I remember as a child once hearing a preacher speak about the signs the Bible gives us that will show that Christ’s return is imminent. The one specific sign I remember him mentioning was from Joel 2:31, “31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”
For some reason, that thought frightened me a great deal. I remember looking out my bedroom window, each night hoping that I wouldn’t see a blood-red moon. I was afraid of my life ending. I was afraid of the turmoil the earth would be thrown into. I was afraid of what might come afterward. Sometimes I’d be so scared of what I might see that I wouldn’t want to look . . . but each night I looked anyway.
There’s something about those signs that strikes fear into our hearts. They can be frightening. We don’t want to face the awful events the Bible describes that will one day come. They are frightful images. When they’re not mysterious and hard to decipher, they’re downright scary. But we can’t ignore them. They’re right there, in God’s Word, proclaiming the Day is drawing ever closer. The signs demand our attention, not just because of what will happen, but what is happening now.
I don’t think that God intended the signs primarily to frighten us, but I do think that He has a purpose for them. His Word sets forth these signs so to bring about some sort of change in our lives. The signs are there, we can often observe them happening right now. But they are also there, pointing to a future time. They are both “now” and “not yet.”
Scripture gives the primary sign of the coming of Christ as being the preaching of the saving Gospel to “all the nations.” Christ says in Matthew 24:14, “14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” This means that we are living—right now—in a missionary age, a time when all believers are to be actively reaching out to the lost.
But has this sign been fully accomplished? Has the Gospel been preached to all nations? Certainly the Gospel has touched all four corners of the earth in some fashion. Every continent, and indeed probably every country, has had the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed in it. The Gospel is intended for every person, but yet we have to admit that every single person has yet heard that Gospel.
So although we are actively reaching out with the Gospel right now, it’s obvious that since Christ has not yet returned that the fulfillment of that sign is still a “not yet.” It’s somewhere in the future. Only God Himself knows when this sign has been truly accomplished. But until that time, we live in the “now” and continue to reach out with that Gospel—across the oceans, across cultures, and even across the street.
The first and primary sign is an evidence of God’s grace, for the Gospel embodies His grace and until it is fulfilled it shows His long-suffering patience. Our God is a God of supreme love. But our God is also a God of supreme judgment. Therefore, the second group of signs are signs that indicate God’s divine judgment upon sin. We live in a world that is under the curse of sin, and every kind of disaster, both natural and man-made, should be a reminder that God’s justice cannot tolerate sin. These signs are the horrific events we see in the news—wars, earthquakes, famine, disease, and even signs in the heavens.
Now, this isn’t to say that people affected by things like war or earthquakes or hurricanes are necessarily targeted as the specific objects of God’s wrath. That wouldn’t be proper—or right—to say. When these things happen, it is a result of the terrible presence of sin in the world, not necessarily the result of a specific sin. But no matter what the cause, there is only one proper response to tragedy: repentance.
These horrible events are a reminder that God, despite His great love for us all, is also a God of judgment. His wrath is demonstrated in part now through these disasters. But for the sake of Christ He has stayed His full judgment . . . for now. There is still time to repent. But there will come a day when the full, terrible anger of His wrath will be poured out, and then there will no longer be a chance for repentance. There will no longer be any opportunity to come humbly to the cross of Christ for forgiveness. These signs are there to remind us of the need for repentance and to give us another opportunity for the same. But they are also there to point to the day when God’s wrath will no longer be held back, and that day will be more terrible than all the disasters of the earth combined.
The first group of signs indicates God’s grace. The second indicates His judgment against sin—both general and specific sin. But the third and final group of the signs of the end of the age and the coming of Christ deal directly with man’s opposition to God and His Kingdom.
Like the other two groups of signs, we can observe them right now. But, also like the other two groups, as the end draws nearer and nearer we will these signs increase in intensity and frequency. We will see tribulation—the persecution of God’s people simply because they are God’s people. We will see apostasy—the denial and rejection of the faith by people once considered believers. And we will see Antichrist.
Throughout the Church’s history Christians have suffered persecution. Horrible stories are told of the Roman Emperor Nero using the bodies of Christians to serve as human torches to light his dinner parties. Others were thrown to half-starved lions during gladiator matches to be torn apart. But it’s not just ancient history. Voice of the Martyrs is a ministry dedicated to the persecuted church of today, and on their website they say “this year an estimated 160,000 believers will die at the hands of their oppressors and over 200 million will be persecuted, arrested, tortured, beaten or jailed. In many nations it is illegal to own a Bible, share your faith, change your faith or allow children under 18 to attend a religious service.” Persecution is real today, right now.
