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

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

NowUnderwayResearch statusClaimed

King James Version
The passage
Luke 21:24

24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

Read the surrounding verses

21Then let them which are in Judæa flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.

22For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

23But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.

24And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

25And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

26Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

27And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

The Christian case

Jesus foretold both the fall of Jerusalem and a limit to its subjection: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (). The word "until" implies an end. From the destruction of 70 CE until 1967 the city was ruled by non-Jewish powers, and since 1967 it has been under Jewish rule. Futurist interpreters see this as the times of the Gentiles drawing to a close. The 1967 capture came in the course of a war, not through a plan to fulfil the verse. In the text, what follows is "signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars" and the coming of the Son of Man ().

What the research found

A fulfilment is claimed and partly supported. Several tests are met: non-Jewish rule from 70 to 1967, and an outcome that was largely not engineered. The end of Gentile rule is only partly met: Israel has controlled the city since 1967, but the Temple Mount has stayed under the Islamic Waqf's administration with Jewish prayer barred, an arrangement that is only now (2026) eroding. The sign cannot be rated fulfilled unless a forecast of a Jewish-controlled Jerusalem made before 1948 is found.

Explore the counterarguments

The forecasts made before 1967 pointed elsewhere. Charles Taze Russell (1889) dated the end of the Gentile times to 1914, and H. Grattan Guinness (1886) to an era from 1915 to 1934, centred on 1917, not to 1967. A sign whose date is identified only after the event is weaker evidence than one named beforehand. Preterist interpreters read the verse as describing what began in 70 CE, not a modern turning point. The Temple Mount, the heart of the city's sacred life, has remained under Muslim administration. And the events the text places after the end of the Gentile times, the cosmic signs and the coming of the Son of Man, have not followed in the 59 years since 1967.

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.

↑ ↓ to move · Enter to open · Esc to close