Scripture describes the era preceding Christ's return as marked by wars, famines, persecution, and the rising of false teachers, characterizing these events as the 'beginning of travail.' While believers are called to be alert and sober-minded, they are encouraged not to be troubled or deceived by those claiming to know the exact timing, but rather to rest in the certainty of their salvation in Christ.
When the disciples asked about the signs of His coming, Jesus instructed them to 'take heed that no man lead you astray' (Matthew 24:4). He explained that history would be marked by conflict, famines, and earthquakes—yet He explicitly stated that these occurrences, while real, constitute only the 'beginning of travail' (Matthew 24:8). The Reformed tradition emphasizes that these signs are constant realities of a fallen world, reminding us that we live in the 'last days' between Christ's first and second coming. Rather than fueling speculative obsession, these signs call the church to perseverance, gospel proclamation, and steadfast reliance on Christ's finished work.
The Apostle Paul writes that the 'day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night' (1 Thessalonians 5:2). Because believers are 'sons of light, and sons of the day,' we are not to be overcome by fear or spiritual slumber (1 Thessalonians 5:5). We are instead called to put on the 'breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation' (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Our hope is not anchored in our ability to decipher the timeline of current events, but in the truth that 'God appointed us not into wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Thessalonians 5:9). We are more accepted in Him than we dared hope, and we wait for His return in that grace.
Paul also warns that the return of Christ will be preceded by a great 'falling away' and the revelation of the 'man of sin' (2 Thessalonians 2:3). While the 'mystery of lawlessness' is already at work in the world, believers are reminded that the Lord Jesus will ultimately bring this opposition to naught by the 'manifestation of his coming' (2 Thessalonians 2:8). The focus for the believer is not on the identity of the lawless one, but on loving the truth that we might be saved through Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:10). We look to His return not with terror, but with the expectation that our full redemption draweth nigh (Luke 21:28).