It was William Randolph Hearst – media magnate from a few generations back – who coined the phrase: “If it bleeds, it leads.” In newspapers, that’s Section #1, front page, above the fold. In the broadcast media genre, it’s the “breaking news” that is covered “at the top of the hour.” Grab the audience by the throat with the gnarliest headline you can justify… and play the fear card to the max.

In our polarized political environment, the breaking news is featuring aspiring prophets – most of whom wouldn’t be able to distinguish between a Bible verse and a fortune-cookie quip – who are declaring some form of The End of All Things because of someone on the other extreme. 

Their warning forecasts some version of the Big Three: Doomsday: a day of final judgment; a time of catastrophic destruction and death; or, Apocalypse: the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom; or,  Armageddon: a dramatic and catastrophic conflict, typically seen as likely to destroy the world.

Today’s popular political prognosticators haven’t written their predictions as possible addendums to the Scriptures, but their flushed faces and shrill screams emulate religious fervor while summarily rejecting divine involvement in the goings-on of a world gone-crazy. Are thoughtful people really imagining the culmination of history and the transition into what’s next?

Here’s a voice with an interesting perspective: it’s Sir Isaac Newton. A true Renaissance man – born in 1643, finished in 1727 – he was a renowned mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist and theologian. Best remembered for framing an informed understanding of the Law of Gravity, he studied the world and universe to deliver fresh insights about previously unaddressed realities.

Less well known about Newton: in a letter he wrote in 1704, he predicted that the world would end in 2060.

Sir Isaac’s study of biblical prophecy, interpreted through his scientific mind, anticipated that the summation of human history would occur 1260 years after the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, attended by plagues, war and the ruin of nations standing in rebellion against Heaven.

What did he see happening next? The return of the King of Kings to establish His Millennial Kingdom.

“It may end later, but I see no reason for its ending sooner,”

Newton’s predictive letter reads. 

“This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophesies into discredit as often as their predications fail.”

According to Stephen Snobelen – a renowned university professor from Halifax, Nova Scotia – Newton was not just a scientist, but a natural philosopher.

“For Newton, there was no impermeable barrier between religion and what we now call science. Throughout his long life, Newton labored to discover God’s truth – whether in Nature or Scripture.”

Thoughtful people – operating with a worldview founded in the Bible – will often look for credible insight regarding what’s on the horizon of history.  

“As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us: when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’… about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark…” — Matthew 24

Doomsday. Apocalypse. Armageddon. Beltway Boogie-Men throw their ideas around to incite fear. Truth be told, high-powered but spiritually bankrupt notables would do well to imagine the awesomeness of the One Who is on His way back. He’s not coming with a soundbite on His lips: He’s coming with a sword in His mouth. Brace yourself: this stuff is for real.

It’s only scary if you’re not ready. As they remind us in the pre-flight announcements: “Put your own mask on first before assisting others.” Is your redemption mask “on?” And… are you assisting others?

Bob Shank

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