What signs will precede the second coming of Jesus Christ?

No one knows the exact time of the second coming of the Lord Christ. And yet, His coming will be preceded by certain events that the Lord foretold a short time before his passion. These are:

First: According to the teachings of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Son of God, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another” (Matt. 24:6–10).

Second: The Gospel will be preached throughout the whole world (Matt. 24:14).

Third: The fullness of the Gentiles will come in and all Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25– 26). They will believe the Gospel and know that Jesus is the true Christ, the Savior. They will understand that the coming of Elijah to prepare the way for the Messiah has already been fulfilled in John the Baptist who came in the spirit of Elijah (Luke 1:17).

Fourth: The Great Falling Away will happen before the second coming of Christ and false prophets will deceive many (Matt. 24:5). “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:12–14) . Also, many will be preoccupied with worldly lusts (Luke 17:26–30). They will blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and will not repent of their deeds (Rev. 16:11).

Thus, the abundance of sin will create great misery accompanied by anxiety and despair. The Lord described this saying, “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:25– 28) .

1238 St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 15.9 (NPNF II/7:107).

Thus shall the prophecy of the apostle Paul be fulfilled: “for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:3–4).

Fifth: At the peak of the falling away, the antichrist will spread despair and confusion. We read in the Didache : “In the last days of the world false prophets and deceivers will abound, sheep will be perverted and turn into wolves [Matt. 7:15], and love will change to hate, for with the growth of lawlessness men will begin to hate their fellows and persecute them and betray them [Matt. 24:8–10]. then the Deceiver of the World will show himself, pretending to be a Son of God [2 Thess. 2:4] and doing signs and wonders [Matt. 24:24], and the earth will be delivered into his hands, and he will work such wickedness as there has never been since the beginning. After that, all humankind will come up for their fiery trial; multitudes of them will stumble and perish, but such as remain steadfast in the faith will be saved by the Curse (cf. Gal. 3:13).”¹²³⁹ St. John the Evangelist says, “every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God” (1 John 4:3) and, “many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1) .

St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, “At first indeed he will put on a show of mildness (as though he were a learned and discreet person), and of soberness and benevolence: and by the lying signs and wonders of his magical deceit having beguiled the Jews, as though he were the expected Christ, he shall afterwards be characterized by all kinds of crimes of inhumanity and lawlessness, so as to outdo all unrighteous and ungodly men who have gone before him; displaying against all men, but especially against us Christians, a spirit murderous and most cruel, merciless and crafty. And after perpetrating such things for three years and six months only, he shall be destroyed by the glorious second advent from heaven of the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus, the true Christ, who shall slay Antichrist with the breath of His mouth (2 Thess. 2:8), and shall deliver him over to the fire of hell.”¹²⁴⁰