Nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines and deaths and earthquakes in various places.
Jesus continues to describe the signs that will accompany human history before the end of the world. He portrays the course of the world as filled with conflicts, famines, and disasters. All this is a reminder that nothing on earth is permanent, and that human empires—both nations and kingdoms—are subject to decline and transformation. Yet Christ’s word is not meant to produce terror, but to make one watchful, so that the believer does not tie his hope to the comfort of this world. Indeed, throughout all ages of history these words have been fulfilled—through wars, famines, and disasters—which on the one hand reveal the pain of a world broken by sin, and on the other hand serve as signs pointing to the end of the world, yet they are not its final fulfillment.