Are We Seeing Signs of the Close of the Age?

by Mike Ratliff

15 Προσέχετε ἀπὸ τῶν ψευδοπροφητῶν, οἵτινες ἔρχονται πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐν ἐνδύμασιν προβάτων, ἔσωθεν δέ εἰσιν λύκοι ἅρπαγες. (Matthew 7:15 NA28)

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but within are ravenous wolves.”  (Matthew 7:15 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The Church in our time appears huge, but this is only in appearance. It is thousands of miles wide, but only a fraction of an inch deep. Much of what claims to be Christian is not and proves it by what is actually its focus and what (or who) it actually worships. The focus has its foundation in pragmatism and its worship is nothing more than self-aggrandizement. They give lip service to their own version of “Jesus” who bears little if any resemblance to the Jesus we read of in God’s Word. This counterfeit Christianity is the majority while the true Church, which is made up of those saved by grace through faith because of God’s election and effectual calling is the minority. This should not surprise us because the Word of God tells us that this will be case as this age comes to a close to make way for the age to come. 

1 Καὶ ἐξελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ ἐπορεύετο, καὶ προσῆλθον οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ ἐπιδεῖξαι αὐτῷ τὰς οἰκοδομὰς τοῦ ἱεροῦ. 2 ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· οὐ βλέπετε ταῦτα πάντα; ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐ μὴ ἀφεθῇ ὧδε λίθος ἐπὶ λίθον ὃς οὐ καταλυθήσεται. 3 Καθημένου δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους τῶν ἐλαιῶν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ κατ’ ἰδίαν λέγοντες· εἰπὲ ἡμῖν, πότε ταῦτα ἔσται καὶ τί τὸ σημεῖον τῆς σῆς παρουσίας καὶ συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος; (Matthew 24:1-3 NA28

1 And having gone out, Jesus went from the Temple and his disciples approached him to show him the buildings of the Temple. 2 But he answered saying to them, “Do you not see all these things? Amen I say to you, by no means  here will there be a stone left upon a stone which will not be demolished.” 3 And while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples approached him privately saying, “Tell us, when these things will be be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the closing of the age?” (Matthew 24:1-3 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

Carefully read this passage my brethren. There are three questions asked of our Lord by the disciples in response to his warning of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in v2. However, our Lord’s answer to these questions apparently intertwines prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and His second coming, which will end this age and usher in the age to come. Let us look at our Lord’s answer to these questions which is found in vv4-31 of Matthew 24, however, we will concentrate on vv4-14 in this study.

Before we look at those verses, I would like to look at v3 in the Greek for I like the emphasis of some of the words that is not as clear in the English.

3 Καθημένου δὲ αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τοῦ ὄρους τῶν ἐλαιῶν προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ κατ’ ἰδίαν λέγοντες· εἰπὲ ἡμῖν, πότε ταῦτα ἔσται καὶ τί τὸ σημεῖον τῆς σῆς παρουσίας καὶ συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος; (Matthew 24:3 NA28

Here is my translation, “And while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples approached him privately saying, “Tell us, when these things will be be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the closing of the age?”“”

I want to concentrate here on the last three words,  συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος, which the KJV translates as, “end of the world.” The word συντελείας is used sparingly in the New Testament. It literally means, “the entire completion” or “consummation” of something. The something here is αἰῶνος. This word refers to an age or time, but here in Matthew 24:3 it is referring to an “age of providence.” The disciples were asking the Lord to give them the sign of the ending of God’s gracious providence in the world that we enjoy right now. When will He remove His hand and begin fulfilling His righteous judgment because the number of saved elect is full, which will coincide with the filling of the cup of God’s wrath against those who hate the truth and reject the Gospel. The ending of this age of God’s providence and the coming of the age to come, the fulfilling of the Kingdom of God will be separated by the event of our Lord’s return. The word used to refer to our Lord’s return, παρουσίας, is pronounced as “parousia.” It refers to our Lord coming again to this world as both the deliverer of the righteous and judge of the wicked.

