+The Progress of the Age+. This present age is unrevealed in the Old
Testament. When Daniel received the great prophecy which Gabriel
carried from the Throne of God to the praying Prophet, he heard that at
a certain time the death of Christ should take place, and that the city
and the sanctuary should be burned, and the nation scattered. This was
at the close of the sixty-ninth week, four hundred and eighty-three
years after the command to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem had been
given. As we have shown in our book on Daniel this has been literally
fulfilled, and as all students of prophecy know there is an unfulfilled
week, or seven years, which are yet to come to pass in the history of
that nation. The space between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth week
is this present age. Nor is there anywhere in the Word of God a
revelation which tells us of the duration of this age. There is no
hint about it in the Old Testament; and when the disciples asked the
Lord about the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel, which manifestly
takes place at the close of this age, He told them, "It is not for you
to know the times and the seasons." It is therefore useless trying to
find out about the duration of the age.
But when we come to the moral and religious characteristics, in
connection with the progress of this age, it is different. They are
fully revealed by the Lord and also by His Spirit. Especially is this
true of the very end of this age. Twice our Lord spoke on these
matters, once on earth when He gave the Kingdom parables in Matthew
xiii and spoke of the progress of the age and what should take place
during His absence. Again He spoke from heaven about these same
things, when He gave the messages to the seven churches. In them He
outlined the course of the professing church on earth, and reveals in
it what is to take place during the progress of this age.
We shall cover the same seven things which we have mentioned in
connection with the beginning of this age, and learn how they are
affected as this age progresses and nears its end.
+First+, as to the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. Enthroned in the
highest glory He can never be affected by what is going on down here.
Satan's power cannot reach Him. The Lord Jesus is the same, yesterday,
today, and forever. Whatever man does on earth, however great the
hatred may be against Him, even if the nations unite to cast off His
cords and bands, in the language of the second Psalm, "He that sitteth
in the heavens shall laugh at them and hold them in derision." But
there is a comforting truth in connection with this, the comfort of
which has been the blessed portion of all God's people as the age
progressed, and its true character became more and more known. "Saul,
Saul, why persecutest thou me," was the word the Lord Jesus addressed
to the persecutor of the Church of God. It shows His loving interest
and sympathy for His suffering members on earth. And so as the age
progressed in the pagan persecutions and the equally bad, if not worse,
Papal persecutions, He has sustained His people on earth, He has never
failed them, He has carried them through the water and through the
fire. He has presented their petitions before the Throne of God, and
answered their prayers. Nor will He ever fail His people until they
are gathered home into His presence, the trophies of His grace.
+Second+. Nor can the Holy Spirit and His work be affected by what the
progress of this age brings. He knows no failure. His Divine mission
cannot fail. In every generation during this age, no matter how dark
it may have been, He has continued successfully His work and added to
the Body of Christ, in each generation those who believed on the Son of
God.
+Third and Fourth+, as to the Gospel and the Truth of God it is
different, for we shall notice here at once what the progress of the
age has brought about in connection with what God has given to this
age. Our Lord tells us in the second parable, in Matthew xiii, that no
sooner had the wheat, the Truth, been sown in the field, which is the
world, but that an enemy came and sowed the tares. Then He revealed
this fact that the wheat and the tares were to grow together until the
harvest, which is the end of the age. There is then a development in
the progress of this age, a development in the wheat, which is ripening
for the harvest, and the development of the tares. The Truth is to
shine more brightly as the age progresses, and darkness becomes more
dense. We see therefore that after a brief period of purity the evil
began in the professing church. The Gospel, even in Apostolic days was
being denied, and the Apostles' doctrines corrupted.
What the Lord Jesus taught in the parable of the mustard seed came also
to pass as the age progressed. The little mustard seed became a great
tree, and the birds began to lodge in its branches to defile the tree.
The professing church became a great world institution, and in alliance
with the world where the throne of Satan is, became corrupted; instead
of being the espoused virgin, she became the harlot and adultress.
What the Lord Jesus announced in the Parable of the leaven came
likewise to pass as this age progressed. The leaven, which is
corruption, evil in every form, especially in Christian doctrine, has
been introduced into the pure doctrine of Christ, the three measures of
fine wheat.
And so we see that as the age progressed the rejection of every phase
of Divine Truth set in. The Deity of Christ denied, the Virgin Birth,
His atoning death, His physical resurrection, everything denied; the
Bible as the revelation of God rejected; and with these denials there
came the increase of unrighteousness and moral declension, till the age
produced the condition which the Word of God clearly foresaw, a great
professing church, with the harlot character, unfaithful to Christ and
to His Word; while of course it is equally true that there is the true
Church, which remains true to Christ and to His Word.
+Fifth+, as the age progresses there is no change seen in the condition
of the world. It is true man has been developing Man's Day. As the
age progressed great inventions and discoveries were made. These are
often taken to be indications that the age is getting better. They
point to the telephone, and wireless, the great engineering feats, the
chemical discoveries, and everything else in these lines as evidences
that the age is constantly improving. Before the war we were told that
the age had improved to such an extent that a great war would no longer
be possible. Everybody was lauding our great civilization to the
skies. A few weeks after everything was knocked sky-high, and what is
left of all these optimistic ramblings? No, this age does not improve,
and everything which the Word of God has to say about it has been
solemnly verified and confirmed by the roar of cannons and by the
slaughter of millions. Our great inventions and discoveries have not
made the world more righteous. On the contrary, unrighteousness and
lawlessness have increased, and later we shall show how everything in
these conditions points to the very end of this age.
+Sixth+, Satan. The world does not change, neither does Satan. He can
never be anything else but the enemy of God, nor can his person and
work be arrested by man's efforts. As the age continues his opposition
becomes more marked. We know from the lips of our Lord that he is the
liar and the murderer from the beginning. He has made good these
titles throughout this age. He tried to stamp out more than once the
Truth of Christ by instigating the cruel persecutions of the people of
God. They were slain by the thousands and hundreds of thousands during
the reign of the Roman Emperors. When he failed in this then he
manifested his character as the liar from the beginning. He began to
counterfeit the Truth, and partially succeeded in corrupting the
professing church and putting a spurious system in control, where he
makes good his title as the liar. When in the progress of this age the
Spirit of God began reviving the Truth, when the noble men and women
refused to bow before Rome, he again acted as the murderer. Thousands
upon thousands were tortured, slain, and burned alive, until he
discovered that the Truth cannot be stamped out by the fires of
persecution, that he was failing again as he had failed in the first
century of the age. Then once more he appears in the garb of an angel
of light. Now he does his work through demon-cults like Christian
Science, Spiritism, Mormonism and others. He manifests himself once
more as the liar from the beginning in the New Theology and the
Destructive Criticism, so widely accepted everywhere. And thus he
continues his work as the age progresses; no change for the better.
+Seventh+, as already stated the Jews are wanderers amongst the
nations. We know two things concerning the Jews. The first is that
they are given the promise in earthly things, and though they are now
blinded, God has not cast them away; and the other is that they are
during this age under judgment. These two facts stand out in the
history of that remarkable people as the age continues. If we want to
see the richest people, the most influential, the brightest, we must
turn to the Jewish people. In that fact God witnesses that they are
still His people. And then the greatest sorrow, the greatest
suffering, the greatest poverty is found amongst them; the witness that
they are under judgment. Over and over again in every century has
solemnly come to pass what their forefathers cried, "His blood be upon
us, and upon our children." We shall later point out the startling
change which is coming upon them as a nation when the age ends.