+The End of the Age+. Like every previous age, our age will also come
to a close. It is here we find one of the vital errors amongst
Christians at the present time. They never think of this age of Gospel
preaching and Gospel privilege as coming to an end. If one speaks to
them about the end of the age, they think it means after the world is
converted, and the passing away of the world itself. Peter has given
us the witness that this would be one of the characteristics of the
last days, when mockers shall come, saying, "Where is the promise of
His coming? for from the day the fathers fell asleep all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." This is
what we find so much in our day. In spite of the horrible conditions
in which this age has been plunged, and the confirmation of the
predictions of the Bible relating to this age, the mass of professing
Christians expect that things will continue, and that after the war the
age will speedily improve. We have seen before how impossible this is,
for the Bible teaches us that this age is an evil age, and there is not
a single passage which promises an improvement. On the contrary,
everything in the Word shows that as the age ends, and its real end
comes, all the evil conditions present in this age come to a head and
climax. We find therefore a great deal said in the Scriptures about
the end of the age. The Lord Jesus speaks of it in His parables in
Matthew xiii. He has given also a complete panorama of the age-ending
in His great Olivet discourse. Then when we come to the Epistles we
find that the Spirit of God through every writer gives a warning and a
witness about the end of the age. All these warnings and witnesses do
not tell us of a converted world, and a world which is won to
righteousness, of nations who lay down their armaments and no longer
make war; nor do these warnings and predictions speak of a triumph of
the doctrine of Christ. They tell us the very opposite. They give
warnings that the faith is going to be rejected, that delusions and
errors are going to multiply, that nation is going to lift up sword
against nation and kingdom against kingdom, that lawlessness and
unrighteousness are going to increase, and that the age itself is going
to end in a time of trouble such as the world has never seen before.
If we turn to the last Book of the Bible we find also an argument
concerning the age and its end. Before the heaven opens and He comes,
whose right it is to establish His Kingdom over this earth, the wicked
and wild conditions prevailing on this earth are described, and that on
account of them the judgments of the Lord will be in the earth.
And now to follow the same line of thought as in our preceding
meditations, let us again notice the same things which we mentioned
before in connection with the beginning and progress of this age.
+First+, as this age comes to a close Christ is still on the Father's
Throne. His ministry in behalf of His people both as Priest and
Advocate continues unbroken. He has promised, "Lo, I am with you
always even unto the end of the age." We say again, He changes not.
As He sustained His people in the beginning of the age and gave them
victory, as He kept the feet of His saints in every generation and
gathered them home into His own presence, so He will still minister to
the needs of His members on earth. Let the age become as dark as it
possibly can, His people who trust in Him and walk in His fellowship
will be kept and preserved. We do not know all that is going on in
glory. We know he is there as the upholder of all things. We know
that the greater part of the children of God are as disembodied spirits
in His presence. Some day a startling thing will happen in that glory.
The hour has come when the redeemed are to have their resurrection
bodies, and all the living saints shall be changed in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye. When that hour strikes He Himself will arise from
the place at the Father's right hand and pass out of the third heaven,
and then from the air give the shout which will summon all the redeemed
to meet Him in the sky. For this the people of God are waiting in the
end of this age.
[1] See article "That Blessed Hope." [Transcriber's note: there was no
matching footnote number in the above text, so it is not known what
this footnote referred to.]
+Second+, the Holy Spirit also remains the same. His energy is
undiminished. The work He came to do and which He has done throughout
this age, will be done by Him to the very end. Indeed, while darkness
increases and the enemy becomes more active, God's people may
confidently expect that the Holy Spirit will also demonstrate His power
in the behalf of those who love and walk in the Truth. Some day He
will have finished the work for which He came, the Body will be
complete as to numbers; and when that crowning event, the coming of the
Lord for His saints, takes place, the Holy Spirit will have His part to
do. Not alone Christ will present the Church but the Holy Spirit as
well; and then He will leave the earth, no longer to be here to do the
special work which He came to do on the Day of Pentecost. He has
finished the work.
+Third+, the Gospel is still preached during the end of the age. As
long as the Church remains here the true Gospel testimony can never be
silenced, because behind it stands the omnipotent Spirit of God and the
power of Christ. But as the age closes the true Gospel is being more
and more rejected. We see this today; we hear on all hands that man no
longer needs to be born again, that the blood of Christ cannot save,
that character saves; that the soldiers who die on the battlefield
bring a sacrifice like Christ brought on the Cross, and that the hero's
death makes all things right in the past life and opens the gates of
glory. On all sides we see these rejections; the Son of God is denied
and every phase of His work is set aside. This is exactly what is
taught in the New Testament, that men would turn away their ears from
the Truth, and that the great mass of professing Christians would only
have a form of godliness and deny the power thereof.
When at last the Church has ended her ministry the sound of the Gospel
of Grace will no longer be heard. While this is true, on the other
hand the Gospel still preached up to the end of the age brings about
the completion of the Body of Christ. We see this today in a startling
manner. While amongst the so-called Christian nations the Gospel is
rejected, in heathen countries the Gospel is accepted by thousands upon
thousands, and thus the Body of Christ, the true Church, is being made
complete.
