What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?

Matthew 24:1-28 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Jesus came out from the temple and was going away when His disciples came up to point out the temple buildings to Him. ² And He said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”

³ As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

⁴ And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. ⁵ For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. ⁶ You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. ⁷ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. ⁸ But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹ “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. ¹⁰ At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. ¹¹ Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. ¹² Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. ¹³ But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. ¹⁴ This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

¹⁵ “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. ¹⁷ Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. ¹⁸ Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. ¹⁹ But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! ²⁰ But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. ²² Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ²³ Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ Behold, I have told you in advance. ²⁶ So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. ²⁷ For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. ²⁸ Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

When you read today’s text; Jesus description of what it will be like in the time before He returns at the end of the age, it’s hard not to think that He is describing much of what we are seeing now. The text says:  “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.”  It is important that first we note that Jesus says: “many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”  These are not false Christ’s claiming that they are the Messiah, they are ones who mislead by saying Jesus is the Christ, but that He is a different Jesus today than He was then. We see that many denominations are espousing a different Christ, one who has adapted and adjusted to our society and culture. Many say that Jesus, if He were here today, would tolerate and embrace abortion, sexual immorality, other forms of unrighteousness and even other gods.  Unfortunately, many are misled.

The word nation is translated from the Greek word ethnos, form which the English word ethnic is derived. Nation rising against nation, then is not political conflicts, those are kingdom against kingdom. Nation against nation are the racial and ethnic and tribal conflicts and division that are being stoked by politicians, media and celebrities both here and around the world. I’m not denying that racism exists, but far beyond its normal effects, it is being weaponized to divide our society. While the threat of war always has and always will exist, we are inundated by the media with the rumors of wars. For the previous four years the media and politicians warned that we would soon be pushed into the next major war, even though no new wars were started and in fact great strides were made toward peace in the Middle East and in Asia. There have always been earthquakes, famines, other natural disasters and even pandemics, but these too are being politicized and weaponized to control and divide us.

Jesus says:  “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.”  No one with eyes and ears could deny that lawlessness has increased and is increasing. Violence is rampant in our cities and our schools. Rather than enforcing our laws, there is a move to defund those who do so, both in our cities and at our border. Rather than enforcing our laws, we are moving toward eliminating our laws. Lawlessness gives birth to violence, destruction and division. It destroys property, lives and livelihoods. It breeds division and hatred so that the love of most people grows cold. Not only does lawlessness bring about cold love, but additionally the rules and requirements being placed on our culture because of the pandemic, also contribute to cold love in our society. We no longer see smiles. We no longer shake hands or embrace. We avoid even being near others. We look skeptically on those who cough in public. Fear also breeds cold love. We see now, with move toward cancel culture, those who don’t conform to the thinking and speaking of progressives; those who hold fast to the name and the teaching of Jesus, are degraded and hated. Many false prophets are indeed rising. They declare doom and demise to cause more fear. Then they claim to have the answer to all the world’s problems, if we will submit to their control. Human ideology cannot solve the very problems it has created. The answer is that the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations.

These may indeed only be the birth pangs of what is coming, but what has been sown will be birthed. Darkness will not bring forth light. Evil will not birth what is good. In Luke 6:43-45 Jesus says:  “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”  Jesus says:  “Behold, I have told you in advance. So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be... But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” 

Revelation 22:17-21:  The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires, take the water of life without cost. He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.