Do you have fear about the end times? I know it’s easy to look around and hear all that is happening in our world and not be disturbed by it. We have things taking place today that we could have never imagined just five, ten, or fifteen years ago.
Our world seems to be in a steady decline, forcing us to stop and consider things. Things like the possibility of this world as we know it, coming to an end.
But that’s a difficult thing to imagine isn’t it? All we’ve ever known is a continuation of this world. A continuation of new life being born, a continuation of new inventions, and a continuation of progression. But we can’t ignore that there’s been a shift. A shift that’s becoming more and more prominent. A shift that is edging us towards an end.
Jesus shared some truths about these end times. Because believe it or not, some 2000 years ago, they had questions about the end too.
But before we jump into some of the things Jesus talked about. I want to set the stage with some pertinent information and some hope. Because one thing God never does is leave His people without hope.
The first thing I want to draw your attention to is what Jesus had to say about the timing of the end. In Matthew 24:36 Jesus says, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”
One thing no one is able to do, including me and including you, is say what day, month, or year will be the end. Only the Father knows. We can know that we’re in the season of the end times. That’s why Jesus gave us the signs, some of which we’ll soon look at. But none of us know how short or how long this season will stretch. Which is why Jesus shares just a few verses down, some words we need to cling to:
“Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” (Matthew 24:44).
Jesus, in His perfect wisdom, is telling us to be ready at all times. Be ready incase the end is today. Be ready incase the end is 20 years from now. Either way, be ready!
Are you ready for Jesus’ return? Have you accepted God’s free gift of salvation, and received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If you have not, I invite you to consider this and use our Prayer for Salvation. If you have given your life to Jesus but still struggle with uncertainty about being ready for His return, I’d encourage you to read my article, Am I Really Saved. Now is not the time for doubt and confusion. Now is the time for faith and certainty!
God wants you to have hope. And our hope is Christ Jesus. Because if you are in Jesus, the end of this world is not an ending for you. It’s when your real life begins.
A life full of unending and uncompromising love, hope, purity, joy, peace, and security. It’s an eternal life with Jesus and it is good.
So now that we are informed about the timing of the end and we know we can rest in the hope of Jesus, let’s take a look at just a few of the end time signs.
Deception
Oftentimes, when I hear someone talk about the signs of the end times they almost always first refer to wars and national crisis or earthquakes and other natural disasters. And they aren’t wrong. Jesus does say that as we near the end, there will be wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes in various places (Matthew 24:6-7).
But it isn’t what he addressed first.
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.” (Matthew 24:3-5).
Take heed that no one deceives you.
If there’s one thing currently running rampant in our world, it’s deception.
I’ve heard it said somewhere along the lines by world renowned Author and Bible Teacher John Bevere, and it couldn’t be more true, that the problem with deception is, the one being deceived doesn’t even know it.
That’s a frightening thought.
That means you can believe something is the truth and put all your trust into it, and yet be completely wrong. Completely misled. Completely bamboozled. And be totally convinced you’re the one right.
The dark paths that deception can, and has, led people down is a dangerous pathway.
My eyes shall be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house; he who tells lies shall not continue in my presence. Early I will destroy all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off all the evildoers from the city of the Lord. (Psalm 101:6-8).
Deception’s pathway leads to death. Truth leads to life.
The only thing we can put our trust and confidence in completely without fail, is the Word of God. Not in ourselves, not in other people, and not in the culture. Only His Word.
It has to be your standard of truth.
Anything that doesn’t align with His Word is decpetion.
The Word of God is our safe guard. If we encounter something being sold as the truth, we can take it before Scripture to see if it holds up. If it doesn’t, we know it isn’t the truth.
Deception will only progress as we get closer and closer to the end. Be determined to not be deceived by committing to making the Word of God a part of your everyday life. The truth you read and hear will protect you from the lies that are already present in our world, and the ones to come.
Lawlessness
Dictionary.com defines lawlessness as the quality or condition of being without regard for the law; behavior that is contrary to or shows indifference to the law.1
In layman terms, lawlessness is an attitude and behavior that says, “I do what I want to do.” With no regard for authority. And according to Jesus, it’s a sign of the end times.
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. (Matthew 24:12).
We see two things happening here in sequence. First, lawlessness will abound. Secondly, the love of many will grow cold.
From state to state and country to country, we see lawlessness increasing. From mass shootings, to riots, to teen takeovers, we see crime and violence penetrating across age groups, racial demographics, and social classes. Sadly, hearing about yet another violent act against a person or a group of people, has become common place.
Which leads right into love growing cold.
When you don’t value the life of other people, who are created in the image of God, just like yourself, you will treat them however you desire to treat them. Being mindful of their lives, their belongings, their rights, stops being important.
