This feeling of foreboding that has been mankind’s common experience during this century was aptly predicted by Jesus Christ nearly 2,000 years ago. He had prophesied that the temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed and his disciples were curious to know “when will these things actually be, and what will be the sign when these things are destined to occur?”​—Luke 21:7.

In the first portion of his answer Jesus related events that many of that generation lived to see. But he took advantage of their question to include events on a global scale that would be witnessed, not by that last generation of Jewish worshipers at the temple, but, more importantly, by those who would live through the conclusion of this present world system.

while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”​—Luke 21:25, 26, 32.a

Obviously, men in past generations have also lived in fear​—fear of local wars, plagues, catastrophes and social change. But did the generation of 1914 observe something different? Certainly, because the whole “inhabited earth,” all the nations, has been affected since that turning point. (Luke 21:25, 26) So much has been compressed into the past 69 years that older people who have experienced it are disconcerted and fearful. And now, due to the nuclear threat, people of all ages, even children, are anxious about their life expectancy. It has been rightly said that the predominant sentiment, or chief emotion, of the 20th century is FEAR.

But maybe you think we are exaggerating. Is fear of present and future events sufficiently widespread for us to believe that it fulfills Jesus’ prophecy? Is it really part of the proof that we are in the time of the end? Is this the time period when “men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth”?

Fear​—A Sign of the End?

ARE we living in the twilight of an age of uncertainty and anxiety where “men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth”? Just a brief review of world events and the motives for fear since 1914 will refresh the memory and help us to see whether we are approaching the foretold “end.”​—Luke 21:9, 25, 26.

Fear and War

Monuments to the dead of World War I in France bear the words “la Grande Guerre.” Yes, what we now term the first world war (1914-18) was originally called the Great War. It was so great and awful in death and destruction that men hopefully termed it the war to end wars. After such a dreadful lesson, surely it was thought civilized man would ‘learn war no more.’ (Isaiah 2:4) Only another 18 years was needed to shatter that illusion with the outbreak of the terrible Spanish Civil War (1936-39) in which more than half a million Spaniards died. Germans and Italians participated in that conflict, which served as a rehearsal for what had to be called the second world war (1939-45). That world catastrophe ended with the holocausts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

With those atom-bomb explosions over Japan a new source of fear and anxiety burst onto the world stage​—the fear of atomic war. How true the words of Professor Albert Einstein in December 1945: “The world was promised freedom from fear, but in fact fear has increased tremendously since the termination of the war”! Then he added, “The picture of our postwar world is not bright.”

That mounting fear is reflected today by the millions of people all over the world who are demonstrating against nuclear weapons. Even the clergy are getting involved in the issue. Yes, nuclear weapons have transformed world politics and military strategy. As historian E. P. Thompson stated in his recent book Beyond the Cold War: “These weapons operate in the medium of politics, ideology and strategy; they are perceived as menacing and are intended to be so; they induce fear and they simultaneously enhance and frustrate feelings of aggression.”​—Italics ours.

This fear of nuclear war is universal. A recent Soviet booklet stated: “The Soviet Union holds that nuclear war would be a universal disaster, and that it would most probably mean the end of civilization. It may lead to the destruction of all mankind.” Now the two main ideological blocs face each other in a tenuous stalemate based on what is known as Mutual Assured Destruction​—MAD for short. Little wonder that mankind is in ‘fear and expectation of the things coming on the earth’​—just as Jesus prophesied.