On 26 December 2004 a 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck just off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The resulting tsunami killed 230,000 people. On 8 October 2005 an earthquake killed 80,000 in Kashmir, Pakistan. A May 2006 earthquake killed 5,782 in Indonesia. Two thousand and eight saw an earthquake in China kill 69,197 people. The Haitian earthquake of January 2010 killed 316,000. Most recently, the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and resulting tsunami claimed (at last count) 8,649 lives, with thousands more missing or feared dead. The Japanese earthquake also resulted in a potential nuclear meltdown.

In addition to this small sampling of earthquakes since 2004 (many, many more have resulted in less damage and taking of life), at least eight major tsunamis can be recalled in the same period. The Japanese tsunami is freshest in our minds, but the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 is perhaps the most memorable, given that it is at the time of writing the deadliest tsunami on record.

But let’s also consider other “natural disasters.” The 1970 Bhola cyclone in Bangladesh killed at least 300,000 people, with some estimates rising to one million. Hurricane Katrina (2005) is the costliest hurricane on record. Cyclone Gafilo affected some 200,000 people in Madagascar in 2004.

In addition to some 19 active volcanoes classified as “ongoing,” there have been over 100 separate volcanoes that have erupted since the year 2000. Floods have ravaged our world in the past year, particularly, it seems, in the Southern Hemisphere. Add to these disasters tornadoes and landslides and suddenly it becomes very clear that our earth “groans and labours with birth pangs” (Romans 8:22).

But not only do we see a great number of natural disasters in our day. We are also surrounded by political turmoil (consider contemporary events in North Africa and the Middle East) and religious apostasy.

Many in the church today (and, in fact, throughout the centuries), have noted such events and have concluded that they must be a sign of the end. Such interpreters take as a proof text Jesus’ words in Matthew 24, when He noted that “there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places” (v. 7). These signs would herald Christ’s “coming” and “the end of the age” (v. 3). It is commonly assumed today that Jesus “coming” and “the end of the age” are references to the end of human history, and so it is assumed that an important sign of the approaching end of human history is an increase in natural disasters. And, for this reason, whenever a major natural disaster strikes, religious groups begin chanting that the end of the world is upon us.¹

But is this a biblical expectation? Did the Lord predict that the end of the world would be accompanied by a marked increase in earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic activity? The goal of this study is to examine these claims and offer some biblical insight into what one author has termed the “last days madness” that surrounds us today.

We have recently embarked on a journey through the book of Acts. Whilst this should go without saying, it is perhaps necessary to note that Acts is always relevant to the church. There are some who argue that Acts has limited relevance to the church of today because it deals with a period of transition between the old and the new covenant. The transition is clearly there for all to see, but this does not in any way diminish the relevance of the book for us.

Some things change, others do not. Times change, and the way God works in history at different time periods changes (Hebrews 1:1-2), but human nature does not change. There are some things in the book of Acts that have changed, but there are also a great many things that have not changed.

For example, the apostolic office has changed; it no longer exists. Matthias was chosen to replace Judas, but when James died in Acts 12 no replacement was sought. There were twelve apostles, and with their death the office ended. As another example, consider the manner in which Judas’ replacement was chosen. Matthias was chosen by the casting of lots, another practice which has changed since then. But consider now the great number of things that has not changed.

The assignment of the church has not changed. Like the early church (Acts 1:8), we are to be witnesses of the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Many of the challenges to the church have not changed. The church in our day is outnumbered, as was the early church, although we are perhaps not quite as outnumbered as they were.²

Not only was the early church outnumbered, but it was also outresourced. Historians tell us that most early believers were slaves, and so church finances were not healthy. It is probably safe to say that there is more money outside church coffers today than there is inside!

But another thing that we share with the early church is uncertainty. Although they had many divine promises, there was much uncertainty within early Christianity. The early disciples had a great many promises, but they just weren’t certain how those promises would come to pass. This is what lay behind their question to the Lord in our text: “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6).

