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What Do You Pray For, Big Picture?
For the devout: What do you see as the “end game” of the world? This seems like a simple question, but I think it may not be.
Among Christians, is there a shared belief in a Second Coming, and is it what every Christian prays for? Do Christians even pray for it, if grace is supposed to come regardless of merit? You can see I am genuinely lost here.
For Jews, you might think it is simpler: Jews generally pray for the coming of the Messiah. Except when they don’t. There is a mixture of differing goals: the coming of Messiah is not clearly distinct from the Third Temple or even the resurrection of the dead. Speaking for myself, I focus on the Torah, which has no Messiah at all: my desired end state is a world in which Jews both perform all the commandments, and seek to understand the meaning behind all of them. I have no expectation of an “end” state to the world since it is not in the text. Instead, I see a continual process, but few specific products.
And for Muslims, I understand there are some visions of a global caliphate, a single politico-religious entity. Is such a caliphate run by a prophet? A philosopher-king? And am I entirely off-base on this?
If you believe in an end-of-time or some kind of “Finish Line” for the world, what do you think are its main features?
Published in General
We know there will be a Second Coming because the bible says it explicitly, but we don’t pray for it because the timing is already set. So we don’t pray for that, we pray for lost loved ones to accept Jesus Christ before it’s too late (before they die, or before Jesus returns) because grace doesn’t come to everyone. Grace only comes through accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The endgame, I believe, will come when every people group on earth has heard the Good News and been afforded an opportunity to accept the gift of salvation through Christ. We may have passed that point, so it may be game on. We’ll see.
Catholic Christians await the Second Coming of Our Lord and certainly we pray for it.
I hate to contradict Vince, but his statement that “because the timing is already set” Christians wouldn’t pray for something makes no sense and goes against Jesus telling us to pray for everything that we need. Anyone who isn’t praying to be ready for the Day of Judgement should consider doing so.
When we pray the Lord’s Prayer at every Mass, the priest adds, “Deliver us Lord from every evil, and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior, Jesus Christ.”
To add to my comment above, I don’t usually focus on the end of times in my prayers. I usually am praying for help with needs or problems or difficulties, for individual protection or salvation for myself and loved ones, or in praise and thanksgiving for blessings received or prayers answered, or simply in praise of creation. But Heaven is the goal and the fact that the End Times will come is a fact, and that underscores all my prayer life.
Yes we certainly pray to be prepared for the days of tribulation, and to endure, and to lead the lost. But in Mark chapter 13 Jesus is clear that neither He nor the angels know when they will occur, only the father. He also points out how terrible they will be for many, so when I say I don’t pray for the second coming, I mean I don’t pray to hasten the second coming because it will be pretty terrible for many people whom I love. God in His mercy is giving us more time.
Thanks.
In the interest of clarity I’ll restate that I specifically do pray for that exact thing, when I say “Maranatha!” as I light my Advent candles. “Come Lord, and do not delay!” we add in English here at Toad Hall.
I also say, “Maranatha!” when I hear of evil in the world and want Justice and Truth to triumph and show forth the power of the Lord, which will happen when the Lord comes again. Maranatha! Crush the serpent!
Thank you for the responses! I am already learning things I did not know.
One need not pray for that which has been foretold. One merely needs to be ready for it.
No man knows the day or the hour …
… and it may be that one is hit by a turnip truck between now and then. Be ready for that too. And wear clean underwear.
That last isn’t from Jesus. It is from Mom, who is also to be obeyed.
I’m currently praying for the end of COVID restrictions. Put another way, I pray for things to become normal again . . .
It is interesting to read the visions of the Prophets in the Old Testament – Daniel, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah because their predictions of a future period mirrors the same visions and future period of the New Testament writers – the Apostles and mainly, Jesus. Since the Bible contains both the Jewish history and writers and Jesus, it is meant to be understood together. God gave both the Old Testament writers and the new clues about what to expect – the signs of the times. He gave them to Noah so he could prepare for example. He loves us and wants no one to perish. But it is clear there is an “end”. God says so. No one would wish for that, but in His mercy, he says if “those days” (the Last Days) were not shortened, no one could stand it. Evil loses. But sometimes it seems like it is winning. The Jews and Israel clearly play a major role. Christians are taught that we are to pray for and bless Israel – very important.
Many clergy talk about reading the signs of the times, but the Bible is clear – no one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels. Only Jesus and we have to always be ready, but the focus is not that, but loving and forgiving, and offering our testimony in hopes that people will take the offer. That is the mission Jesus gave us. Christian missionaries around the world devote their lives to it. The magazine Inside The Vatican by Dr. Moynihan has a letters section. His magazine is free to inmates if they ask for it. They ask for it and talk about the transformation of their lives. In the recent issue, there is a letter from someone being released from San Quentin. Some getting out after 30 years to a totally different world. But they have had a heart change in prison, and now have a support system. It’s the fruit that bears witness.
