Whenever a major disaster happens, one of the first things many Christians do is attempt to correlate it to the end times and the return of Jesus. This is especially true when the event in question is an earthquake (such as the recent ones which have generated large-scale tsunamis in Southeast Asia).
Often the passage that is cited as proof of correlation is the Olivet Discourse spoken by Jesus (it's called the Olivet Discourse because He spoke it while standing on the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem in the final days of His earthly life). A form of the discourse appears in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21) and the key verse reads as follows:
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. (Matt. 24:6-7)
Jesus goes on to say a few verses later:
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door." (Matt 24:30-33)
So for many Christians, who are always seeking to faithfully interpret the signs of the times, a series of large scale earthquakes can't help but bring to mind Jesus' words.
However, there are a few problems with this approach that often get overlooked, but which should serve as a caution for any of us who might be tempted to interpret God's actions in the world and the timing of Jesus' return and final judgment:
1. Jesus wasn't talking primarily about the end of the world in the Olivet Discourse. As we've seen before in a series of articles written on this passage, Jesus was talking about the events that would take place within the Disciples' own lifetimes, particularly regarding the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. That is, in fact, what the entire discussion initially begins with--their question of when the Temple would be destroyed and that age be brought to completion (when His messianic reign would begin, presumably). Look again at Jesus' words in the Discourse:
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me." (Matt 24:4-9)
Rather than being the sign of the end of the world, the events Jesus describes would be experienced by His first Disciples, who would then be persecuted and put to death because of their witness to Him--which in fact did happen to 11 of the 12 original Apostles!
2. Jesus wasn't talking primarily about events that would happen thousands of years later. One of the most frequently made mistakes regarding the Olivet Discourse is to read the "you" throughout it as referring to modern-day Christians. But we do not do that with any other part of the Gospel where Jesus is addressing His Disciples directly...so why do we do it when we get to the Olivet Discourse?? The "you" throughout whom Jesus addresses are "the Disciples"; the ones who would actually live through the events Jesus is describing in vivid, hyperbole-filled prophetic language (anyone who doubts whether or not Jesus is using hyperbole should check to make sure they still have a right hand and right eye!).
In fact, lest we have any doubt about the timing of the events Jesus is describing, we need look no further than Jesus' own words. Look again at the passage about seeing signs and knowing the time is near:
“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. (Matt 24:32-34)
Jesus says point blank that the events He is talking about, regardless of how they are to be interpreted, will happen within the span of that generation--which, interestingly enough, was exactly when the Temple was, in fact, destroyed! Some have tried to get around the clear time-cap that Jesus places on His prophetic words by suggesting that "this generation" in v.34 should be translated "this race" (i.e. the Jewish race). However, nowhere else does Jesus use the term in this manner and every time in Matthew when Jesus speaks about "this generation" He is always talking about the generation in which He is living--the generation that witnessed Him in the flesh yet still rejected and put him to death. Jesus warned of judgment that would come upon that generation many times throughout the Gospels...the Olivet Discourse is the final exclamation point and the final prophetic plea by the greatest Prophet in Israel's history to turn from their rebellion and embrace what God was doing through His Messiah once and for all. Many of them did precisely this! Which is why there were almost no followers of Jesus in Jerusalem when it fell in 70 AD. They understood the signs of the times quite well and fled the city in obedience to Jesus' warning given a generation before!
3. Jesus wasn't talking primarily about His Second Coming. This is the most common mistake of all that most Christians make when reading the Olivet Discourse. When the Disciples ask Jesus when His "coming" will be, we immediately assume they are asking about His Second Coming (i.e. the Return of Jesus from Heaven to judge the world). Even many otherwise excellent study Bible's commit this basic mistake in the notes on this passage. So it's no suprise that the average reader misses this small but crucial detail. But it is crucial indeed!
