I am revisiting an article written some years ago– in the 1990s! - entitled, “Eight Reasons Why the Coming of Christ is Coming Very, Very Soon!” The article proposed to give “compelling” evidence to prove that Christ’s parousia (Second Coming) was, when written, very, very near. Keep in mind that this article was carried in major newspapers in the late 1990s. Be sure to read our first article in our renewed look at the prediction. As you read the article remind yourself of the world wide “excitement” about all the predictions that the rapture was, “without doubt” going to happen in September 2025.... or so we were told! One “prophecy expert” after another, one YT blogger after another told of their dreams or “revelations” assuring us it was going to happen! One so-called “prophet” who claimed that Jesus had appeared to him personally, assuring him of that the rapture was to be in September 2025 OOOPS!

The article we have been examining claims that earthquakes have increased dramatically since the rebirth of Israel. Other “prophets” insist that weather changes, hurricanes and earthquakes are a portent of the end. In 2005 some horrific tornados hit the Oklahoma City area and naturally, some prophecy pundits claimed that this as proof of Christ’s imminent return. Support for this view is taken, wrongly, from Matthew 24: 7: “There will be famine, earthquake and pestilence in various places.” It is argued that Jesus was giving disturbances in nature as signs of His coming. This is not what Jesus taught!

The disciples asked Jesus for a sign of the end (Matthew 24:3). Jesus gave them a warning, “Do not be deceived” (v. 4), and proceeded to tell them of things that were to happen, among them the so-called “disturbances in nature.” However, he specifically told them, “These are the beginning of sorrows” (v.8), and in Luke He added, “These things must come to pass first, but the end will not come immediately” (Luke 21:9). Jesus said the disturbances were not signs of the imminent end of the age! To claim that these natural events are signs of the imminent end is to ignore what Jesus said!

Jesus told his disciples that these events were the, “beginning of birth pangs.” This was a common expression, unfortunately lost on most readers today, of what was known as the birth-pangs of the Messiah. The Jews believed, and scripture taught, that before the coming of the kingdom, there was to be a period of intense distress and persecution. This terrible time was to bring forth the kingdom at the glorious appearing of the King (Jeremiah 30:7-9; Daniel 12, etc.). Tragically, most Bible students today ignore the fact that Jesus said the time of suffering was to occur in His generation. It is also unfortunate that most students ignore the fact that Paul said the “birth-pangs” were present in his generation!

In Matthew 24: 34 Jesus emphatically said, “Verily I say to you, this generation will by no means pass until all of these things be fulfilled.” We ask kindly, how is it possible to ignore or deny what our Lord said? It is not possible to distort His words to mean a generation 2000 years removed from His. He did not say some generation one of these days far off. He said “this generation will not pass. He did not say, “The Jewish race will not pass until all these things are fulfilled.” This is an improper use of the original words. Jesus definitely said the distress He was predicting would occur in His generation, and it did.

In Romans 8, Paul spoke of, “the suffering of this present time” (v. 18). Paul and his contemporaries were experiencing suffering, and what did he call it? In verse 22, he said, “we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs until now.” Paul uses the word used by Jesus to foretell the “beginning of birth-pangs,” and says those pangs were being experienced when he wrote! Was Paul wrong? Was he mistaken? No, what Jesus said would occur in his generation was occurring as predicted.

The distress in nature was not even to be a sign of the imminent end, and further, Jesus said the things he predicted were for His generation. Paul said the predicted events were present 2000 years ago. It is a misuse of scripture to apply Jesus’ prediction to our generation.

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