But this way of living and thinking is contrary to the ways of God.
Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31).
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Lawlessness and a steady decline in love for others, are signs of the end times that we cannot ignore.
1 John 4:19 says we love God because He first loved us. The right order is, God loved us, we love Him back, we love ourselves, and we love our neighbor as ourselves. But we aren’t in position to do any of it, if we don’t believe and receive God’s love first.
The end is coming. That is something we cannot change. But what we can do is introduce more and more people to God by showing them His love. When you are truly loving your neighbor as yourself, you are inviting them into God’s perfect love.
Regardless of what you see happening in the world, show people God and share His love with them.
People Will Be Lovers Of Themselves
The Apostle Paul, a faithful servant of Christ Jesus, also shared truths about the last days. And one of the things he mentions amongst others, is that people would be lovers of themselves.
But 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, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Quite honestly, we could camp out on each of these sins that Paul lists. Each one a sign of the times. And each one prevalent in our day today.
But for this article, we’re going to focus on the first one listed: Men will be lovers of themselves.
That word men, is not specific to one gender. But rather it encompasses mankind; both men and women. So we could rephrase it this way: People will be lovers of themselves.
This might appear contradictory to what I discussed earlier. About receiving God’s love, loving Him back, loving ourselves, and loving others as ourselves. That remains true.
What this love is, is a love engineered apart from God. A love void of truth and holiness. It is a counterfeit love, that causes a person to regard themselves above God and above others.
It keeps you focused on and living for yourself in every area and scenario of life.
But love is inclusive. Not inclusive in the backwards way the culture defines inclusivity. Where the truth is dumbed down for a lie or just flat out canceled. But inclusive the way God’s Word teaches.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. (Romans 12:15-18).
True, God-centered love, always stretches beyond itself and reaches into the lives of others for good. Not for self glory, but for the glory of God.
The next time you take notice of a person completely absorbed with themselves, and devoid of true love. Remember the words of Paul and the times we are living in. And show them what true love looks like. And bring God glory.
Many Will Be Offended
It’s not by accident or by chance that I saved this one for last. Many people are offended and unaware that Jesus lists offense, as one of the signs of the end times.
And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. (Matthew 24:10).
Offense can be difficult to address, because oftentimes a person was legitimately hurt or wounded by someone, or a group of people; and they feel entitled to be offended.
But offense is never a direction followers of Jesus should be headed in, or camp at. Because offense leads to betrayal and it leads to hate.
Holding offense in our heart towards anyone, for any reason, pulls us away from God. It never draws us closer to Him.
Offense is everywhere we look today. People are offended if you’ve chosen a political party opposite of theirs. People are offended if you align with what the Bible says over what the culture says. People are offended if you celebrate certain holidays or if you don’t celebrate those holidays. People are offended over everything. And the only things it’s leading to is more division. More betrayal. And more hate.
So what do we do about it? How do we combat offense? How do we lay down offense when we’ve been genuinely hurt?
We start with ourselves. We start by being honest with God about how we’re feeling and why. We lean on Him and His Word to help us overcome every single one of our offenses. Until we have no hate or unforgiveness in our hearts towards any person or any group of people.
Laying down our offenses isn’t about ignoring or discounting what someone has done to us or to someone we love. We just don’t have the right to “make them pay.” Whether it’s through withholding forgiveness, through revenge, or through hate. God says vengeance belongs to Him. We can trust that where vengeance is due, God will deliver it.
Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Romans 12:19-20 NIV).
Being kind to those who aren’t or weren’t good to us, is one of the best ways to overcome offense. It helps us get our minds off of them for evil, and our minds on to God for good. And a bonus is, when we are kind to those who refuse to repent of their sins, we heap burning coals on their heads.
Laying down our offenses is about choosing to do things God’s way and honoring Him and His Word above our feelings.
We simply don’t have the right to hold on to offense. Through Jesus and His death on the cross for our sins, God wipes away the offenses of every person who places their faith in Jesus and receives His free gift of salvation. The only one who owns the right to offense, is Jesus. You cannot usurp what belongs to Him.
The signs of the end times are everywhere we look. And Jesus shared these signs so that we would know when the end was near. We may not know the exact date of the very end, but we recognize the season.
1 Chronicles 12:32 tells us the sons of Issachar had understanding of the times and knew what to do. I believe Jesus wanted us to be like the sons of Issachar in this respect. He wanted us to be alert and aware of the end times season and He wanted us to know what to watch for and how to live. To be on guard and to be ready. Not just for ourselves, but so we could help others get ready as well.
Because one day the end will surely come. Not the season, but the actual day. And you must be ready!
Sources
- Dictionary.com. (n.d.). Lawlessness. In Dictionary.com dictionary. Retrieved August 19, 2026, from https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lawlessness
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