The mention of wars, famines, pestilence, earthquakes is taken from Mat 24:6-7
Mat 24:6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for all these things must occur; but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places.
These 2 verses are part of the answer to the 3 troubling questions by the disciples in v3.
The disciples will hear of them. These things WILL come to pass. They WILL happen as Jesus foretold.
Side note:
Some preachers have used v6 to establish the fact that the End Times is coming very soon to our near future. They overlook the fact that Jesus was actually telling His disciples, and not to us. This interpretation was very popular in the 20th and 21st Century mainly because our present world experienced 2 World Wars that resulted in vast destruction and huge calamities. Violence and wars were all over the world then.
And even now, with the rise of Islamic militants, some preachers say that it is a fulfillment of Jesus' prediction in v6. Some of them even proclaim themselves as Jesus Christ the Messiah, who is to save the world from the present wars.
See the list of self-proclaimed Christs and Messiahs in the last few centuries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_claimed_to_be_Jesus
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_messiah_claimants
The USA was right in the middle of these world wars, and it is not surprising that this false interpretation of the "End of the Age coming in our future" came from these American preachers. About 200 years ago around 1830, American preachers started this teaching called Dispensation or Dispensationalism, which interprets the End of the Age as the End of the World in the future. (This is still the view taken by many churches today.)
A write-up about Dispensationalism:
https://carm.org/dispensationalism
But the main problem is Jesus was talking to His disciples about the wars etc. during THEIR time and generation, and not during our time or future generations. Have you every thought about why must Jesus warn His disciples about the wars that are going to take place in the 21st Century? It's ridiculous and nothing to do with them.
They will hear of wars and rumours of wars BUT the End is NOT yet..!
The End has not yet come. It is like telling them it is still not the End BUT get ready.
Q: What were the "wars & rumours of wars" of their days?
I want to refer to a reference book by John L. Bray called "Matthew 24 fulfilled".
In this book, John wrote that Jesus showed His disciples all the false signs before He showed them the true signs. For example: false Christ coming was a false sign of the End Times. It also wrote about the wars before the End of the Age in AD70.
See: https://www.amazon.com/Matthew-24-Fulfilled-John-Bray/dp/0915815907
This book will also answer some of the questions about Mat 24 like:
- When was the the end of the world (age) in verse 3?
- Are the signs mentioned by Jesus things that happened before A.D. 70, or are they things we should be looking for in our times?
- Has the gospel already been preached in all the world (vs. 14)?
- If so, did the end come as predicted?
- What did Jesus mean when He said He would come before some of His disciples died (Matthew 16:28)?
- What did He mean when He said He would return in that generation (vs. 34)?
- Did John live to see the Lord come (John 21:22)?
- Were all Christians in Jerusalem saved (by fleeing the city) before the tribulation of Matthew 24:21?
- Does God and Christ ever come to earth more ways than one?
Josephus, the Roman historian, wrote that in AD40, there was war in Mesopotamia, less than 10 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. This war killed 50,000 people.
Josephus also wrote that in AD49, there was a rebellion against Rome in Jerusalem, and about 10,000 to 20,000 people were killed. This was about 20 years before the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70.
In my previous post I mentioned other names of people who fought against the Romans in military wars and resulted in thousands killed.
See: https://advancingtruth.blogspot.com/2020/04/false-christs-do-not-be-tricked.html
Q: What about "famines".?
Acts 11:7-28 tells us there were famines all over their country during the reign of Claudius Caesar. This was a fulfillment of Mat 24:7
Act 11:27 At that time certain Prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch,
Act 11:28 one of whom, named Agabus, being instructed by the Spirit, publicly predicted the speedy coming of a great famine throughout the world. (It came in the reign of Claudius.)
Joseph Ernest Renan wrote a book called "Renan's Antichrist" in 1899, and he said:
[ The early church father Eusebius, during the 10th to 11th year reign of Claudius Caesar, wrote that there was great scarcity in Jerusalem. Food in AD68 was extremely dear. ] - speaking of the famine before AD70.
Q: What about "pestilence".?
Josephus also wrote about the severe pestilence in AD60.
Thomas Newton (1704 - 1782), an early bible scholar and bishop, wrote a book called the "Dissertations on the prophecies" in 1754, and subsequently published it in 1840. In his book he mentioned the work of Josephus and about the famine and pestilence (these 2 goes hand in hand) in AD60.
This book is available free at these places:
https://archive.org/details/ThomasNewtonDissertationsOnThePropheciesWhichHaveRemarkablyBeen
https://books.google.com.my/books/about/Dissertations_on_the_Prophecies.html?id=mMe88JMxx9cC&redir_esc=y
Just a short excerpt from the book about famines, pestilences and earthquakes:
[ It is further added, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. There were famines, as particularly that prophesied of by Agabus, and mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, and by Suetonius, and other profane historians, referred to by Eusebius, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar, and was so severe at Jerusalem, that as Josephus said, many perished for want of victuals. And pestilences, for these are the usual attendants upon famines. Scarcity and badness of provisions almost always end in some epidermical distemper. We see many died by reason of the famine in the reign of Claudius; and Josephus farther informs us, that when Niger was killed by the Jewish zealots, he imprecated, besides other calamities, famine and pestilence upon them, all which, said he, God ratified and brought to pass against the ungodly. And earthquakes in divers places, as particularly that in Crete, in the reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life of Apollonius, and those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos in all which places some Jews inhabited; and those at Rome mentioned by Tacitus; and that at Laodiea in the reign of Nero, mentioned by Tacitus, which city was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse; and that in Campania, mentioned by Seneca; and that at Rome, in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius; and that in Judea, mentioned by Josephus. For by night there broke out a most dreadful tempest, and violent strong winds, with the most vehement showers, and continual lightnings, and horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth: and it was manifest, as he said, that the constitution of the universe was confounded for the destruction of men; and any one might easily conjecture that these things portended no common calamity. ]
Q: What about "earthquakes in divers places".?
Thomas Newton in his book above wrote that in AD62 - AD63, historians have already recorded earthquakes in Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos and many places.
Side note: Just because there are earthquakes today, or pandemics, or wars and other present day calamities, we can use this to misinterpret that Jesus meant that the End Times is in our future. It is not. It was in their future, before the End of the Age.
Jesus called them the beginning of Sorrows (Mat 24:8).
