In 1588 in England, a pregnant woman stood on the seashore and saw a fearful sight: the Spanish Armada sat off the coast, ready to attack the island. She was so frightened that she went into premature labor and gave birth to a son who became the famous political philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
Hobbes quipped that fear was the midwife that brought him into the world. He also theorized that all men are afraid of each other, and for that reason, they form governments whose sole purpose is to protect them from their neighbors. Otherwise, humans would live in a state of perpetual war of all against all.
wars and rumors of wars
Hobbes had good reason to be pessimistic. The history of humanity has been one of continual political strife and violence. Despite predictions at the beginning of the twentieth century that the human race was entering a golden age of peace, political unrest, turmoil, violence, revolution, insurgencies, terrorism, and outright war continue to be unfortunate realities.
Moreover, the Bible tells us that these tragedies will continue until the end of time. In fact, they are themselves signs of the end. Today, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Somalia, Syria, Nigeria, Sudan, Taiwan, Kurdistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Israel, Palestine, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Columbia are just a few examples of the worldwide violence and strife caused by political, ideological, and economic turmoil.
Almost 2,000 years ago, as Jesus spoke with His disciples about the state of the world before He would return, He gave them the following warning: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6).*
Jesus said we would not only hear about wars—that is, wars that are happening—but there would also be “rumors of wars.” In other words, besides the wars actually in progress, there would be perpetual fear of new threats to safety and security. Does this not exactly describe the state of our world today, especially with its mass communication and terrorism?
not a planet of saints
The apostle Paul, writing about what people would be like in the last days, said: “Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1–4).
Brutal, unloving, and traitors? That is why there are wars and rumors of wars. The situation would obviously be different if our planet were filled with saints. But our world is the way it is because humans are the way they are. Society is exactly as the Bible said it would be in the last days before Jesus returns.
Again, Paul, quoting the Old Testament, describes us like this: “There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace they have not known” (Romans 3:10–17).
“Swift to shed blood?” Don’t know “the way of peace”? Given this description of humanity, how could there be anything but war?
be not alarmed
Let’s look again at Jesus’ prophecy of the last days: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6; emphasis added).
How could we not be alarmed? Jesus was not saying, however, that these things are not bad; of course, they are. His first point was that they are to be expected—this is what the world will be like before He returns.
Wars should be expected because wars are a manifestation of the original war, the one that began in heaven between Christ and Satan and is now being played out here on the earth. “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7–9).
A few verses further on, we are warned, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time” (Revelation 12:12). And no doubt part of his fury is revealed in the violence and ravages of war that will continue here on earth until Jesus returns and the world as we know it comes to an end.
In His warning about wars and rumors of wars, Jesus said that even when all these things are going on, the end is not yet; it is still to come. In other words, though these trials are signs of the end, they are still not the end, nor do they bring it. Instead, they are part of the many tragedies that lead to the end, part of what it means to live in a fallen world that is immersed in the epic struggle between good and evil.
peace and safety?
It has been said that in the twentieth century alone, there have been so many violent deaths at the hands of others that historians have agreed to round off their estimates to the nearest ten million!
Because of its wholesale slaughter of humankind, World War I was christened “the war to end all wars.” How terrible and sad that humanity was unable to learn from the experience. The estimated number of deaths in World War II is more than 50 million!
But it shouldn’t really surprise us. Not when we have the word of Jesus, who told His disciples about the state of the world just before His return. Here we are, in the twenty-first century, and at any given time, multiple nations are at war with others or with themselves, just as Jesus told us it would be.
This doesn’t mean that we should give up striving for peace when and where we can. In His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told a large crowd of people, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (Matthew 5:9). Nevertheless, because of this universal conflict in which we are all immersed, our world is and always will be in turmoil, including wars and rumors of war.
Moreover, according to the Bible, the situation is going to worsen. The prophet Daniel, writing centuries before Jesus came to our world, warned that “at that time [the time of the end] Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1; emphasis added). The history of nations goes back thousands of years, and the world has endured some pretty tough times. And yet, it is going to get worse shortly before Jesus comes back!
We now live not only with the reality of war, revolts, and terrorism but also with the threat of extraordinarily destructive weapons. “Our entire much-praised technological progress, and civilization generally,” wrote Albert Einstein, “could be compared to an axe in the hand of a pathological criminal.”
An axe, he said in the year 1917. How about a 20-megaton nuclear device? And a pathological criminal? How about an extremist who is convinced that it is his sacred duty to kill himself along with as many innocents as he can? There is no question about it: we live in scary times!
And though we have been warned about the times and what they will bring, many people won’t heed the warnings, and thus, they won’t be prepared for what is coming. That is why Paul said “Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–3).
hope amid turmoil
The Bible tells us about these things, so we don’t have to be taken by surprise. We can be ready for what is coming. God wants us to be prepared. He loves this world, His creation, and He loves each of us who inhabit it, a fact that is proved by Christ’s death on the cross on behalf of sinners of all time.
The good news is that no matter how difficult things become, the trouble will not last forever. God promises to end this violent world and create a new one that is radically different from the present one with all its wars, hurt, pain, and death. That is why Peter reminds us, “We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
No matter how bad things get, if we put our trust in Christ, we can find peace in knowing the promises of Scripture. Although our world remains a very troubled and unstable place, we can draw hope from the fact that not only have we been warned but we can see in the wars and rumors of wars the very signs of their end. Hence, we have every reason to anticipate the future with hope and the assurance of something so much better beyond.
Clifford Goldstein writes from Tennessee and is a frequent contributor to Signs of the Times®.
* Bible texts in this article are from the New King James Version®.
