Today's believers are deeply shaped by secularism and consumerism. Facing a turbulent geopolitical landscape—the unraveling of the post-World War II global order, the rise of AI and its disruption of the job market—many feel the same anxiety and helplessness as the world around them. When it comes to the biblical teaching on Christ's return, many believers hold it as a future certainty while rarely letting it shape their daily lives. Perhaps now is exactly the right moment to return to what Scripture actually says—because this teaching brings not only comfort and hope, but also the discernment to avoid being misled by false christs and false prophets in turbulent times, and the readiness to be found faithful and wise stewards when the Lord comes.
Scripture: 太24:42
Open the news on any given day and the images seem to tell the same story—the world is shaking.
The war in Ukraine grinds on with no end in sight. The conflict in Gaza updates its death toll daily. Ballistic missiles have traced arcs across the night sky between Iran and Israel. The shadow of COVID-19 has not fully lifted, and medical journals keep sounding warnings about the next potential outbreak. Inside and outside the church, families, marriages, and parent-child relationships are under pressures unlike anything previous generations faced. Social media amplifies every anxiety and delivers the world's worst news directly to your phone—you are told: the planet is sick, society is fracturing, human hearts are growing cold.
Many Christians find themselves caught between two extremes. On one side is **secular anxiety**—a fear that "tomorrow will be worse," robbing people of sleep. On the other is **spiritual numbness**—a sense that "the end is still far off," allowing people to drift along with the current.
But Scripture never calls us to live in either fear or numbness. Our Lord Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives and spoke to his disciples about exactly these things—and he did so neither to frighten them nor to brush them off. Instead, he used the image of birth pains to help his followers stay clear-headed in the midst of upheaval.
Let us stop and listen carefully to this image. It is not a code for calculating dates; it is spiritual wisdom given to the church in every generation.
When Jesus described the signs of the end in the Olivet Discourse, he used one pivotal phrase:
"But all these things are the beginning of birth pains." (Matthew 24:8)
The Greek word translated "birth pains" is ōdin (ὠδίν). This is not a single sharp pain that ends quickly. It describes **contractions that come repeatedly, with shortening intervals and increasing intensity**—the long process a woman goes through before delivery, wave after wave of real pain, yet none of those waves is the birth itself.
This is Jesus's key image for the signs of the end:
Understanding this image protects us from two dangerous errors:
Seeing a war and crying, "The end is here!"—when in fact more contractions are still to come. In the first century, Nero's persecution of the church, the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79, the Antonine Plague of AD 165—each time the church thought the Lord was at the door. But the birth pains continued. Prophecy seemed unfulfilled; it was simply the pause between contractions.
Seeing a period of relative peace and concluding, "The Lord is delaying"—when in fact it is only a brief pause between contractions. From the fourth to the fourteenth century, Europe saw the deep rooting of Christianity, the monastic movement, the rise of universities, Gothic cathedrals, and the theology of Aquinas—a genuine interval of relative stability. But from the fourteenth century onward—the Avignon papacy, the Black Death, the Western Schism, the humanist turn of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, two World Wars, the Cold War, nuclear threat, global pandemic, cultural fracturing—these historical tremors have kept reminding the church: do not mistake relative peace for a guarantee that the Lord will not return.
We today may feel the weight and frequency of these contractions more acutely than many previous generations—but this is not pessimism (birth pains have an endpoint; a child will be born), nor is it meant to generate anxiety (the Lord himself told us in advance). It is a call to remain clear-headed, humble, and faithful in the midst of upheaval.
Immediately after describing these signs, Jesus says in Matthew 24:6: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren't troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet." This is the first pastoral word of comfort in the Olivet Discourse. "Must happen" (Greek dei—expressing divine necessity within God's sovereign governance) means history's upheavals have not slipped outside God's control. "See that you aren't troubled"—watchfulness is not panic, and patient waiting is not numbness.
So—if today's tensions are birth pains, what will ultimately be born? This is the next central question of the New Testament. Let us look at how Jesus, John, and Paul each answer it.
The New Testament's picture of "the day of delivery"—the return of Christ—is not captured by any single passage. It is best understood as **a three-part harmony**:
"But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other." (Matthew 24:29–31)
This is Jesus's final, complete eschatological discourse before his passion—delivered on the Mount of Olives, facing the Temple. He tells his disciples that on that day four things will happen: cosmic upheaval → the Son of Man coming on clouds → all peoples mourning → a trumpet gathering the elect. This is the director's script, the narrator's voice over the trailer. Notice that Jesus specifically says "immediately after the suffering of those days"—that is, after the birth pains have run their course, this moment arrives.