But as bad as it is now, it will only become worse in the future. The book of Revelation details what is called Satan’s “little season”; a mercifully short but incredible intense period of time when Satan will release an all-out attack to destroy the Church of Christ and prevent it from freely preaching the Gospel.
Has this Tribulation begun? It is entirely possible. The Church is under attack in every society, in every culture. But again, only God truly knows. But no matter whether it is now or not yet, the Christian’s response is to be the same. Look to Christ and remain steadfast in the faith until the very end. This persecution is for our benefit, to purify God’s church and to strengthen it, and to cause us all to look ever more to Christ. Luke 21:28 28 When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Sadly, though, some will fall away. This is the sign of apostasy.
Apostasy—falling away from the faith—, like the Tribulation, is a sign of man’s opposition to God because the one who turns away from the faith believes that they can be a rule unto themselves. They no longer desire to walk according to God’s ways, and prefer to strike out on their own. They may turn away from God because they were led astray by false teachers. They may turn away because they do not want to face the horrors of the Tribulation. But the theologian Martin Franzmann rightly points out that “to seek to escape suffering by renouncing the faith is senseless; they will escape present suffering only to find [eternal] doom.”
Finally, man’s opposition to God is culminated in the sign of the Antichrist. The Antichrist is one who will both set himself up as a substitute for Christ as well as oppose the true Christ.
The New Testament speaks of the spirit of Antichrist which is already here. 1 John 4:3, “3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.” Every false teacher, everyone who teaches doctrine contrary to God’s Word are opponents of Christ and are, therefore, antichrist.
This is a bit tricky to distinguish, but there is a difference between the spirit of antichrist and the Antichrist himself. Whereas all false teachers are anti-Christ, there is an ultimate Antichrist. The Scriptures reveal this about him: He will take his seat in the “temple of God”—meaning that Antichrist will come from the church. He is not Satan, but he operates by the activity of Satan. He exalts himself, considers that he has divine power and exhibits himself as God. He performs signs and wonders that imitate Christ’s own work, and he brings a wicked deception, a strong delusion that looks like the Gospel but is nothing but falsehood. He denies Christ, persecutes Christians, and will remain until Judgment Day when Christ will slay him.
There remains one sign left that we need to talk about. One more sign that indicates that this world is drawing to a close and that the New Heaven and the New Earth are soon to appear. But unlike the other signs which are quite frightening, this sign gives us hope. It gives us comfort. The final sign—really the ultimate sign—is Jesus Christ Himself.
If we were to look at the other signs alone we may conclude that God was ill-disposed towards mankind. But in Jesus Christ, the “super-sign” we clearly see otherwise. If you ever wonder what God’s attitude towards you is, you need only look to Christ. The Gospel is the ultimate sign of God’s favor—of His love and not His wrath—towards humankind.
But like the other signs, this sign of Jesus Christ is something that we both possess now, today, and will yet receive its ultimate fulfillment in the future.
When Christ died on the cross, He did so only to rise again from the dead. This act of love and sacrifice was done on your behalf. It clearly shows that God truly cares for you, that He desires a relationship with you, that He wants to be with you. And not only that, it also shows that He has the power to be with you today, by grace through faith.
Jesus Christ gave us the Great Commission. Do you remember what it is? Matthew 28:19-20 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” But do you remember what He said immediately after that? “And surely I am with you always . . . to the very end of the age.” We have Christ right now. In all His fullness. In all His glory. In all His love and power and grace and strength. This is our true and rightful claim by faith, the fulfillment of His promise. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That alone is enough to give us strength to face all of the coming signs. The very creator of Heaven and Earth promises that He Himself will be with us! That He will never leave us nor forsake us! That He cannot divorce Himself from us! With Christ at our side, leading the way, providing us strength, we can face whatever the world and its forces have to throw at us.
But we not only have Christ’s promises now, but we have his promise in the future, as well! We have His promise that will receive an inheritance that can never spoil or fade. A glorious Kingdom in eternity that will be without sorrow, without suffering. This sign—the sign of Jesus Christ—guarantees us that God’s promises are true and faithful. We can trust not only our lives today, but our very eternity, to Him.
I’ll be honest. When I see these signs I still get scared sometimes. But I’m no longer just a scared child staring out of his window, hoping to not see something that might be there. There is now something that conquers that fear: trust in Jesus Christ. Yes, I can still the signs all around me and yes, I know that they will one day get worse. But more than that, I know Jesus Christ is my Savior both now, and in the future as well.
In His most precious name, Amen.
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