The Beginning of Sorrows

The end times has often been likened to childbirth, and the world in tribulation is likened to a woman in travail. In Matt 24, Jesus described the things that must happen before the coming of the Son of Man.

False teachers will arise – saying that Jesus is the Christ – yet leading people astray. Nations will rise against nations and peoples against peoples. There will be famines (economic hardship) and earthquakes in “divers places” – which is in Greek, topos , which means occupied places (not wide open uninhabited spaces).

All these are already happening right in our midst.

Yet, Jesus says, when we see these things, the end is not yet and “all these are the beginning of birth pangs” (Matt 24:8).

If the world from its creation until the beginning of birth pangs is the period of pregnancy, and the tribulation is the period of labor, we should ask ourselves – how long would the “beginning of birth pangs” last? For after these "beginnings", the actual labor – the tribulation will begin.

If we know we are already witnessing the “beginning of birth pangs” – how much longer is it? Would it be another generation – for a thousand years is as a day unto the LORD; or would it be 10 – 15 years, or fewer?

God has designed all things to manifest His glory, His sovereignty, His power, His immutability.  From the beginning of the world, He has already seen and known the end – for He is the alpha and the omega. If God has used childbirth to describe the coming of Christ, and it is an experience common to mankind in all parts of the world, in all times, it is because God is fair. Even without the Bible, we should know something is about to come.

“For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse” (Rom 1:20)

The contractions can begin 6 to 12 hours before the actual labor even begins. 40 weeks would be 280 days or 6720 hours. If the 40 weeks correspond to the 6,000 years the earth has been around, then 6 hours would be 5.35 years, and 12 hours would be 10.7 years.

Therefore, from the beginning of sorrows to the onset of labor (tribulation), is not a generation – it is only 5 to 11 years. If this is true, how precariously close we are right now.