"I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places. The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They told the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?'" (Revelation 6:12–17)
Sixty years later, the apostle John was exiled on the island of Patmos when Jesus appeared to him. What John received was not a verbal announcement but **a living vision**: a great earthquake, the sun turning black, the moon turning to blood, stars falling, the sky rolling up like a scroll, and all humanity hiding in caves. This is not heard with ears—it is seen with eyes, like images on a screen.
The first five seals in Revelation (the four horsemen and the cry of the martyrs) echo the "birth pains checklist" of Matthew 24—false christs, war, famine, plague, persecution. John's vision unfolds in richly symbolic imagery the spiritual realities Jesus had described, placing them before the church in vivid, arresting form.
Some readers will notice that certain images in the sixth seal evoke modern associations—warfare, nuclear catastrophe, ecological disaster, or cosmic upheaval. These associations can help us feel the weight of the text, but we must also be careful: Revelation is first and foremost a vision-and-symbol declaration of God's judgment and the Lamb's victory. It is not an invitation to mechanically map every news headline onto its imagery.
"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God's trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever." (1 Thessalonians 4:16–17)
The church in Thessalonica was anxious about believers who had already died—would they share in the joy of the Lord's return? Paul writes to them, using the same imagery but in a different register. The trumpet is still there. The clouds are still there. The Lord descending from heaven is still there. But Paul adds one transforming sentence: those who are in the Lord will be caught up to meet him in the air and will be with him forever.
This is the core structure of New Testament eschatology—three lenses on the same day:
| Passage | Perspective | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew 24:29–31 | Jesus's own announcement (the Director) | Teaching + awakening |
| Revelation 6:12–17 | John's revealed vision (the Visionary) | Awe + warning |
| 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 | Paul's pastoral letter (the Shepherd) | Comfort + hope |
These three passages are not describing three different events—they are three angles on the same day. On that day, for the world it is "the great day of wrath"; for those who are in the Lord, it is being "caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air."
So—having grasped the triptych and the wisdom of birth pains, what does Jesus actually ask of us? The answer is not at the beginning of the Olivet Discourse but at its end—a passage that is often overlooked:
"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing so when he comes." (Matthew 24:45–46)
Jesus uses a surprising image. After describing the sun and moon going dark and the Son of Man coming on the clouds, he does not say, "Climb to the hilltop and watch the sky." He does not say, "Count the days and calculate the time." He says: "Give food at the right time."
Look carefully at the picture Jesus paints:
The image of watchfulness is everyday faithfulness. The Greek word grēgoreite (γρηγορεῖτε)—"watch"—is a present active imperative, a continuous command: not "wake up once," but "stay awake, day after day."
What does "giving food at the right time" look like in practice? It has three spheres:
Being present with your children on time. Having real conversations with your spouse. Calling your parents. In the last days, family relationships will come under increasing strain (Matthew 24:10, "betray one another"; Malachi 4:6, "turn the hearts of fathers to their children")—so faithful, consistent presence is genuine spiritual preparation. When the Lord returns, he will not ask how many end-times timelines you studied; he may well ask how many evenings you spent with your children.
Doing your work faithfully. Christians do not do sloppy work because the end seems near. Paul said exactly the same thing to the Thessalonians: "Don't be quickly shaken" (2 Thessalonians 2:2–3) and "work quietly and eat your own bread" (2 Thessalonians 3:12). Some in Thessalonica had quit their jobs because of overheated end-times expectations—Paul responded firmly: "If anyone will not work, neither let him eat." (2 Thessalonians 3:10) Watchfulness is not passive waiting; it is active faithfulness.
Caring for brothers and sisters on time. Hebrews 10:25 says: "not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching." Notice the logic: the nearer the Day, the more we should encourage one another and gather together. In the last days, the real danger is not external persecution—it is **love growing cold** (Matthew 24:12). This is a slow illness. No one knocks the cup from your hand; the tea simply cools on its own.
When the Lord returns, he will not ask, "Did you figure out when I was coming?" He will ask, "What were you doing when I arrived?"
May you be found—giving food at the right time.
Before we close, let us look at one more detail that is often overlooked—the trumpet.
Matthew 24:31 says, "He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones." First Thessalonians 4:16 says, "God's trumpet" will sound. The trumpet appears repeatedly in the picture of Christ's return. Why?
The answer is hidden in the Old Testament Jewish feasts.
