Hutter's Compend of Lutheran Theology

Article XXX. Of the End of the World

Translated by Henry Eyster Jacobs in 1868

Its certainty — When and how it will occur

1. Will the world come to an end?

Assuredly.

Ps. 102:25, 26. Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.

Isaiah 61:6. The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment.

Luke 21:33. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Compare 2 Peter 3:10. (Augsburg Confession, Art. xvii. Apology, Art. viii.)

2. When will the world come to an end?

Neither man nor angel can impart the certain and sure knowledge of this time. For “of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son” (in so far as he is man) “but the Father.” Mark 13:32.

Acts 1:7. It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.

But there can be no doubt, even though our knowledge in this particular is not entirely certain, that the end of the world is no longer far distant; because the signs, which, according to the words of the Lord and the Apostles, are to precede the end of the world, are mostly fulfilled. Matt. 24:29, 38; Luke 17:27; 21:25; 2 Thess. 2:3; 2 Tim. 3:2, 3.

3. How will the world perish?

The world will be destroyed by fire, according to the testimony of the Apostle.

2 Thess. 1:8. And Peter says in his second epistle, ch. 3:7: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men;” and v. 10: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up;” and v. 12: “The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.”

4. Will this conflagration of the world last for a long time?

No; but suddenly, in a moment, shall the whole world be burned up.

Matt. 24:27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

1 Thess. 5:2. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh, as a thief in the night.

Luke 21:35. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

From the Church of the Augustana in Southeast Asia

The Church of the Augustana in Southeast Asia (CASEA) is a region-wide communion of Lutheran congregations committed to teaching and practicing in complete harmony with the Lutheran Confessions. This resource is provided as part of our mission to preserve and share confessional Lutheran doctrine throughout Southeast Asia.