All these calamities of war, famine, pestilence and earthquake are only the start of suffering, and though they must happen the final end has not yet come. They were partly fulfilled in the ruin of Jerusalem as judgment on an unrepentant nation, but their fuller meaning points to the last days when the same troubles will be repeated on a worldwide scale. Their rapid increase, with God's restraining power gradually withdrawn, shows that the coming of Christ in the clouds is drawing near and the last crisis is right upon the world. After this beginning will come affliction and hatred of believers, deception by false prophets, abounding lawlessness, and the preaching of the gospel to all nations before the end. Therefore God's people are to study this prophecy, watch and pray without fear or deception, keep His commandments, and work urgently to warn the perishing and finish the gospel task.
Context and Setting
Matthew 24:8 belongs to the description in Matthew 24 and 25 of the second coming of Christ to this world, given as His prophecy on the Mount of Olives about the time from His departure until His return. It is part of the Lord's great prophecy that briefly covers the whole present dispensation and opens its history through to the complete restitution of all things. That sweep introduces the church in her warfare and sufferings as she passes on to her promised redemption, to the final triumph of God's people, the destruction of Satan and all his followers, the total and eternal extirpation of evil from the universe, and the renovation of the earth as the everlasting inheritance of the saints. It places the coming troubles at the beginning of the church's suffering, when Christ's followers would face persecution, humiliation, reproach, and the same hostility shown to their Master, as rulers opposed them through the ages.
The discourse was given shortly before He entered Gethsemane to bear the sins of the world, after a tiring day of work while the Pharisees pressed Him with questions and watched for words they could use against Him, and it included predictions and warnings. In it Christ outlined important events in the history of the world and the church between His first and second advents. Those events include Jerusalem's destruction, persecution under pagan and papal powers, the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars.
On the crest of Olivet He looked down the stream of time to the last days and saw the actions of saints and sinners in those days. The tears He shed were for those who would whisper fanaticism and enthusiasm as the voice of God's people is uplifted in earnestness and strength. In that time He bids His servants not to be afraid but to say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God.
The chapter refutes the view that Christ's second coming occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem, showing instead the signs before His still-future second coming. It was the subject of a lecture that called Christians to consecrate themselves and be ready for His return, and sinners to seek salvation before it is too late. Applied in that way, its signs show the second advent is near and warn that the world faces approaching doom.
Jerusalem's Destruction Foreshadowed
Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are the beginning of Christ's judgments, not signs that the Jewish nation was about to be delivered from bondage or that the Messiah's advent was near. Before Jerusalem's destruction they pointed instead to the city's approaching ruin and the destruction of the nation as a nation. The reason was that the people had not repented and been converted so that they might be healed and turn to God, and their failure to do so meant the signs they misread as deliverance warned of ruin.
These sorrows were partly and partially fulfilled in Jerusalem's destruction and overthrow, but their more direct application is to the last days and to the events preceding the coming of the Son of man and His second coming. What happened around Jerusalem's overthrow would be repeated in the world's later history. In that prophecy Jerusalem's destruction serves as a type of the world's final destruction by fire.
Beginning Not End
Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, with famines, pestilences, earthquakes in different places, and wars and rumors of wars, must take place but are only the beginning of sorrows and the start of suffering, not the end itself. These events come before persecution in which believers are delivered up to be afflicted and killed and hated by all nations for Christ's name, before offense and betrayal and hatred, before many false prophets who deceive many, before abounding iniquity with the love of many growing cold, before the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and before the end comes. They are a solemn warning not to be deceived and not to be troubled, not to seek the secret time of His coming, but to be discerning, to remain faithful to God's commandments, to prepare for the Son of Man's return rather than adopt the world's policies or form confederacies with those who reject God, to perform individual duty faithfully, to give the warnings to others, to endure to the end to be saved, and to watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape what shall come and to stand before the Son of Man, ready as a faithful and wise servant giving food in due season for the coming of the Son of Man in an unexpected hour, since the time of trouble comes as a thief in the night.
These calamities bring confusion and privation and cause fear of what is coming upon the earth, and they are signs of what is still to come rather than the full outpouring of judgment before the day of God. The beginning sorrows open a time of trouble that grows until the end, including great trouble among the nations and growing lawlessness that will continue until Jesus comes. Wars and rumors of wars and destruction by fire and flood are already God's judgments in the land and will keep increasing until the end, with calamities such as crowded train accidents continuing as signs that the end approaches, and with rapidly growing trade unions whose members are willing to use violence and accept death to oppose resistance standing as a sign of the times.
