Most people read Matthew chap 24 and assume they understand it.

Wars, famines, earthquakes, the end of the world.

But buried in verse 8 is one Greek word that most English translations obscure.

And when you understand what that word actually means, the entire passage transforms because Jesus wasn’t describing chaos.

He was describing a pattern.

a pattern with a specific structure, a predictable progression, and a destination most people miss entirely.

By the end of this study, you’ll see Matthew 24 differently than you ever have before.

Let me set the scene for you.

Jesus is sitting on the Mount of Olives, looking out over Jerusalem.

His disciples have just pointed out the magnificent temple buildings, massive stones, gleaming gold, the center of Jewish religious life for generations.

And Jesus responds with words that shake them.

You see all these things?

Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left upon another.

The disciples are stunned, and privately they ask him three questions that shape everything that follows.

When will these things happen?

What will be the sign of your coming?

And what will be the sign of the end of the age?

What Jesus says next is the most detailed prophetic road map he ever gave.

But here’s what I want you to notice as we walk through it.

Jesus doesn’t begin with the dramatic events.

He begins with something often overlooked and he explains why he’s starting there.

The question is, what did Jesus say would happen first?

And why does the original Greek reveal something most readers miss?

Let’s read it carefully.

Matthew 24:es 6-8.

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 shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Now, at first glance, this seems straightforward.

Wars, famines, earthquakes, signs that difficult times are coming.

But I want you to slow down and notice something about how Jesus frames this.

He doesn’t say, “When you see wars, the end has come”.

He says the opposite.

See that you are not troubled.

The end is not yet.

The wars are not the end.

Jesus is emphatic about this.

They are, as he puts it, the beginning, the opening movement of something larger.

But the beginning of what?

This is where the Greek becomes essential.

The word translated sorrows in most English Bibles is the Greek word Odin.

And Odin doesn’t mean generic suffering.

It means birth pains, specifically the contractions a woman experiences during labor.

The rhythmic escalating pains that signal a child is about to be delivered.

And here’s why that word choice matters so much.

Birth pains have three characteristics that random suffering does not.

And when you understand these three characteristics, the entire prophetic sequence makes sense.

First, birth pains escalate.

Each contraction is more intense than the one before it.

Labor doesn’t stay at a constant level of discomfort.

It builds.

It increases.

And the signs Jesus lists follow the same pattern.

They aren’t static.

They grow.

Second, the intervals shorten.

This is critical.

Early in labor, contractions might be 20 minutes apart, then 15, then 10, then five, then seconds.

The closer the delivery, the faster the contractions come.

And if the prophetic signs follow this pattern, and Jesus’s metaphor suggests they do, then the signs don’t just happen, they accelerate.

They converge.

Scholars who study this passage note that in the early centuries of church history, the signs Jesus described occurred across long intervals.

Wars happened, famines struck, but centuries might separate major crises.

The pattern Jesus described suggests that as history moves toward its culmination, those intervals compress.

The signs begin overlapping, converging, intensifying.

Third, and this is the one that should strike you deepest, birth pains have a destination.

A woman in labor is not suffering randomly.

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The pain has a purpose.

It’s moving towards something.

The delivery of a child.

And the signs Jesus describes are not random global chaos.

They are purposeful prophetic markers moving history toward something specific.

The return of Christ and the establishment of God’s kingdom.

The pain has a point.

The suffering has a destination.

And the destination is glory.

But here’s the detail most people overlook and it changes how the entire passage is understood.

Look at verse 6 again.

See that you are not troubled.

In the middle of describing wars and global upheaval, Jesus gives a direct command.

Do not be troubled.

This isn’t a casual suggestion.

The Greek word is throwo.

It means to be alarmed, to cry out in terror, to be thrown into a panic.

Jesus is saying when you see these things don’t panic.

Why?

For all these things must come to pass.

The word must is significant.

In Greek it’s D.

It indicates divine necessity.

These things aren’t accidents.

They aren’t surprises to God.

They are required elements of a sovereign timeline that must unfold before the end comes.

And then Jesus adds, “But the end is not yet”.

Five words that carry enormous weight.

The wars are significant.

So significant that Jesus addresses them directly.

But the wars are not the end.

They are the beginning.

And the beginning is building toward something.

Now let’s trace the sequence that follows.

