The Wondering Sheep: Episode 16 – Living the Christian Life

The Wondering Sheep: Episode 16 – Living the Christian Life

"The End is Near…"

April 1, 2026

During Holy Week, Jesus spoke to his disciples about signs of the end of the earth. Do you realize that they expected Jesus to return during their lifetime? That is easily understood! When you look at this list from Jesus, it points to “now” during whatever era you are living in. It is a good time to remind all of us that God doesn’t look at time like we do - after all He is eternal. Eternity is NOT time based. 

Here is a partial list of what Jesus told his disciples: 

  • There will be wars: How many are ongoing right now? Since our media simply doesn’t cover the world, unless you listen to a world news source, you would never even know about most of those wars 
  • There will be rumors of wars. How often have you heard, in the last 50 years, that the media tell us with huge headlines that if our President does “A” or “B” we will be in a war? 
  • There will be earthquakes: We have them in ND! These are a daily event all over the world with some being really powerful.
  • There will be famines: how many droughts have affected the growth of food in our country. Others like the Sudan? 
  • “They will hate you because of Me (Jesus):” Christians who pray, believe in miracles, or who preach against things God takes stances on like abortion are constantly being insulted and mocked. Surprised?
  • Believers will be arrested and persecuted: there are more Christians being put to death for their crime of being Christians in the world today than at any other time in history. 

Does that mean Jesus second coming is near? Maybe. We don’t know. The list above has been true since Jesus spoke the word! But… we are now in Holy Week. We celebrate/remember what Jesus did for us. The list above is all the result of sin being in our world (including in us). As long as sin remains, ( and it will until Jesus does return) our world will march on toward the end. All of the events listed will continue. 

Why do we celebrate Lent, Holy Week, and especially Easter? I would say a number of reasons:

  1. It was God’s plan to save us from Adam and Eve’s bringing sin into this world 
  2. We need the review of God’s love for us. 
  3. We deserved to die and suffer in hell for all eternity - we can’t save ourselves and we NEED to ponder that. 
  4. Jesus did NOT deserve to die. We need to remember His actions for us, thank Him for the Mercy shown us. (Remember that “mercy” means God’s gracious and undeserved love demonstrated to us, not giving us what we deserve!) 
  5. As sinful humans, our lives get so busy, we forget what we are and that Jesus died for us. We might think we are “pretty good”— We need to take time to ponder the spiritual truths God emphasizes to us.
  6. Observing Lent, and all of Holy Week-–taking time from our lives–helps us appreciate and be thankful to God for our Salvation. 

I’m sure we could add many items to this list. Did you use Lent to ponder your own sin? Your need for repentance? Are you going to worship and thank God in an gathering of believers on Thursday, Friday, and Easter Sunday? If not, I encourage you to do it! 

Let’s be thankful this Holy week and Easter for God’s mercy. Yes, the end is near, but this truth will sustain us: HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! 😁