Is the world going to end?

War in Ukraine and the Middle East, new diseases showing up all the time, food shortages, earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes. 

Is this the end of the world? Are we going to blow ourselves up or wipe all life off the planet? Here’s the thing: the Bible actually talks about this, but maybe not in the way that you think.

When Jesus’ disciples asked him about the end of the world in Matthew 24, the original Greek word wasn’t world like the planet. It was aion meaning age, that’s a big difference. They weren’t asking Jesus when is the Earth going to blow up or when is this planet going to come to an end, they were asking when does this present age of human history come to an end.

And the Bible backs this up. For instance, in Ecclesiastes 1:4, it says the earth abides forever, so the planet is not going anywhere, but there is an end coming for this current age of man. Continuing Matthew 24, Jesus explains what happens right before that end of the age. In verse 21, He says there will be a time of trouble worse than anything the world has ever seen.

Think about that: worse than World War I, World War II, worse than the black plague, way worse than Covid shutting down the planet, worse than what we’re watching right now. Drone wars, famine in Somalia, earthquakes in Turkey, wildfires ripping through Hawaii, flooding in Pakistan. It’s the prediction of a time that is coming that’s unlike anything we have ever seen. 

So is that how it ends? No, it’s not. Thankfully God will step in; Jesus Christ Himself will intervene right before the breaking point when humanity is on the brink of wiping itself out, and He will stop it. He’ll literally cut those days short so mankind survives. and Jesus wasn’t the only one who saw this: Jeremiah 30:7, Daniel 12:1 they both describe the exact same time of crisis. The prophet Joel describes it like unstoppable armies sweeping through with fire with the earth shaking beneath them. 

Back then when those books were written, they didn’t understand the idea of nuclear weapons or biological warfare. But reading Joel‘s words today, it’s like he’s illustrating the world we’re living in right now. 

So what does it all mean? The world isn’t ending, but this current age of man is reaching its conclusion. If we believe in the Bible, then this reality is a pretty big deal. 

The systems, the wars, the corruption, the way humanity has been running things–that’s what is coming down. That is what’s going to end. And yeah, it’s going to get rough, but the hope is this: Jesus Christ promises that He is coming back and He’s gonna stop it, to bring peace to bring a new world. Are you ready for the new world that’s coming?