These sorrows stretched before the disciples dark with tempests of human hatred and satanic wrath amid national strife and ruin, with steps beset by perils and hearts often oppressed by fear, as they would see Jerusalem made a desolation, the temple swept away with its worship forever ended, and Israel scattered to all lands like wrecks on a desert shore. Yet they do not mean hope is lost or God has forsaken the earth, for power and glory belong to Him whose great purposes still move on unthwarted toward their consummation, so His followers in daily need are to look above all the power and dominion of evil to the Lord their God, whose kingdom rules over all and who is their Father and everlasting Friend. The disasters follow in quick succession and are not merely natural events, but mark God's restraining Spirit being gradually withdrawn while His angels hold back the four winds until His servants are sealed, and when He releases them unprecedented strife beyond description will follow, while people explain them by other causes and fail to recognize their significance and the near approach of the Son of God. The calamities on land and sea are God's visitation warning the world of what will come, occurring as His mercy is gradually withdrawn and the hater of God and man is permitted to do his will, while messages and invitations of mercy are still presented, while iniquity steadily increases and the world and fallen churches unite in apostasy, with the ministry of wrath preparing and divine patience becoming exhausted.
Signs of Near Return
All these are the beginning of sorrows that herald the second advent and mark the approach of the revelation of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, warning that the end is drawing near. They are the onset of the final chapters of earth's history, the last conflict just previous to the Lord's coming, and the closing scenes long awaited though the time has lasted longer than expected. Those signs are now so common they are scarcely considered, yet they require arousal to a vivid sense of the times, for they were rapidly fulfilling and call for preparation for the work still to be done and for continuing labor until it is finished.
The prophecies of Matthew 24 are being fulfilled today and prove that the coming is at hand. The foretold signs are fast fulfilling everywhere, and stormy times lie ahead. Famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and storms by land and sea now fulfilling everywhere and taking thousands of lives are only the beginning of what is to come, with worse ahead, showing the end of all things is at hand and that a great crisis is right upon us. They point to the great day of the Lord when Christ shall appear in His kingdom to judge the living and the dead according to works, and therefore they must be studied and brought to the attention of all, presented to believers and unbelievers because they decide eternal destiny and call the church to arouse, leaving no room for unbelief or discouragement.
Their fulfillment is seen and sensed in the perils of the last days, with the powers of darkness pressing more heavily than ever at an important period in the work. The prevalence of increasing wickedness, violence, ambition, crime, lawlessness, corruption, and confusion testifies that the coming is near. Wars and conflicts between nations with their accompanying violence, ambition, and wickedness show the signs are being fulfilled, while earnest labor must continue until the work given to be done is finished and done at its very best.
Alarms of war, calamities by land and sea, and the unsettled state of society are the beginning of sorrows in the time of the end, declaring that the coming is near at hand and marking solemn and important days among the perils of the last days when calamities and punishment threaten wicked cities. Hurricanes, storms, fires, floods, cyclones, disasters at sea and on land, crowded train accidents, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions becoming more frequent and terrible just before the second coming, rapidly growing trade unions willing to use violence and accept death to oppose resistance, and Sunday-exalting laws are among the troubles proving the end is near. They show the Spirit of God gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth and from the world, with the Lord soon to come, while plagues and judgments already fall upon despisers of grace and forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.
The earthquake in Italy which killed thousands exemplifies the earthquakes in different places warned of, showing that earthquakes and their destruction are only the beginning of sorrows before the coming. That visitation gives warning of further destruction, including judgments expected to visit San Francisco and Oakland. Earthquakes, fire, and flood are warnings of the Lord's soon approach and of the day of judgment, calling people to recognize the time, to wake from sleep, to discern the time and become fitted as members of the redeemed family at His appearing and prepared to meet their record in the judgment, and urgently to seek salvation.
