Recall He says, in the same place, that these are not signs of the end, but birthpangs.
Paul uses similar language in Romans 8, saying that creation groans with birthpangs.
This world is a world of hurt and grief; in addition to the fact that it appears like nature itself is trying to get rid of us--natural diseases and disasters from small pox to tsunamis--there's the whole swatch of wickedness that we bring, bringing disorder to creation through our exploitation but also in all the innovative ways we craft inhumanity toward one another. Wars, rumors of wars, kingdom against kingdom, the rise and fall of civilizations, empires, tribes; the continual, ongoing, unceasing conflict that has always existed. Not a single moment has happened in the long history of mankind in which this has not been going on. Even in periods of relative prosperity and peace, such as we've experienced in much of the developed world since the end of WW2, which historians call "the long peace"--as there has continued to be strife, violence, war, and all manner of horrible things within and between nations, kingdoms, empires, etc. There is always a war, there is always a conflict, there is always a tyrant here or there, there is always the exploitation of the poor and the weak.
That has been happening, it continues to happen, it will keep on going and going and going until it either all collapses into nothingness (the heat death of the universe?) or there is a final intervention. Christians believe in that final intervention, which is why Jesus and Paul call this present suffering "birthpangs", because the world is in the midst of pain of labor--by faith and in hope we confess and believe that there will be a new day, a new world. Death will be swallowed up in victory, the dead shall be raised; all creation repaired, healed, renewed, restored--new heavens and new earth.
But here and now the reality is these labor pains, this tired old world laboring in subjugation to death and sin, with all creation victimized by it--and we ourselves being victims as well--and yet willing collaborators in this death and pain and perpetual suffering toward destruction.
When we see what we see in news, wars, rumors of wars, political scandals, murder, natural disasters, pandemics, and all the consistent evils and grief of this present world, Jesus is telling us when we see all that it is not the end. There will be an end, He says, but it's not what we observe and predict about the world--it happens at the time of God's choosing, on a day, at an hour, neither you, me, or any other person knows. Even if we could ask an angel about it, not even they know it. Jesus says when that happens, when He returns, when judgment comes, when the end of this present order of things finally shows up, none of us are going to have expected it--it will be like a thief in the night, it will be like the master of the house returning when the servants don't know about it, it will be like the bridegroom coming and ten virgins unsure when it will happen. We don't know when, we can't know it, we can't predict it, there aren't any obvious signs to be on the look out for--it will be like the flood like back in Noah's time--people were just living their lives and suddenly and without warning the flood came. Two will be in the field, one taken and the other left; two will be working at the mill, one taken and one left. People will be having weddings, raising kids, driving to work, planning a weekend holiday trip with friends, it'll just happen. When? In a year? In ten years? In a hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand? A hundred thousand? No one knows.
And that's okay. And even more importantly, that means go out and live--live now, in Christ, as the faithful servant. Invest what you have been given out there, into others, by loving them and caring for them, and by preaching the Gospel and living like we believe--that the Gospel is, in fact, true: Death is dead, life wins, love wins, Christ is risen.
-CryptoLutheran