Because Jesus didn’t stop with wars and natural disasters.

After the global signs, the wars and famines and earthquakes, Jesus describes something that shifts the focus.

The signs become personal.

Verse 9, then they will deliver you up to be afflicted and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

Notice the shift.

Jesus moves from describing what happens to the world to describing what happens to his followers.

delivered up, afflicted, killed, hated by all nations.

And the reason for this hatred, not political affiliation, not ethnic identity, for my name’s sake.

Believers are persecuted not for what they do, but for who they follow.

But the next sign cuts even deeper.

Verse 10.

And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.

This isn’t persecution from hostile governments.

This is betrayal from within.

From people who once stood alongside you, people who once shared your faith.

Luke’s gospel expands on this.

Luke 21:16 says, “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends”.

Matthew 10 puts it starkly.

A man’s enemies will be those of his own household.

The breakdown Jesus describes isn’t just global.

It’s relational.

It’s the neighbor who turns away, the friend who distances themselves, the family member who chooses safety over solidarity.

And for many believers, that betrayal, that loneliness is harder than the persecution itself.

Now, here’s where the sequence becomes even more significant.

Because Jesus explains what rises in the environment created by fear, betrayal, and shattered trust.

Verse 11.

And many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Not a few false prophets, many.

And not deceiving a handful of gullible people, deceiving many.

Why does this happen?

Because when people are afraid, when they’ve been betrayed, when the institutions they trusted have failed, they become desperate for someone who can explain what’s happening, someone who can tell them what to do.

And that desperation is exactly what false teachers exploit.

They use biblical language.

They reference scripture.

They offer certainty in a world that feels chaotic.

But Jesus warns his disciples in advance, deception will multiply during these times.

The environment of fear creates the conditions for falsehood to flourish.

And then verse 12, the sign that describes the broader culture.

And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

The Greek word for lawlessness is anomia.

The rejection of moral structure.

the abandonment of boundaries.

And notice Jesus connects lawlessness directly to the next effect.

Because lawlessness abounds, love grows cold.

The moral collapse isn’t just societal.

It infects relationships.

It erodess compassion.

It creates isolation.

So what’s the pattern?

Let me trace it clearly.

Wars and rumors of wars, the atmosphere of global conflict, famines and disease, systems breaking down, earthquakes, creation itself shaking, persecution, hostility toward believers intensifies, betrayal, even close relationships fracture, false prophets, deception multiplies, lawlessness, moral categories collapse, love grows cold, compassion erodess, And through all of this, Jesus calls it one thing, the beginning of birth painans, not the end, the beginning.

The labor is intensifying, the intervals are shortening, the contractions are building, and the destination, the delivery is the return of Christ himself.

This is not a picture meant to terrify.

It’s a pattern meant to orient.

Jesus told his disciples these things in advance.

So they would recognize the pattern when it emerged so they wouldn’t panic.

So they would understand that even chaos has a trajectory and the trajectory ends in redemption.

The pain has a purpose.

The suffering has a direction and the direction is glory.

So let me return to where we started.

Most people read Matthew 24 and see chaos, a list of terrifying events with no clear structure.

But when you understand the Greek word Odin, birth pains, the passage transforms.

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Jesus wasn’t describing random suffering.

He was describing a pattern with three characteristics.

One, the signs escalate.

Each phase more intense than the last.

Two, the intervals shorten.

The signs begin converging and accelerating.

Three, the pattern has a destination.

Not destruction, but delivery, not chaos, but kingdom.

And embedded in the middle of this teaching, Jesus gave one clear command.

See that you are not troubled.

Not because the events aren’t real.

Not because the suffering isn’t painful, but because the one describing them is the same one who controls their outcome.

The birth pains are not random agony.

They are purposeful labor.

And what they’re delivering is the kingdom of God.

Careful study often replaces fear with understanding.

And understanding rooted in scripture produces not anxiety, but steadiness.

If this kind of thoughtful Bible exploration helps you see familiar passages with fresh clarity, I hope you’ll continue exploring with us.

There’s more in Matthew 24 we haven’t touched yet.

More that Jesus said about what comes after the birth painans and how his followers are called to live in the midst of them.

Until then, may your reading be careful, your faith be grounded, and your hope be fixed on the one who told us these things in advance.