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1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-2
The emphasis in this chapter is on knowledge and responsibility. In this chapter, the Apostle Paul informs us about the nature of the last days, and then instructs us on how to reach out to those caught in the spider's web. Our actions must be based on knowledge and our knowledge must be informed by the Scriptures.
Within this period of “last days” there will be “times” of different kinds, but as the “times” draw to a close, they will become more and more dangerous. This word "times" is the same Greek word that is used to describe the two violent demoniacs in Matthew 8. Suggested in the usage of this word is the idea that the violence of the last times will be energized by demons. In other words, evil will not simply be ugly to watch, and grievous to the godly mind, it will be at times violent and fierce.
There is no doubt that these characteristics started to appear in Paul’s day, and now they have increased in intensity. As time advances, evil will increase in its intensity, and slowly it will be accepted by the average guy because of its gradual increase. It is not that we have small pockets of rebellion here and there. All of society is in rebellion and we are indeed living in “terrible times.”
In v.2-5, the Apostle Paul gives eighteen characteristics that will mark society at the end. We will just consider the first eight today. The first is love of self. The heart of every problem is a problem in the human heart. God commands us to love Him supremely, and our neighbors as ourselves, but if we love ourselves supremely, we will not love God nor will be able to love our neighbors.
Of course, if someone loves and worships himself, the result will be “You shall be as gods” was Satan’s offer to Eve in the Garden in Genesis 3:5. And, the result: man "changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than rather than the Creator." When we rebelled from God, we became our own gods; defining ourselves for ourselves!
The next hallmark of the End Times is man will love money which flows out of self-love. If we love ourselves, then we will love money because we see money as the means to a more comfortable lifestyle. If we believe in the self-love philosophy, then we’re going to believe in the prosperity gospel, because if we are the most important person, and self-esteem is the highest virtue, then whatever feeds this philosophy is what we will pursue.
The next characteristic of the end times man is he will be boastful, proud and abusive. These three go hand in hand because as we put ourselves at the center of our lives we will be all about self, pompously looking down our noses at others.
The word the Apostle uses for abusive we get our English word blaspheme. In this universe there is God, and there are people and things. We should worship God, love people, and use things. But when we worship self, we will ignore God and start loving things and using people. This is the formula for a miserable life, yet it characterizes many people today. The worldwide craving for things is just one evidence that people’s hearts have turned away from God and we are certainly living in the end times.
The church of our day has gone into the entertainment business! People must be amused, and as the church needs the people’s money, the church must supply the demand and meet the craving! Since the people like drama more than sermons, then, the thinking is, give them more drama and less preaching! But, be careful not to mention sin, because they may start loving God instead of self.
The irony of it all is genuine pleasure is not to be found in all of the forms of entertainment that our culture so devotedly provides. David had it right when he wrote in Psalm 16:11, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are pleasures forever.” It’s not wrong to pursue pleasure as long as it is not outside of God. In fact, we are commanded to pursue and maintain our greatest joy in God Himself.
Finally, the last three hallmarks of the end times man are: disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, and unholy. As we descend to the end, rebellion, a lack of gratitude and the lack of the desire to be whole will begin the cascading march of evil, as God loosens His reigns on the devil. And, those who give themselves to evil will regret the day they said "no" to the God of all mercy. Until then, we must be diligent to share the life-giving message of the gospel to all who will hear. We will not stop the march of evil, but we can snatch as many as we can from its fires.
