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

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

NowOngoingResearch statusGeneric

King James Version
The passage
Matt 24:6-8

6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Read the surrounding verses

3And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?

4And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

5For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

6And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.

10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.

11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.

Luke 21:10-11

10Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:

11And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Read the surrounding verses

7And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?

8And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.

9But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.

10Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:

11And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

12But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

13And it shall turn to you for a testimony.

14Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:

The Christian case

Jesus told his disciples not to be alarmed by the world's upheavals: "ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet" (). He named "famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places" and called them "the beginning of sorrows" (). Christians read this as a realistic and steadying word: the history of the world would not be a smooth climb to peace, and disasters would not mean that God had lost control. That wars, famines, earthquakes and epidemics have continued in every century, including our own, is what Jesus said would happen. On its own terms, the sign marks the whole age before his return, not a single moment.

What the research found

These things happen in every age, so they cannot point to one particular time. The text predicts that they will occur, not that they will increase, and their occurrence is certain in any era. The research also tested the popular reading that these events are "increasing like birth pains", using earthquake, war, famine and pandemic records. That reading is not supported by the data, though the 2020s figures for war and famine will need checking again when the decade ends.

Explore the counterarguments

Because wars, famines and earthquakes occur in every generation, any generation could claim them as a sign, and many have; that is why they carry no weight as evidence for a particular time. The data also counts against the claim that they are getting worse. Large earthquakes (magnitude 7 and above) averaged 12.2 a year in 1900-99 and 14.9 a year in 2000-25, within the normal range from decade to decade. War deaths in 2020-25 were about 2 per 100,000 people a year, up from the 2000s but below the 1950s-80s and far below the 1910s and 1940s (41 and 99). Famine deaths per person have fallen by about 99% since the 1870s-1960s, and COVID's death rate per person was about one eleventh of the 1918 flu's.

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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