End-times prophecy.

The signs of Christ's return, and where each stands today. Each sign is read in its biblical setting, with the full research assessment alongside.

Messianic prophecyEnd-times prophecyTemple watch
Signs of his return8of 13 signs seen today
The gospel preached to all nations before the end · Underway Israel regathered to the land · Underway Jerusalem "trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" · Underway Falling away / apostasy · Underway Wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence ("the beginning of sorrows") · Ongoing False messiahs and prophets · Ongoing "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" · Ongoing Persecution: "hated of all nations for my name's sake" · Ongoing Temple and "abomination of desolation"; a Third Temple · Awaiting Mark of the beast: no buying or selling without the mark · Awaiting The return of Christ itself, visible and global · Awaiting Gog and Magog coalition against Israel · Awaiting The two witnesses · Awaiting
Matt 24:14; Mark 13:10

The gospel preached to all nations before the end

By Joshua Project's count, 56% of the world's people groups are reached with the gospel, and the work continues.

Underway
Matt 24:6-8; Luke 21:10-11

Wars, famines, earthquakes, pestilence ("the beginning of sorrows")

Wars, famines and earthquakes continue, as Jesus said: "the end is not yet" (Matt 24:6).

Ongoing
Matt 24:5, 11, 24

False messiahs and prophets

False messiahs and prophets have appeared in every century, as Jesus warned.

Ongoing
Ezek 36-37; Isa 11:11-12 (OT; see the other question)

Israel regathered to the land

Jewish people have returned to the land in large numbers, and the State of Israel was founded in 1948.

Underway
Luke 21:24

Jerusalem "trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"

Israel has controlled Jerusalem since 1967.

Underway
Dan 9:27; 11:31; Matt 24:15; 2 Thess 2:4

Temple and "abomination of desolation"; a Third Temple

Groups in Jerusalem are preparing for a Third Temple.

Awaiting
Dan 12:4

"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased"

Knowledge and travel have grown greatly in the modern age.

Ongoing
2 Thess 2:3; 1 Tim 4:1; 2 Tim 3:1-5

Falling away / apostasy

Church affiliation and practice have declined across much of the West, while the church holds steady or grows in the global South.

Underway
Rev 13:16-17

Mark of the beast: no buying or selling without the mark

Watched for.

Awaiting
Matt 24:27, 30; Acts 1:11; Rev 1:7

The return of Christ itself, visible and global

Christ's return, visible to all.

Awaiting
Ezek 38-39

Gog and Magog coalition against Israel

A coalition of nations against Israel in the last days.

Awaiting
Rev 11:3-12

The two witnesses

Two witnesses who prophesy in Jerusalem before the end.

Awaiting
Matt 24:9; Mark 13:9-13; Luke 21:12-17

Persecution: "hated of all nations for my name's sake"

Christians face harassment in more countries than any other religious group, as Jesus warned his disciples.

Ongoing
← All signs

Mark of the beast: no buying or selling without the mark

NowAwaitingResearch statusOpen

King James Version
The passage
Rev 13:16-17

16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

Read the surrounding verses

13And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The Christian case

Revelation warns of a time when a ruler "causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (). At its heart the mark is a matter of allegiance: it is bound up with worship of the beast's image (; 14:9-11), and Revelation honours those who refused it (). Christians in every age have taken it as a call to faithfulness under pressure. Futurist interpreters watch developments such as digital identity and central bank digital currencies, which could make control of buying and selling possible, while waiting to see whether the conditions the text describes come to pass.

What the research found

As of May 2026, the Atlantic Council counted 146 jurisdictions exploring a central bank digital currency, but only 3 that had fully launched one (the Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria). Nowhere is trade impossible without a mark, and nowhere is such a mark tied to worship. Digital ID and digital currency are compatible with the text but not specific to it. A recent identification of the mark with COVID-19 vaccines did not come true: mandates were withdrawn and buying and selling were never made conditional on vaccination.

Explore the counterarguments

Most scholars take the beast's number to point to the emperor Nero. The number is 666 in most manuscripts but 616 in the oldest papyrus and another early manuscript, and Irenaeus (about 180 CE) knew both. The Hebrew spellings of "Nero Caesar" add up to exactly 666, and a spelling based on the Latin form of the name to 616, which explains the two readings. On this preterist reading the mark belongs to the first century. Irenaeus himself warned that the number "is capable of being fitted to many names", and later readers fitted it to "Lateinos", "Maometis" and others; modern identifications with technologies repeat that pattern.

Dates set by interpreters.

“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man” (Mark 13:32). 9 dates set; 0 came to pass.

400800120018001850190019502000 Today c. 378 Ambrose of Milan"That Gog is the Goth ... over whom victory in days to come is promised", with Ezekiel's burial of Gog applied to the Goths c. 482 Apollinarius of LaodiceaThe 62 weeks run from the 49th year after Christ's birth, then "Jerusalem and the Temple shall be rebuilt", Elijah comes, then Antichrist (Archer's note: about 482 CE) 1844 William MillerChrist returns about 1843-44 (22 Oct 1844) 1914 Watch Tower1914 (end of the Gentile times: "from that time forward Jerusalem shall no longer be trodden down of the Gentiles"), then 1925, then 1975 1915 H. Grattan GuinnessThe times of the Gentiles close in an era from 1915 to 1934. 1917 is "perhaps the most momentous" year; he asks whether it will see "the extinction of Gentile supremacy on earth, and the restoration of Judah's throne in the person of Christ?" c. 1988 Hal LindseyReturn within a generation (40 years) of 1948, implying about 1988 1988 Edgar WhisenantRapture in Sept 1988 2011 Harold CampingRapture 21 May 2011; end 21 Oct 2011 2015 Blood moonsMajor event linked to the 2014-15 tetrad

Select a date to see the prediction and who made it. The scale changes at 1800.

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