Troubles Still to Come
Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, with famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places, and wars and rumors of wars and conflict between nations, are the plain condition of the world in the last days and are only the beginning of sorrows and the start of trouble and suffering, not the end, and they must come to pass but the end is not yet. After these beginning sorrows believers will be delivered up to be afflicted and killed and hated by all nations for Christ's name's sake. With that will come offense and betrayal and hatred, many false prophets who deceive many, false claims about Christ, and abounding iniquity with the love of many growing cold, and growing lawlessness. The time of trouble comes as a thief in the night.
Endurance to the end is required to be saved, while the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world for a witness to all nations before the end comes. Christ's solemn warning is to take heed that no one deceive them and not to be troubled by these things. His followers are not to seek the secret time of His coming, but to prepare themselves, perform faithfully their individual duty, give His warnings to others, and watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape what shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man. This requires watchfulness and readiness for the coming of the Son of man in an unexpected hour, like a faithful and wise servant giving food in due season.
Call to Watch and Work
The sure word of prophecy is the foundation of faith, to be studied together with Daniel and Revelation in connection with Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away sin, and the twenty-fourth of Matthew belongs to that sure word whose predictions are fulfilling now and prove the coming is at hand. It must be studied and brought to the attention of all, presented by ministers and teachers to believers and unbelievers, leaving out matters of minor consequence and presenting the truths that decide eternal destiny and call the church to arouse. It is to be read as warning that calamities will come upon cities and that the end is near. It belongs to the signs Jesus foretold to His disciples to instruct later believers, helping them discern the times and prepare for the great conflict.
These beginning troubles must come to pass but the end is not yet, for they are only the start of suffering, and they are Christ's solemn warning to take heed that no one deceive and not to be troubled by these things. The secret time of His coming is not to be sought; instead each is to prepare, perform faithfully individual duty, give His warnings to others, and watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape what shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man. God's people in this time must be discerning, remain faithful to God's commandments, and prepare for the Son of Man's return rather than adopt the world's policies or form confederacies with those who reject God's way. Faithful watchmen are to attend to the rapidly fulfilling prophecies and to watch and wait for Christ's return, so they will recognize what is taking place and not be surprised or unready.
The troubles described are the first sorrows in an outline of what is to come upon the world, and the world is now living amid those perils of the last days with all the predicted signs fulfilling because this is the very last days of earth's history. Because that outlined end is coming, those perishing in sin must be warned with the last message of mercy, and those entrusted with money must invest it to advance that work and sustain gospel labor rather than spend it in self-gratification, or they will suffer eternal loss. The fulfillment is seen and sensed in perils and in powers of darkness pressing more heavily than ever, in famines, pestilences, earthquakes and storms by land and sea fulfilling everywhere and taking thousands of lives as only the beginning with worse ahead, proving the end is near and the great crisis right upon us, so every church must become a working force and Bible believers must earnestly continue laboring with their very best work until the work given them is finished. The events marking the onset of the final chapters of earth's history were rapidly fulfilling, so people must prepare for the work still to be done and the time is urgent for giving the warning message, with the light of present truth to be circulated widely through books and by humble faithful workers carrying the warning in many languages to all parts of the world with no time to lose, with Christ's householders preparing the way by helping those for whom He gave His life, and with labor continuing until it is finished.
Great earthquakes and other calamities among these opening signs call people to consider the truth and their standing before God. As the Spirit's restraining influence is withdrawn these signs warn people to humble themselves and keep their eyes fixed on God. Those who do will be safely hidden with Christ in God, and when He appears they will appear with Him in glory.
The present is the last days when the end of all things is at hand, with the foretold signs fast fulfilling and stormy times ahead, with wars and rumors of wars and troublous times and increasing wickedness just before His coming, with earthquakes, fire, and flood as warnings of the Lord's soon approach and of the day of judgment. This nearness of the end leaves no room for unbelief or discouragement but is reason for faith, for keeping the second coming in view, for preparing to meet Him in peace and to be ready for the mansions He has gone to prepare, and for strengthened faith and readiness for His soon return as the world ripens for the final conflict. Though the beginning sorrows marking the last conflict just previous to the Lord's coming are now so common they are scarcely considered, they require God's people to be aroused to a vivid sense of the times, arousing attention with healing for sin-sick souls, awakening those who know the truth from lethargy and neglected responsibility, waking them from sleep, especially young men and women, to discern the time and be fitted for the redeemed family and prepared to meet their record in judgment, and calling all to recognize the time and urgently seek salvation.
