The Bible clearly teaches that we are living in the last days of this present age. This age will end with the return of Jesus Christ (gloriously described in Rev 19:11 - 16) to set up His physical kingdom on the earth.No date is given for this; in fact, we are told that we must not set dates. But the Bible gives signs of the time in which this will happen. I list some of them here:
1. There will be wars and rumours of wars (Matt 24:6, 7).
2. There will be famines, pestilences and earthquakes (Matt 24:7).
3. Travel and knowledge will increase (Dan 12:4; 2 Tim 3:7, 8).
4. We may expect to see materialism and blatant homosexuality (Luke 17:26 - 30; Gen 19: 4, 5).
5. People will be selfish, disobedient, unthankful, unholy, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God (2 Tim 3:1 - 4).
6. Israel will be back in her land (Mark 13:28, 29).
7. Many will be deceived by false prophets and false teachers. Many will fall away from the true faith, and Christians will be persecuted (Matt 24:4, 5, 11; 2 Pet 2:1, 2; 1 Tim 4:1 - 3; 2 Pet 3:3 - 7; Jude 17, 18; Mark 13:9; Luke 21:12 - 18).
There will be a time of great suffering on the earth known as the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation or "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Matt 24:21, 22). But before that happens, all those who belong to Jesus will be taken up and will escape the terrible things that are to come (You can read about that at 1 Thess 4:13 - 18; 1 Cor 15:51 - 54 and Phil 3:20, 21).
We need to be ready against that day.