I think Mama Toad and Vince accurately explain my prayers. I’m a big II Chronicles 7:14 prayer warrior. So my prayer focus tends to lie there in that general vicinity.
I’ll answer this part though… to me, one of the key features of the end times will be a re-establishment of Babylon (in the Archetype sense). So think Babel, Babylon, and it’s use through your holy books as a catch all for an empire of Man. Global unity, centralized global power, pursuit of global rule and technology bringing utopia are key markers, to me, of Babel. Basically, what God accomplished at the Tower, mankind reverses without Him.
The Lord’s Prayer, also called the Our Father, unites Christian denominations as it is how Jesus Himself taught us to pray. Included in that prayer, we ask “Thy kingdom come.”
Some individual Christians associate the phrase more with the new Eden — removing of the veil, the final judgment of souls, the final casting of all evils into Hell, and the glorious transfiguration of all so that we may share the Lord’s presence. But many also understand Christ’s remark that His kingdom is “at hand” to mean it is here with us today and always, because Heaven is most essentially the manifested presence of the Lord.
I have a related theory about tears of joy. Tears are born of sadness. Tears of joy come when we witness something so beautiful and pure that we glimpse the promise of Heaven and so we are also sad for not being able to remain with Heaven (with the unmitigated love of G-d).
It is for that divine presence I pray in all needs and appreciation. Whether in pain, danger, or loneliness, when in enjoying fine foods and shelter and companions, prayer is how I invite the Lord into the life He has given. For those who obey His commandments and devote themselves unreservedly to Him, Heaven walks with them.
I can’t help but think about Babel when I hear that Pope Francis is planning an ecumenical prayer service at a archaeological site (read zigurat pagan temple). Seems sketchy… Didn’t end well the last time, as I recall…
(The whole point of Ur is not that Abraham was born there, but that he left there.)
Lightbulb moment.
Because of your comments on the Torah, I shall just focus there. Along with many other disciples of Christ, I would say that the Messiah is referenced in the Garden of Eden where G-d says ” He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”
Many of us are also persuaded that Gen. 9:27; 12:2, 3; 49:8-12; Numbers 24:15-19 and Deuteronomy 18:15-18 all reference the Christ.
Then we might also propose that He appeared to Sara’s maidservant Hagar in Gen. 16:7. I would suggest that for the most part references to “the Angel of the Lord” are referring to the Messiah: An epiphany.
Eschatology comes later.
I think what I would hope for, in terms of the entire world, is that people could all come to know G-d, in an intimate and traditional framework of some kind. I think that the lack of religious belief leaves a huge hole in the world, and if belief in G-d could be restored in a meaningful way, the world would be so much better. My belief in the Messiah coming is more intellectual, because it’s a hard one to wrap my head around. But his appearance would indeed be wondrous.
My prayers tend to be more immediate and less grand. I pray for the health of loved ones and those I run into that I know, for the souls of the dearly departed, for the betterment of the country and world, and for my personal improvement toward holiness. Let me think about the grander stuff and come back. For the most part I consider those kinds of things will take care of themselves.
Great post, by the way.
Edit: I should add that I pray in praise of G-d, for blessings, and for gratitude for all He has done for me. I’m sure I’m forgetting something else too.
That’s the same for me on all the grand, “big picture” prayers. I should also add that I pray for the salvation of all. And that means everyone.
You can exclude me if you want.
The New Testament epistles give instructions for what the content of our prayers should be. To sum up, we are to constantly give thanks, confess (agree with God/God’s perspective), ask for what we need, and intercede for others. Here are a few of those passages:
Hebrews 4:16- Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Philippians 4:6- Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
I John 1:9- If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Colossians 4:3- meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,
Ephesians 1:15-17-15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
and:
Romans 8:26- Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
(Bible Gateway, New King James Version)
Actually, in terms of @manny’s comment, it’s kind of interesting to consider. I know that my Christian friends hope I will accept Jesus as my personal saviour (and probably hope that you do, too, @henrycastaigne) and I always assume that they want the best possible outcome for me (from their perspective). Although I don’t see that as my best possible outcome, I know that they wish it because they care for me. There are Jews who truly resent Christians feeling this way–they project all kinds of things upon this hope–but I don’t. I think it is meant sincerely and although I don’t identify with their hope, it still touches me.
BTW, Henry, I simply wish for you to have a meaningful life.
