4 Things That Will Happen Before The End of the World

This isn't just about wars or natural calamities

Jul 01, 2026

“You will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.”
- Matthew 24:6-8 (WEBBE)

When we talk about the end of the world, we usually think about natural or man-made catastrophes like wars, plagues and disasters in many parts of the world. And the Bible did mention these things.

However, the Bible also said that these are only the beginning of birth pains. What then would come after these things?

Today, I would like to share 4 other signs I wrote in my journal while trying to think about the end of days.

These are based on other Bible verses I read, some quotes from St. Faustina’s diary and excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Please let me know your thoughts as well. What do you think would be some signs that the end of the world is near?

Below are the 4 things I have listed in my journal that would happen before the end.

(Please note that I used the WEB version of the Bible since I would be quoting from the Bible extensively and this version is in the public domain.)

4 Things That Will Happen Before The End

1. The Gospel will be preached to the whole world

“This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” — Matthew 24:14, WEB

“But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man has come.” — Matthew 10:23, WEB

2. The Jews will have unbelief towards Jesus until the times of the Gentiles have been fulfilled

“They will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” — Luke 21:24, WEB

“For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, ‘There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.’” — Romans 11:25–27, WEB

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by “all Israel”, for “a hardening has come upon part of Israel” in their “unbelief” toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.” St. Paul echoes him: “For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?” The “full inclusion” of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of “the full number of the Gentiles”, will enable the People of God to achieve “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”, in which “God may be all in all”. (CCC 674)

3. There will be an apostasy or great deception that will cause people to fall away from the faith

“Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.” — 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4, WEBBE

“For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way. Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming; even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn’t receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie; that they all might be judged who didn’t believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” — 2 Thessalonians 2:7–12, WEB

“But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, through the hypocrisy of men who speak lies, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron; forbidding marriage and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving. For it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.” — 1 Timothy 4:1–5, WEB

“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” — Luke 18:8, WEB

“Little children, these are the end times, and as you heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. By this we know that it is the final hour. They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us. You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I have not written to you because you don’t know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.” — 1 John 2:18–23, WEB

Excerpts from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.

“The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudomessianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.” (CCC 675)

“The Antichrist’s deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgment. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism, especially the ‘intrinsically perverse’ political form of a secular messianism.” (CCC676)

4. The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all tribes of the earth mourn: and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. “— Matthew 24:30, DRB

Excerpts from the diary of St. Faustina about the end times:

“Write this: before I come as the Just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the day of justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. This will take place shortly before the last day.” — Divine Mercy in My Soul, 83

“Write down these words, My daughter. Speak to the world about My Mercy; let all mankind recognize My unfathomable Mercy. It is a sign for the end times; after it , will come the day of justice. While there is still time, let them have recourse to the fount of My Mercy; let them profit from the Blood and Water which gushed forth for them.” — Divine Mercy in My Soul, 848

“… before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of My Mercy. He who refuses to pass through the door of My Mercy must pass through the door of My Justice…” — Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1146

“Then I saw the Mother of God, who said to me… ‘I gave the Savior to the world; as for you, you have to speak to the world about His great mercy and prepare the world for the Second Coming of Him who will come, not as a merciful Savior, but as a just Judge. Oh, how terrible is that day! Determined is the day of justice, the day of divine wrath. The angels tremble before it. Speak to souls about this great mercy while it is still the time for [granting] mercy. If you keep silent now, you will be answering for a great number of souls on that terrible day. Fear nothing. Be faithful to the end’”. — Divine Mercy in My Soul, 6357

The above article was taken from Jocelyn’s book “Defending My Catholic Faith.”