spared the troubles of those days but to stand firm. He told them to trust in the Lord and not their own abilities. Even thought they be martyred they should trust in the Lord.

We Christians know that the end is coming and God�s Word does not shrink from describing its magnitude. But it also declare that the end is not the end. Isaiah says it: �I am about to create a new heaven and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind." John in Revelation foresaw it: �And I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the former things had passed away.� For God the end is just the beginning. The end of this world will be the beginning of heaven. It will be the end of injustice and the beginning of Divine rule. It will be the end of death and pestilence and the beginning of eternal life. It will be the end of evil and the beginning of the eternal reign of good.

Say, that puts Y2K and all those other little disasters in perspective doesn�t it? No matter what happens we know that God will have the last word. The computers can crash the earth be polluted and the asteroids rain down and we know that ultimately God is in control. That doesn�t mean we shouldn�t try to clean up the environment, track asteroids and reprogram our computers. But it does mean that we don�t have to live in fear. We know the end is coming, but we also know that in God�s hands the end is a new beginning.

Perhaps this can put the little disasters in out lives in perspective. The loss of health and wealth and loved ones. I don�t mean to diminish or belittle the pain of those losses. They are real and personal. The loss of a loved one or of one livelihood is literally the end of the world as the individual knows it.

But in God�s hands the end can be the beginning. God can take the old and make it new. God can take the tattered shambles of our old life and make them so new that the old will not be recalled. That is the way of the universe. The old temples will fall, and their fall will be great and devastating, but the new that God will build will be greater than anything we have ever known.

So as you face the year 2000 and all the other impending disasters of life, remember one thing. God can replace the old devastated parts of our world and our lives and make them new. So put Y2K, the Ozone layer, and your life in His hands.

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