Missions and the Timing of Christ's Return

I have read a good deal about the end times and am convinced that the clearest statement about the timing of  Jesus' return to set things right in his world comes in Matthew 24:14. "And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." The end will come when the Gospel has been proclaimed throughout the world. We should look less for the beginning of the so-called Great Tribulation and appearance of the Anti-Christ and look more to global missions!

Dr. Black, my major professor at Southeastern, recently alerted me to a brief but relevant discussion about unreached people groups by John Piper entitled "How Much Is Left to Do in the Great Commission?" Definitely check it out. More than at any other point in history the job is doable in our lifetimes! It will of course require intense sacrifice since many of the remaining unreached people groups are located in places where there is direct and violent opposition to the Gospel. Man's opposition, however, has never been able to stop the advance of God's kingdom and Jesus made it quite clear that sacrifice will accompany discipleship.

                             Dr. Black and I during a recent visit. Who is taller? :-)