Image: A modern AI-brought-to-life version of “Christ’s Prophecy of the End of the World” by Frans Hogenberg, 1562. The original found on Wikimedia.
A Chapter-by-Chapter Summary of the Book by Dr. David Jeremiah
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Introduction: Reading the Road Signs of History
Every driver knows the difference between a billboard and a warning sign. One invites you to pull off for a meal; the other tells you the bridge ahead is out. Ignore the first, and you miss a sandwich. Ignore the second, and you may not survive the trip. Dr. David Jeremiah opens The Book of Signs with exactly that image, and it frames everything that follows: God, he argues, has posted signs along the highway of human history, and the most urgent of them are warnings about the road just ahead.
Published in 2019 by the longtime pastor of Shadow Mountain Community Church and founder of the Turning Point broadcast ministry, the book is Jeremiah’s most comprehensive single-volume treatment of biblical prophecy. It gathers decades of preaching on the end times into thirty-one chapters, each built around one “sign,” and arranges them in five movements that trace the prophetic story from the modern State of Israel all the way to the gates of the New Jerusalem. The result is part survey, part systematic theology, and part pastoral exhortation, written from a consistently premillennial and pretribulational standpoint.
What follows summarizes the book’s argument section by section, capturing its main claims, its key biblical texts, and the practical applications Jeremiah draws for believers today.
The Prologue: Why Study the Signs?
Jeremiah defines a biblical sign broadly: an event, symbol, object, place, or person whose appearance points to something significant in God’s plan for history. Like highway signs, some prophetic signs inform, some invite, and many warn. He notes that the Bible devotes more space to prophecy than to nearly any other subject, with well over a thousand prophecies concerning the first and second comings of Christ alone, which he takes as evidence that God intends His people to understand His plans.
He acknowledges that prophecy often produces confusion and anxiety, especially when current events seem to echo ancient predictions. His stated purpose, however, is not to frighten but to steady. Jesus told His followers to watch the signs so they would not be deceived, and to lift their eyes to Him as the Prince of Peace. The prologue closes on the note that sets the tone for the entire book:
“The end times may be near, but as Christians, our future is secure.”
— Dr. David Jeremiah, Prologue
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Part One: International Signs
Jeremiah describes his thirty-one prophecies as a drama in five acts. The first act introduces five geopolitical players whose place on the world stage, he argues, signals that the stage is being set for the final events.
Chapter 1 — Israel
The book begins on May 14, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion proclaimed the State of Israel and President Truman extended American recognition within minutes. Jeremiah presents this as the fulfillment of Isaiah’s question about a nation being born in a single day, and as the foundational sign for everything that follows.
“Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once?”
— Isaiah 66:8 (KJV)
The heart of the chapter is the Abrahamic covenant, which Jeremiah unpacks as unconditional, personal, national, territorial, reciprocal (God blesses those who bless Israel and curses those who curse her), universal in its blessing to all nations, and eternal. Because the covenant rests on God’s promise rather than Israel’s performance, he argues, it has never been revoked. He addresses why God chose Israel at all, answering that the choice reflects divine grace rather than national merit, and he traces the ongoing return of Jewish people to the land as a physical regathering that anticipates a future spiritual one. The application for readers is to honor God’s faithfulness to Israel as proof of His faithfulness to them.
Chapter 2 — Europe
Opening with Einstein’s dream that helped inspire his theory of relativity, Jeremiah turns to what he calls a far more consequential dream: Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of a great statue in Daniel 2, paired with Daniel’s own vision of four beasts in Daniel 7. He follows the traditional reading of the four kingdoms as Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, with the statue’s feet of iron mixed with clay and its ten toes representing a final, revived form of the Roman Empire made up of ten rulers.
Jeremiah sees the European Union’s growing political, economic, and legal integration as the kind of consolidation that could prepare for that revived empire. From this ten-nation confederation, he argues, one leader will rise to dominate the world and will broker a seven-year treaty with Israel. He urges readers to treat these developments not as curiosities but as warning signs.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.”
