Last Things in Scripture

Introduction: The Lord's Discourse on the End of the Age

Before His Passion Jesus gave his disciples a preview of the Age in which they would work, that is the Church Age, the time between His First Coming and His Second Coming. He describes a familiar human history, one in which human sin and violence continue, in which nature itself groans in agony awaiting its own redemption (Rom. 8:22), and in which the ancient Enemy of God and Man wages war against Christ and His followers, as he has done from the beginning of time (Rev. 12:13-17).

Mt. 24:3-8  As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” 

4 And Jesus answered them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray. 5  For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6  And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the beginning of the sufferings. 

A. The Gospel will be preached to the whole world

Matthew 24:14     And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come.

Mark 13:10  And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

B. Israel Will Believe in Christ

Romans 11:25-32     25 Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, 26  and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; 27 “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” 

28 As regards the gospel they are enemies of God, for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy. 32  For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.

C. Great Apostasy

2 Thes. 2:3-8     Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. 

D. Appearance of Antichrist

The Antichrist is the man of sin, the lawless one, who denies the Incarnation, that God became Man for our Salvation, thereby also denying the Father and the Holy Spirit.

2 Thes. 2:9-11 The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, 12 so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 

1 John 2:18, 19-20  Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. 

1 John 2:22  Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.

1 John 4:3  and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already

2 John 1:7  For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.

E. Great Tribulation

Isaiah 13:9-11  Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. 10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light. 11 I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and lay low the haughtiness of the ruthless. 

Isaiah 34:4   All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll.  All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.

Matthew 24:9  “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away, and betray one another, and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because wickedness is multiplied, most men’s love will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:29  “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; 30 then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; 31 and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

N.B. All Scripture citations are from The Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version; Second Catholic Edition (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006).