END TIMES 3 | SIGNS
1. End Times: Are We in the Last Days?
a) What are the signs that we are living in the last days before Jesus Christ’s return? Are we in the end times? Are there signs in the Bible which we can read that tell us that we are living in the days just prior to His coming again? What Scriptures reveal that we could be living in the very last days before Jesus comes to judge the world?
2. Signs of the End Times
a) Jesus gave the greatest list of the signs of the times that would be occurring prior to His return to the earth. The Olivet Discourse is known as the single, longest and greatest prophecy of the end of the age in the Bible and since Jesus Himself gives it, we can certainly know that it is accurate. His disciples had just come out of the temple with Christ and they had commented on the majesty of the temple, but Jesus instead turned their attention to the end time events that would occur just prior to His return. In Matthew 24:3 the disciples asked Jesus a very pointed question of “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Many of these prophecies have already been fulfilled. In Matthew 24, Jesus gives us these signs that we are living in the last days.
b) “Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many” (verses 4-5). There have been no shortages of fanatics claiming to be Jesus, even in the 1st Century.
c) “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (verses 6-8). Once more, these have been already occurring and at an ever increasing rate. The number of earthquakes and famines that follow war are growing exponentially, but a sober warning from Jesus is that He says that “these are (only) the beginning.”
d) Jesus continues by prophesying, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (verses 10-12). Many have turned their back on God, on believing in a God, on church attendance, and have began to hate one another instead of Christ’s command to love one another and become lukewarm not only for Christ but for other people (1 Corinthians 13, John chapters 15-17, Revelation 3:14-19).
e) “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (verses 37-39).
f) Peter may have used the days of Noah from the reference given by Christ (2 Peter 3:3-4). People will be going on as if everything were normal; marrying, eating dinner, drinking at parties, like it would go on forever, but suddenly, just like the flood came, so too will be “the coming of the Son of Man” but it will then be too late.
g) Just as it will be too late for those in Noah’s day to escape death from the flood, the unsaved will face judgment from Jesus Christ. The people in Noah’s day pounded on the door of the Ark, but it was God Himself that sealed the door shut and it was too late (Genesis 7:16).
God had given them 120 years to repent but they only laughed at Noah. Just when people see the Son of Man coming, they will realize that it is too late. Jesus said, “And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
h) What mourning it will be for the lost for they will be eternally separated from God and be judged, but for those who are Christ’s own, “he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:31). These are they who have already placed their faith in Christ and trusted Him with their eternal salvation. What a time of rejoicing for them but what a time of terrible grief for those who will not ever be with their departed loved ones who are believers in Christ.
a) What are the signs that we are living in the last days before Jesus Christ’s return? Are we in the end times? Are there signs in the Bible which we can read that tell us that we are living in the days just prior to His coming again? What Scriptures reveal that we could be living in the very last days before Jesus comes to judge the world?
2. Signs of the End Times
a) Jesus gave the greatest list of the signs of the times that would be occurring prior to His return to the earth. The Olivet Discourse is known as the single, longest and greatest prophecy of the end of the age in the Bible and since Jesus Himself gives it, we can certainly know that it is accurate. His disciples had just come out of the temple with Christ and they had commented on the majesty of the temple, but Jesus instead turned their attention to the end time events that would occur just prior to His return. In Matthew 24:3 the disciples asked Jesus a very pointed question of “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” Many of these prophecies have already been fulfilled. In Matthew 24, Jesus gives us these signs that we are living in the last days.
b) “Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many” (verses 4-5). There have been no shortages of fanatics claiming to be Jesus, even in the 1st Century.
c) “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains” (verses 6-8). Once more, these have been already occurring and at an ever increasing rate. The number of earthquakes and famines that follow war are growing exponentially, but a sober warning from Jesus is that He says that “these are (only) the beginning.”
d) Jesus continues by prophesying, “At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold” (verses 10-12). Many have turned their back on God, on believing in a God, on church attendance, and have began to hate one another instead of Christ’s command to love one another and become lukewarm not only for Christ but for other people (1 Corinthians 13, John chapters 15-17, Revelation 3:14-19).
e) “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (verses 37-39).
f) Peter may have used the days of Noah from the reference given by Christ (2 Peter 3:3-4). People will be going on as if everything were normal; marrying, eating dinner, drinking at parties, like it would go on forever, but suddenly, just like the flood came, so too will be “the coming of the Son of Man” but it will then be too late.
g) Just as it will be too late for those in Noah’s day to escape death from the flood, the unsaved will face judgment from Jesus Christ. The people in Noah’s day pounded on the door of the Ark, but it was God Himself that sealed the door shut and it was too late (Genesis 7:16).
God had given them 120 years to repent but they only laughed at Noah. Just when people see the Son of Man coming, they will realize that it is too late. Jesus said, “And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
h) What mourning it will be for the lost for they will be eternally separated from God and be judged, but for those who are Christ’s own, “he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:31). These are they who have already placed their faith in Christ and trusted Him with their eternal salvation. What a time of rejoicing for them but what a time of terrible grief for those who will not ever be with their departed loved ones who are believers in Christ.
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