- Christ will return, personally and visibly. At the ascension two men in white told the apostles, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11, KJV).
- The dead will be raised. “the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth” (John 5:28-29, KJV).
- Everyone will be judged. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10, KJV).
- God will make all things new. Death, grief and pain will end, and God will live with his people (Revelation 21:1-4).
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
The signs Jesus named
Jesus’ main teaching on the future, in Matthew 24, began when he told his disciples that the temple would be destroyed: “There shall not be left here one stone upon another” (Matthew 24:2, KJV). They asked, “when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3, KJV). His answer names these signs:
- False messiahs and deceivers. “many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ” (Matthew 24:5, KJV).
- Wars and rumours of wars. “see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6, KJV).
- Famines, pestilences and earthquakes. Jesus called these “the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8, KJV).
- Persecution, false prophets and cold love. “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Matthew 24:12, KJV).
- The gospel preached everywhere. “this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14, KJV).
- The abomination of desolation and the Son of man’s coming. The “abomination of desolation” in the holy place (Matthew 24:15), and then the Son of man “coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30, KJV).
Christians read this chapter in different ways. Many see part of it fulfilled when Roman armies took Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in AD 70, a generation after Jesus spoke (compare Luke 21:20), and part still waiting for his return. Others read most of it as still future. Either way, Jesus did not give the signs so that people could set a date. Right in the middle of the chapter he said:
“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”
Wars, famines and earthquakes have been part of every century since. That is why the New Testament can already call its own time “the last days” (Acts 2:17; Hebrews 1:2). The signs are reminders to stay awake, not a countdown. Jesus’ own conclusion was simple: “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Matthew 24:42, KJV).
The millennium: four views
Revelation 20 describes Satan being bound and the faithful who “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:4, KJV). The phrase “thousand years” comes six times in Revelation 20:2-7, and this is the only place the Bible speaks of a thousand-year reign, so how to read this one chapter has shaped four main views.
| View | What it teaches | Who has held it |
|---|---|---|
| Dispensational premillennial | Christ returns before a literal thousand-year reign on earth. Usually expects the church to be taken up in a rapture before a time of tribulation, and a distinct future for national Israel. | Its pre-tribulation rapture goes back to an interpretation by John Nelson Darby in the 1800s. Taught today in, for example, the doctrinal statement of Dallas Theological Seminary. |
| Historic premillennial | Christ returns after a time of tribulation, which the church goes through, and then reigns on earth for a thousand years before the final judgment. | Second-century writers such as Justin Martyr and Irenaeus expected an earthly reign of Christ, though Justin noted that many faithful Christians did not. |
| Amillennial | The thousand years is a picture of the present age, from Christ’s first coming to his return, in which Christ reigns and Satan is restrained. Christ returns once, for the resurrection and the judgment. | Augustine (City of God, Book 20), who had once held a millennial view. The Catholic Catechism rejects millenarianism (CCC 676), and the Lutheran Augsburg Confession (Article 17) and the Reformed Helvetic Confession (chapter 11) reject an earthly golden age before the resurrection. |
| Postmillennial | Christ returns after the millennium, a long age in which the gospel spreads and much of the world turns to Christ, followed by the resurrection and the judgment. | A hopeful view held by some Protestants. The Catholic Catechism, by contrast, says the kingdom will not come through a gradual triumph of the Church in history (CCC 677). |
Many churches leave the question open. The Southern Baptist Convention’s confession, the Baptist Faith and Message, affirms Christ’s personal, visible return, the resurrection and the judgment without choosing among these views.
The rapture
The word “rapture” is not in the English Bible. It comes from the Latin word for “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, where the Latin Bible reads rapiemur, “we shall be caught up.” Here is the passage:
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
Everyone agrees that believers will be caught up to meet the Lord. The question is when, especially in relation to a time of great tribulation (Matthew 24:21). There are four main answers:
Pre-tribulation. Christ comes for his church before the tribulation, and then returns visibly with his saints afterward. Supporters point to promises such as “For God hath not appointed us to wrath” (1 Thessalonians 5:9, KJV). This view goes back to an interpretation by John Nelson Darby in the 1800s and is common among dispensational Christians; Dallas Theological Seminary’s doctrinal statement, for example, teaches it.