When the Disciples ask Jesus about His "coming", they are asking about His "coming [into power]" (i.e. His ascension to the throne of David and His Messianic rule over all the earth). That is what they were expecting. Remember, the Disciples had NO idea that He would be crucified, die, be raised from the dead, ascend to Heaven for thousands of years and then eventually "come" back to earth. That's what WE see because we have the benefit of hindsight. But the Disciples were not asking about Jesus' return from Heaven...because they didn't think He would be leaving earth! This is why they were so devasted upon His arrest and crucifixion! This is also why their belief in His Resurrection was unshakeable after they experienced it--they weren't expecting it to happen or experiencing 'wish-fulfillment' or any of the other psychological phenomena ascribed to them by skeptics. They were genuinely transformed by their encounter with the Resurrected Jesus!
When Jesus spoke of "the Son of Man coming", He was alluding back to the famous "Son of Man" passage in Daniel 7--wherein the "one like a son of man" comes on the clouds FROM earth TO Heaven to receive universal sovereignty, authority, kingdom and worship from God Almighty. The "coming" that the Disciples asked about was describing Jesus' ascension to power and worldwide rule...however, instead of being seated on a throne in Jerusalem, Jesus' ascension was to the Throne of the Universe--"where he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty", to quote the Apostles' Creed. Of course, as the Creed goes on to state, "From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead"...but the Disciples at the time did not know, nor were they asking about, what we know of as the Second Coming.
So why do I say "primarily"?? I've said that Jesus wasn't speaking "primarily" about these things. I say that because of the nature of Hebrew prophecy. Hebrew prophetic oracles (which is what the Sermon on the Mount most definitely is!) often described events which were to happen on the immediate horizion (i.e. the fall of Bablyon, Assyria, Jerusalem, etc.) in language that evokes cosmic, end-of-this-age imagery. The reason is that each time God acts within history as Judge in fulfillment of a prophecy He gives beforehand, it is a foreshadowing of the ultimate final Judgment which will take place on the final "Day of the LORD" (i.e. Judgment Day). So in the smaller-scale judgments by God over nations and empires we get a glimpse of what the final large-scale Judgment of God on all evil once and for all will entail.
This brings us back to the recent earthquakes such as the one in Chile a while back and the one in Japan last week. Are these events "signs of Jesus' return" or "signs of the End"?
No. At least, not anymoreso than any natural disaster that has occurred throughout history (ALL of which have been put forth as "signs" by various Christians...all of whom have been wrong thus far!). The "earthquakes" spoken of by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse happend in the first century (we have record of them throughout the Mediterranean world at that time) and were a sign of the imminent destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the end of that age (i.e. 2nd Temple Judaism).
Ever since then, earthquakes have been happening around the world at a fairly regular rate. With the rise of modern technology and global media, however, we are now able to hear about them much more often, so they seem to have increased in frequency and severity. But in fact, as far as geologists and seismologists tell us, they have not.
HOWEVER...
We do have one instance of Jesus' response to a question about a recent tragic event that happened in Galilee by His Disciples. It is recorded in Luke's Gospel as follows:
Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:2-5)
Notice how Jesus turned the question back to His Disciples. When Jesus Himself was asked about disasters and tragic loss of human life, He made it clear that while we cannot always correlate disasters to God's Judgment in a one-to-one manner (i.e. blaming hurricanes in Florida on Disney's celebration of "Gay Day" or Katrina devestating New Orleans on Mardi Gras debauchery...as various Christian media personalities have wrecklessly done in the past!) we should allow the severity of disasters to remind us that it could've been us who perished in them and whether or not we are ready to face the Final Judgment of a Holy God ourselves.
Of course that's not as "exciting" as trying to read the mind of God into current world events...but it's FAR more important and we Christians would do well to do so on a continual basis as we come alongside and support those who suffer and need to see the Body of Christ in loving action on their behalf firsthand.
[For more on this passage and issues involved in recent natural disasters and how they relate to End Times teaching in Scripture, I recommend--in addition to the suggested articles in the box above--the audio course "Apocalypse Now?? What the Bible Teaches About the End Times" which is available for free download HERE or in Audio CD format HERE.]
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