06/23/2026
Most Christians are aware (I think) of the signs Jesus gave as pointers to the nearness of His Second Coming. Ask the average follower of Christ if they could list a few of those signs, and they’re likely to list things like an increase in earthquakes, signs in the sun/moon/stars, wars and rumors of wars, etc. And those things matter. But Scripture does not merely tell us what will be happening around us as the day draws near. It tells us what will be happening within us. Perhaps the most important sign of the nearness of Christ’s return, the sign very few talk about, is the condition of the human heart within the church in the last days.
Paul warned Timothy about increasingly common conditions, noting these traits appear in both “church-people” and the “non-churched.” Here’s what He said: “For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power...” (2 Timothy 3:2-5). In the very next chapter Paul also warned that as time marches on, “people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions” (2 Tim. 4:3). Jesus Himself told His disciples that at the time just before He returned, “lawlessness will increase, and the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12).
What is striking is that these warnings are not merely descriptions of the unbelieving world… they are dangers that are infiltrating the visible church itself. The last days will not simply be marked by natural disasters and geopolitical upheaval, but by spiritual apathy, cynicism, and a growing loss of expectancy. Peter, wrote about a condition of the heart that would become rampant within the church. Peter wrote, “…scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4). What Peter is saying is that many who claim to follow Jesus, even those sitting next to you at church, will be blinded by cynicism and skepticism. When discussing Christ’s Coming, someone often dismisses it with, “every generation thinks they’re the ones…”
Do not allow cynicism to steal your blessed hope. Scripture calls us to eagerly await “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). The closer we draw to His coming, the more carefully we must guard our hearts… not merely against immorality, but against unbelief disguised as sophistication. The last sign nobody talks about may be the one closest to home: a heart that no longer expects the King to return.
Satisfied in Him,
Pastor Luke
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