Mid-tribulation. The church is caught up halfway through the tribulation, before its worst judgments.
Post-tribulation. The church goes through the tribulation and is caught up to meet Christ at his one visible return. Supporters note that in Matthew 24 the gathering of the elect comes “Immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29, KJV).
No separate rapture. Many churches have no rapture doctrine at all. The Catholic Catechism teaches that the Church must pass through a final trial before Christ comes again (CCC 675), and the Lutheran Augsburg Confession and the Reformed Westminster Confession describe one return of Christ to raise the dead and judge the world. On this reading, 1 Thessalonians 4 describes believers rising to meet the Lord at that one return.
Israel and prophecy
The prophets promised that God would bring his scattered people home: “For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land” (Ezekiel 36:24, KJV). Christians read promises like this in more than one way.
Fulfilled in modern Israel. Many Christians, especially many evangelicals, see the founding of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 as a fulfillment of prophecy. In a 2017 Lifeway Research survey of 2,002 Americans with evangelical beliefs, 80 percent said Israel’s rebirth in 1948 fulfilled biblical prophecy.
Fulfilled in the return from exile and in Christ. Others note that God first kept this promise when the exiles came home from Babylon, as Ezra says, “that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled” (Ezra 1:1, KJV). They read the deeper promise in the same chapter, “A new heart also will I give you” (Ezekiel 36:26, KJV), as fulfilled in Christ and the Spirit for Jews and Gentiles together, since “all the promises of God in him are yea” (2 Corinthians 1:20, KJV).
A future turning to Christ. Many Christians also take Paul’s words, “And so all Israel shall be saved” (Romans 11:26, KJV), to mean that many Jewish people will one day turn to Jesus as Messiah. The Catholic Catechism connects Christ’s return with this recognition by “all Israel” (CCC 674).
Whatever view you hold, the Bible’s instruction is the same: love your neighbors, Jewish, Arab and every other people, and “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6, KJV). News events are a call to prayer, not a timetable.
The antichrist and the mark of the beast
The antichrist. The word appears in only four verses of the Bible, all in John’s letters (1 John 2:18, 2:22, 4:3; 2 John 1:7). John writes, “as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists” (1 John 2:18, KJV), and he defines the spirit of antichrist as denying the Father and the Son, and denying that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Paul describes a coming “man of sin” who “exalteth himself above all that is called God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4, KJV), and Revelation 13 pictures beasts that demand worship. Christians debate whether these all describe one final person, a power that recurs through history, or both. The Catholic Catechism teaches that a final deception, the antichrist’s, will come before Christ returns (CCC 675).
The mark of the beast. Revelation 13:16-18 describes a mark on the right hand or forehead without which no one may “buy or sell,” and the number 666. Some read this as a literal future mark; many others see it as a symbol of belonging and worship, the dark mirror of the seal God places on his servants, “in their foreheads” (Revelation 7:3, KJV). Guessing names and devices is nothing new. Around the end of the second century, Irenaeus of Lyons warned that it is “more certain, and less hazardous, to await the fulfilment of the prophecy, than to be making surmises” (Against Heresies 5.30.3). If you have wondered whether chips, digital money or artificial intelligence could be the mark, read What Does the Bible Say About AI? The main point of Revelation 13 is not technology. It is a call to stay faithful in worship when faithfulness is costly.
How to live while we wait
The Thessalonians had questions and worries about the end, so Paul wrote them practical instructions. They are still a wise guide to living with this subject today:
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.”
Stay awake. Do not drift through life as if Christ will never come: “let us watch and be sober” (1 Thessalonians 5:6, KJV).
Put on faith, love and hope. Paul borrows the soldier’s armor again: “putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8, KJV). See The Armor of God.
Remember you are safe in Christ. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9, KJV).