The apostles in Acts 1 were “assembled together” (v. 4). The Greek word gives an interesting picture. It literally means “to be salted together.” The disciples were the salt of the earth, and through His teaching (v. 3), the Lord was preparing them to be as salty as possible in a decaying culture. The Lord taught them “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

For centuries, the Jews had looked forward to the Messianic kingdom. They had waited with great anticipation for Messiah to come and establish His everlasting kingdom. However, the Jews generally believed that this Messianic kingdom was an exclusively Jewish thing. They did not understand God’s multi-ethnic plan for the church. And the disciples, with this background, were confused about this issue. That is why they asked about the Lord restoring the kingdom “to Israel” (v. 6). They failed to understand that “the Israel of God” (Galatians 6:16) was in fact a multiracial church. They were right to anticipate the Messianic kingdom, but they did not understand what it would actually look like.

For 40 days Jesus taught the disciples “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (v. 3). What, do you suppose, was involved in this teaching. Considering that He taught things pertaining to the kingdom of God, I suspect that a good deal of His teaching during this period involved further explanation of the Olivet Discourse, as recorded in Matthew 24-25.

The Olivet Discourse was given in response to the disciples’ question concerning the Lord’s kingdom. Because of religious Israel’s rejection of Messiah, Jesus promised them that their “house” (i.e. the temple, cf. Matthew 21:13) would be left “desolate” (Matthew 23:38).

The entire Judaistic culture and religious was embodied in the temple, and so this was an important prophecy. The disciples, it seems, had difficulty believing it initially. Immediately after hearing Jesus’ prophecy, they incredulously pointed out to Him the temple structure, as if to ask whether He was certain He knew what He was saying. Jesus confirmed that, indeed, the temple would be completely razed to the ground as an act of judgement (Matthew 24:1-2).

It seems as if, at that point, the disciples believed Jesus, because “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?’” (Matthew 24:3).

The remainder of Matthew 24-25 is Jesus’ reply to the questions of v. 3. A good number of interpretations of these chapters exist, but to simplify matters, let us broadly set forth two major interpretations. In order to do so, we must examine the questions of v. 3.

How do we understand the apostles’ questions in v. 3? There are essentially three questions, or perhaps three parts to a single question:

1. “When will these things be?”
2. “What will be the sign of Your coming?”
3. “What will be the sign . . . of the end of the age?”

But did the disciples intend to ask three separate questions, or was this all a single question? Let me explain.

It has been suggested by some that the disciples were asking two questions. They wanted to know, first, about “these things,” which seems to have been in response to His prophecy of the destruction of the temple. But, second, they wanted to know about “Your coming” and, third, about “the end of the age,” that is, the end of human history. And so, it is said, the disciples wanted to know partly about the destruction of the temple, and partly about the consummation of human history.

Some have suggested that even if they did not understand that their question was threefold, Jesus certainly answered it in this way. That is, they might have believed that the destruction of the temple would bring about the end of human history, but the Lord answered in such a way as to show them that the events were actually quite separate.

But there is also the possibility that they were in fact asking one question. Let me explain by way of analogy.

In our church, the crèche (or nursery) is for children up to age four. Let us assume for a moment that a church member’s three-year-old son asks him, “Daddy, when is my birthday, when will I get presents, and when will I leave crèche?” Notice that all three of these elements—birthday, presents and leaving crèche—take place simultaneously. At his next birthday, he will receive presents and turn four, which will mean that he is no longer eligible for crèche. In essence, the child is in fact asking one question.

I would suggest that this is how the disciples asked their question. They equated the destruction of the temple with the Lord’s coming and with the end of the age. When the Lord came in judgement to destroy the Jewish temple, it would be the end of the age. The end of the age, to their mind, was not the end of human history, but the end of the old covenant age and the beginning of the new covenant era. To be sure, the old covenant technically ended at Calvary, but whilst the temple sacrifices continued, the old covenant—at least from a practical standpoint—was still being carried out. When the temple was destroyed, the sacrifices came to an end, and all things old covenant ceased. It was, in a very real sense, the end of an age. The disciples seem to have understood that, and hence their question.³

This interpretation makes the best sense of the text. Jesus answered their question with a host of signs that would precede “the end of the age” and in v. 34 said, “Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” In other words, everything that they had asked about—“these things,” the coming of the Lord and the end of the age—would take place in their generation. The destruction of the temple, Jesus “coming” and “the end of the age” were all one event.⁴

The destruction of the temple, as we have noted, would bring about, in a very visible sense, the end of the Jewish age. Religious Judaism, which had rejected Messiah, would be moved aside in favour of the Messianic kingdom. The disciples seem to have understood something about that, but confusion remained, for they still evidently thought that the Messianic kingdom would be Israel-centred (Acts 1:6).

