The State of the World

Wars, rumors of wars, nation against nation, famines, earthquakes, diseases, political turmoil, and the list goes on.  These are the signs of the end-times, the birth pains, as Jesus calls them in Matthew chapters 24 and 25.  Jesus tells us that ‘many will fall away, betray one another, and hate each other,’ and ‘because lawlessness will be increased, the love of man will grow cold’. 

Our world is seeing these very things unfold before our eyes. We are witnessing a global rise in violence, corruption, and spiritual confusion. Nations are shaking, economies are trembling, and people everywhere are searching for stability in a world that feels increasingly unstable. The moral fabric of society is fraying – truth is being redefined, good is called evil, and evil is celebrated as good. Compassion is thinning, division is deepening, and hearts are growing cold just as Jesus warned.

Yet none of this should surprise us. These are the birth pains – early contractions signaling that something is coming, something God has already told us to expect. The signs are not meant to terrify believers but to awaken us, to remind us that Scripture is unfolding exactly as Jesus said it would. Every shaking, every conflict, every moral collapse is a reminder that the world is moving toward the moment when Christ will return and set all things right.

But in the midst of all this shaking, God has not left His people without hope. The darker the world becomes, the brighter the promises of God shine. Jesus did not tell us these things so we would live in fear – He told us so we would live in confidence, knowing that He is in control and that His return is drawing near.

Our hope is not in governments, economies, or human solutions. Our hope is in the One who said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Our hope is in our Savior, Jesus Christ. When everything around us feels unstable, He remains unshakable. When the world grows cold, His love remains warm. When nations tremble, His kingdom stands firm.

And this is the comfort Scripture gives us: God sees. God knows. God is not shaken. And God is coming.

For the believer, the end-times are not a story of despair – they are a story of deliverance. They remind us that history is not spiraling out of control; it is moving toward a promised conclusion. Every birth pain points to a coming birth. Every shaking points to a coming kingdom. Every sign points to a coming Savior.

So we lift our eyes. We steady our hearts. We anchor our hope not in what we see, but in what God has promised.