"when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place."
(Matthew 24:33-34 ESV)
Let's look at the primary biblical signs of Jesus' return.
1. Gospel Preached Worldwide
Jesus said that the Gospel would be preached in every country and to the ends of the Earth.
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14 ESV)
The Greek word for "nations is 'ethnos' and means a race, tribe, or a people group in every area of the Earth. The Church must "Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation" to every person in every nation to the remotest part of "the earth" before Jesus returns (Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8 ESV).
2. The Restoration of Israel and the Return of the Jewish People
The Bible tells us it was prophecied that Israel would become a nation, but they would be scattered worldwide (Daniel 9:26; Zecheriah 7:13-14,10:9; Deuteronomy 28:36-68,29:22-28; Ezekiel 36:18-19; Isaiah 6:9-13; Lamentations 4:12-19; Matthew 23:36-39,24:1-35; Luke 21:20-24). Other prophecies are interpreted to mean there would be a second rebirth of Israel as a Nation (Hosea 3:4-5; Psalm 102:12-22 Isaiah 11:11-13, 14:1-5,66:7-11,60:9; Amos 9:9-15; Ezekiel 36:1-15,24,38:8; Jeremiah 31:8-40; Matthew 24:32-33).
The most specific prophecy that virtually all Bible teachers agree upon that points to the return of Jesus is the restoration of the nation of Israel. In 1917 a public statement called the Balfour Declaration was issued by the British government during the First World War that announced support for establishing a national home for the Jewish people. The Fig Tree began to bloom (Luke 21:29-30).
In 1948, Israel became a sovereign nation. That was almost 2,000 years after the end of the day's clock started when Jesus said, "Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled" (Luke 21:24 ESV). In 1967 the prophecy was fulfilled when Jerusalem came back under Jewish control after a miraculous victory in the Six-Day War. God declared He would re-gather the "outcasts of Israel" from all the nations where He scattered them.
"In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea." (Isaiah 11:11 ESV)
Jeremiah the Prophet also prophesied that Jewish people across the Earth would begin returning to their promised land after a period of exile from "the north county and out of all the countries where" God "had driven them" as a result of persecution so that they could reestablish their national identity and set the stage for the coming of the Messiah who would bring deliverance from all enemies (Jeremiah 16:14-15 ESV). That happened in 1948 when Israel was 'raised from the dead' and declared itself a nation (Jeremiah 16:15-16; Zechariah 14:3; Ezekiel 37:21-22).
Russia is a land north of Israel, and more than one million Russian-speaking Jews are now in Israel. They are also returning from all the countries where the Jewish People were scattered. There is also a growing gathering of Jewish people choosing Jesus as their Messiah, which will continue until He returns.
"Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob; and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-26 ESV)
3. Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism will Increase
The prophet Zechariah declared that all nations would turn against Israel in the Last Days:
"On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it."
(Zechariah 12:3 ESV)
Irrational antisemitism and hatred continue to spread worldwide and have been at an all-time high since the Holocaust in World War Two, primarily due to the rise of Islam.
4. Love Will Grow Cold
Jesus said, "the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12 ESV). That is because "people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:2-4 ESV).
5. Calling Evil Good
The world will increase, calling those things once considered good evil as it slowly spirals into chaos. Evil is good, and good is evil, truth is lies, and lies are truth, 1+1 = 3, boys are girls, and girls are boys. There are wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes, famines, and environmental disasters abound.
The world appears to be preparing itself for a one-world system of government. The Bible says, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20 ESV)
6. The Increase of Lawlessness and Violence
Lawlessness will continue to increase across the world. It was at work in people in the first century and is growing exponentially in those alive today, including so-called 'believers' who profess Jesus as the promised Messiah but do not follow His commandments. The Bible gives grave warnings.
"Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God." (2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 ESV)
"For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming." (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ESV)
Jesus said that before His return, it would be "as were the days of Noah, so will the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man" (Matthew 24:37-39 ESV).
The people will turn their backs on God, who "saw that the wickedness of man was great in the Earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5 ESV). The Earth became "corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth" (Genesis 6:11 ESV).
Evil lawlessness was so great at the time that God sent a flood of judgment. The Bible says that a final judgment will happen against those who rejected Jesus as Lord and Savior when He appears the second time "coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen" (Revelation 1:7 ESV).
7. Persecution and Rumors of Wars
The Bible says there will be specific wars before Jesus returns (See Psalm 46, Ezekiel 38, Daniel 7:7-8, 11:36-45). Jesus warned that before He does, we "will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains" (Matthew 24:6-8 ESV).
8. The Rise of a Global Government
Several prophecies in Scripture tell of a global government that will be established and rise before the Antichrist is revealed and be a multi-national alliance of ten nations that will have authority only for a short time before the Antichrist takes over (Daniel 2:33,41-43;7:24; Revelation 13:1;17:3,12).
This ten-member global governmental alliance rebirths the old Roman Empire and could come out of the current 27 state members of the European Union (EU) (Daniel 2:31-45;7:l-28). The Club of Rome published a report in 1974 entitled "Mankind at the Turning Point" that provided a listing of ten recommended governmental zones that include the following:
(1) Canada and the United States
(2) the European Union
(3) Japan, North, and South Korea
(4) Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa
(5) Russia
(6) Mexico, Central and South America
(7) North Africa and the Middle East
(8) Central Africa
(9) India, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia
(10) China and Central Asia
