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And Then the End Will Come!: (But Five Things You Need to Know in the Meantime) by Brandon Andress
tristaanogre's review
4.0
It is rather interesting reading this book in the context of the culture of 21st century USA. It seems that all the things that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24 are happening now. There are earthquakes in Iran and China, there is war in the middle east in Afghanistan, Syria, and Palestine. There's all sorts of economic unrest in Europe. With trials like Kermit Gosnell going on in Philadelphia and James Holmes in Colorado, it seems like everyone is basically living their own morality and just doing their own thing. If we aren't living in the "End Times", then they must be pretty close.
Enter Brandon Andress and the book And Then the End Will Come!. And suddenly, we get to frame the whole conversation differently. When all is chaos around us, Brandon points out that either we get obsessed with the "End Times" and start making all our charts and predictions, we get cynical and start to discredit everything we hear, or we get indifferent. And that's OK. What's most important about Jesus words about the "End Times" in Matthew 24 are not the timing of when things will happen and the specifics, but more on the lines of what his followers are supposed to do as the world becomes more and more chaotic.
1) No matter what happens, follow Jesus. Bad things will happen, the world will turn upside down around us, we may even lose our lives in the process as the world gets more and more hostile towards Christianity. But what we are called to do is to follow him no matter what.
2) We are not the center of the universe, God is. Instead of trying to figure out how God is supposed to take care of us, we now re-orient ourselves to how we serve God through serving others. Brandon asks "Are you a sheep or a goat?"
3) We stand between those who have a need and the one who can meet that need. Our job on this planet is to make real in the lives of others the full gospel of the inbreaking of God's kingdom and what that means to others. It's not just a sales pitch of salvation, but a full story of God's Kingdom and all it entails, from the counter-cultural ethics to the immense treasure of a life fully lived.
4) We need to become "one with them". In other words, rather than whining and complaining about the little inconveniences in our lives, begin to fully identify with what it means to be persecuted in the world. And, beyond that, to actually become one with the suffering people around us every day. Take time to experience life and be out there among them and know what it means to feel pain.
5) Do not be led astray. There are going to be so many things in this world that will distract us from following Jesus, that will demand our allegiance that we should be giving to Jesus. There is so much that will do that from political ideologies to nationalistic fears to individual selfishness. The big thing we need to remember is to not lose site of Jesus and remain intimately close to him.
Brandon, in his concluding chapter, sums it all up. With all the chaos going on around us, with, really, how easy we have it, we have no clue what is to come. When it comes down to it:
In other words, a better eschatology is not to try and figure out when the end will come and how it will happen, but to have a better view of what we are supposed to be doing in the hear and now. What happens at the end will happen...and nothing we can do can change that. But where we are right now, that we have control over.
I think Brandon's last "Extra" chapter is extremely important in understanding this. If all we have as an eschatology is a view that this world will be blown to bits and we'll "escape" into some non-physical heaven, then of course nothing we really do here matters beyond just getting people to go to that heaven (that salvation sales pitch again). But if we realize that the "new" Creation is not a "brand new" creation but a "renewed and restored" creation, if we realize that the "new" bodies we have will be redeemed and restored bodies, if we realize that when the end DOES come, it will be to be, for the first time, FULLY human in a world that has been healed and restored to the way it was always intended to be, and that means a fully physical and solid reality. The Kingdom that came when Jesus first appeared will be completed when he comes back. The "End of the Age" is the end of the Present age before Jesus comes back and will inaugurate the NEXT age when God will be completely on the thrown for the rest of the time.
We in the West need an eschatology book like this one. We are so caught up in our civic religion, we are so caught up in our political ideologies and competing allegiances, we are so caught up in protecting what we have as physical things that we forget to see that we are truly called to give it up so that we can TRULY experience treasure. We need to be reminded, that it's not about us, but it's all about him.
I rated this book four out of five stars, not because I didn't think it was amazing and only really liked it. The only drawback to this book was the writing style. I appreciate the way the "broken sentence" style adds a bit of the poetic speaking voice of a preacher/teacher totp the book, but after about 100 pages, it started to feel like verbal whiplash and started losing it's effect. There are places when the broken sentences were necessary for impact and emphasis, but it got long after a while.
The other 4 stars? If I could give this book a percentage of stars, it would be 4 stars and 99% of the fifth star...excellent read and highly recommended. We need this book. YOU need this book. Anyone who wants to know what a believer is supposed to do about the end times needs to read this book. I pray that people who do read it will find it as transforming as I did.
You might appreciate reading a sermon I gave a year or so ago on a similar topic. Check out Encouragement in the End Times
Note: I received this book for free from the author with the understanding that the book would be reviewed honestly. I was in no way compensated for this review and all views are solely and completely my own. I was not required to offer a positive review either through the publisher or author.
