Every time the world shakes,
someone asks:
Is this Matthew 24?
Are we in the “beginning of sorrows”?
Wars.
Famines.
Pestilences.
Earthquakes.
Jesus did speak of these things.
But we must ask a better question:
Who was He speaking to?
And what program was He describing?
Right division matters.
▪️What Did Jesus Mean?
In Matthew 24, the Lord describes a specific future period.
He calls it:
“The beginning of sorrows.” (Matt. 24:8)
These are not random disasters.
They are birth pains.
Ordered.
Intensifying.
Prophetic.
They belong to the Day of the Lord —
a time the prophets repeatedly warned about
(Joel 2; Zeph. 1).
This is not ordinary history.
This is Israel’s prophetic calendar moving again.
▪️The 70th Week of Daniel
Daniel 9 speaks of seventy weeks determined upon thy people — Israel.
Sixty-nine weeks (483 years) ran their course
until Messiah was cut off.
One week — seven years — remains.
That final seven-year period
is what Jesus describes in Matthew 24
and what Revelation 6 unfolds in detail.
It begins with:
• A covenant involving Israel
• A false peace
• The rise of the man of sin
Midway through, that covenant is broken.
Then comes what Jesus calls:
“Great tribulation.” (Matt. 24:21)
And after that —
The King returns.
▪️So Why Has It Not Happened Yet?
Because something unexpected took place.
An interruption.
Acts 9.
The risen Christ saves Saul of Tarsus
and reveals a mystery never made known before
(Eph. 3:1–9).
A new dispensation begins.
Not prophecy.
Mystery.
Not Israel’s kingdom program.
The Body of Christ.
This present age is a parenthesis
in Israel’s prophetic timeline.
The clock paused.
Grace began.
▪️Where Are We Now?
We are not in the beginning of sorrows.
We are in:
“The day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2)
We are living in:
• The dispensation of grace
• The ministry of reconciliation
• The unprophesied age of the Body of Christ
Yes, the world has trouble.
It always has.
Jesus said:
“Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars…
but the end is not yet.” (Matt. 24:6)
General calamities are not the prophetic birth pains.
The prophetic sorrows begin
after the Body of Christ is caught up.
▪️The Blessed Hope
Before that seven-year period begins,
something else happens.
“The Lord himself shall descend…
and the dead in Christ shall rise…
then we which are alive… shall be caught up.”
(1 Thess. 4:16–17)
That is not prophecy fulfilled.
That is mystery revealed.
The Rapture is:
• Imminent
• Heavenly
• Unconnected to signs
It clears the way
for God to resume His dealings with Israel.
▪️The Big Picture
For the world:
The worst is yet to come.
For the believer:
The best is yet to come.
Wrath belongs to the prophetic program.
“God hath not appointed us to wrath.”
(1 Thess. 5:9)
Grace belongs to this present dispensation.
Right division protects your peace.
It keeps you from panic headlines
and misplaced prophecy charts.
▪️So What Should We Do?
Not speculate.
Not fear.
Not force today’s news into Israel’s timeline.
Instead:
• Preach the gospel of grace
• Stand in your heavenly identity
• Rest in your secure position in Christ
The beginning of sorrows is future.
Today is grace.
Today is reconciliation.
Today is salvation.
And when the interruption ends —
Prophecy will resume.
Until then?
We walk by faith.
We preach Christ crucified.
We wait for our blessed hope.
