Have you ever seen a Facebook post in which someone shares a verse from Jesus’ sermon on the end times and says that the world must be ending soon because of the wars, diseases, and division rising up? They see the chaos spiraling all about them—whether it’s a pandemic, a Russian invasion, or political upheaval— and so they think that Jesus’ words are finally coming to fruition. He is about to come back. They sound the alarm: Get ready!!!

I think there are two types of Christians: the ones who think everything is a sign about the end times and the ones who never think about, let alone talk about, the end times. But is there a more balanced position, or should I say a more biblical position, for us to pursue? It might be wise first to understand some of the context of Jesus’ sermon about the end times (often called the Olivet Discourse). In Matthew 24, the disciples marvel at the beautiful temple but Jesus responds, “Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Matt 24:2). So the disciples, naturally being quite perplexed, ask, “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”. They want to know when the temple is going to be destroyed, and while he’s at it, they are curious how they will know when he is coming back and the world is ending. To the disciples, these matters were all mixed together. They may have thought that the destruction of the temple and Jesus’ second coming would coincide. But Jesus will separate the issues, the destruction of the temple just a part of the larger times of tribulation that make up the last days (24:4-25). All of this will come before his return (24:29-31).

There are a lot of interpretative issues in this passage, and we cannot handle them all here. But we are wise to heed Jesus’ first words in response to his disciples before proceeding: “See that no one leads you astray” (24:4). The disciples lived in a time when many Jewish apocalyptical writings circulated and there were a lot of grandiose expectations about the future. Jesus warns his followers to be on guard; they cannot listen to everyone who claims to know when the end will come. Instead, “when you 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, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places” (24:6-7). For those of us who feel like the past few years have been “unprecedented times” in history—as we experienced the pandemic and world distress, even the threat of a new war—these words remind us that these phenomenon are nothing new at all. Disease and war have been and will be. Indeed, Jesus finishes his statement with a sobering statement: he says that all “these” things (referring to wars, famines, earthquakes, etc.) “are but the beginning of the birth pains” (24:8). They are standard-fare for the period between Christ’s comings. No need to be surprised.

And yet at the same time we must heed Jesus’ command that finishes his sermon: “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (24:42-44). We may not need to be alarmed, but we do need to be ready. And that means that everyday should be lived in light of the fact that he could return. Not because we are interpreting some world event as a sign, but because we know we will not and we cannot see it coming. We just must always be ready.

Therefore, we do not have to be obsessed with predicting Jesus’ return nor must we sound the alarms when we hear about wars and rumors of wars; Jesus told us this would happen. But we also remember that the end could come at any moment and therefore we “stay awake” and stay faithful so that when our Master returns he will find us as he ought to (24:45-46). We need not choose between being an alarmist and being an avoider. We need not think that every world event is a sign of Jesus’ return. But we also would be wise to be ready for him at this very moment. Are we?