Nevertheless, they did seem to understand that the prophecy of the Olivet Discourse had much to do with the establishment of the Messianic kingdom. The temple must first be removed before Messiah could reign. Yes, they mistakenly thought that the kingdom would be centred on Israel, but they at least recognised the need for the temple system to be removed for the kingdom to be a reality. It is for this reason that I assume that the Lord’s teaching for the 40 days between His resurrection and ascension focused in large measure on explaining the Olivet Discourse.

The Olivet Discourse contained great promises for Israel, but the disciples had yet to figure out exactly how those promises would be fulfilled. They had a lot to learn about the progress of the gospel.

For example, Jesus assured the disciples that “the end” of the age, about which they had asked, would not come to pass until “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations” (Matthew 24:14). The word “world” in this verse refers to the Roman Empire—the known world at the time in which the disciples lived. According to Colossians 1:5-6, 23, the gospel did indeed reach the whole world in the days of the apostles.

We, too, have great and wonderful promises from our Lord. Whilst the promise of the gospel reaching the known world was fulfilled in the time of the apostles (cf. Colossians 1:5-6, 23), we still (I believe) have biblical assurance of gospel conquest. God is not through saving people. We still have the promise that, one day, the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover this earth as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). We have the promise that heaven will be occupied by an innumerable host from all nations (Revelation 7:9). And, like the apostles, we have much to learn as to the precise way in which God intends to work His promises out.

But we have yet to deal with the issue at hand. As noted in the introduction, many appeal to Matthew 24 in their claims that the end is upon us. Of course, in Matthew 24, Jesus warned against playing the dating game when He said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only” (v. 36). And in reply to the disciples’ question in Acts 1, Jesus said much the same thing: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority” (v. 7).

The disciples must not be sidetracked with signs of the times. They had a greater responsibility: “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (v. 8). Of course, this tied into their question, for the gospel had to be preached throughout the known world before the end of the age would come. They ought not to be preoccupied with the exact timing of the end because, in the meantime, they had work to do.

Today, people interpret events around us as a sign of “the end.” After all, the disciples asked specifically about “the end of the age” and Jesus answered their question with reference to earthquakes, pestilences, etc. It is a common claim (and, really, has been in every generation) that no generation has seen natural disasters, social wickedness and religious apostasy to the same degree that our generation sees it. Surely, therefore, the Lord’s words must have reference to our own time. The end must be near!

The problem with this theory, however, is that (as we have seen) the disciples did not understand “the end” in the same way that many today understand it. Their question arose from Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the Jewish temple. To them, “the end of the age” was the end of the old covenant and the beginning of the new covenant.

Jesus answered by giving them various signs that would precede the end: an increase in false messiahs, wars and rumours of wars, natural disasters, persecution, religious apostasy and the spread of the gospel (Matthew 24:4-14). These kinds of things certainly happen in our day, but it can be shown with equal clarity that such events abounded also in the first century. But in Matthew 24:15 the Lord gives a sign that cannot in any way be related to our own day: “the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place.”

Now, many fanciful interpretations of “the abomination of desolation” abound. One popular interpretation is that, sometime before the end of the world, the Jewish temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and, at some point, that Antichrist will himself stand as “the abomination of desolation” in the temple itself. Such fanciful interpretations, however, ignore the plain meaning of Scripture.

In order to properly understand the abomination of desolation, it is necessary to turn to Luke’s account of the Olivet Discourse. Luke 21:1-19 parallels Matthew 24:1-14; and Luke 21:20-24 parallels Matthew 24:15-28. But whereas Matthew speaks of “the abomination of desolation” Luke simply speaks of “desolation” in terms of “Jerusalem surrounded by armies.” If you read the accounts side-by-side, it is obvious that “the abomination of desolation” in Matthew was in fact the same as Luke’s “Jerusalem surrounded by armies.” The abomination of desolation was the Roman armies surrounding Jerusalem in 70 AD, shortly before the city was breached and the temple was destroyed (left desolate).

Again, this prophecy can in no way be related to our day, unless sometime soon we see Italian forces besieging Jerusalem—and even then, the temple would first have to be rebuilt! Clearly, Jesus was speaking of a first century event.