+Fourth+, when this age closes the whole body of the doctrine of Christ
and the Truth will be rejected. The foundation for this has gradually
been laid. It started over a hundred years ago in Germany, where the
modern criticism of the Bible started. This criticism has constantly
been growing, until everywhere throughout Christendom an infallible
Bible is being denied. Thus the foundations of the faith have been
undermined, and the way is prepared for the final apostasy, the
complete falling away from the Truth.
+Fifth+, in regard to the world. As stated previously this age cannot
get better, but becomes worse. We see it today, how all inventions and
discoveries in which we used to boast as evidences of progress are
being made use of in the most horrible catastrophe the world has ever
seen. Europe is like a human slaughterhouse. Nations are against
nations and kingdoms against kingdoms; and all this was started by a
nation which boasted of having the most light in religious things and
the best culture and civilization. And all along they denied Christ
and the Truth of God; and when the outbreak came it was only a
demonstration that behind their Christless civilization and culture
there stood the domineering shadow of the prince of this world. When
we look closer into the Prophetic Word we find that these conditions
continue to the end of the age, and that finally there comes a
tremendous crash, when the Lord Himself will deal with these horrible
conditions and smite the wicked and the ungodly.
But some one might say, "What is the use of doing anything at all if
this is the program?" "What is the use of us to fight as a nation?"
But this is wrong logic. There are principles of righteousness and
justice which must be maintained in this world, for which man must
stand up, and as far as our nation is concerned we are on the side of
justice and the defense of righteousness, which have the approval of
God, for they are in line with His righteous government. When the time
comes for the reckoning, not from the human side but from God's side,
this will fall heavily into the scale when the nations are judged.
+Sixth+, as to Satan. Like a huge serpent he has been winding his way
throughout this age, leaving everywhere his contamination. While Satan
is not omniscient and perfect in knowledge, he has sufficient knowledge
of his destiny and how soon that destiny will be accomplished, and so
as the age closes he becomes fiercer in his wrath; like a serpent which
is attacked and in danger of being caught, his hiss is heard on all
sides. He is now actively engaged in counterfeiting the Truth, in
putting in his demon doctrines, in perverting the Truth wherever he
can. And by and by after the true Church is gone he will put his
masterpieces into the world, of whom we shall have more to say in these
studies. Then he will blind the nations as never before and rush them
on to the final climax of the age.
+Seventh+, as to the Jews. We have seen how they were scattered at the
beginning of this age, and how they continued to wander amongst the
nations as the age progressed. When we come to the end of the age a
startling change takes place with His people. The figtree, once
cursed, puts forth new leaves; the dry bones of the house of Israel
begin to show signs of life. There is a movement amongst them, bone
comes to bone, they organize, their faces are turned towards the east;
they are getting ready for the greatest event in all history. The Lord
Jesus Christ said that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles
until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. When the end of the age
comes the times of the Gentiles are about fulfilled; and the startling
sign that the age ends is the movement amongst the Jews so prominent
today. The capture of Jerusalem and the complete downfall of the Turk
are significant signs. Palestine will be given to the Jews when the
war ends. Then the stage is set, so to speak, for the predicted end of
the age.
We have rapidly pointed out the leading features of the beginning,
progress and end of this age. The real end is composed of seven years,
the last prophetic week of Daniel's prophecy (Dan. ix). The true
church will then no longer be on the earth. Her translation has taken
place. The Saints are with the Lord. But on earth the things will
come to pass which are so prominently revealed in the prophetic Word.
And when the seven years are over the Lord Jesus Christ will come back
in power and glory to establish His Kingdom of righteousness and peace.
Then that which has been shall be again and still greater glory added.
"THAT BLESSED HOPE"
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the glory
of our great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," Tit. ii:13.
"That blessed hope" of which the Apostle writes is an exclusively New
Testament revelation. The appearing of the glory of our great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ is fully revealed in the Old Testament
prophetic Word. The Prophets had visions of the day of the Lord, a day
in which the Lord will be manifested in power and glory; a day which
will bring glory and peace when the Lord is enthroned as King of kings
and Lord of lords. The Spirit of God has shown through the prophets
what the appearing, the visible manifestation of the Lord will mean,
for the people Israel, for the nations and for groaning creation. But
nowhere do we find "that blessed hope" made known by the prophets. The
Jewish Saints knew nothing of it as it is revealed to the church of
God. True they had now and then a glimpse of the future. One of the
greatest sufferers was Job. His darkest night was illuminated by the
assurance of hope when he uttered his great testimony: "I know that my
Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the
earth. And if after my skin this body shall be destroyed, yet in my
flesh shall I see God. Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes
shall behold, and not another" (Job xix:25-27). But this is not "that
blessed hope" the Lord has given to us His people.
Old Testament Saints knew of the resurrection of the dead. They knew
nothing of a resurrection from among the dead. Yet Enoch and Elijah
were taken to glory without dying. No prophet knew the typical meaning
of their experience as we know it through "that blessed hope."