Leviticus 23 lists Israel's seven appointed feasts, divided into spring and autumn. The four spring feasts have already been fulfilled in Christ's first coming:
The four spring feasts were fulfilled with precision in the Lord's first coming. The three autumn feasts still await fulfillment in his second coming:
The Feast of Trumpets deserves special attention.
Of all seven feasts, only the Feast of Trumpets falls on the first day of the month (the others fall in the middle or toward the end). What does this mean? All the other feasts could be calculated precisely by the calendar. But the Feast of Trumpets could not begin until the new moon was actually sighted with the naked eye.
In the Second Temple period, the confirmation of the new moon followed a strict procedure. Two witnesses had to appear before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem and testify that they had seen the thin crescent of the new moon. Only then could the council declare, "The moon is established," and relay the news to Jewish communities across the land through a chain of hilltop bonfires.
This meant the Feast of Trumpets had a unique quality: you knew roughly when it was coming (within a two-or-three-day window at the end of the seventh month), but you could not know in advance exactly which day it would fall on. If any Jewish person in that season asked, "Which day is the Feast of Trumpets?"—the answer would always be:
"That day and hour, no one knows."
Does that phrase sound familiar? It is the very phrase Jesus uses in Matthew 24:36:
"But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only." (Matthew 24:36)
This is no coincidence. In choosing these words, Jesus was almost certainly alluding to the Feast of Trumpets. In first-century Jewish ears, this phrase was the idiomatic signature of that feast. Jesus was telling his disciples: "The day of my return is like the Feast of Trumpets, like a woman in labor—not unknowable in every sense, but arriving within a known season at an hour that cannot be pinned down in advance."
This is a beautiful promise. "Not knowing" does not mean "boundless uncertainty"—it means "watchful waiting." Jewish people in that season did not ignore the feast simply because they did not know the exact day. As soon as the seventh month began, they put on white garments, purified themselves, and stood ready at any moment to hear the trumpet.
This is the posture we are called to today—not anxiously calculating dates, not numbly assuming "there's still plenty of time," but watchfully waiting within the known season.
And what does the trumpet announce? Two Old Testament passages give us the answer:
The trumpet of the last day sounds both meanings at once:
One trumpet. One moment. Two entirely different meanings for two different groups of people. This is the most tender and most solemn detail in all of Jesus's teaching.
We can now return to the question we began with—how should Christians live today?
The answer is not anxiety (collapsing every time you open the news), not numbness (assuming the end is still far away), not escapism (retreating to the mountains to wait for the rapture). It is **giving food at the right time in the midst of birth pains, and watchfully waiting for the trumpet**.
Let me leave you with 1 Thessalonians 5:2–6—Paul's words to the brothers and sisters in Thessalonica who were being worn down by end-times anxiety:
"For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night. For when they are saying, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape. But you, brothers, aren't in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief. You are all children of light, and children of the day. We don't belong to the night, nor to darkness, so then let's not sleep, as the rest do, but let's watch and be sober." (1 Thessalonians 5:2–6)
Notice that Paul uses the image of "birth pains" again here—the same word, the same picture as Matthew 24:8—"like birth pains on a pregnant woman." But then Paul adds a stunning turn:
"But you, brothers, aren't in darkness."
The day of the Lord comes like a thief for those who are asleep. For those who are watchful, that day is not a thief coming to steal—it is **the Lord coming to take you home**.
Brothers and sisters, when you open the news today and see war and disease, your heart may tighten. When you see discouraging things in the church, you may shake your head and sigh. When you see the struggles in your family, with your children, in your work—you may lie awake at night unable to rest.
Come back to these three passages:
May you give food at the right time today—tending your family relationships with care, doing your work with integrity, looking after your brothers and sisters in Christ. When the Lord returns, he will not ask what timeline you calculated. He will ask: "What were you doing when I came?"
May you be found—giving food at the right time, trusting through every contraction, resting through every tremor.
The trumpet will sound. For you, it will be the bell calling you home.
"The Lord himself will descend from heaven… So we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort one another with these words." —1 Thessalonians 4:16–18
Come, Lord Jesus.
Maranatha ("Our Lord, come!") — 1 Corinthians 16:22 / Revelation 22:20
💬 If this article has stirred any thoughts or questions in you, you are warmly welcome to bring them to Pastor Bond:
- "I believe the Lord will return—but it doesn't seem to change how I live today. Why?"
- "With the world in such turmoil, what stability can the Lord's return actually give me?"
- "How do I keep from being deceived by false christs and false prophets?"