Enter Brandon Andress and the book And Then the End Will Come!. And suddenly, we get to frame the whole conversation differently. When all is chaos around us, Brandon points out that either we get obsessed with the "End Times" and start making all our charts and predictions, we get cynical and start to discredit everything we hear, or we get indifferent. And that's OK. What's most important about Jesus words about the "End Times" in Matthew 24 are not the timing of when things will happen and the specifics, but more on the lines of what his followers are supposed to do as the world becomes more and more chaotic.
Spoiler
Brandon frames out five things that, as we consider the "End Times" in which we live, we cannot forget. Briefly, they are:1) No matter what happens, follow Jesus. Bad things will happen, the world will turn upside down around us, we may even lose our lives in the process as the world gets more and more hostile towards Christianity. But what we are called to do is to follow him no matter what.
2) We are not the center of the universe, God is. Instead of trying to figure out how God is supposed to take care of us, we now re-orient ourselves to how we serve God through serving others. Brandon asks "Are you a sheep or a goat?"
3) We stand between those who have a need and the one who can meet that need. Our job on this planet is to make real in the lives of others the full gospel of the inbreaking of God's kingdom and what that means to others. It's not just a sales pitch of salvation, but a full story of God's Kingdom and all it entails, from the counter-cultural ethics to the immense treasure of a life fully lived.
4) We need to become "one with them". In other words, rather than whining and complaining about the little inconveniences in our lives, begin to fully identify with what it means to be persecuted in the world. And, beyond that, to actually become one with the suffering people around us every day. Take time to experience life and be out there among them and know what it means to feel pain.
5) Do not be led astray. There are going to be so many things in this world that will distract us from following Jesus, that will demand our allegiance that we should be giving to Jesus. There is so much that will do that from political ideologies to nationalistic fears to individual selfishness. The big thing we need to remember is to not lose site of Jesus and remain intimately close to him.
Brandon, in his concluding chapter, sums it all up. With all the chaos going on around us, with, really, how easy we have it, we have no clue what is to come. When it comes down to it:
If we aren't living like Christ presently, when times are relatively good, then we will never live like Christ if times get really difficult in the future.
In other words, a better eschatology is not to try and figure out when the end will come and how it will happen, but to have a better view of what we are supposed to be doing in the hear and now. What happens at the end will happen...and nothing we can do can change that. But where we are right now, that we have control over.
I think Brandon's last "Extra" chapter is extremely important in understanding this. If all we have as an eschatology is a view that this world will be blown to bits and we'll "escape" into some non-physical heaven, then of course nothing we really do here matters beyond just getting people to go to that heaven (that salvation sales pitch again). But if we realize that the "new" Creation is not a "brand new" creation but a "renewed and restored" creation, if we realize that the "new" bodies we have will be redeemed and restored bodies, if we realize that when the end DOES come, it will be to be, for the first time, FULLY human in a world that has been healed and restored to the way it was always intended to be, and that means a fully physical and solid reality. The Kingdom that came when Jesus first appeared will be completed when he comes back. The "End of the Age" is the end of the Present age before Jesus comes back and will inaugurate the NEXT age when God will be completely on the thrown for the rest of the time.
We in the West need an eschatology book like this one. We are so caught up in our civic religion, we are so caught up in our political ideologies and competing allegiances, we are so caught up in protecting what we have as physical things that we forget to see that we are truly called to give it up so that we can TRULY experience treasure. We need to be reminded, that it's not about us, but it's all about him.
I rated this book four out of five stars, not because I didn't think it was amazing and only really liked it. The only drawback to this book was the writing style. I appreciate the way the "broken sentence" style adds a bit of the poetic speaking voice of a preacher/teacher totp the book, but after about 100 pages, it started to feel like verbal whiplash and started losing it's effect. There are places when the broken sentences were necessary for impact and emphasis, but it got long after a while.
The other 4 stars? If I could give this book a percentage of stars, it would be 4 stars and 99% of the fifth star...excellent read and highly recommended. We need this book. YOU need this book. Anyone who wants to know what a believer is supposed to do about the end times needs to read this book. I pray that people who do read it will find it as transforming as I did.
You might appreciate reading a sermon I gave a year or so ago on a similar topic. Check out Encouragement in the End Times
Note: I received this book for free from the author with the understanding that the book would be reviewed honestly. I was in no way compensated for this review and all views are solely and completely my own. I was not required to offer a positive review either through the publisher or author.
figura's review
funny
fast-paced
1.5
I believe I understand what the author of this book meant, but unfortunately he has been using anecdotes and stories that made it more confusing in my opinion. Also it all could be summarized in a few page essay.
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