— Daniel 2:44 (KJV)
Chapter 3 — Russia
Beginning with Vladimir Putin’s 2015 visit to annexed Crimea, Jeremiah examines Ezekiel 38–39, the prophecy of Gog and Magog. He identifies Gog as the commander of a northern alliance led by Russia, with Magog linked to the Central Asian “-stan” nations and Persia to modern Iran, which he treats as Russia’s chief partner. Other allies he discusses include territories associated with Turkey and North Africa.
He lists three preconditions for the invasion: Israel must be regathered in its land (fulfilled in 1948), must hold the “mountains of Israel” (fulfilled after 1967), and must be prosperous and dwelling in apparent security. The motive for the attack, he suggests, will be plunder. The outcome will be supernatural defeat through earthquake, confusion among the invading troops, disease, and fire from heaven, followed by a seven-month cleanup of the dead. For Jeremiah, the lesson is that no coalition, however powerful, can overturn God’s protection of His people.
Chapter 4 — Babylon
Using the sinking of the “unsinkable” Titanic as a parable of pride, Jeremiah examines Revelation 17–18. He argues that the Antichrist’s empire will have three centers: Rome as its political base, Jerusalem as its religious center, and a literally rebuilt Babylon on the Euphrates as its commercial capital. He notes that the twenty-eight commodities listed in Revelation 18 remain the objects of human desire today.
He outlines five reasons for Babylon’s destruction, namely her iniquity, corrupting influence, spiritual infidelity, arrogance, and cruelty, and then describes the sudden, one-hour collapse that leaves kings, merchants, and sailors mourning while heaven rejoices. The personal takeaway is a call to separate from the world’s system of greed and pride before it falls.
“Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.”
— Revelation 18:10 (KJV)
Chapter 5 — America
Starting with the Latin inscription “Praise be to God” on the Washington Monument’s capstone, Jeremiah affirms that God has used America in unique ways: as a leading force in world missions, a steadfast friend to the Jewish people, a bastion of freedom, and a nation founded with reference to God and Scripture. Yet he admits the Bible is silent on America’s future, and he explores why.
He offers four possibilities, drawing on scholars such as John Walvoord and Tim LaHaye: America may be absorbed into the Western coalition led by revived Europe; it may be weakened or invaded by outside forces; it may collapse from within through moral decay; or it may be crippled by the Rapture, which would remove millions of its most faithful citizens in an instant. He calls American believers to pray for their nation and to live as salt and light while there is time.
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Part Two: Cultural Signs
The second act moves from nations to culture. Jeremiah contends that the spiritual climate Scripture predicts for the last days is visible in the moral and religious trends of our own generation.
Chapter 6 — Materialism
Contrasting billionaire Warren Buffett’s modest lifestyle with the consumerism of many Christians, Jeremiah turns to Paul’s description of the last days in 2 Timothy 3, where people are characterized first as lovers of self and lovers of money. He argues that materialism is not merely a personal failing but a prophetic marker of the age.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous…”
— 2 Timothy 3:1–2 (KJV)
His remedy is practical: change how you think about money by recognizing that God owns it all; practice faithfulness in small matters before attempting big ones; give sacrificially, even beyond what seems affordable; and keep moving toward your treasure in heaven rather than accumulating it on earth.
Chapter 7 — Immorality
Using Cole Porter’s song “Anything Goes” as a symbol of twentieth-century moral relativism, Jeremiah surveys the West’s moral decline and seeks its explanation in both history and Scripture. Historically, he points to the pattern of great civilizations collapsing from internal decay. Biblically, he follows Romans 1, where the downward spiral moves through ingratitude, idolatry, sexual immorality, and finally every kind of iniquity as God gives people over to their chosen desires. The escape, he insists, is not moral reform alone but the transforming power of the gospel.