How do Christians pray about the end times? What a question!
I might start with some words of Jesus that were spoken to Sadducees, who did not believe in a life after death: “But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the G-d of Abraham, the G-d of Isaac, and the G-d of Jacob’? He is not the G-d of the dead, but the G-d of the living. “
Now how do we pray? We don’t all pray the same way, for we don’t all have the same expectation. In particular, as regards the end times, there are at least three different schools: There are some, called post-millennial, who believe that the Messiah (that is, Jesus who is the Christ) will return after an extended period (some would say 1000 years) in which the world will draw closer and closer to an ideal. Then there are others, called pre-millennial, who would say that He will return, judge the earth, and reign here for an extended period before a final judgment where the wicked are tossed into a lake of fire and His elect reign with Him in Glory for all eternity. Finally, some, called amillennial (or non-millennial) would say that things will continue pretty much as they are, some good times and some bad times, until Christ returns and brings the new heaven, the new earth, where the elect will worship Him and live with Him for all eternity.
And what happens to those that die before then? A few believe in “soul sleep”: That they just sleep (do they dream?) until the Return. Some believe in an intermediate concept called “Purgatory”, where most go for a time (until their sins are all atoned for?). And others, like me, believe that to be “absent from the body” is to be “present with the Lord.” I think I can show you some scriptures from which the idea of soul sleep may have come, and I can certainly show you scriptures supporting what I believe. Don’t know about the Roman Catholic concept of purgatory – somebody else has to talk about that.
That’s my very rough summary – and pretty poor at that – of how Christians think about the end.
Do I pray for the end? Yes. How? Basically in line with Rev. 22:20 – “Come, Lord Jesus!” But we are all taught to anticipate His return. Jesus Himself said (Luke 12:35 ff) “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. And if he should come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
How do I pray? That I might so live – appropriately girded, and with my lamps well oiled.
How do I pray? That at the end I might not be found like those in Luke 13:22-30 “…many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
How do I pray? That these things might be true for those I love.
How do I pray? That even people like Henry Castaigne would be converted and so rejoice in that day.
That’s a ten!
Oh Henry, you are such a militant atheist. I say that kindly. ;)
I wasn’t thinking along those lines. All I want is what is best for you (referring to everyone) and however G-d may do that.
That’s very kind, @manny. But if I don’t embrace Jesus, are you concerned that I won’t be saved (which you’d mention you hoped for the “salvation of all.” Do you think some of us will be saved without our conversion? I ask this with deep sincerity.
There are many fine answers given, and I’ll just add a little bit.
The description of the End Times is put most succinctly and I would say authoritatively by Jesus when asked by His disciples: “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3)
The Torah (sorry, I meant the Holy Scriptures) and the New Testament have plenty of references and illuminations of Jesus’ explanation, especially the bulk of the Book of the Revelation, and many Christians have disagreements, ranging from minor about the order of the events of the End Times, to rather major, about the nature these events. But if taken literally, the End Times will be a time of satan’s greatest earthly (physical and spiritual) rampage; preceding Jesus’ return, and the thousand year reign of Christ on earth; which in turn is followed by Jesus handing over His Kingdom to our Heavenly Father, and (according to both Isaiah and Revelation) the creation of a new earth and apparently a new universe, incorporating it into the Kingdom of Heaven, sinless and incorruptible, living with peace, joy and righteousness with God forever.
Even though we are told these terrible things will precede the full culmination of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are told to pray in the manner of “Thy Kingdom come”. The first warning Jesus gives about preparation for the events of the Day of [the Lord, by name], is not to be deceived, and he warns that many false christs will come, performing great signs and wonders, a deception so powerful that even the elect of God would be fooled “if it were possible”, suggesting that only direct divine intervention prevents this. Amidst these deceptions come the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, famines, earthquakes, wars and rumors of wars, disease and pestilence, progressive destruction of the earth, and the One World Government, Economic System, and Religion, all of which are nearly cliches today.
Jesus says that he who endures to the end will be saved, but it also says in Revelation that many will lose their lives in testimony to Christ.
The Book of the Revelation ends with this verse (KJV): He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
I take this as a model prayer, too. Which, regardless of the precursors to His return, I pray.
Well, there are strict answers and there are looser answers. Let me quote from from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
In the end, G-d can do anything. When it comes to salvation, I lean to the looser answer.
There are some Christians, known as Preterists, who believe that some or all biblical prophecies, including the second coming and everything in Revelation, have already happened, and that there are no predictions about our times or our future.
Intro to the topic at https://thinkingthroughchristianity.com/2013/04/why-would-god-send-people-to-hell-just-because-they-havent-heard-about-jesus.html.