Our Lord answers the disciples’ three questions in reverse order.

4 Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· βλέπετε μή τις ὑμᾶς πλανήσῃ· 5 πολλοὶ γὰρ ἐλεύσονται ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγοντες· ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ χριστός, καὶ πολλοὺς πλανήσουσιν. 6 μελλήσετε δὲ ἀκούειν πολέμους καὶ ἀκοὰς πολέμων· ὁρᾶτε μὴ θροεῖσθε· δεῖ γὰρ γενέσθαι, ἀλλ’ οὔπω ἐστὶν τὸ τέλος. 7 ἐγερθήσεται γὰρ ἔθνος ἐπὶ ἔθνος καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν καὶ ἔσονται λιμοὶ καὶ σεισμοὶ κατὰ τόπους· 8 πάντα δὲ ταῦτα ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων. (Matthew 24:4-8 NA28)

4 And Jesus answered them saying, “See to it that no one deceives you.” 5 “For many will come in my name saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will deceive many.” 6 “But you are about to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See to it that you are not alarmed for it is necessary for this to happen, but it is not yet the end.” 7 “For nation will be raised up against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place.” 8 “But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.” (Matthew 24:4-8 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

Our Lord begins with a warning. The words, “no one deceives you” in v4 are the words μή τις ὑμᾶς πλανήσῃ in the Greek, which literally say, “not someone you might deceive” referring to the fact that someone will attempt to deceive believers about the παρουσίας (return) of our Lord. The warning is this, “Do not believe anyone who claims that the Lord has already returned come and see.” When He returns there will be no doubt. It will not be in secret. It will be obvious to all. The beginning of the birth pains is what has been going on in this age from the beginning and will continue, but like the increasing in sequence as the time gets closer and closer just like the birth pains of a woman delivering a baby these things will also increase in magnitude and frequency. However, according to our Lord’s own words here, these are not the signs that end of this age is upon us, but that this age is marked by these things.

9 Τότε παραδώσουσιν ὑμᾶς εἰς θλῖψιν καὶ ἀποκτενοῦσιν ὑμᾶς, καὶ ἔσεσθε μισούμενοι ὑπὸ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου. 10 καὶ τότε σκανδαλισθήσονται πολλοὶ καὶ ἀλλήλους παραδώσουσιν καὶ μισήσουσιν ἀλλήλους· 11 καὶ πολλοὶ ψευδοπροφῆται ἐγερθήσονται καὶ πλανήσουσιν πολλούς· 12 καὶ διὰ τὸ πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν ψυγήσεται ἡ ἀγάπη τῶν πολλῶν. 13 ὁ δὲ ὑπομείνας εἰς τέλος οὗτος σωθήσεται. 14 καὶ κηρυχθήσεται τοῦτο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, καὶ τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος. (Matthew 24:9-14 NA28)

9 “Then they will hand you over to affliction and they will kill you and you will be hated by all the nations on account of my name.” 10 “And then many will be led into sin and others they will hand over and they will hate others.” 11 “And many false prophets will arise and they will deceive many.” 12 “And because of the increased lawlessness, the love of many will become cold. 13 “But the one enduring to the end will be saved.” 14 “And this Good News of the Kingdom will be announced in all the world as a testimony to all the nations and then the end will come.”   (Matthew 24:9-14 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

I am convinced that these seven verses describe succinctly what is going on right now in the world in relation to the Church. The truth is hated. It has become scandalous for Bible teachers and evangelists to preach the Gospel as it should be done. That is, with the brutal truth about the utter lostness of all people and their inability to do one thing to become righteous in God’s eyes. Then they are to be given the good news of the only way to be saved from the coming wrath from God. That is, salvation in and by and through the Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, notice that this message will be hated and persecuted. The seeker-sensitive paradigm has as its major tenet no reference to the true Gospel, but only an emphasis on easy-believism that saves no one. These advocates of the church-growth movement, the emergents, the new evangelicals all hate the truth. These false prophets have arisen and are leading many astray even telling their followers that other religions are just another way to God.

