Copyright © 2026 Michael A. Brown
‘You will hear of wars [and
revolutions], 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 [and pestilences] in various
places, [and fearful events and great signs from heaven]. All these are the beginning of birth pains.’
(Matt.
24:6-8, Luke 21:11)
In Matthew 24:8, Jesus likened the signs
of the coming end of this age, when he will return in glory to earth, to birth
pains (or, labour pains). However, he
made it clear that these ‘signs of the times,’ as we often call them, were not
the harbinger of the actual return of Christ, saying that ‘the end is still to
come.’ So when we see these signs we
should not be tempted to think that ‘Jesus will be returning to earth
immediately!’ Rather they point to the
fact that we are approaching the end of this age, and that we therefore need to
be preparing ourselves for what is to come.
They are ‘the beginning of birth pains.’
Real labour pains / contractions normally begin
around the 39th week or so of pregnancy. When this happens, the mother’s waters break,
and this is the signal that the pregnancy has entered its final stage: the
process of giving birth has now begun and is irreversible. It is certain that the mother will give birth
very soon. The time has come. After this point, the labour pains become
frequent and regular, and they increase very much in intensity. The hardest and most difficult part of giving
birth, when the labour pains are at their strongest and most intense, is at the
very end when the baby is finally born.
However, as any pregnant woman knows,
contractions can begin much earlier than the 39th week. These so-called ‘Braxton-Hicks contractions’
are real enough, but they are not actual labour pains. They can sometimes be felt as early as the
sixth week of pregnancy. They are
irregular, infrequent, relatively mild and not very intense. However, they are a foretaste of what is certainly
coming later on. They are often felt as
cramps during the second trimester, and they become increasingly frequent and
stronger during the third trimester. Towards
the end of the third trimester, when they become more frequent and stronger, it
is very common for them to be mistaken as ‘the real thing,’ whereas in fact
they are ‘false alarms.’
Predicting the actual day and time of the
breaking of the waters and the onset of real labour contractions is
impossible. The best that medical
science can come up with is simply ‘the expected or due date’ which is based on
the date when the woman believes she conceived.
However, this is simply a guide and a ‘best guess.’ It is an approximate date around which she
can expect that she will give birth. Every
couple has undoubtedly been through the experience of waiting and waiting, on
and around their due date, only to be disappointed by several ‘false
alarms.’ The actual day and time when it
will happen is unknown. The best that
the couple can know is that they have reached the period of time when they are now
expecting it to happen ‘sometime very soon’ or ‘any time now.’ So the whole family waits expectantly…
The sign of the onset of real labour is
the breaking of the waters. This event is
the demarcation between the milder, less frequent contractions which happened
previously, and the onset of the real and painful labour contractions which
lead to the birth. When it happens, it
happens suddenly. If the telos (the end-point) which Jesus spoke
of in Matthew 24:6 refers to his actual return to earth in power and glory
(Matt. 24:30), giving birth to the reign of Christ on earth in the millennium,
then the breaking of the waters, leading to the onset of real labour,
represents the rapture of the church.
The rapture of the church is the sign of
the beginning of the sunteleia, the
end-period of this age, often called the tribulation period. It is the sign that this world has entered
irreversibly into the period when the return of Christ and the birth of his
kingdom on earth is going to happen very soon.
There are no more ‘false alarms.’
There is no more delay. After
this sign of the rapture, the world enters into the real, frequent, regular and
increasingly intense labour pains leading ultimately to the return of Christ. Jesus emphasised that the actual day and time
of the rapture is unknown to all except the Father (Matt. 24:36), and, when it
happens, it will happen suddenly (1 Thess. 5:3). The best we can know is that we have entered
into the season in which we know it is going to happen very soon, and so we
wait expectantly for it (Matt. 24:32-33).
The apostle Paul underlined this parallelism
when he spoke about the day of the Lord (i.e. the tribulation period) to the
Thessalonian believers:
‘Now, brothers,
about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know that the day
of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety”,
destruction will come on them suddenly, as labour pains on a pregnant woman,
and they will not escape.’ (1 Thess. 5:1-3)
This
parallelism suggests that the ‘signs of the times’ which Jesus spoke of, and on
which we keep our eye – wars, famines, earthquakes and pestilences, fearful
events on earth and signs from heaven – are indeed contractions which point to
the soon-coming future events. They are
real and painful enough! And perhaps we should
throw into the mix such things as floods and other natural disasters caused by
hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, prolonged and extreme heatwaves,
droughts and wildfires all of which seem to be happening with increasing
frequency and intensity around the world.
Instability, turmoil, and shocking and fearful events fill our news
regularly (Matt. 24:6-8, Luke 21:10-11).
The wickedness of human nature seems to strive to find ever more
degenerate and evil ways in which to express itself (Matt. 24:12). The days in which we live are becoming
increasingly like those of Noah and Lot (Matt. 24:37, Luke 17:26-29). Lack of peace on earth (particularly in
regard to terrorism), economic injustice, wars, and the persecution and
martyrdom of believers are characteristics of fallen human life on this planet
(cf. Rev. 6:3-11). As Paul said:
‘For the creation was subjected to frustration… in
hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and
brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been
groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.’
(Rom. 8:20-22)
Furthermore, this parallelism suggests
that such contractions are going to increase in regularity, frequency and
intensity the nearer we get to the time of the rapture. And then, after this time, with the onset of
the tribulation period, these signs will increase greatly in their intensity
and regularity, leading up to the actual return of Christ to earth. Jesus said of the tribulation period that:
‘On the earth,
nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the
sea. Men will faint from terror,
apprehensive of what is coming of the world, for the heavenly bodies will be
shaken.’ (Luke 21:25-26)
So, my believing friend, do you think you
can see whereabouts we are in this scenario of birth pains? Can you discern which season we are in? There is no doubt about the fact that the
‘signs of the times’ are increasing in regularity, frequency and intensity
around the world. This suggests that the
rapture of the church, ‘the breaking of the waters,’ is going to happen very
soon. The Bridegroom is returning for
his bride! Are you ready? Are you heeding the words of Jesus and
preparing yourself?
‘Be
careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and
the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a
trap. For it will come upon all those
who live on the face of the whole earth.
Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that
is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.’ (Luke
21:34-36)
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