What signs should we look for before Jesus returns?
Jesus gave signs of the age, not a date: the gospel preached to all nations, wars and troubles as 'birth pains,' and false christs who would deceive many. Yet He was just as clear that no one knows the day or hour. The call is not to calculate but to watch, to be found faithful, and to live ready for His coming.
This question arose from studying Will Jesus return literally? and What happens when I die?.
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The study
What the Scripture says
The age is marked by 'birth pains'
Jesus did not hide the shape of the age: 'You will hear of wars and rumors of wars… nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom… famines and troubles. These things are the beginning of birth pains.' He calls them birth pains, not the end itself: the world's troubles are the groaning of an age about to give way, and the end is not yet.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.
“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be troubled. For those must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines and troubles. These things are the beginning of birth pains.
Watch for counterfeits
Jesus warned that many would come in His name claiming to be the Christ, deceiving many, and that false christs and false prophets would show great signs and wonders so as to lead even the chosen astray, if possible. Paul warns of the man of lawlessness who exalts himself against all that is called God. The great sign of the age is not only trouble but deception, and we are called to know the true voice well enough not to be fooled.
Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
The gospel must first go to all nations
Jesus tied the end to the spread of the good news: 'This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.' Before the end, the mission runs its course, and the gospel that has been going out to every people is itself a sign that the King is coming. Every believer sent into the world with the good news is living in that sign.
This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The Good News must first be preached to all the nations.
But no one knows the day or hour
For all the signs, Jesus is emphatic: 'But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only.' After His resurrection He told the disciples it was not for them to know the times set by the Father's own authority. Paul adds that the day of the Lord comes 'like a thief in the night.' The signs should stir us to readiness, never to the pride of a date.
But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven,but my Father only.
He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.
For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
So we watch and live ready
The point of the signs is not calculation but vigilance. Jesus commands, 'Watch therefore, for you don't know in what hour your Lord comes,' and Peter asks what kind of people we ought to be, 'in holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God.' We are to stay awake and sober, faithful in our work, looking for our Lord, with our lamps trimmed and our lives ready.
Watch therefore, for you don’t know in what hour your Lord comes.
Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don’t know when the time is.
so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.
Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
As you read, you may wonder…
Scripture raises the next question
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What will we do in the new creation?→“I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.””What does the Bible say about animals and heaven?→“God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.”What is the rapture?→“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.”What is the great tribulation?→“for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.”What is heaven like?→“I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away from them every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.””Will we recognize each other in the resurrection?→“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.”What is the abomination of desolation?→“He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out on the desolate.”Is there a second chance after death?→“Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,”Hold onto these
Verses to meditate on
This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.
But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven,but my Father only.
Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don’t know when the time is.
For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.
looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
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