Are there really signs of end of time that we can see happening around us today?
For generations, Bible students have studied the prophetic passages of Scripture and wondered what the world would look like as we approached the end of the age. Some of those prophecies must have seemed almost impossible to earlier generations.
How could Israel be scattered among the nations for centuries and yet be back in its own land during the events of the Tribulation? What could possibly cause knowledge to increase on a scale unlike anything previously known? How could people “run to and fro” throughout the earth? And what would Christianity itself look like as the end approached?
Today, we can look around and see circumstances developing that earlier generations of Christians could scarcely have imagined.
That does not mean we should set dates for the Rapture or the return of Jesus Christ. The Bible does not give us permission to do that. But neither should we ignore what the Bible says about the last days. When several prophetic conditions begin appearing at the same time, they deserve our attention.
Here are seven biblical signs of end of time that we can see developing around us today.
1. Israel Is Back in the Land
Perhaps no development in modern history is more significant to Bible prophecy than the Jewish people being back in the land of Israel.
For centuries, this clearly seemed impossible. The Jewish people were scattered among the nations, just as the Scriptures had foretold. Jerusalem came under Gentile domination. Israel did not exist as a modern nation.
Yet numerous Bible prophecies require Israel to be back in the land during events that clearly occur at the end of the Tribulation.
Consider Ezekiel 39. After describing the tremendous judgment that comes upon the enemies of Israel, the Lord says:
“When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;”
— Ezekiel 39:27
Afterwards He says:
“Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.”
— Ezekiel 39:28
Notice the setting.
Earlier in the same chapter, the Lord calls for the birds and beasts to gather for a tremendous feast upon the slain:
“Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you…”
— Ezekiel 39:17
Compare that with Revelation 19:
“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;”
— Revelation 19:17
Revelation 19 occurs in connection with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
In other words, Ezekiel describes Israel as having been gathered back into its land in the prophetic setting surrounding the end of the Tribulation. That alone is extremely important.
Israel Must Be in the Land During the Tribulation
Other passages confirm the same thing. Jesus said concerning Jerusalem:
“And 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.”
— Luke 21:24
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine…”
— II Timothy 4:3
That word until matters. Gentile domination of Jerusalem was not presented as permanent.
Zechariah 14 describes a future day when the nations gather against Jerusalem:
“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle…”
— Zechariah 14:2
And in the next verse:
“Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations…”
— Zechariah 14:3
His feet stand upon the Mount of Olives:
“And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east…”
— Zechariah 14:4
That did not happen in AD 70.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not descend upon the Mount of Olives when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem.
This is a futuristic prophecy that has not yet occurred.
For example, Zechariah 12 likewise describes Jerusalem surrounded by hostile nations, but instead of Jerusalem simply being destroyed, God intervenes:
“In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem…”
— Zechariah 12:8
Again, that does not describe what happened in AD 70.
Revelation 12 describes the woman fleeing into the wilderness for 1,260 days:
“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God…”
— Revelation 12:6
Later the same chapter describes her being nourished for:
“…a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.”
— Revelation 12:14
That is three and one-half years.
Jesus describes this period in Matthew 24. After the abomination of desolation, those in Judaea are told to flee:
“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:”
— Matthew 24:16
And He warns:
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
— Matthew 24:21
Hosea 2:6-15, Micah 7:14-20, Jeremiah 50:19-20 and other passages add further details to this prophetic picture.
The conclusion is difficult to escape: Israel must exist in its land during the end-time events described in Bible prophecy. For many centuries, that condition did not exist.
Today it does.
The existence of modern Israel does not give us a date for Christ’s coming. But one of the major geopolitical conditions required by end-time prophecy is now in place.
2. Knowledge Has Increased
Another of the biblical signs of the end time is found in the book of Daniel.
Daniel received this remarkable prophecy:
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
— Daniel 12:4
Consider how dramatically human knowledge has increased.
For most of human history, information moved slowly. Books were rare and expensive. Education was limited. Most people had access only to the knowledge available within their immediate surroundings.
Compare that with today.
A person sitting at a computer or holding a phone can access enormous amounts of human knowledge almost instantly. Entire libraries are available electronically. People can study history, science, medicine, languages, theology, engineering and almost any other subject without leaving their homes.
This has become reality because the internet alone has changed humanity’s access to knowledge in a way that would have been almost unimaginable only a few generations ago. (See Fuller’s Knowledge Doubling Theory for more evidence).
Paul gives us another interesting description of the last days in II Timothy 3. Among the conditions he describes are people who are:
“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
— II Timothy 3:7
Isn’t that an interesting description of our time?
We live in an age overflowing with information. New articles, new videos, new studies, new discoveries, new courses, and new technologies. We are constantly learning. Yet having more information does not necessarily mean possessing more truth. Humanity has accumulated extraordinary knowledge while becoming increasingly confused about some of life’s most basic questions.
Daniel said that at the time of the end, knowledge would be increased.
It certainly has.
3. Transportation and Technology Have Exploded
Daniel 12:4 contains another fascinating statement:
“…many shall run to and fro…”
For most of history, human transportation changed very little. People walked, rode animals, traveled in carts and wagons, and sailed in ships. A person living in the eighteenth century still traveled at speeds that would have been recognizable to someone living many centuries earlier.
