Signs of the Times (1)

Dear Young People,

 

I plan, with this letter, to begin a series on signs of the times. By signs of the times I mean signs in the creation and in history that Scripture tells us are signs of the second coming of Christ. The Bible tells us that there will be such signs. The two most important places in the Bible that give us the signs of Christ’s coming are the book of Revelation and Matthew 24. We are going to deal with Matthew 24, although we might look at some things Revelation speaks of as well.

 

The reason why I am interested in speaking to you about these things is mainly practical. My parents taught us from childhood on to look for these signs of which the Bible speaks. I must have been still in primary school when we were playing games outside in the evening. It was already dark. Suddenly the whole sky was literally filled with colors shimmering and moving, most seemed to be moving from the horizon to the center of the vault of heaven. The colors were orange and red and white and pink and green.  It left us breathless and not a little afraid, for we did not know what was happening. It was the closest I have ever come to realize what the Bible means by fear: awe mixed with just a bit of terror. My father came out to look and explained to us that they were northern lights, or, as they are sometimes called, aurora borealis. I have seen a lot of northern lights since that time, but never anything like that evening.

 

The next day the news commented on it, but added that the newsrooms of the newspapers, the radio stations and government offices were swamped with telephone calls of terrified people who thought the end of the world had come. Most of the wicked mock Christ’s coming and even try to deny it because they are sinful and love this world, but they know, deep down in their hearts, that Christ is coming again, and they are terrified. But God’s people are glad, for it means their salvation.

 

The subject has always interested me. I preached through Matthew 24 a fairly long series of sermons, and I have gone through the book of Revelation with Bible Study Groups at least four times, and maybe five.

 

It is my impression that the signs of Christ’s coming are increasing in number and in intensity. They are more than they ever were in history and creation; and they are also worse. We ought to know what they are so that we ourselves can live in the consciousness of the end of time. This is its practical significance. When Jesus gave to his disciples the signs of his coming, he concluded his discussion of them with a long section at the end of chapter 24 and the first part of chapter 25 (two parables) in which he told his disciples why these things were important to know. Jesus uses the word “Watch” a lot and applies that to our lives. Are we watching for Christ’s coming? Are we eager for it? Are we interested in it? Do we live lives that reflect the sincerity of our prayer, “Come, Lord Jesus; yea, come quickly”, or even, “Thy kingdom come.”?

 

Or, is it just possible that we never really think about it; we believe it’s true all right, but figure that it is so far in the future that we need not worry about it; really are not interested in it because, secretly, deep down in our hearts, we say, “Yes, I like to have Christ’s kingdom come all right; but I sure hope He doesn’t come before I can get a good job, marry a wife (or husband); buy a house; and earn enough money to enjoy the things money can buy.  Then when I get old and decrepit, then when fun is out of life because I can’t hear or see very well; because I need to be pushed around in a wheelchair; because my teeth are all gone, my hair has fallen out, my hands are too shaky to feed myself and I can’t do anything worthwhile any more, then it is alright if Christ should come.”?  When we think about our lives, these are the things that come into our minds, aren’t they?

 

Does this mean then that we have to quit doing anything at all and just sit in our rocking chairs in the cool of a nice tree and look up in the air waiting for Christ to come?  Does it mean that we quit school because Christ is coming back?  To quit my job because Christ is coming back? To sell my house because Christ is coming back? This would be dreadfully wrong! Christ is afraid we might do that, and so He teaches one whole parable in Matthew 25 that forbids us to do anything  like that. But we will take a look at that when we come to it.

 

I do remember, though, an instance that drove this truth home to me. I was either in the 7th or 8th grade at the time. The Christian school that I attended would often invite ministers or missionaries in to speak to us at chapel. Some of them were not very Reformed. We used to get chapel speakers from time to time that believed in the rapture. These speakers would grab our attention by asking a question like: “What would you like to be doing when Christ comes to take you to heaven?” The answer they gave was something like, “We would like to be praying or reading the Scriptures, or meditating on God’s Word.” Because Christ could come at any time, they said, this is what you ought to be doing all the time.

 

Now actually that didn’t sound too bad to me, because much of my life outside of school was caught up in washing and drying dishes, mopping floors, cutting the lawn, or working on a farm. I was not overly fond of any of those tasks, and so what the speaker suggested didn’t sound too bad. And yet, something deep down told me, “This is too good to be true.”

 

So, one day I decided to ask my father about it all.  He, it seemed, always knew everything.  And so, after listening carefully to my question, without any theology mixed in, he said to me: “Well, I’ll tell you how that is. If you were out in the garden weeding the vegetables, and you suddenly knew somehow that our Lord was coming back to take us to heaven within the next five minutes, you just keep right on pulling weeds. But be sure you do it to God’s glory.”  He didn’t say anything more, but I have never forgotten it. I understand now much more of what he meant, but it was enough for a ten-year old boy.

 

Faith in the signs of the times brings about a strong division between God’s people and the wicked. Let us not forget that every man knows that Christ is coming again, but the wicked do not like the idea, for they know Christ comes as Judge, and they know their works cannot stand Christ’s scrutiny.  And so they deny Christ’s coming and try to persuade themselves that Christ’s coming is a myth (see II Peter 3:1), or they say, “Well, we’ll give that some thought sometime, but we are too busy now to concern ourselves with such things.” When it comes right down to it, they are afraid that He will come, for they know that they will have to give an account of what they do to Him, sitting on a white throne, and they know that that judgment will not be good.

 

But God’s people also know He is coming, and they look forward to it.  It’s what they have been waiting for.

 

With warm regards,

Prof. Hanko.