Are We Living in “the Time of the End”?

“As for you, O Daniel, make secret the words and seal up the book, until the time of the end.”​—Daniel 12:4.

THE diner was confused. As he looked out the window of a mid-Manhattan restaurant overlooking Times Square, New York City, his eyes darted back and forth between three separate digital clocks, all flashing the time in oversized letters. One clock read 11:28. Another, as though doubtful of the lateness of the hour, lagged behind at 11:26, whereas the third was impatiently running ahead at 11:29.

‘A minute or two does not really matter,’ you may say. Try convincing a person of that, however, who has just missed his bus, train, or plane, not by minutes but only by seconds! Knowing the correct time is important. Knowing where we are in God’s timetable is even more so.

The Possibility of Doomsday

Of course, as you may know, people have been talking about “the time of the end”​—some say ‘the end of the world’ or ‘doomsday’—​for centuries. The prophet Daniel spoke about it 25 centuries ago. (Daniel 12:4) But nowadays, according to free-lance writer James David Besser, “it no longer takes religious or supernatural faith to accept the possibility of doomsday; it merely requires access to the television news.” Do you not agree?

Without doubt, television makes world news more accessible by transplanting the action right into our living rooms. It makes problems seem more immediate and more personal. It reminds us that the city or town disintegrated in a possible nuclear holocaust, the son or daughter brutalized in a possible crime wave, the mother or father held hostage in a possible terrorist attack​—potentially, all these problems could be ours. Still, these possibilities in themselves do not prove that doomsday will soon be upon us. But they do make it seem more likely, causing the question, Are we living in “the time of the end”? to take on greater urgency.

Jesus, Daniel, and the End of the World

Over 19 centuries ago, the disciples of Jesus asked him: “What will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things [“the end of the world,” King James Version]?” (Matthew 24:3) In giving them a sign, Jesus spoke of numerous evidences, all of which in a composite way would indicate that we had reached “the conclusion of the system of things.” Turn in your Bible to Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark chapter 13, and Luke chapter 21, and read about them for yourself.

You may be surprised to discover that what you read sounds almost like a summary of today’s television news. You will read about wars, great earthquakes, pestilences, and food shortages​—all occurring on a global scale. You will also read about “anguish of nations, not knowing the way out,” and about people becoming “faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.” Could you find more appropriate words to describe the world situation, about which today’s television programs tell us so much?​—Luke 21:10, 11, 25, 26.

This strong circumstantial evidence that we are living in “the time of the end” is not all that we have. As we have noted above, we find corroborative evidence by going back another 500 years to the days of the Jewish prophet Daniel. Jesus referred to him by name, and pointed to the fulfillment of his prophecy. (Compare Matthew 24:3, 15, 21 with Daniel 11:31; 12:1, 4.) By doing this, Jesus showed that he did not consider Daniel’s “Old Testament” words to be out of date or insignificant. Neither should we.

Notice the similarity in the words of Daniel and those of Jesus as set out above. Then ask yourself, ‘Were they not speaking about the same thing?’

It is obvious that Daniel and Jesus both foretold the same thing, “the time of the end,” during which time Christ would be present in kingly power. At the end of that time period, he would annihilate all his enemies here on earth in a great tribulation. But God’s people would survive.

Do you want to be among those survivors? Then consider the evidence that Daniel presents about “the time of the end.” It helps us to know exactly where we are in the divine timetable.

[Box on page 4]

DANIEL

“In the time of the end . . . Michael [Jesus Christ] will stand up . . . and there will certainly occur a time of distress such as has not been made to occur since there came to be a nation. . . . And during that time your people will escape.”​—Daniel 11:40; 12:1.

JESUS

“What will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion of the system of things? . . .

“There will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning . . .

“Unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but . . . those days will be cut short.”​—Matthew 24:3, 21, 22.