One can't help wondering if this strange Covid pandemic - with widespread death and pestilence, dubious dealings by global institutions, the descent of liberal democracy into police states in places like Canada, France, Australia, and an alleged coup of Big Media and BigTech - could be the beginning of the end of the age.
Of course such questions and discussions are dismissed by most, but for those who take seriously the words of our Lord in places like Matthew 24, the question is a real one.
The problem is that countless groups have fallen into error obsessing over the events of the day, and generation after generation have been wrong about the Lord's immanent coming. I am sure I would have felt the same at the height of the Nazi regime, or perhaps in the 80's after the State of Israel was reborn after 1900 years, the Israelis captured Jerusalem, and revival swept over the Christian world even as the specter of communism threatened to bring on the world the darkness foreseen of the end days in Isaiah 60.
After many false starts, its become a bit embarrassing. Understandably, many shepherds of the flock want to spare their congregations and the Christian faith from this folly. Which is why, if you hear a sermon on the signs of the times, mostly it is likely to revolve around Mt 24:44
“But concerning that day and hour no one knows… “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44)
This passage typically comes with a stern warning or even a firm rebuke to those wasting time on such things.
What such well-intentioned warnings tend to leave out is the verses that immediately precede that passage:
“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. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, *that generation* will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. (Matthew 24:32–37)
So then, we must 'learn the lesson' from the fig tree. That is an imperative that requires our active effort to learn the lesson from the fig tree. And what is the lesson? 'When you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates… *[that] generation will not pass away until all these things take place.'
(*Side note*: There are 3 grammatically and contextually plausible translations of the Greek text. The translation *that - which references the generation present at the time these events takes place - makes most sense. The translation *this - which references the generation present when Jesus spoke these words cannot be the author's intent, since 'these things' includes His 2nd coming. More on this in a future post tackling Preterism.)
And what are 'these things'? It is the set of things Jesus described of in Mat Ch 24:5-29, in answer to the question: 'what will be the signs of your coming, and of the end of the age?'. The Lord answered that question, revealed the signs, and told us to know that when those signs appear His coming is immanent. Further, He said, the generation that sees the beginning of 'these things' ('that generation') will see the end of them too. He will return within 1 lifetime of those events beginning.
So then, there are 2 parts of the truth regarding the time and signs of the Lord's coming:
We cannot know the day or the hour and must be ready at all times.
Yet, the generation present when He returns can and must know if they are that generation, and so they must be obedient to the Lord's instruction: watch for the signs.
It is in that spirit that we learn the signs and watch for them, knowing it is most likely that our generation too will pass without those signs coming to pass, but it might not! And if it does not, we must certainly know! 'Watch therefore.'
To do so, we must know the basics of the end times events (or, chronology), and the signs they are imminent. The next posts will cover those briefly.
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