In the last days difficult times will come.

2 Timothy 2:22-3:17 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. ²³ But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. ²⁴ The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, skillful in teaching, patient when wronged, ²⁵ with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.

3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. ² For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. ⁶ For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, ⁷ always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ⁸ Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith. ⁹ But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres.

¹⁰ Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, ¹¹ persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! ¹² Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. ¹³ But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. ¹⁴ You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; ¹⁷ so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.

Today’s text says: Realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. Surely what Paul describes as circumstances of the “last days,” sound a lot like our days. In Matthew 24:6-14 Jesus also says: “You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pains. Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold. But the one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” 

If you watch, read or hear any news you will hear of the war in Ukraine, and you will also hear of the rumors of potential wars in other places around the world. The word nation, that Jesus uses, is translated from the Greek word ethnos, from which the English word ethnic is derived. The nation against nation conflict that He speaks of is the increasing racial, tribal and ethnic conflicts that are increasingly being driven and escalated by those who want to divide us. We see natural disasters increasingly affecting more people and food and water shortages are also expected to increase. We see that in our own country, those who stand for the name of Christ are being arrested and persecuted, even by government forces, while those who represent lawlessness are ignored or applauded. We see the result of the increase in lawlessness, as it feeds into more lawlessness and senseless violence, in our streets and in our schools. It is surely an indication that the love of many has become cold. Throughout our culture, there is little acknowledgement of the sanctity of human life.

In the text, Paul says: Avoid such people as these. Jesus says though: “The one who endures to the end is the one who will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  If we look at the context of what Paul says, we will see that he does not contradict what Jesus says, but rather affirms it. He began saying: Flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, skillful in teaching, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.  It sounds like Paul is saying we should avoid the sinful actions of others in our own lives, but we are to patiently and skillfully correct those who are in opposition. It sounds like we are to be those who share the gospel of the kingdom until the end comes.

Paul says: Evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. Evil will continue to increase, going from bad to worse. We cannot expect to engage with evil by the ways and methods of evil. Romans 12:21 says: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So, we overcome lies with truth. In John 17:17 Jesus says: “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” God’s word is truth and is good for: teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work. We overcome the darkness in our society with light. In Matthew 5:14-16 Jesus says: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Finally, we overcome the lovelessness or the cold love of our society with God’s true love.

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Amen. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” Amen.