Until The End Comes

"And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Mat.24:14

For a long time when I read this verse I interpreted it to mean that one day the last person on earth will either get witnessed to or get saved and that will trigger the rapture. This verse has been used to motivate the church to get busy in evangelism because we want to bring Jesus back.

I have changed my mind about this.

First, the day and time of the rapture is already set on God's calendar. No one else but God knows that date. But God knows and it will happen on that exact day and at that exact time. Nothing that we do in our small world will affect when the rapture happens.

Second, This verse preaches a stronger message to the church. It is a message of faithfulness. We are given a job to do and we are to faithfully carry out that job. Period. Our job is to preach the gospel. To win souls, disciple young men, and to plant churches. We have no other job. Everything else we do is to support the primary task, and to encourage those who go and those who send.

Faithfulness is our primary responsibility as Christians. Faithful to the Lord, faithful to our local church, faithful to our spouses, faithful to preach, pray, and propagate the gospel.

The verse tells us that we need to be doing what we are called to do up until the end comes. 

Final thoughts. We will leave things unfinished. We are never called to win the whole world. We are a light to the world to testify against it that they are living in darkness.