All these calamities of war, famine, pestilence and earthquake are only the start of suffering, and though they must happen the final end has not yet come. They were partly fulfilled in the ruin of Jerusalem as judgment on an unrepentant nation, but their fuller meaning points to the last days when the same troubles will be repeated on a worldwide scale. Their rapid increase, with God's restraining power gradually withdrawn, shows that the coming of Christ in the clouds is drawing near and the last crisis is right upon the world. After this beginning will come affliction and hatred of believers, deception by false prophets, abounding lawlessness, and the preaching of the gospel to all nations before the end. Therefore God's people are to study this prophecy, watch and pray without fear or deception, keep His commandments, and work urgently to warn the perishing and finish the gospel task.
Context and Setting
Matthew 24:8 belongs to the description in Matthew 24 and 25 of the second coming of Christ to this world, given as His prophecy on the Mount of Olives about the time from His departure until His return. It is part of the Lord's great prophecy that briefly covers the whole present dispensation and opens its history through to the complete restitution of all things. That sweep introduces the church in her warfare and sufferings as she passes on to her promised redemption, to the final triumph of God's people, the destruction of Satan and all his followers, the total and eternal extirpation of evil from the universe, and the renovation of the earth as the everlasting inheritance of the saints. It places the coming troubles at the beginning of the church's suffering, when Christ's followers would face persecution, humiliation, reproach, and the same hostility shown to their Master, as rulers opposed them through the ages.
The discourse was given shortly before He entered Gethsemane to bear the sins of the world, after a tiring day of work while the Pharisees pressed Him with questions and watched for words they could use against Him, and it included predictions and warnings. In it Christ outlined important events in the history of the world and the church between His first and second advents. Those events include Jerusalem's destruction, persecution under pagan and papal powers, the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars.
On the crest of Olivet He looked down the stream of time to the last days and saw the actions of saints and sinners in those days. The tears He shed were for those who would whisper fanaticism and enthusiasm as the voice of God's people is uplifted in earnestness and strength. In that time He bids His servants not to be afraid but to say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God.
The chapter refutes the view that Christ's second coming occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem, showing instead the signs before His still-future second coming. It was the subject of a lecture that called Christians to consecrate themselves and be ready for His return, and sinners to seek salvation before it is too late. Applied in that way, its signs show the second advent is near and warn that the world faces approaching doom.
Jerusalem's Destruction Foreshadowed
Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are the beginning of Christ's judgments, not signs that the Jewish nation was about to be delivered from bondage or that the Messiah's advent was near. Before Jerusalem's destruction they pointed instead to the city's approaching ruin and the destruction of the nation as a nation. The reason was that the people had not repented and been converted so that they might be healed and turn to God, and their failure to do so meant the signs they misread as deliverance warned of ruin.
These sorrows were partly and partially fulfilled in Jerusalem's destruction and overthrow, but their more direct application is to the last days and to the events preceding the coming of the Son of man and His second coming. What happened around Jerusalem's overthrow would be repeated in the world's later history. In that prophecy Jerusalem's destruction serves as a type of the world's final destruction by fire.
Beginning Not End
Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, with famines, pestilences, earthquakes in different places, and wars and rumors of wars, must take place but are only the beginning of sorrows and the start of suffering, not the end itself. These events come before persecution in which believers are delivered up to be afflicted and killed and hated by all nations for Christ's name, before offense and betrayal and hatred, before many false prophets who deceive many, before abounding iniquity with the love of many growing cold, before the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world for a witness to all nations, and before the end comes. They are a solemn warning not to be deceived and not to be troubled, not to seek the secret time of His coming, but to be discerning, to remain faithful to God's commandments, to prepare for the Son of Man's return rather than adopt the world's policies or form confederacies with those who reject God, to perform individual duty faithfully, to give the warnings to others, to endure to the end to be saved, and to watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape what shall come and to stand before the Son of Man, ready as a faithful and wise servant giving food in due season for the coming of the Son of Man in an unexpected hour, since the time of trouble comes as a thief in the night.
These calamities bring confusion and privation and cause fear of what is coming upon the earth, and they are signs of what is still to come rather than the full outpouring of judgment before the day of God. The beginning sorrows open a time of trouble that grows until the end, including great trouble among the nations and growing lawlessness that will continue until Jesus comes. Wars and rumors of wars and destruction by fire and flood are already God's judgments in the land and will keep increasing until the end, with calamities such as crowded train accidents continuing as signs that the end approaches, and with rapidly growing trade unions whose members are willing to use violence and accept death to oppose resistance standing as a sign of the times.
