What does Jesus say about wars and rumors of wars?
Anchor texts: Matthew 24:6–8, Mark 13:7–8, Luke 21:9–11, Revelation 6
When Jesus says:
“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars… see that you are not alarmed… the end is not yet.” (Matthew 24:6)
He’s doing two things at once:
Describing the normal turbulence of a fallen world
Discipling His people not to interpret turbulence as permission to panic
Revelation doesn’t contradict that. It deepens it.
1) What Jesus meant in Matthew 24
In the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24–25), the disciples ask about “the end,” and Jesus begins with a warning:
Don’t be deceived (false Christs, false claims)
Don’t be alarmed (wars, disasters)
Don’t confuse “birth pains” with “the birth” (Matthew 24:8)
Jesus calls wars and upheavals “birth pains.” That’s important.
Birth pains are real, intense, and escalating—but they aren’t the baby.
They indicate the world is groaning, but they do not give you a date on the calendar. So the first “end-times” command from Jesus is not “calculate.”
It’s “stay steady.”
2) Where Revelation fits: the Seals show the same pattern
Revelation is apocalyptic prophecy, highly symbolic, meant to reveal (not hide) spiritual realities and strengthen faithful endurance. The clearest bridge from Matthew 24 into Revelation is the Seven Seals (Revelation 6).
Look at the pattern:
Seal 1: conquest / false peace (a rider going out to conquer)
Seal 2: war (peace taken from the earth)
Seal 3: scarcity / economic pressure (famine imagery)
Seal 4: death (war, famine, plague)
Seal 5: persecution (martyrs crying out)
Seal 6: cosmic shaking / terror response
That sequence matches Jesus’ categories in Matthew 24:
deception → conflict → scarcity → persecution → upheaval.
Revelation isn’t saying, “Every war equals the end tomorrow.” It’s showing that history has recurring waves of judgment, conflict, and testing and behind them is a deeper truth:
Jesus is still on the throne. (That’s the entire point of Revelation 4–5: the Lamb reigns.)
3) “Rumors of wars” = information warfare and fear management
Jesus doesn’t just say “wars.” He says “rumors of wars.” That’s fascinating, because rumors are about perception, panic, and psychological pressure.
In every generation, “rumors of wars” look like:
constant alerts
escalating headlines
propaganda
narrative control
anxiety that spreads faster than facts
And Jesus’ command is not “consume more.” It’s: “See that you are not alarmed.” In other words: Don’t let information shape your soul more than Me.
4) Revelation’s goal is not fear—it’s faithfulness
A lot of people read Revelation like a horror script. But Revelation is a pastoral book written to churches under pressure.
Its repeated call is:
Endure
Stay faithful
Don’t compromise
Don’t worship the Beast (power, empire, coercion)
Worship the Lamb (Jesus)
So if your Revelation reading makes you:
frantic
obsessed
hateful
or constantly doom-scrolling
…you’re getting the opposite of what the book is trying to produce. Revelation is meant to create holy steadiness.
5) The Beast system: why wars often become spiritual tests
Revelation isn’t only about battles “out there.” It’s about what pressure does in here. The Beast imagery (Revelation 13) represents anti-God power structures that demand allegiance, shape economics, and control speech/worship.
That’s why wars and crises become spiritual warfare moments:
fear pushes people to trade liberty for “safety”
propaganda pushes people to trade truth for tribal narratives
survival pressure pushes people to compromise convictions
Revelation warns: the biggest end-times danger isn’t that Christians suffer.
It’s that Christians compromise.
6) How to interpret “signs” without becoming obsessed
Jesus gives two guardrails:
These things must happen, but the end is not yet
No one knows the day or hour (Matthew 24:36)
Revelation adds a third:
Blessed is the one who keeps the words of this prophecy (Revelation 1:3; 22:7)
Notice: the blessing is on the one who keeps it, not the one who charts it.
So biblical end-times readiness looks like:
obedience
holiness
courage
worship
endurance
love that doesn’t grow cold (Matthew 24:12)
7) What Christians should do when wars escalate
Here’s the New Testament posture, aligned with Jesus + Revelation:
1) Refuse fear as your interpreter
Fear will always demand a shortcut: scapegoats, certainty, conspiracy, hatred.
2) Pray with sobriety
Not performative panic—real intercession: for leaders, protection, peace, and repentance.
3) Stay morally clear
Revelation draws bright lines: don’t worship power, don’t celebrate violence, don’t dehumanize.
4) Prioritize your local faithfulness
Jesus repeatedly tells His people to be found faithful doing ordinary obedience when He returns.
5) Keep worship central
Revelation is saturated with worship because worship breaks the spell of the age.
8) A simple way to read Matthew 24 + Revelation together
When you see war and instability, ask three questions:
1) Is my heart becoming alarmed or anchored? (Matthew 24:6)
2) Is my allegiance being pressured? (Revelation 13)
3) Is my worship being displaced? (Revelation 4–5)
That’s the battleground. Because in both Matthew 24 and Revelation, the real issue is not “Can you predict the timeline?” It’s: “Can you remain faithful under pressure?”
A prayer for this moment
Jesus, You told us we would hear of wars and rumors of wars—and You told us not to be alarmed. Make us watchful, not fearful. Faithful, not frantic. Clear-minded, not consumed.
Help us worship You above headlines, love people without compromise, and endure with courage until the end.
