Once again we were subjected to all the hype about the end of the world, generated by speculation concerning the Mayan calendar. People have responded in different ways to the speculations. Most people, it appears, simply dismissed it inconsequential, giving it the attention as one would to what is considered simply entertaining. Nothing more. But there are those who take seriously any talk about doomsday scenarios and have already made all kinds of preparations—like stocking up on food, as well as guns and ammunitions. December 21 has come and gone. No end of the world.
Yet, perhaps the time is appropriate to think about a different kind of ending of the world—a spiritual kind. For this Christmas season, we celebrate the coming of the One called the Christ. And Christ is the One who actually came to declare the passing away of this world and to usher in the beginning of a new world. In the coming of Jesus the Christ, when he accomplished his mission here on earth, he put into motion the process that would bring this world to its deserved end, and that would usher in the beginning of the new world. In a sense, the work of Christ at the cross has established the end of this world. And in him the new world has begun.
The good news is that those who are in Christ—surrendered to his authority and following his leadership—already get to experience the “beginning of the end” of the old and have entered into the new that secures their place in eternity. “And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever” (1 John 2.17 NET).
For the follower of Christ, there really is (must be) an end to the old world. One cannot claim to be a Christ-follower and continue to live in a manner dictated by this old world, because “the old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5.17 ESV). Using a different metaphor, Paul describes true disciples as those who have “taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Colossians 3.9–10 NIV).
Of course, followers of Christ are still looking forward to the completion of the process, when the old world is totally gone and God’s new world is firmly established. But they do not fear this end of the world. They welcome it.
Our current experience of a spiritual end/beginning of worlds prepares us for the ultimate end/beginning of worlds. Are you ready?
—Keith Jainga