Chapter 8 — Radical Islam
Drawing on the testimony of former Iraqi general Georges Sada, Jeremiah examines the rise of militant Islam and its connection to end-time prophecy, including the Muslim-majority nations named in Ezekiel’s Gog and Magog alliance. He reviews Islam’s history, practices, and hostility toward Jews and Christians, and explains its hopes for global dominance and for the appearance of an Islamic messiah figure, the Mahdi or Twelfth Imam.
His response has three parts: Allah is not simply another name for the God of the Bible; the Qur’an does not stand on equal footing with Scripture; and yet Muslims remain fully within reach of God’s grace, as testimonies of Muslims coming to faith in Christ demonstrate. Believers are to reject fear and hatred in favor of truth and love.
Chapter 9 — Persecution
The chapter opens with the firing of Atlanta fire chief Kelvin Cochran over a privately published Christian book. Jeremiah describes a five-stage progression of hostility toward Christians in Western society: stereotyping, marginalizing, threatening, intimidating, and litigating. He then traces persecution through Scripture, church history, and the present day, when believers in many countries face imprisonment and death.
Rather than despair, he highlights what suffering produces: character, courage, evidence of genuine godliness, joy, and eternal reward. To stand firm, believers must resolve in advance to stand for truth, draw strength from one another, and rest their security in the Lord.
Chapter 10 — Spiritual Warfare
Beginning with Sun Tzu’s famous principle of knowing your enemy, Jeremiah insists that spiritual warfare is real and that Satan works by deceiving, dividing, and destroying. The bulk of the chapter walks through the armor of God in Ephesians 6: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, all activated by persistent prayer. His conclusion is that believers fight from victory, not for it, because in Christ they are more than conquerors.
Chapter 11 — Apathy
Citing A. W. Tozer’s lament over the church’s fading expectation of Christ’s return, Jeremiah identifies spiritual apathy as one of the most dangerous signs of all, because it is found inside the church. Drawing on Jesus’ teaching in the Olivet Discourse and His parables of readiness, he describes three attitudes Jesus warned against: a cavalier attitude that dismisses His return, a careless attitude that fails to prepare, and a callous attitude that mistreats others while the master is away. The antidote is watchful, faithful, expectant living.
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Part Three: Heavenly Signs
The third act lifts the reader’s eyes from earth to heaven, describing what awaits believers from the moment of the Rapture onward.
Chapter 12 — Rapture
Recalling the massive 2007 wildfire evacuations in Southern California, Jeremiah describes the Rapture as God’s great evacuation of His people before the judgments of the Tribulation. The term comes from the Greek harpazo, meaning to seize or snatch away. He characterizes the Rapture as signless (nothing must happen before it), a surprise, sudden, selective (only believers), and spectacular, and he lays out its sequence from 1 Thessalonians 4: the Lord’s return in the air, the resurrection of deceased believers, the transformation of the living, the catching up of all together, and a joyful reunion.
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout… and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds.”
— 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 (KJV)
Above all, he stresses that Paul meant this truth to comfort and strengthen believers.
Chapter 13 — Resurrection
Contrasting modern anti-aging research with God’s promise of a genuinely new body, Jeremiah explores 1 Corinthians 15 and related passages. The resurrection body, he explains, will be indestructible (free from decay, disease, and death), identifiable (we will know and be known, as the disciples recognized the risen Jesus), incredible (glorious and powerful beyond present limits), and infinite in its capacity to enjoy God forever. The Resurrection of Christ is both the pattern and the guarantee of our own.
Chapter 14 — Heaven
Opening with a grieving boy’s balloon-borne letter to his murdered father, Jeremiah addresses the universal longing to know about heaven. He distinguishes the three “heavens” of Scripture (the atmosphere, outer space, and the dwelling place of God) and insists that heaven is a real place, not a state of mind. He then lists what makes it precious to believers: our Redeemer is there, along with our loved ones in Christ, our true resources, our permanent residence, our reward, our riches, and a reservation held in our name.
Chapter 15 — Judgment Seat of Christ
Using a humorous basketball story about “pretending,” Jeremiah warns that all pretense will one day be exposed. He clarifies that the Judgment Seat of Christ (the bema) is not a judgment of salvation but an evaluation of believers’ works, occurring in heaven after the Rapture. Christ is the Judge; only Christians are judged; and the criteria include motives, faithfulness, and the quality of what each person built on the foundation of Christ. Works of lasting value will survive the fire and be rewarded, while the rest will be burned away.
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.”
— 2 Corinthians 5:10 (KJV)
Chapter 16 — Rewards
Poking fun at Hollywood’s endless awards shows, and noting that an Oscar statue can legally be resold for only a dollar, Jeremiah contrasts earthly honors with the lasting rewards of heaven. He describes the five crowns of the New Testament: the victor’s crown for disciplined living, the crown of rejoicing for soul-winning, the crown of righteousness for those who long for Christ’s appearing, the crown of life for those who endure trials, and the crown of glory for faithful shepherds. The greatest reward of all, he concludes, is Christ Himself, and the privilege of laying our crowns at His feet.
Chapter 17 — Worship
Through the account of Wheaton College president V. Raymond Edman, who collapsed and entered heaven while preaching on the presence of the King, Jeremiah turns to the heavenly worship scenes of Revelation 4–5. He examines their context, center (the throne and the Lamb), chorus, and crescendo, then draws four contrasts with much contemporary worship: true worship is about God rather than us, oriented toward heaven rather than here, anticipating then rather than merely now, and shared by the many rather than the individual.
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Part Four: Tribulation Signs
The fourth act describes the seven-year Tribulation that Jeremiah believes will follow the Rapture, a period of unprecedented judgment on a world that has rejected God.
Chapter 18 — Four Riders
Revelation 6 introduces the four horsemen released as Christ opens the first four seals. Jeremiah identifies the white horse’s rider as the Antichrist, entering as a false peacemaker; the red horse as war and bloodshed; the black horse as famine and economic collapse; and the pale horse as Death and Hades, claiming a quarter of the earth’s population. He closes with the “most important question” of personal readiness, calling readers to respond with praise, passion for the lost, and honest self-evaluation.
Chapter 19 — Antichrist
Noting that many once suspected Hitler of being the Antichrist, Jeremiah explains that over a hundred biblical passages describe this coming ruler. His personality will be charismatic, cunning, and cruel. His profile: politically obscure at first, arising from a Gentile nation, openly blasphemous, yet restrained by God’s sovereign limits, and intimidating in power.
His program will unfold in stages: a peace covenant with Israel; a breaking of that covenant at the midpoint of the Tribulation; an apparent death and satanic “resurrection”; the seizure of global authority and demand for worship; the mark of the Beast; the desecration of the rebuilt temple in the abomination of desolation; and a campaign to exterminate the Jewish people that leads toward Armageddon, where Christ will destroy him.
Chapter 20 — False Prophet
Recalling David Koresh, William Miller, and Jim Jones, Jeremiah describes a final false prophet whose deceptions will dwarf theirs. This second beast of Revelation 13 will be a religious figure who directs worship toward the Antichrist. His power will include calling down fire from heaven, commissioning an image of the Beast, and animating that image so it appears to breathe and speak. He will enforce the mark and will ultimately be cast alive into the lake of fire alongside the Antichrist.
Chapter 21 — Martyrs
The chapter opens with the 2015 beheading of Coptic Christians on a Libyan beach, men who died praying rather than recanting. Jeremiah then describes the martyrs of Revelation 6:9–11, people who come to faith after the Rapture and are killed for their testimony. He examines the context, cause, and consequence of their deaths, their cry for justice, and God’s fivefold comfort to them: refuge, white robes, rest, retribution, and reward. He ends by honoring the courage of martyrs in every age.
Chapter 22 — 144,000
Using the story of chaplain-pilot Dean Hess, who airlifted Korean orphans to safety, as an image of unlikely heroes, Jeremiah identifies the 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14 as literal Jewish believers, twelve thousand from each tribe of Israel. He rejects the view that they come from the church, noting that by this point the church will already be in heaven. Sealed on their foreheads, set apart as God’s servants, spared from specific judgments, and protected through the Tribulation, they will become extraordinarily fruitful evangelists whose ministry helps produce a vast multitude of the redeemed.