Encourage each other. “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another” (1 Thessalonians 5:11, KJV). End-times talk should leave people comforted and built up, not frightened.
Do not be shaken by date-setters. Paul later warned the same church not to be “soon shaken in mind, or be troubled” (2 Thessalonians 2:2, KJV) by claims that the day had already come. If you want to read Revelation or 1 Thessalonians for yourself, Faithero can read any chapter aloud in the KJV or the Douay-Rheims, and you can ask its Bible Guide about a passage you find confusing. It can get things wrong, so check its answers against Scripture and bring big questions to your pastor.
For what the Bible teaches about death and the hope beyond it, see What Happens When We Die?, and for why Christians trust these writings in the first place, see Is the Bible Reliable?
Frequently asked
What are the signs of the end times?
In Matthew 24 Jesus named false messiahs, wars and rumours of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes, persecution, false prophets, love growing cold, and the gospel being preached to all nations. He called the early ones “the beginning of sorrows” and warned, “see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6, KJV). Such things have happened in every generation, which is why Jesus told his followers to stay ready rather than to calculate dates.
Is the rapture in the Bible?
The word is not, but the event Christians mean by it is described in 1 Thessalonians 4:17: believers who are alive “shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17, KJV). “Rapture” comes from the Latin word for “caught up.” The debate is about timing: whether this happens before, in the middle of, or after a time of tribulation, or, as Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed teaching hold, as part of Christ’s one visible return.
What is the mark of the beast?
In Revelation 13 a beast forces people to receive a mark “in their right hand, or in their foreheads” so that “no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark” (Revelation 13:16-17, KJV), and its number is 666. Some Christians expect a literal future mark. Many others read it as a symbol of loyalty to a power that sets itself against God, the opposite of the seal God places on his servants’ foreheads (Revelation 7:3). Either way, Revelation presents it as a matter of worship and allegiance, not something anyone receives by accident.
Who is the antichrist?
The word appears only in John’s letters. John says “even now are there many antichrists” (1 John 2:18, KJV) and describes the spirit of antichrist as denying that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh. Paul speaks of a coming “man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, KJV). Many Christians, including the Catholic Catechism (CCC 675), expect a final great deceiver before Christ returns, while also recognizing that the spirit of antichrist is at work in every age.
Are we living in the end times?
In one sense, yes, and Christians have been since Pentecost. Peter said the coming of the Spirit fulfilled the promise for “the last days” (Acts 2:17, KJV), and Hebrews says God “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:2, KJV). Whether Christ returns in our lifetime, no one knows. The Bible’s answer to this question is always the same: be ready, be faithful, and do not be shaken.
Does the Bible say when the world will end?
No. Jesus said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:36, KJV), and before his ascension he told the apostles, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons” (Acts 1:7, KJV). Every confident prediction of a date so far has failed. The Westminster Confession says God keeps the day unknown so that we may “be always watchful.”
What is the book of Revelation about?
Revelation is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1, KJV), a series of visions given to John on the island of Patmos and sent to seven churches in Asia. It uses vivid symbols, beasts, seals, trumpets and a thousand years, to show that Christ reigns, that evil will be judged, and that God will make all things new. Christians read its visions in several ways, as events of the first century, as events still to come, or as pictures of the struggle in every age, and many combine these readings.
Hope, not fear
Many of the New Testament’s passages about the end close the same way: with comfort. After describing the Lord’s coming, Paul says, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18, KJV). Jesus told his disciples that when frightening things begin to happen, they should “look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (Luke 21:28, KJV).
You do not have to master every chart and timeline to have a living hope. You only need to know who is coming. The one who will return is the same Jesus who welcomed children, forgave sinners and died for his enemies. The Bible’s last prayer is short enough to pray today: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20, KJV).
What all Christians agree on
Beneath all the debates, the historic churches share a common hope. The Apostles’ Creed says Christ “shall come to judge the quick and the dead,” and Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant confessions all teach Christ’s return, the resurrection and the judgment. Four things stand out: