Why must such things be? Because of fallen human nature. Every war proves the Bible to be true sadly. In this sense, every war, every trouble, every distress proves that we are depraved beings, that the human race has fallen from God’s grace and that we are sinners by nature and we cannot control ourselves, and we resort to violence and savagery so easily. So these things must needs be; they will characterise the human race.
Did the disciple expect Christ to return within their lifetimes? This is all in the plural – wars and rumours of wars – this is going on for centuries, for years and years. Don’t believe those scoffers who say, ‘Oh, the New Testament writers thought that Christ was coming very soon.’ All the evidence in the Scriptures is to the contrary. The warnings of Christ are that he won’t come back for a long time and there will be enough time in the history of the world for a multitude of wars and rumours of wars.