There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, since no one knows the exact time of His coming, we should be striving to live godly lives and to spread the Gospel to other people.
Life is short: it could end any moment, and when Christ returns He will judge the nations.
Secondly, for those who live through the times that precede His Coming (which in one sense is any time from the Ascension to the Second Coming), there are a number of dangers that they must face, and Christ in His goodness has warned us concerning them. Writers like David Pawson and Joel Richardson have for a long time been reminding Christians that one of the reasons to study eschatology (and Revelation in particular) is that this prepares one for persecution and martyrdom.
The Church throughout its history has been persecuted. In the West we are concerned about laws that prevent us from sharing the Gospel and may cost us our jobs or certain privileges. These are legitimate concerns and certainly amount to the beginning of persecution - we would be blind and foolish to ignore what one friend of mine, applying a verse from Scripture, termed 'the throne of the iniquity of the law'. But let us not forget that in China and the Islamic World Christians are facing the kind of persecution we associate with the Early Church: murder, execution by the state, imprisonment, slander, job-loss, ridicule - the list goes on. I encourage readers to become familiar with groups like Open Doors and to read books about persecution in China and the Islamic world (e.g. Secret Believers or The Heavenly Man). In the time just before Christ returns things will get worse in one form or another almost everywhere. I'm not saying there will be no spots of relative peace, but one shouldn't assume safety - forewarned is forearmed.
Below is a bullet-point list of signs Christ gave us to watch for. Christianity is not about rules and lists, but I thought this format might be useful for easier digestion and memorization.
- False Christs (including people who claim to literally be Jesus Himself)
- Wars and rumours of wars
- Famines, diseases, earthquakes
- Persecution of Christians
- Betrayal of Christians by other so-called 'Christians'
- False prophets & deceptive miracles
- Lawlessness, anarchy, chaos, violence
- The Abomination of Desolation in Israel
- Sun darkened, moon darkened, stars fall from sky
- Sign of the Son of Man (i.e. the real Jesus Christ)
- Jesus comes on the clouds in all his glory with His angels and saints
I hope this is useful as a spur to watchfulness. It might be a good idea to think about each of these signs slowly and bring them before God in prayer - some may seem more relevant than others at this stage, but all will be fulfilled.
God bless.
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