The reference to lawlessness increasing refers to the spiritual emptiness of those who have been victimized by this false paradigm. They are told that their salvation is assured even though they are not changed by it so they are unable to become conformed to Christ. They are told that it is okay to live like the world so they can draw others into their deception by relating positively to their politically correct version of the gospel. However, they absolutely hate hearing the real Gospel and they absolutely hate those who doggedly continue to preach and teach it. They have been deceived into the pragmatism of using numbers to verify the effectiveness of their new way of doing things. Yes, you can draw many from the world into a belief system that is no different than it. However, our Lord also says here that there will be some who endure to the end because they have not been deceived by this lie. They will continue to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world even if it costs them everything. This will continue right up to the end of this age. This is our Lord’s marker of when the end of this age of God’s gracious providence will come.

The Gospel will continue right up to the end of this age. Our Lord will continue to build His Church until then. Until then, we have our Lord’s commands that those who are deep in the deception have shunned and are going their own way.

15 Ὅτε οὖν ἠρίστησαν λέγει τῷ Σίμωνι Πέτρῳ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Σίμων Ἰωάννου, ἀγαπᾷς με πλέον τούτων; λέγει αὐτῷ· ναὶ κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ· βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου. 16 λέγει αὐτῷ πάλιν δεύτερον· Σίμων Ἰωάννου, ἀγαπᾷς με; λέγει αὐτῷ· ναὶ κύριε, σὺ οἶδας ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ· ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου. 17 λέγει αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· Σίμων Ἰωάννου, φιλεῖς με; ἐλυπήθη ὁ Πέτρος ὅτι εἶπεν αὐτῷ τὸ τρίτον· φιλεῖς με; καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· κύριε, πάντα σὺ οἶδας, σὺ γινώσκεις ὅτι φιλῶ σε. λέγει αὐτῷ [ὁ Ἰησοῦς]· βόσκε τὰ πρόβατά μου. (John 21:15-17 NA28)

15 Then when they ate Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” 16 He said to him, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes Lord, you know that I love you. He said to him, “Shepherd my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord you know all things, you know that I love you.  Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.” (John 21:15-17 translated from the NA28 Greek text)

The disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ is commanded to make other disciples from every part of the world in the Great Commission found in Matthew 2816-20 and we must not neglect this. However, our Lord also commanded us in John 21:15-17 to feed and tend to His sheep. This means we disciple them. We teach them the truth. We lead them to walk in repentance and become living sacrifices who are transformed into the Christians whose lives bring God glory because their minds are being continually renewed through their immersion in the Word of God and the godly teaching of the leaders He has ordained to be over them. We must not neglect this my brethren.

The current rebellion and falling away is the result of men seeking greater numbers to the detriment of the preaching and teaching of God’s truth and the effective discipleship of those given to them by God to tend and feed. Instead, they are seeking to be conformed to pop culture so they will be seen as non-threatening to the lost. However, the gospel they preach is not the Gospel. It has been diluted and changed so it appeals to the flesh rather than piercing the heart with God’s truth that the Holy Spirit uses to effectually draw people to salvation. These wolves in sheep’s clothing may have large dynamic churches, but since they absolutely refuse to preach the Gospel, they are actually false prophets leading many astray.

All those things the Lord warned us about in the passages above are markers that we are seeing right now in this age. Does this mean that we are quickly approaching the end of this age? The mass defections we are seeing right now with so many being deceived seems to suggest that we are indeed seeing an increase in the birth pains, but in Matthew 24:36-51 our Lord tells us that no one knows when the end of this age is coming so we must bear down in our obedience and remain faithful. Let us continue to serve the Lord with our all and pray for those in darkness that God will have mercy on them and draw them into the light unto eternal life in the Son.

Soli Deo Gloria!