These sorrows stretched before the disciples dark with tempests of human hatred and satanic wrath amid national strife and ruin, with steps beset by perils and hearts often oppressed by fear, as they would see Jerusalem made a desolation, the temple swept away with its worship forever ended, and Israel scattered to all lands like wrecks on a desert shore. Yet they do not mean hope is lost or God has forsaken the earth, for power and glory belong to Him whose great purposes still move on unthwarted toward their consummation, so His followers in daily need are to look above all the power and dominion of evil to the Lord their God, whose kingdom rules over all and who is their Father and everlasting Friend. The disasters follow in quick succession and are not merely natural events, but mark God's restraining Spirit being gradually withdrawn while His angels hold back the four winds until His servants are sealed, and when He releases them unprecedented strife beyond description will follow, while people explain them by other causes and fail to recognize their significance and the near approach of the Son of God. The calamities on land and sea are God's visitation warning the world of what will come, occurring as His mercy is gradually withdrawn and the hater of God and man is permitted to do his will, while messages and invitations of mercy are still presented, while iniquity steadily increases and the world and fallen churches unite in apostasy, with the ministry of wrath preparing and divine patience becoming exhausted.
Signs of Near Return
All these are the beginning of sorrows that herald the second advent and mark the approach of the revelation of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, warning that the end is drawing near. They are the onset of the final chapters of earth's history, the last conflict just previous to the Lord's coming, and the closing scenes long awaited though the time has lasted longer than expected. Those signs are now so common they are scarcely considered, yet they require arousal to a vivid sense of the times, for they were rapidly fulfilling and call for preparation for the work still to be done and for continuing labor until it is finished.
The prophecies of Matthew 24 are being fulfilled today and prove that the coming is at hand. The foretold signs are fast fulfilling everywhere, and stormy times lie ahead. Famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and storms by land and sea now fulfilling everywhere and taking thousands of lives are only the beginning of what is to come, with worse ahead, showing the end of all things is at hand and that a great crisis is right upon us. They point to the great day of the Lord when Christ shall appear in His kingdom to judge the living and the dead according to works, and therefore they must be studied and brought to the attention of all, presented to believers and unbelievers because they decide eternal destiny and call the church to arouse, leaving no room for unbelief or discouragement.
Their fulfillment is seen and sensed in the perils of the last days, with the powers of darkness pressing more heavily than ever at an important period in the work. The prevalence of increasing wickedness, violence, ambition, crime, lawlessness, corruption, and confusion testifies that the coming is near. Wars and conflicts between nations with their accompanying violence, ambition, and wickedness show the signs are being fulfilled, while earnest labor must continue until the work given to be done is finished and done at its very best.
Alarms of war, calamities by land and sea, and the unsettled state of society are the beginning of sorrows in the time of the end, declaring that the coming is near at hand and marking solemn and important days among the perils of the last days when calamities and punishment threaten wicked cities. Hurricanes, storms, fires, floods, cyclones, disasters at sea and on land, crowded train accidents, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions becoming more frequent and terrible just before the second coming, rapidly growing trade unions willing to use violence and accept death to oppose resistance, and Sunday-exalting laws are among the troubles proving the end is near. They show the Spirit of God gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth and from the world, with the Lord soon to come, while plagues and judgments already fall upon despisers of grace and forecast approaching events of the greatest magnitude.
The earthquake in Italy which killed thousands exemplifies the earthquakes in different places warned of, showing that earthquakes and their destruction are only the beginning of sorrows before the coming. That visitation gives warning of further destruction, including judgments expected to visit San Francisco and Oakland. Earthquakes, fire, and flood are warnings of the Lord's soon approach and of the day of judgment, calling people to recognize the time, to wake from sleep, to discern the time and become fitted as members of the redeemed family at His appearing and prepared to meet their record in the judgment, and urgently to seek salvation.
