Throughout the Sacred Scriptures, when God interacts with humans on any level, their initial reaction is almost always fear to which He always replies, “do not be afraid…”. In addition, the Lord promises “peace” as a replacement for fear in the hearts of believers.
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do, I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” (St. John 14:27)
In the same way, Jesus, after warning the disciples to not be fooled, He encourages them to not be afraid in The Gospel According to St. Matthew chapter 24, verses 6-8.
"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."
Before interpreting these verses, it is vital to put them into the context of 3 important truths that Jesus affirmed later in chapter 24.
1. No one besides God, the Father, knows the day or hour that Jesus is returning, not even the angels or Jesus.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone”. v.36
Hence, the purpose of studying the day of the Lord is NOT to determine the day and hour that he is coming back. We will never figure that out, because only God the Father knows that secret and holds it close to His heart. So, what then is the purpose of this information that Jesus is sharing?
2. The main purpose of all prophecy regarding the return of Christ is to warn His Church to be prepared and to not be afraid.
“Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. (v.42)
3. Jesus could return at any time.
"For this reason, you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. "(v.44)
These 3 truths, above, are vitally important for the Church to understand and so Jesus shares multiple parables to encourage us to be alert and ready: the fig tree; the head of the house; the faithful servant; the ten virgins; and the talents which are recorded in Matthew 24 and 25. Keeping in mind these truths, we can examine the 3 signs of the End of the Age shared by Jesus.
3 Signs of End of the Age
Jesus depicts the following 3 early signs of the end of the age.
WARS
Since there were no newspapers, email, Facebook, or news apps in the first century, the only way the common person was aware of wars and rumors of wars was to hear about it verbally. As merchants traveled the trade routes, they shared stories of what was going on in other parts of the world that eventually filtered down to the common folk, the details of which could be drastically different than the original narratives. In this context, Jesus declares to the disciples that at some point in the future, they will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. Interestingly, Jesus distinguishes between news and “fake news” (rumors) in His description.
For 21st Century believers, who can access, read and share updated information about wars across the globe via the Internet, it is easy to obtain current detailed information from organizations like the “International Committee of the Red Cross”, who report that in 2019, there were:
· 3 Major Wars (>10,000 deaths/yr.)
· 6 Wars (>1,000 deaths/yr.)
· 17 Minor Wars (>100 deaths/yr.)
· 19 Conflicts (<100 deaths/yr.)
In stark contrast to the 1st Century believers, with just a quick search on Google, we can obtain detailed information about 35 conflicts that are currently active. Talk about information overload! Those are stark and scary statistics! Yet, Jesus tells us to not be afraid for several reasons.
First, He says that these things MUST take place, which is another way of saying, this is a part of God’s plan for His creation. In fact, the main truth that replaces our fear with peace is: God Almighty has no Plan B for mankind and the earth. Although wars are caused by man, the Lord uses them as a part of His plan to revive His creation into everlasting peace.
FAMINES
Secondly, these wars are not the end of the world. Indeed, it is tempting to conclude that 35 conflicts across the world would mean that this is surely the end, however, Jesus says that they are just Phase 1 of the final days during which time nation and kingdoms will rise against each other. In other words, it is probably going to get worse, but don’t’ be afraid. God has this!
Thirdly, in many places there will be famines and earthquakes. The word translated “famines” comes from the Greek word, λιμοi, which means “hunger” and earthquakes from the word σεισμοι from which we get our word “seismograph”. Another characteristic of Phase 1 will be many hungry people and multiple earthquakes across the globe. What do we know about the prevalence of these two catastrophic events?
Regarding current famines, the United Nations has recently reported:
“The world is facing multiple famines of "biblical proportions" in just a matter of months, the UN has said, warning that the coronavirus pandemic will push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation. Famines could take hold in "about three dozen countries" in a worst-case scenario, the executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP) said in a stark address on Tuesday. Ten of those countries already have more than 1 million people on the verge of starvation, he said.”
For those of us who enjoy 3 meals a day, it is sometimes easy to forget the current prevalence and devastation of world hunger. I don’t think it is a stretch of the imagination to say that we now live in a time when hunger is experienced by millions of humans on any given day. Don’t’ be afraid.
EARTHQUAKES
According to Statista “In 2019, a total of 1,637 earthquakes with magnitude of five or more were recorded worldwide.”
In fact, since 2000, there have been 35,204 total earthquakes with magnitude of five or more recorded worldwide with an average of 1,760 earthquakes a year. That’s allot of earthquakes!
Based on the prevalence of wars, famines and earthquakes currently in the world, it seems apparent that we are at least living in Phase 1 of the end days. Fittingly, Jesus uses an analogy from birth to characterize these events. Most adults have some understanding of what we aptly call “labor” to describe the process that mothers experience to transfer a human life from the womb to the world. Another reason that we are not to be afraid is that these events are “merely the beginning of birth pangs”. The word translated “birth pangs” here is the word ωδινων which means “birth pains” or pain and suffering. Every woman who has had a child would agree with this description of labor. I was present when both of my children were born and I have to admit that if we men had to endure what our wives do to bring children into the world, the world’s population would be minimal.
It is important to remember that all these wars, famines and earthquakes we are experiencing are like the first stage of labor, there is more pain to come, but in the end, there is the birth of new life. Because of this, Jesus comforts us. Remember that He could come at any time, Be ready and don't be afraid.
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