Signs Which Herald the End of the Age and the Return of Our Lord

Here’s a brief summary of those biblical signs indicating that the end of the age and the Lord’s return is at hand.

Note: I discuss these signs in greater detail in my book, A Case for Amillennialism, and in an episode of the Blessed Hope Podcast entitled “Signs of the End.”

1. The gospel must be preached to the ends of the earth.

In Matthew 24:14 Jesus tells us, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” This is the one sign which indicates that Christ’s church can hasten the Lord’s return by taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.

2. The salvation of “all Israel.”

In Romans 11:25-26, Paul writes “lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved.” I present and defend my view that Paul is speaking here of large number of Jews becoming believers in Jesus in the days immediately before our Lord’s return. See my A Case for Amillennialism and this episode of the Blessed Hope Podcast, What Does the Future Hold for Israel? A Look at Romans 9-11.

3. The appearance of the Antichrist and a time of great apostasy.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Paul speaks of two events which precede the Lord’s return—a time of great apostasy, which connected to the appearance of the Man of Sin (i.e., “the Antichrist”), the final eschatological enemy of the church. These have not yet occurred.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Paul writes:

2:1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

I understand Revelation 20:7-10 to be a parallel passage to 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.

7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

Just as Paul does in the passage above, in Revelation 20:1-10, John speaks of the binding of Satan (in the present age) as does Paul when he speaks of a restrainer currently in place although the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Both John and Paul speak of a release of Satan and increase in satanic power, deception, and horrific persecution, occurring immediately before the Lord’s return in judgment, when Satan and his henchmen are cast into the Lake of Fire.

4. The destruction of “Babylon the Great” — The City of Man (Revelation 18)

There are a number of references to Babylon found in the New Testament. In Matthew 1:11-12, 17, the city appears in the genealogy of Jesus, emphasizing the exile theme in the opening chapters of his Gospel. In 1 Peter 5:13, the city is mentioned again, and is almost certainly a reference to Rome, from which Mark’s gospel was likely written. Just as Babylon oppressed the Jewish exiles, so too Rome was persecuting Christians living in the city. Nero put both Peter and Paul to death during the so-called Neronian persecution. Even throughout the later chapters of Revelation (Revelation 14:8; 16:19; 17:5; and 18:2, 10, 21), the ancient city of Babylon is symbolic of first-century Rome.

Rome is pictured as “the notorious prostitute, who sits upon the many waters.” She was gorgeously arrayed like a queen, sitting on a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. She was “drunk with the blood of the saints,” and on her forehead was written: “Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth’s abominations” 17:1–6). An angel helps to interpret the apocalyptic symbolism for John (Rev 17:1–18). The “many waters” symbolize nations and peoples. The “seven heads” are seven mountains, which most commentators view as representing the seven hills of Rome. Seven times Babylon is called “the great city” and is described as a dreadfully immoral center of wealth and commerce, ruling over the kings of the earth, and especially persecuting the saints of God. The wickedness personified in Babylon clearly symbolizes the historic manifestation of iniquity in first century Rome.

But Revelation 18 completes the picture. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!” (v. 2). God’s final judgment upon this new Babylon will be severe, repaying her “double for her deeds” (v. 6). The main reason for her destruction is her immorality and persecution of the saints (19:2). The kings and merchants of the earth will mourn her demise (18:9–19), but the pronouncement is made in order that the saints might rejoice and worship God (v. 20; 19:1–10).

Babylon is first century Rome, yet it also epitomizes the city of man across time, whether the city of Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon) or Caesar (Rome). These historical references are symbolic of the various “cities of man” which will rise up threaten the church throughout the inter-advental age. Hitler’s “thousand year Reich” was one of these. There have been many more, and perhaps more to come. But the city of man— “Babylon the Great” in all its varieties and iterations will fall before or on the day when the Lord returns.

What About the Tension Between Imminence and a Delay Regarding Christ’s Second Coming?

1. This tension is a characteristic of New Testament eschatology – the already/not yet.

2. A series of signs clearly precede the end (Matthew 24:32). “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.

3. Yet, the Lord can return suddenly with great surprise (Matthew 24:37-44).

37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. 42 Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. 43 But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

4. The tension between signs preceding the end and suddenness of the Lord’s return is intentional.

This prevents date-setting. No one knows the date or the hour (Matthew 24:36)—“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

This tension also prevents idleness. We must watch! (Matthew 24:42-44). “Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

Therefore, the complex of events associated with the end can come to pass very quickly. Birth pains can lead to delivery in short order–the final apostasy, the rise of an Antichrist figure, the conversion of the Jews, etc., can all come to pass very rapidly (in months, not years).

Geerhardus Vos is correct, when he writes that the best interpreter of some of these events is their fulfillment.[1]

God’s people will know it when we see it. The events of the end times are said to be sudden, cataclysmic, yet filled with the hope of our Lord’s promise to return to deliver his people and grant their their full inheritance in Jesus Christ. And this he will do.

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(1). Vos writes, [the prophecy of Antichrist] belongs among the many prophecies, whose best and final exegete will be the eschatological fulfillment, and in regard to which it behooves the saints to exercise a peculiar kind of eschatological patience. The idea of Antichrist in general and that of the apostasy in particular ought to warn us, although this may not have been the proximate purpose of Paul, not to take for granted an uninterrupted progress of the cause of Christ through all ages on toward the end. The making all things right and new in the world depend not on gradual amelioration but on the final interposition of God. Geerhardus Vos, The Pauline Eschatology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1982), 133-135.