When Jesus foretold the characteristics of our day, declaring that it would be a time when the hearts of the people would be filled with fear, it was in answer to questions asked him by his disciples. Those questions were: “What shall be the sign of thy presence, and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3) In quoting these questions we have used a correct translation of the Greek words used. In the Authorized Version  of the Bible this passage is mistranslated to read, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” However, the disciples were not asking how they might know when the time was near for Jesus to return, but rather, how they would know when he had returned.

The Master’s answer to these questions furnishes the only reliable explanation of present world conditions and the only genuine hope of better days to come. It reveals that we are nearing the end of the present age and the time of his Second Presence. This, in turn, means that the time is near for the fulfillment of those many promises of God’s Word which tell of the blessings of peace and joy and life which will be made available to mankind as a result of the coming thousand-year reign of Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.

This does not mean that Jesus will reign on the earth as a man. His first visit to earth was as a human being, in order, as he explained the matter himself, that he might  give  his flesh in death for the life of the world. (John 6:51) But having provided the means of release from death by the sacrifice of his humanity on Calvary’s cross, he was raised from the dead a glorious divine being, of the same nature as the Creator himself, “whom no man hath seen nor can see.” – 1 Tim. 6:16

By an altogether too literal interpretation of some of the prophecies of God’s Word, very crude conceptions of Christ’s Second Advent have been developed. It has  been  supposed by some that when he returned he would be seen as a man suspended in the skies, and simultaneously there would be tremendous upheavals of nature in the heavens and on earth which would dwarf in destructiveness anything man has ever been able to accomplish, even by the use of the nuclear bomb.

Now we see, however, that the prophecies which were used as a basis for this erroneous concept of the Second Advent of Christ are symbolically descriptive of the upheaval of man-made institutions which  have  formed our civilization. It is this that the prophecies describe as the end of the world — not the end of the earth, but what the Apostle Paul describes as “this present evil world.” (Gal. 1:4) Jesus referred to Satan, the Devil, as the “prince of this world,” hence the end of the world means the end of Satan’s empire, the end of his sovereignty over the minds and hearts of men. — John 12:31

Every Christian  should  be glad to note  any evidence tending to show that the end of the world is near. All mankind will rejoice when they realize that Satan’s world has come to an end; for then they will have the opportunity of becoming citizens in a new world — not another humanly-constructed civilization, but a new order in which the authority and the laws will be those of the kingdom of Christ.

The world that is even now coming to an end has never been entirely satisfactory, not even to those who have been most enthusiastic in their efforts to perpetuate its existence. True, there has been much good in it, but sin and evil have predominated. Sickness, pain, and death have been the dreaded heritage of all. Hatred and war blighted the happiness of the people and destroyed the peace of the nations.

Fear of worse things to come, both here and hereafter, has helped to rob men and women  of the joy which temporarily, at least, might otherwise be theirs. Truly, as the Scriptures declare, it has been an evil world, and the more we study its characteristics the more we realize that Jesus knew what he was talking about when he declared Satan to be its prince.

Yes, we can all be glad that such a world is coming to an end, and that, as the Scriptures declare, its ruler is to be bound and finally destroyed. Jesus said that those living at this time who had faith in his Word, when they saw the things transpire which he foretold, should lift up their heads with hope and rejoicing, for the time of their deliverance, and the deliverance of mankind, from sin and death would be near.