February 1, 2021 @ 8:00 AM

Having gone through an incredible year like 2020, it is normal to ask if we are in the end times. Are the last days of planet earth upon us? Is this the time when God will pour out His wrath on wicked mankind and Jesus Christ will return? How will we know if we are in the end times? Theologians call this type of study eschatology which means “study of the last things.”

A question you might ask is where should we start on this kind of study. The disciples admired the beauty of the second temple in Jerusalem and remarked as such to Jesus. Jesus told them that the temple would be destroyed to which they asked when and what will be the signs of His second advent. Signs preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ seems like a good place to start. What are the signs of His return and are any apparent today?

Jesus gives us signs to watch for in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Here are the initial signs which Jesus terms, “the beginning of birth pangs” (Matt. 24:8).

Initial Signs

  1. The appearance of false Christs who have a following (Matt. 24:4, 5, Lk. 21:8).           
  2. Multiplied wars and rumors of wars all over the world (Matt. 24:6, 7, Lk. 21:9)
  3. Famines around the world (Matt. 24:7, Lk. 21:11)
  4. Earthquakes around the world (Matt. 24:7, Lk. 21:11)
  5. Plagues and pestilence around the world (Lk. 21:11)
  6. Celestial signs and terrestrial terrors (Lk. 21:11)

Possible Fulfillments Today

1. False Christs

  • Alan John Miller—IT Specialist from Australia
  • Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda-Miami, FL
  • Inri Cristo-Brazil
  • Sergey Anatolyevitch Torop-Russia
  • Wayne Bent-USA

2. Wars

  • Although varying in number of combat-related deaths, there are wars going on around the world between nations for every letter in the English alphabet

3. Famine

  • 130M are on the brink of starvation due to COVID
  • 36 countries are listed as at or below the starvation level
  • 821M in 55 countries are chronically hungry-most in Africa, Central America, Caribbean

4. Earthquakes

  • Peak number in 2014 with 17, 552
  • Average number in 2020 with 12, 588

5. Plagues

  • Pandemics-COVID19- with 1.77M deaths reported worldwide. That rate is 34x higher death rate than influenza. Global in scope with estimates that it will impact 50% of world’s population
  • Other major plagues in 21st Century include: Ebola virus (11.3K deaths), Influenza (61K deaths), Yellow Fever (171.5K deaths), HIV/AIDS (32M deaths), Swine flu (284K deaths)

6. Celestial Signs & Terrestrial Terrors

  • Biggest cosmic explosion ever on 2/27/2020 creating an enormous black hole 390M light years away from earth)
  • Murder hornets invade WA
  • Storm system with 40 tornadoes sweep across southern US-4/12/2020
  • Wildfires on West Coast of US from CA to WA to CO -8/2020
  • Locusts swarm India (“swarmageddon”), Somalia in East Africa eating everything and producing famine-2//1/2020
  • Historic dust cloud over Sahara Desert reaching to Caribbean-largest in 50 years
  • Derecho (wind storm) destroys homes, crops in Midwest of US-8/10/2020
  • Most hurricanes over Atlantic ever in 2020 (29 storms)

Pre-Tribulation Signs

  1. Hatred, persecution and martyrdom of Christians (Matt. 24:9)
  2. Apostacy of Christians (Matt. 24:10)
  3. Betrayal and hatred within Church by fellow Christians (Matt. 24:10)
  4. False prophets deceiving Christians (Matt. 24:11)
  5. Increase in violence, lawlessness, and lovelessness (Matt. 24:12)
  6. Gospel proclaimed to whole world’s population (Matt. 24:14)

Possible Fulfillments Today

1. Hatred, Persecution/Martyrdom of Christians

  • More Christians martyred in last 50 years than in first 300 years of Christianity’s existence
  • 100M Christians persecuted for their faith around the world
  • 90K Christians killed in 2020 or 1 Christian death every 6 minutes

2. Apostasy-Church leaders who departed from Biblical truth

  • John Spong
  • Norman Vincent Peale
  • Robert Schuller
  • Robert Funk
  • Alan Smithson
  • Kirby Godsey
  • United Methodist Church leadership
  • Pope John Paul II
  • Joel Osteen
  • Bill Johnson

3. Betrayal and hatred within Church by fellow Christians

Coming but not yet

4. False prophets deceiving Christians

Coming but not yet

5. Increase in violence, lawlessness, and lovelessness

  • 1500 businesses burned and looted in Minneapolis-May 26, 2020
  • Riots in major cities across the nation-May 2020
  • Toppling of statues on perceived white racism by “cancel culture”-2020
  • Invasion of US Capitol by Antifa-January 6, 2021

6. Gospel proclaimed to whole world’s population

  • In 1999, Wycliffe Bible leaders realized that at the speed they were going, it would be at least 2150 before a Bible translation could be started for every language that needed one… their leaders committed that they would do everything they could to see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by 2025.
  • At a Wycliffe Bible translators conference held just before Thanksgiving, 2016 it was stated that at least portions of the Bible will be translated into every known language within 8 years! That’s 2024!

As you can tell, there are many “birth pang” signs indicating that the second coming of Jesus Christ is nearer than ever. What should that prompt us to do? It should prompt Christians to do three things: pray, live upright lives, and witness to the lost. The time is drawing near for His return and we need to be ready for Him.

Irv