Then everything changed.
- Railroads appeared.
- Automobiles appeared.
- Airplanes appeared.
- Jet aircraft appeared.
- Human beings eventually traveled into space.
Today, millions of people can move enormous distances in a single day. Someone can eat breakfast in one country and supper in another. Airliners continuously cross oceans and continents. Highways carry enormous streams of automobiles. Trains travel at speeds previous generations would have considered astonishing.
“Many shall run to and fro” describes our world remarkably well.
Did Nahum Describe the Automobile?
There is another Old Testament passage that deserves consideration.
Nahum wrote:
“The chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day of his preparation…”
— Nahum 2:3
Then:
“The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings.”
— Nahum 2:4
I believe this passage may contain a prophetic description of the automobile.
Notice the language.
The chariots are in the streets and broad ways.
They “rage” through them. And “justle one against another.” They appear like torches. And, they “run like the lightnings.”
Nahum obviously did not possess modern technological terminology. If the Lord showed an ancient prophet something resembling modern automobiles moving rapidly along highways, how would a man living in that world describe what he saw?
He would naturally use terminology familiar to him. And he might call them chariots.
I would not build an entire doctrine of the last days upon that interpretation. But the description is certainly interesting when compared with modern transportation. And the larger point does not depend upon Nahum alone.
Daniel plainly describes a time when “many shall run to and fro.”
We now live in an age of human mobility unlike anything experienced throughout most of recorded history!
4. Perilous Times and Immorality Are Increasing
Paul gave Timothy one of the clearest descriptions of the last days found anywhere in Scripture:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”
— II Timothy 3:1
The word perilous carries the idea of dangerous, difficult or troublesome times.
Paul then tells us why those days become perilous. He describes people as:
“…lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good…”
— II Timothy 3:2-3
The list continues. Paul is not merely predicting dangerous circumstances. He connects dangerous times with deterioration in human character.
That distinction is important.
A society becomes perilous when people become increasingly selfish, covetous, proud, dishonest, uncontrolled and fierce. Later Paul says:
“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
— II Timothy 3:13
Daniel gives another description of the latter period:
“And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full…”
— Daniel 8:23
Notice that expression:
“When the transgressors are come to the full.”
There comes a point when wickedness reaches maturity. We can see troubling parallels in modern society. There was a time in America when many business arrangements could be made with little more than a handshake. A person’s word was expected to mean something.
That certainly does not mean earlier generations were sinless. They were not. Every generation has had its wickedness. But the level of distrust, violence, fraud, immorality and social instability that has become normal today would have shocked many people only a few generations ago.
Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Americans have also become accustomed to security precautions that previous generations would have found extraordinary.
- Entering certain buildings requires screening.
- Boarding an airplane requires security checkpoints.
- Public gatherings require heightened security.
- People routinely think about dangers that were once far removed from ordinary daily life.
Paul did not merely say that the last days would be sinful. Human history has always contained sin.
He specifically warned:
“…in the last days perilous times shall come.”
5. The Laodicean Church Is Here
One of the most remarkable signs of end of time may be found not in world politics or technology, but inside professing Christianity.
Revelation chapters 2 and 3 contain Christ’s messages to seven churches. I believe those seven churches not only existed literally in John’s day but also prophetically picture successive periods of Church history.
The final church is Laodicea. And its description is sobering.
Jesus said:
“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.”
— Revelation 3:15
Then:
“So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
— Revelation 3:16
Laodicea is not characterized primarily by persecution or poverty. It is characterized by comfort, wealth and spiritual blindness.
The church says:
“I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing…”
— Revelation 3:17
But Christ says that spiritually it is:
“…wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
That contrast should get our attention. The church believes it is successful because it has material prosperity. Christ evaluates it completely differently.
Buildings can be impressive. Offerings can be large. Programs can be numerous. Crowds can fill auditoriums A church can possess money, property, technology and influence while being spiritually poor.
That is the tragedy of Laodicea.
Christ Outside the Door
Perhaps the saddest verse in the entire passage is Revelation 3:20:
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock…”
Think about that picture. Christ is addressing a church, yet He is standing outside the door.
He continues:
“…if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Notice the shift from the church collectively to the individual:
“If any man…”
Even in a spiritually lukewarm church age, Christ still seeks fellowship with the individual who will hear His voice and open the door.
The name Laodicea itself is also interesting. It comes from Greek elements associated with the people and right, justice or judgment. I believe there is an intriguing correspondence between that name and an age increasingly centered upon the rights and authority of the people—what we commonly discuss today in terms such as civil rights.
I would not base the identification of the Laodicean period upon the meaning of the name alone. The far stronger evidence is the spiritual condition Christ describes in the passage itself. But the correspondence is certainly interesting.
In fact, I believe the names and characteristics of all seven churches correspond remarkably with the periods of Church history they represent. That, however, deserves a separate study of its own.
The important point here is this: The final church in Revelation 2-3 is wealthy, comfortable, self-satisfied and spiritually lukewarm.
Does that sound familiar?
