Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Two terms here interest me: Hearing and diverse places.
Just a few hundred years ago it took months for news to travel a few thousand miles and most of the news from diverse places was never heard.
But now we can hear about anything on the planet in a few seconds. This is directed to this age IMO.
Sincere question, how do we know those verses are not parables? I've always had trouble discerning the difference between the literal and spiritual, hence the question.
Is it possible, those verses you posted are parables explaining the tribulation of God's Elect? Here's a few verses that got me thinking this may be the case.
2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Jas 4:1 What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don't they come from the cravings that are at war within you?
1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
Rev_11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
Rev_12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
Rev_12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
By the way, the word 'various' and or 'divers' from Matthew 24:7 is not in any of the literal translation of Scripture. Most of the time it's translated just as "place". Place is where we are.
The condition of the world has always been war, natural disasters and disease. Just because they didn't hear about them fast enough back then, does not mean anything imo. Then again, maybe I "spiritual-ize" away the Scripture needlessly.
If the people of the world start dying at a very fast rate, I think it will be due to something far more insidious and covert then nuclear war.