ARE WE LIVING IN THE END OF THE AGE?
(Published March, 2025)
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For centuries, people have debated the question, “Are we living in the Time of the End?” In recent times, with the global pandemic, the Gaza–Israel war, the threat of nuclear weapons being used in the Russia-Ukraine war, people are again debating the same question. According to the Bible, we are currently living in the Last Days, that period of history since the First Coming of Jesus Christ until His Second Coming when He will establish the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Several signposts – prophetic messages from Jesus and the Bible prophets – foretell peculiar features about our Modern Age, and are meant as signs, pointing to what the End of the Age era would look like. Even now, we see several of them unfolding before our eyes. Does this mean we live in that unique time before Christ’s Return? Will He come soon to rescue the world in its hour of greatest need?
SIGNS
“And you 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.” (Matthew 24:6,7).
War has been the scourge of human society since time immemorial. “But the end is not yet.” In each generation, inevitably, some people get “alarmed” – wondering if the wars going on in their time were a sign the End was about to come. But the world has continued its warmongering ways. The Kingdom of God is not here by any means.
Although “wars and rumors of wars” continue, dramatic change has taken place. Modern warfare has brought colossal devastation into our world. New and powerful weapons, unimaginable in times past, can inflict extraordinary amounts of death and destruction. “Our 20th-century wars have been ‘total wars’ against combatants and civilians alike… The barbarian wars of centuries past were alley fights in comparison.” (“Death in the 20th Century,” Washington Post, 26 April 1995)
We may well wonder then, how can our planet escape self-destruction… unless God intervenes soon?
“And there will be famines…” (Matthew 24:7)
As in centuries past, extreme poverty remains a daily reality. In the Modern Age, “more than a billion people live on less than $1 per day.” (Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2006) More than 800 million people cannot get enough to eat to meet their daily energy needs. (FAO report, 1999) According to UNICEF, “At least one in three children under five is undernourished… and at least half experience micro-nutrient deficiency, also known as hidden hunger.”
“And there will be pestilences…” (Matthew. 24:7)
Plagues and pestilences have occurred all through history, and, in spite of medical advances, the Modern Age is no exception. Since the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak, five major pandemics have been documented: Asian flu, Hong Kong flu, HIV/AIDS, swine flu, covid-19. HIV has “claimed 42.3 million lives to date.” (WHO Fact-sheet, 2024) Over 200 types of cancers kill nearly 10 million people every year. (WHO Fact-sheet, 2025)
“And there will be earthquakes in various places…” (Matthew 24:7)
Earthquakes have been around for a long time. But in the very End, as envisioned by the prophets, “The foundations of the earth are shaken… shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro… in the day… when the towers fall.” (Isaiah 24:18–20; 30:25) And later in the Book of Revelation, we read of great upheavals, right before the dawn of the new Age of Peace: “There was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth… and the cities of the nations fell.” (Revelation 16:19)
Violence will increase “as in the days of Noah… and the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12, 37).
Aside from political violence, violence in all its forms surrounds us. “The typical child will have seen 8,000 murders and 100,000 other acts of violence (including rape and assault) before middle school.” (National Television Violence Study, 1998) “Today’s children experience screen violence on many different platforms.” (American Academy of Pediatrics – August, 2016)
There is a rapid worldwide moral decline as people become more selfish and less public-spirited in this Age.
“And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14)
A huge number of Christian websites, cyber churches, Gospel webcasts and podcasts, spread the Gospel via the Internet. According to the United Bible Societies, in 2023 the entire Bible or parts thereof were available to about 90 percent of the world’s population, having been translated into 3,610 different languages.
“Many shall run to and fro…” (Daniel 12:4)
Considering that people’s means of transportation – horse and buggy, wagons, boats, etc. – did not change for thousands of years, we can appreciate the significance of this prophecy. Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries, generating over 10% of global GDP.
“Knowledge shall increase” (Daniel 12:4)
The term “information overload” was coined in recent years. Knowledge has increased within our generation almost beyond imagination!