Chapter 23 — Two Witnesses
Drawing on the dramatic 2018 rescue of a Thai soccer team from a flooded cave, Jeremiah describes the two witnesses of Revelation 11, whom he takes to be real individuals rather than symbols. He believes one will be Elijah, citing Malachi’s prophecy and parallels in their ministries, and argues that the other is most likely Moses, pointing to the Transfiguration and to the witnesses’ power to turn water into blood. For 1,260 days they will preach in Jerusalem and bring plagues on their enemies, until the Antichrist kills them. The world will celebrate over their exposed bodies, but after three and a half days God will raise them and call them up to heaven in full view of their enemies.
Chapter 24 — Dragon
Invoking the Lord of the Flies, whose title translates to the name Beelzebub, Jeremiah turns to Revelation 12. He interprets the woman as Israel, her child as Christ, and the great red dragon as Satan, describing his personality, power, partners (the fallen angels), and purpose. He explains the war in heaven that results in Satan being cast down to earth, the intensified fury Satan unleashes against Israel in his final, anti-Semitic assault, and the “wings of a great eagle” that represent God’s protection of a Jewish remnant in the wilderness.
Chapter 25 — Mark of the Beast
Opening with the testimony of an Auschwitz survivor whose number tattoo saved his life, Jeremiah examines Revelation 13:16–18. He identifies the Antichrist and False Prophet as the personalities behind the mark, and its purpose as forcing total allegiance by controlling who may buy or sell. He discusses the long-debated number 666, and he identifies present-day precursors such as implantable microchips, biometric identification, and a rapidly advancing cashless economy. His emphasis is sober: taking the mark will be a deliberate, irreversible choice, and those who refuse will face the full weight of the Beast’s system.
“And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.”
— Revelation 13:17 (KJV)
Chapter 26 — Armageddon
Citing Douglas MacArthur and Ronald Reagan, both of whom spoke of Armageddon, Jeremiah explains that the word refers to Har-Megiddo, a real valley in northern Israel. He describes the preparations for the battle, its location, and God’s threefold purpose: completing His discipline of Israel, judging the nations that persecuted her, and judging all nations that have rejected Him.
He reconstructs the sequence of events: the Antichrist’s treaty with Israel and his demand for worship; rebellion against his rule; disturbing reports from the east as the Euphrates dries up for the “kings of the east”; and the gathering of the world’s armies. At the climax, the Lord descends from heaven with His saints and angels, and the conflict ends not as a war between nations but as the moment Christ intervenes.
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Part Five: End Signs
The final act brings the prophetic story to its conclusion: Christ’s return, His kingdom, the last judgment, and the eternal state.
Chapter 27 — Return of the King
A missionary’s sermon in Albania, where a folded napkin signals that a guest intends to return, frames Jeremiah’s treatment of the Second Coming, a doctrine he notes receives far more biblical attention than the first. He traces its anticipation in the prophets, in Jesus’ own words, in the angels’ announcement at the Ascension, and in John’s visions. Drawing on Revelation 19, he describes Christ’s titles and appearance, the armies of heaven that accompany Him, His absolute authority, and the avenging of His enemies: the “supper” for the birds of heaven, the defeat of the rebel armies, and the Beast and False Prophet thrown alive into the lake of fire. He distinguishes the Rapture, when Christ comes for His saints, from the Second Coming, when He returns with them.
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True.”
— Revelation 19:11 (KJV)
Chapter 28 — Millennium
Jeremiah notes that Isaac Watts wrote “Joy to the World” as a celebration of Christ’s return and reign rather than His birth. He defends a literal thousand-year kingdom following the Second Coming and gives four purposes for it: to reward God’s people, to fulfill the prophets’ predictions of a righteous earthly kingdom, to answer the disciples’ prayer “Thy kingdom come,” and to demonstrate human depravity, since even after a millennium of perfect rule, many will join Satan’s final rebellion when he is released. He describes the Millennium as a time of peace, prosperity, purity, prolonged life, and personal joy.
