How Soon?

Our son called yesterday and said he and his family would visit today. Our first response was, “What time?”

Everyone wants to know the time of an event. That way, we can plan around it. In our son’s case, someone would have to adjust their plans if we had something already scheduled for when he wanted to show up. His arrival time could change, or our plans could be rescheduled or canceled. But without knowing the times of events, it is difficult to know how to prepare. Will a meal need prepared, what activities will we do, and how long does the event last? These questions and others may need to be asked and answered. It is how we are; everyone hates it when the cable guy says he will arrive between 9 am and 5 pm.

That may be why so many people try to discover when Jesus is coming back.

God gave us an even worse time frame than the cable guy. No one knows; even Jesus does not know; God the Father is the only one who knows (Matthew 24:36).

The Bible gives dozens of signs of Jesus’ return, but no one knows the day or the hour. Some signs are easy to see developing now. The church would fall away from the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:3; Matthew 24:5), refusing to listen to what they do not want to hear (2 Timothy 4:3), apathy toward the things of God, and their trust will be in wealth and not God (Revelation 3:15-17).

Within secular society, signs include moral decay (2 Timothy 3:1-5), false science (1 Timothy 6:20), social problems that seemingly have no cure (Luke 21:25), widespread epidemics (Matthew 24:7), and wars and rumors of war (Matthew 24:6-7).

Nature itself will provide signs, such as earthquakes, events in the heavens, and extremes in weather (Matthew 24:7; Luke 21:25).

Scoffers will claim that these things have occurred since the beginning of time (2 Peter 3:3-4). No one can argue that the nay-sayers are correct. Still, the Bible tells us that the difference between ordinary events and end-time signs is that end-time signs will increase in frequency and intensity (1 Thessalonians 5:1-4). Is this the case?

Wars and rumors of wars: The 20th century was the most war-torn in history. We are only a quarter of the way through the 21st century, and both political parties in America claim the other will lead us into WWIII. So, the jury is still out on the number of wars for our current century. Still, everyone would agree that war is more deadly now than ever. The days of needing to see your target and men fighting with spears and shields are long gone. We have moved from hoping a bolder launched from a catapult could take out a section of wall to launching a weapon that can take out an entire city on the other side of the globe with the push of a button.

When the United States dropped the A-bomb on Japan, America was the only nation with such capabilities. Today, weapons of mass destruction are available to the highest bidder. Wars and rumors of wars fit the increasing frequency and intensity criteria.

Widespread epidemics, or as the Bible puts it, “pestilence.” We are hot on the tail of COVID-19. It was slightly over a hundred years since the influenza epidemic of 1918-19. Since it appears to be a once-a-century thing, is there an increased frequency? According to the list of the most deadly epidemics/pandemics, four of the top six have a time frame within the twentieth or twenty-first centuries.

1. Spanish flu 1918-1919; 17-100 million.
2. Bubonic Plague 541-549; 15-100 million.
3. HIV/AIDS 1981-present; 43 million as of 2024.
4. Bubonic Plague 1349-1353; 25-50 million.
5. COVID-19 2019-present; 7-35 million as of 2024.
6. Bubonic Plague 1855-1960; 12-15 million

(here is a link to the above numbers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_epidemics_and_pandemics).

Pestilence has increased in frequency and intensity over the last hundred years or so. It fits the criteria of an end-time sign.

Extremes in weather: Having lived in the Midwest nearly all my life, I think of tornadoes when I think of extreme weather. According to USA Today (https://data.usatoday.com/tornado-archive/), with a chart starting in 1950, the number of tornadoes in the US did not reach 1,000 in a year until 1973. From 1973 through 1989, we only had four years with a thousand or more tornadoes. From 1990 through 2023, we only had two years of less than a thousand. One year, 2011, we reached the 2,000 mark. The frequency has increased. Intensity is challenging to judge. A massive F5 tornado could sweep through miles of open land with minor property damage. In contrast, a small tornado could flatten a section of town.

Of course, there are many other aspects of weather besides tornadoes, but since many people are talking about extremes in other areas as well, we will consider that the changes in weather also meet the end-time criteria.

False Science: The theory of evolution, taught as science for over a century, completely contradicts the Biblical record. Also, especially after the world’s response to COVID-19, the world is split on whether to follow science. Science because of evolution and the silencing of doctors and scientists during COVID-19 fits the category of an end-time sign.

The moral decay of society and the falling away of the church from the truth. Sex outside of marriage, homosexuality, and mass shootings are only a tiny example of the departure from Biblical morals. The ever-increasing numbers of self-centered, entertainment-seeking, Biblically ignorant congregations in churches today is the “falling away” the Bible speaks of.

How soon before Jesus returns?

The answer is soon.