End Times: Are We in the Last Days?

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?

Perilous Times

The study of the end times is called Eschatology which basically means a study of the end things. The end things in this case is a study of the end times and deciphering the nearness of Christ’s return based upon Scriptures. Eschatology is concerned with the end of the present age and events that lead up to Jesus Christ’s return to judge the unsaved world and to reward believers for their good works or the lack thereof.

The sad fact is that for those who choose today to not believe in Jesus Christ, that day will be a terrible one.

In the first place, we don’t have to look for any prophecy in the Bible to be fulfilled before Jesus can return again. The sad fact is that for those who choose today to not believe in Jesus Christ, that day will be a terrible one. For those who are not believers, they will face eternal judgment and have no second chance for salvation and escaping hell. For those who today have already placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will receive their rewards. Today is the day of salvation for the unsaved because He can return at any given moment (2 Cor 6:2).

In Paul’s last letter to Timothy and having the knowledge that his death was imminent, he warned Timothy by telling him to, “mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people” (2 Tim 3:1-5). Certainly, Paul was right that “evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Tim 3:13).

These verses have come to pass into their fullness today. Read these things written in 2 Timothy and you can see them already prevalent in society: greed is unbelievable, children are rebelling against parents, people are lovers of themselves, people are full of pride, boastful, abusive, ungrateful, having no natural love, unforgiving, no self-control (with sexual immorality rampant), brutal, and having a hypocritical look of godliness but living in duplicity. These appear to be more so today than in Paul’s day.

Scoffers of God

When someone scoffs at the idea of there being a God they ridicule believers even more when they say that people have been talking about Jesus’ coming for hundreds of years. This persecution has not been helped by the many false prophets who have claimed to have special revelations from God and set dates for Jesus’ return. Not one of them of course has been right because no one knows the date of Christ’s Second Advent (Matt 24:36). The Benny Hinns and Harold Campings of this world have served to only exacerbate the idea of Jesus’ certain coming as being a myth and they have, unfortunately, helped to create a world of skeptics. These false prophets are fortunate that they didn’t live in the Old Testament times because false prophets were stoned to death for such false prophecies then.

The longer the period of time of Christ’s return is, the more skepticism will increase, but Peter warned us about this natural tendency in 2 Peter 3:3-4, “Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” What Peter is saying in his last letter is that people have been saying this ever since his ancestors were around. It is much like in the days of Noah, prior to the flood, in which Noah spent 120 years warning people of an impending flood of judgment to come. If they laughed at Noah, they will laugh at believers. But believe God, judgment is coming as Peter warned by the comparison of Noah’s time saying, “By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Pet 3:6-7).

Signs of the End Times

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.

“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” (v 4-5). There have been no shortages of fanatics claiming to be Jesus, even in the 1st Century.

“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” (v 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.”

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” (v 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 Cor 13, John chapters 15-17, Rev 3:14-19).

“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” (v -37-39). Peter may have used the days of Noah from the reference given by Christ (2 Pet 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.

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 (Gen 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” (Matt 24:30). 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” (Matt 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.

Conclusion

Here is a summary of the signs in the world that precede Jesus Christ’s second coming:

Skepticism
Greed
Pride
Scoffing
Sexual immorality
Boastfulness
Hypocrisy
Unforgiving
Slander
Abusive
Rebellious
Wars increasing
Earthquakes increasing
Increasing famines
Increase of false prophets
Increase of false prophecies of Jesus’ Second Advent
Drinking parties

If you have not yet placed your trust in Jesus Christ, today you can have the saving faith that comes only in believing in Him. There is no other way to escape judgment (Acts 4:12). If you want to be saved from the wrath of God and receive eternal life, click on the link at the top of this website where it says, “Come to Jesus” and you can be saved today. God is patient but He will not wait forever (2 Pet 3:9). Today is the day of your salvation because no one has any guarantee that they will live beyond today (2 Cor 6:2). My hope and prayer is that anyone who is unsaved and reading this might understand that we are indeed living in the last days. These are the end times and it will be the beginning of their eternity in hell if they don’t come to saving faith today in Jesus Christ our Lord. God doesn’t want you, your family, your friends, your co-workers, or anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9). I do not want that and neither should you.