“Feet” of the “image” coming into view (Daniel 2)
This is referring to the prophetic dream-vision (in Daniel 2) of a great “image”, the various parts of which symbolize the empires that have ruled, or will rule, over Israel. The two iron “legs” symbolize ancient Rome, divided between west and east, European and Asian nations. Rome’s invasion of Israel caused her to disappear as a nation. But strangely enough, Israel has in these modern times come back into view on the world stage. So also has the territory, symbolized in the “feet” portion of the “image”, come into view.
Amazingly enough, the growing Eurasian empire exhibits a west-east division between European and Asian nations, similar to what characterized ancient Rome. Are we seeing before our eyes the rise of the final empire that, as before, will bear rule over Israel?
“Gog, the land of Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38-39)
“Magog” and “Rosh” are ancient names for modern Russia, “Meshech” and “Tubal” for the cities of Moscow and Tobolsk, main cities in the European and Asian regions of Russia. (38:2-3, 39:1) The prophetic chapters of Ezekiel 38-39 foretell the rise of the Russian Federation in the “latter years” (38:8,16) from the “far north” (38:6,15; 39:2), having as allies nations that are opposed to Israel: “Persia (modern Iran), Ethiopia (south of Egypt, modern Sudan?), and Libya… Gomer (Crimea?)… Togarmah (Turkey?)” (38:5-6). They will invade and come “on the mountains of Israel” and “go up against a land of unwalled villages” (38:8,11) – that is, in modern times when city walls are no longer useful for defense.
“Ten Horns” coming into view
The Ten Horns are mentioned no less than seven times in Scripture as a special feature of the warlike Beast empire to rule in the very End before the Return of Christ. (Daniel 7:7,20,24; Revelation 13:1, 17:3,12,16) Their appearance on the world scene would be a sure sign that the final empire is here and ready to rumble.
And who might they be? The Commonwealth of Independent States is a good possibility. This group of 10 former Soviet republics have maintained ties with Russia after the collapse of communism and the Soviet Union in the 1990’s. According to Scripture, three of the “horns” will be “plucked up by the roots” (Daniel 7:8,20,24) and forced to stay in this group of ten nations who, like horns, act as a buffer around Russia’s long borderland territory.
“He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on [in] their right hand or on [in] their foreheads, that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark, which is the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” (Revelation 13:16–17)
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the apostle John received this remarkable revelation about a global economic system in which everyone will be forced to receive a Mark, without which no one can buy; and those who want to sell would need to use the Number 666. This Number, by the way, is already in use, in the form of the 666-encoded barcodes attached to our merchandise. There is nothing sinister about this; 666 is only a signpost in Scripture, framed as a riddle, to tell us where we are in history. The Mark, on the other hand, is the carrot, and the stick, that will pressure the masses into receiving it as their sign of allegiance to, even worship of, the Beast (the Antichrist). (Revelation 14:9,11; 16:2; 19:20; 20:4)
What a remarkable prophetic message! Only in this modern era of computers and electronic commerce could it find fulfillment; only now does the technology exist that is able to create a worldwide digital buying and selling system, foretold some 2,000 years ago!
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Is There Hope?
At the end of the darkest night that the world has ever known will dawn the brightest day, when Jesus Christ Himself returns! — “In the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory” to rescue His children from the Antichrist and his forces (Matthew 24:29-31, 1Thessalonians 4:16-17) and win glorious victory over the forces of evil! (See Revelation, chapter 19.)
If you have not yet found hope for the future, why not invite the Prince of Peace into your life and heart? If you need help, here is a prayer you can pray:
Dear Jesus, thank You for dying for me so I too can become a son/daughter of God. Please forgive me for every wrong and unloving thing I have ever done. Come into my heart, help me to know Your love and peace and the Holy Spirit that You have sent to be our guide and comfort. Thank You for being with me always, both now and on into the Afterlife. Amen.
