Sunday, September 28, 2014

Signs of the Times (5)


I think I will quote the passage that contains the sign we are going to discuss in this article.  It is found in Matthew 24:6 (the first part) and verse 7 (the first part): “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars . . . For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”  So this sign has to do with wars as a sign of Christ’s coming.
 
Wars have always been a part of this world’s history, ever since the tower of Babel.  Some are very local, as the present war going on in Syria, and some wars have involved almost the whole known world.  But they have always been a part of history.
 
Wars that involved the entire known world were the great world wars of the Old Testament times.  These wars involved the world powers of Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.  It is striking that these nations that ruled over the whole world were all part of the development of the Antichristian kingdom yet to come.  This is taught us in Scripture in Daniel 2 where Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the image is explained; and these nations are referred to once again in Revelation 17:10-11.
 
The seven kings in this passage are: the kingdoms of Babel (with Nimrod as king), Assyria (which took God’s people captive), Babylon (with Nebuchadnezzar as king), the Medo-Persian kingdom (with Darius, Cyrus and Artaxerxes as kings), and Greece (with Alexander the Great as king).  They are the five that Revelation said were “fallen.”  The one that is refers to the Roman Empire (with the Caesars as rulers) that existed during the time Revelation was written.  And the one that is yet to come is the antichristian kingdom that shall be established at the end of the world.
 
World Wars I and II were called “world” wars because almost all nations were involved.  But there are literally hundreds of local wars that dot the pages of history.  The Bible itself speaks of many of them.  Interestingly, while writing this article I read that there were 48 local wars going on in the world at present.  So, as the Lord said, wars increase in frequency and in intensity.  This shall continue until Antichrist himself puts an end to wars and establishes a world-wide kingdom of peace and prosperity.  This time of peace will be temporary as the world shall end with another war, the great Battle of Armageddon.
 
Why and how are wars and reports (rumors) of wars signs of Christ’s coming?  To understand that, we must remember that wars began with the confusion of languages at Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).  Nimrod wanted to establish the very first antichristian kingdom that would include all the population of the earth.  He wanted to do this by building the tower of Babel that would reach to heaven.
 
Nimrod did indeed build the tower of Babel, but God created the races at Babel and divided the people into nations by confusing their speech so that each talked a different language.  There could be no unity.  For it was the beginning of a series of kingdoms that would culminate in the kingdom of Antichrist, which could not, according to God’s purpose, come before its appointed time.
 
But the dream of a universal kingdom did not die; only, now each nation wants to be the head of all the nations in what George H. W. Bush (former president of the United States) called “a new world order.”  And so the nations make war with each other in their efforts to be the head of this new world order.  The interesting part of it is that the pope has emphatically made clear that he ought to be the one to head this new world order.
 
They all, in other words, strive to be Antichrist; and so they all are part of the development of the Antichristian kingdom.  In this way, wars and rumors of wars are signs of Christ’s coming. But God is sovereign and Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings.
 
God’s purpose in history is to gather His church.  And if the antichristian kingdom would have been established at Babel or at any other time when one nation ruled, the church would have been destroyed.  In every instance that one nation ruled, the church was persecuted.  Think only of how the Roman Empire persecuted the church!
 
Since the Roman Empire fell by the force of the barbarian tribes that swept Europe there has been no world-wide kingdom.  Hitler tried it, with the aid of Japan, but it didn’t work.  During the period of time since the fall of the Roman Empire till today, there has been no one kingdom ruling over all, because the catholic church was being gathered by God – the church from every nation and tribe and tongue.  The premature realization of the antichristian kingdom would have made that impossible.
 
And so, Jesus says, kingdom shall rise up against kingdom and nation against nation, but the end is not yet.  These are only the beginning of sorrows.  More must come!
 
Yet, for a short time just before the end total peace will come.  It might come through the United Nations; it might come some other way; but it will come when God wills it.  It will come in the kingdom of Antichrist, for his kingdom will be a kingdom of peace and prosperity such as the world has never seen.  But it will be broken up and destroyed by the one great and final war, the battle of Armageddon.  But by that time, God will have finished gathering His church with the saving of the last elect.
 
With warm regards,
Prof. Hanko

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