in Matthew 24:4-14, Jesus begins answering the disciples’ second question. He provides seven birth pangs to announce Jesus’ return to establish His Kingdom. A woman’s birth pangs or labor pains do not occur at conception or during pregnancy but just before the delivery of the child. In this context, the child to be born is symbolic of the birth of the Messianic Age. Hence, “all these things” — false Christs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, and earthquakes — will not begin until just before Jesus’ return and will, like the contractions of labor pains, increase in intensity.