Chapter 29 — Great White Throne Judgment
Opening with the tragedy of a young woman swept away after ignoring a river’s warning siren, Jeremiah stresses the finality of the phrase “too late.” He describes the Great White Throne of Revelation 20 as the final judgment of the unbelieving dead. Its Judge is Christ; its defendants are all who rejected God’s grace; and the evidence comes from several “books”: the book of law, of works, of secrets, of words, of conscience, and finally the Book of Life. Because no name in that last book is found among the judged, the sentence is the lake of fire. Jeremiah presents this chapter as an urgent evangelistic appeal.
“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
— Revelation 20:15 (KJV)
Chapter 30 — New Heaven and New Earth
Beginning with Thomas More’s coined word “utopia,” literally “no place,” Jeremiah argues that humanity’s longing for a perfect world reflects our memory of Eden and God’s promise to restore it. He examines the language of 2 Peter 3 (the elements “burned up,” the heavens “passing away”) and concludes that the new creation will be a purification and renewal of this world rather than its annihilation, comparable to the Flood and to the resurrection of the body, and a final defeat of Satan’s attempt to ruin God’s handiwork. Its defining features include the removal of the sea, the reversal of the curse, and the restoration of all things.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.”
— Revelation 21:1 (KJV)
Chapter 31 — Holy City
After tracing the world’s largest cities from ancient Ur to modern Tokyo, Jeremiah describes a city that surpasses them all: the New Jerusalem, which he believes is a literal, physical place suited to resurrected bodies. He examines its immense dimensions and its features: its holiness, gates of pearl, foundations of precious stones, streets of gold, the Lamb as its light, the tree of life, and the river of life. He closes the chapter with the sobering reality that some will be denied entrance, and with an invitation to ensure one’s own place in the city.
“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying.”
— Revelation 21:4 (KJV)
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Epilogue: What Shall We Do?
Jeremiah ends with a wartime story of a frightened child asking to go somewhere with no sky, and he acknowledges that a study of the Apocalypse can leave readers feeling the same way. His hope, however, is that they will finish the book both more alert and more hopeful, keeping one eye on the headlines and the other on the eastern sky, confident that God authors history and that Christ’s return is certain.
He insists that prophetic knowledge must lead to action. Drawing on the New Testament letters, he lists ten ways believers should live differently because Christ is coming: refrain from judging others; remember the Lord’s Table; respond to life with a heavenly focus; love one another; comfort the bereaved with the hope of resurrection; recommit to ministry; refuse to neglect gathering with the church; remain steadfast and patient; renounce sin; and reach out to the lost. The purpose of prophecy, in the end, is not speculation but transformation.
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
— Titus 2:13 (KJV)
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Key Takeaways
Several threads hold the thirty-one chapters together. First, Jeremiah reads prophecy literally wherever possible: Israel means Israel, Babylon is a real rebuilt city, the 144,000 are Jewish, the Millennium lasts a thousand years, and the New Jerusalem is a physical place. Second, he works within a pretribulational, premillennial framework, in which the Rapture removes the church before a seven-year Tribulation that ends with Christ’s visible return and earthly reign. Third, he consistently correlates prophecy with contemporary events, from the European Union and Russian expansionism to microchip implants and cashless economies, while stopping short of setting dates.
Finally, and most characteristically, every chapter lands on application. Whether the topic is Gog and Magog or the crowns of heaven, Jeremiah steers the reader toward readiness, holiness, evangelism, and hope. Readers from other eschatological traditions will find points to contest, particularly on the Rapture’s timing, the identification of modern nations, and the literal reading of apocalyptic symbols. But as a comprehensive, accessible map of the dispensational understanding of the end times, The Book of Signs is a thorough and pastorally warm guide.