Troubles Still to Come
Nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, with famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places, and wars and rumors of wars and conflict between nations, are the plain condition of the world in the last days and are only the beginning of sorrows and the start of trouble and suffering, not the end, and they must come to pass but the end is not yet. After these beginning sorrows believers will be delivered up to be afflicted and killed and hated by all nations for Christ's name's sake. With that will come offense and betrayal and hatred, many false prophets who deceive many, false claims about Christ, and abounding iniquity with the love of many growing cold, and growing lawlessness. The time of trouble comes as a thief in the night.
Endurance to the end is required to be saved, while the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the world for a witness to all nations before the end comes. Christ's solemn warning is to take heed that no one deceive them and not to be troubled by these things. His followers are not to seek the secret time of His coming, but to prepare themselves, perform faithfully their individual duty, give His warnings to others, and watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape what shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man. This requires watchfulness and readiness for the coming of the Son of man in an unexpected hour, like a faithful and wise servant giving food in due season.
Call to Watch and Work
The sure word of prophecy is the foundation of faith, to be studied together with Daniel and Revelation in connection with Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away sin, and the twenty-fourth of Matthew belongs to that sure word whose predictions are fulfilling now and prove the coming is at hand. It must be studied and brought to the attention of all, presented by ministers and teachers to believers and unbelievers, leaving out matters of minor consequence and presenting the truths that decide eternal destiny and call the church to arouse. It is to be read as warning that calamities will come upon cities and that the end is near. It belongs to the signs Jesus foretold to His disciples to instruct later believers, helping them discern the times and prepare for the great conflict.
These beginning troubles must come to pass but the end is not yet, for they are only the start of suffering, and they are Christ's solemn warning to take heed that no one deceive and not to be troubled by these things. The secret time of His coming is not to be sought; instead each is to prepare, perform faithfully individual duty, give His warnings to others, and watch and pray always to be counted worthy to escape what shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of man. God's people in this time must be discerning, remain faithful to God's commandments, and prepare for the Son of Man's return rather than adopt the world's policies or form confederacies with those who reject God's way. Faithful watchmen are to attend to the rapidly fulfilling prophecies and to watch and wait for Christ's return, so they will recognize what is taking place and not be surprised or unready.
The troubles described are the first sorrows in an outline of what is to come upon the world, and the world is now living amid those perils of the last days with all the predicted signs fulfilling because this is the very last days of earth's history. Because that outlined end is coming, those perishing in sin must be warned with the last message of mercy, and those entrusted with money must invest it to advance that work and sustain gospel labor rather than spend it in self-gratification, or they will suffer eternal loss. The fulfillment is seen and sensed in perils and in powers of darkness pressing more heavily than ever, in famines, pestilences, earthquakes and storms by land and sea fulfilling everywhere and taking thousands of lives as only the beginning with worse ahead, proving the end is near and the great crisis right upon us, so every church must become a working force and Bible believers must earnestly continue laboring with their very best work until the work given them is finished. The events marking the onset of the final chapters of earth's history were rapidly fulfilling, so people must prepare for the work still to be done and the time is urgent for giving the warning message, with the light of present truth to be circulated widely through books and by humble faithful workers carrying the warning in many languages to all parts of the world with no time to lose, with Christ's householders preparing the way by helping those for whom He gave His life, and with labor continuing until it is finished.
Great earthquakes and other calamities among these opening signs call people to consider the truth and their standing before God. As the Spirit's restraining influence is withdrawn these signs warn people to humble themselves and keep their eyes fixed on God. Those who do will be safely hidden with Christ in God, and when He appears they will appear with Him in glory.
The present is the last days when the end of all things is at hand, with the foretold signs fast fulfilling and stormy times ahead, with wars and rumors of wars and troublous times and increasing wickedness just before His coming, with earthquakes, fire, and flood as warnings of the Lord's soon approach and of the day of judgment. This nearness of the end leaves no room for unbelief or discouragement but is reason for faith, for keeping the second coming in view, for preparing to meet Him in peace and to be ready for the mansions He has gone to prepare, and for strengthened faith and readiness for His soon return as the world ripens for the final conflict. Though the beginning sorrows marking the last conflict just previous to the Lord's coming are now so common they are scarcely considered, they require God's people to be aroused to a vivid sense of the times, arousing attention with healing for sin-sick souls, awakening those who know the truth from lethargy and neglected responsibility, waking them from sleep, especially young men and women, to discern the time and be fitted for the redeemed family and prepared to meet their record in judgment, and calling all to recognize the time and urgently seek salvation.