After giving further signs in Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus said,

Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near—at the doors! Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

(Matthew 24:32-35)

Notice carefully: “This generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” All the prophecies preceding this verse—the increase in false messiahs, wars and rumours of wars, natural disasters, persecution, religious apostasy, the spread of the gospel and the abomination of desolation—would take place in the lifetime of the disciples. Simply put, contemporary events in no way fulfil prophecies of Matthew 24 related to “the end.” Natural disasters may abound, religious apostasy may increase, and social evils may capitulate, but none of these things is a biblical prophecy of the consummation of human history. The same events that we see around us today have been characteristic of virtually every generation since the ascension.

The disciples in Acts 1 believed that the Messianic kingdom would come in their own lifetime (“this generation,” Matthew 24:34), and they were right to believe so. But while they waited for the kingdom to come, they needed to be busy evangelising the world. “The end of the age” would be realised in their own lifetime with the destruction of the temple. At that time, old covenant worship could not continue and the new covenant would come in its fullness.

There is a preoccupation today with the end of the world. Well-meaning Christians read all sorts of things into the political unrest, religious pluralism and natural disasters of our day, when in fact the proof texts that they claim (such as Matthew 24) actually speak of events that happened in our distant past. There is no biblical reason whatsoever to assume that the events we see in our world today are signs of the end.

Whilst Matthew 24 has no direct bearing on the times in which we live, the major lesson that we learn from that chapter has great relevance. You see, Jesus predicted that all the things He said would happen in that generation, and they did. If He was correct about that—and He was!—you can be sure that He is correct when He warns unbelievers to repent lest they perish. His word can be trusted, and we ought therefore to take Him very seriously.

Matthew 24 was not written to us, but it was written for us. It shows us the credibility of Jesus Christ. Everything that He said can be trusted. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

Commentators are often a little too hard on the disciples’ question in our text. I’m sure that I have been harsh on them in the past too. But, in fact, their anticipation of the Messianic kingdom in their day was correct. The new covenant would come in its fullness in their generation. Their question was completely fair, and evidence that they actually believed the Lord’s words in Matthew 24.

Like the disciples, we have great and wonderful promises from Jesus Christ. We have the promise of His future, visible, bodily return to earth (Acts 1:9-11), as well as of His coming to receive us should we die before that day (John 14:1-3). We have the promise of gospel conquest (Habakkuk 2:14). But there are also a lot of things we don’t understand. How do we understand the political turmoil currently raging in Libya? How do we understand religious apostasy in European countries that once championed the gospel? Should we be concerned about claims that religion will give way completely to atheism in such lands?⁵ How do we interpret what we perceive to be unprecedented turmoil in nature? Ought such things to concern us? What about all the biblical promises of political peace, gospel conquest and a lifted curse?

I would suggest that, as we consider these realities, we ought to hear the words of Jesus: “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The events of tomorrow are unclear, but our responsibility tomorrow is very clear. The unfolding of future events is shrouded in mystery but, in the meantime, we have a job to do. We are Christ’s witnesses!

In Matthew 24:29-30 we read words that are often interpreted in an end-of-the-world context. Jesus said,

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Jesus says here that “the Son of Man will appear in heaven” and that “all the tribes of the earth . . . will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” This is often interpreted as the second coming, but I would in fact argue that this, in accordance with Daniel 7:13-14, is actually a prophecy of the ascension. According to Daniel 7, when Jesus ascended to the Ancient of Days, He received His kingdom.

We live centuries after the Lord’s “coming” and “the end of the age” spoken of in Matthew 24. But that means that today Jesus Christ has come fully into His kingdom, and that He reigns from the right hand of the Father in heaven. He has all authority in heaven and in earth. And the final proof that this is true was the destruction of the temple in 70 AD.

We live today in Matthew 24:31, which says, “And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” We are Christ’s messengers (“angels”) who have been assigned the task of gathering His elect. We do so by bearing witness to the nations of the world of the risen Saviour.

It is not our job to speculate about “signs of the times.” We don’t have the inside track into political affairs and natural disasters. But we do know what we are to do in the meantime, and that is to trumpet forth the gospel. Like the disciples, we are witnesses of the risen Christ in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth.

There are a great number of things prophesied in the Olivet Discourse that have no direct bearing on the time in which we live, but certainly the assignment to go as Christ’s messengers and gather His elect from the corners of the earth is ours. We don’t know when the last of the elect will be gathered in and the Lord will physically return, but we do know that, in the meantime, we are to gather in as many as we can for the glory of our great God.