From a human perspective, the End of the Age is indeed a fearful thing.If this fear is exaggerated it may well be a symptom of being overly "vested" (having our treasure, and therefore our hearts) in this world, a symptom of having taken our eyes off of Christ.
But even so I have not been able to completely escape this fear myself in the flesh. I can only hope in the life of Christ 'in me', which is sufficient to endure all things.
My read of Scripture as a whole is that to some degree this is normal, or at least expected. A few example verses...
Eze 30:2 (NIV) Son of man, prophesy and say: "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'Wail and say, "Alas for that day!"'"... and so on. For it may be impossible to separate this fear from the Fear of God, because The End is God's doing.Zep 2:3 (NIV) Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord's anger.
Amos 5:18-20 (NIV) Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light--pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?
Eze 7:5-7 (NIV) "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Disaster! An unheard-of disaster is coming. The end has come! The end has come! It has roused itself against you. It has come! Doom has come upon you--you who dwell in the land. The time has come, the day is near; there is panic, not joy, upon the mountains."
Luke 12:4 (Wey) [Jesus] "But to you who are my friends I say - Be not afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do nothing further. I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who after killing has power to throw into Gehenna: yes, I say to you, fear him."
To have no fear of this prospect is equally as bad as being overcome by it. For to be flippant about the terrors of The End is to be saying in effect--"Lord, we do not take what You said would happen seriously!"
Isa 57:11 (NKJ) "And of whom have you been afraid, or feared, that you have lied and not remembered Me, nor taken it to your heart? Is it not because I have held My peace from of old that you do not fear Me?"If you are experiencing excessive or debilitating fear the following verses may be helpful:
Rom 8:37-39 (NIV) No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.Jesus was capable of great mirth, laughter, fun and joy. But in the day of His "tribulation" (not a special word, but a synonym for "trouble") He was not aloof or distracted or in denial or acting as if He hadn't a care in the world. He was sweating blood in a garden. For He was fully human, and who but an idiot could look on such a prospect without shuddering.2 Tim 1:7 (NIV) For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Eph 6:13 (NIV) Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
We are now the "body of Christ" in the world. And we are coming to a time of "tribulation", from which God will rescue us (at which point is debatable) but it will be rather nasty till then. Just like Christ, we should commit our spirits unto God and love not our lives unto death. But just the same, who but an idiot could look upon such a prospect...
But we have His example as "firstfruits" of many to follow. And follow we will, if we have our sights set on Him and His kingdom. For this is His promise to us.
He has given us His word.