6. Many Are Falling Away From Biblical Truth
The Bible also predicts increasing departure from truth.
Paul wrote:
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith…”
— I Timothy 4:1
Notice where the departure occurs. These people depart from the faith. You cannot depart from something unless you were associated with it in the first place. This prophecy therefore concerns religious apostasy—not merely unbelievers rejecting Christianity from outside the church.
Paul gives Timothy another warning:
Why?
Because:
“…after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;”
Then:
“And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
— II Timothy 4:4
That is an extraordinary prophecy.
The problem is not that sound doctrine becomes unavailable. It’s that people will not endure it.
They want teachers who will tell them what they want to hear. Truth becomes less important than comfort. Doctrine becomes less important than popularity.Scripture becomes less important than personal preference.
Paul also connects a falling away with the events surrounding the Day of Christ: Whatever else we study concerning the prophetic details of II Thessalonians 2, the New Testament repeatedly warns that departure from biblical truth will characterize the latter times.
“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first…”
— II Thessalonians 2:3
And that departure occurs within professing Christianity.
Today, doctrines Christians accepted for generations are increasingly questioned, modified or abandoned. In many churches, biblical authority has been replaced by cultural acceptance. Rather than asking, “What does the Bible say?”, the question becomes, “What will people accept?”
Scripture warned us that this would happen.
7. Scoffers Are Mocking the Promise of Christ’s Return
Finally, Peter gives us one of the most remarkable biblical signs of the last days:
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,”
— II Peter 3:3
What are they scoffing about? Peter tells us in the next verse:
“And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?”
— II Peter 3:4
Think about that.
The Bible predicts that in the last days people will mock the expectation of Christ’s return. And that is exactly what we see.
- People mock the Bible.
- They mock Christianity.
- And they mock biblical prophecy.
- They mock the idea of divine judgment.
- And they particularly ridicule Christians who believe that Jesus Christ is literally coming again.
But there is something almost ironic about this.
Their scoffing is itself part of the prophecy.
Peter predicted that the scoffers would come. He even predicted the subject of their ridicule:
“Where is the promise of his coming?”
The apparent delay becomes their argument against the promise. But Peter immediately explains why that reasoning is wrong.
God does not measure time as man does:
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
— II Peter 3:8
Then:
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward…”
— II Peter 3:9
What scoffers interpret as evidence that Christ will never return, Scripture identifies as the longsuffering of God.
The promise has not failed.
God’s timetable is not ours.
What Do These Signs of End of Time Tell Us?
No single one of these signs should be used to set a date. I am not suggesting that because knowledge has increased, airplanes fill the skies, Israel is back in the land or society has become increasingly perilous, we can calculate the day when the Rapture will occur. We cannot.
But consider the cumulative picture.
- Israel is back in the land required by end-time prophecy.
- Knowledge has increased beyond anything previous generations experienced.
- Human beings run to and fro across the earth with unprecedented speed and frequency.
- Perilous times and increasing wickedness resemble Paul’s description of the last days.
- A wealthy, comfortable and lukewarm form of Christianity resembles Laodicea.
- Many are departing from biblical truth, exactly as Paul warned.
- And scoffers openly mock the promise of Christ’s return, exactly as Peter predicted.
Any one of those things might be dismissed by itself. Taken together, they deserve serious attention.
Still, the most remarkable thing is that these prophecies were written long before the modern world existed.
For example, Daniel did not know about the internet. Nahum had never seen an automobile. Paul had never seen our modern society. Peter had never read modern criticisms of the Second Coming. John had never walked through a wealthy twenty-first-century megachurch.
Yet the prophetic descriptions they recorded bear striking similarities to the world in which we now live.
That should not make Christians fearful.
It should make us watchful.
Jesus Christ said:
“And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.”
— Mark 13:37
The purpose of Bible prophecy is not to encourage wild speculation or endless date-setting. It is to help God’s people understand the times, remain faithful to His Word and live in expectation of what He has promised.
- The world may scoff.
- Churches may become lukewarm.
- Truth may become increasingly unpopular.
But none of that changes the promises of God.
Jesus Christ is coming again.
And that brings us to a much more important question than simply recognizing the signs:
Are You Ready for Jesus Christ to Return?
Bible prophecy is fascinating, but knowing prophecy cannot save anyone. Only the gospel can save.
The Bible says:
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;”
— Romans 3:23
Every one of us is a sinner, and sin has a penalty:
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
— Romans 6:23
But God did not leave us without hope. Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.
Paul summarized the Gospel this way:
“…Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”
— I Corinthians 15:3-4
Salvation is not something we can earn through religion, church membership, good works or trying to become a better person.
It is God’s gift.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
— Ephesians 2:8-9
God’s promise is wonderfully simple:
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
— Romans 10:13
If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Saviour, you do not need to wait until you understand every detail of Bible prophecy.
Recognize that you are a sinner. Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again. Put your faith in the blood of Christ rather than yourself, your religion or your works.
The greatest question raised by the signs of end of time is not merely:
How close are we?
It is:
Are you ready?
May the Lord richly bless you,
Brother Donnie – Founder of The End Time Classroom
Note: All images in this post are generated by AI.