Hello Mark. I hope you’re keeping safe and well.
One reason for your fears could be the way the End Times is obsessively presented by those who are imbalanced and impressionable. Unfortunately there are well-meaning religious folk whose personalities and world-views make them susceptible to all kinds of far-fetched beliefs and theories. So it pays to calmly weigh up what you have been led to believe. I’ve personally read a lot of pure nonsense over the decades, and very recently too.
Some passages of Scripture are styled in figurative language that often gives rise to all kinds of speculations that can conflict with one another. This is especially true among those who spend a disproportionate amount of time thinking about eschatology (the End Times).
Some get carried away and fall into the trap of making specific predictions based on current events and what they think they can see in Scripture. Others have a tendency to be drawn repeatedly to a particular subject rather than allowing it to find its place in the balanced fullness of Scripture teaching — if it even belongs there! These fundamental errors have been common for a long, long time...
If we fail to have a balanced knowledge of the Bible we may overly focus on one subject that interests us, or blow out of proportion a particular definition, or get carried away by unwarranted speculations. In this way we can lift Bible texts out of context or create an emphasis that leads to confused thinking and divisive foolishness.
When Scripture passages aren't totally clear it's wise not to make dogmatic statements about their meaning or to recklessly link them to current events or possible future events. God’s people are called to abide in Christ in spiritual maturity, to know His will by the Holy Spirit and to be found faithfully following Him when He returns, whenever that may be. (Nobody knows exactly, but we should keep Luke 21:34 and 1st Thessalonians 5:4 in mind. Are we ready?)
Christ taught us that at the end of the age, following a time of great distress, He will appear from above (Matthew 24:30). He will send out His angels who will gather out of His kingdom everything that offends Him, and all those who disobey God’s laws, and throw them into the fiery furnace (Matthew 13:41, 42). “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (v. 43).
All those who will die before the end of the age will face the Judgement: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2nd Corinthians 5:10). (See also: Romans 14:12; 2nd Timothy 4:1; Hebrews 9:27.)
"Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life [i.e., those who trusted in Christ and serve Him, see John 5:24], those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28, 29); "...there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked" (Acts 24:15); “I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36, 37, NET Bible).
In 1st Thessalonians we are told that those who have died—believers who are "asleep" in Christ—will rise first, then "...we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (read carefully 1st Thessalonians 4:13-18).
You say, "I guess my fear is that it's going to come too soon when I still want to live." On the face of it this is hard to understand. How could it ever be too soon if you are secure in Christ and remaining in Him? Isn't being with Christ far better than remaining here?
Those who are secure in Christ can take great comfort from Paul’s words in 1st Corinthians 15:50-58:
"Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.
"For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."
