Signs of the Times (24)

 

In the last forum article, I continued our discussion of verses 21-22 of Matthew 24. Perhaps it would be good to quote the verses again. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world unto this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days shall be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”

 

Jesus certainly impresses on us that this final persecution will be a dreadful one. When He tells us that there never has been a persecution worse than this one, it seems to me that He means, not so much in the severity of the suffering that the people of God will have to endure; but that He means especially that this persecution will be world-wide.

 

This interpretation seems to fit with what the Lord says in verse 22: “Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.” I do not mean in any way to belittle the severity of that final persecution: it will be dreadful. But if you read the history of the persecution of the church in a book such as Fox’s Book Of Martyrs¸ (which, by the way, is worth reading and is easily available), the suffering God’s people endured in times gone by was terrible. But the Lord means to emphasize that this last tribulation, if allowed to go on for more time than it does, will actually completely destroy the saints.

 

The picture is of the systematic slaughter of God’s people. They are hunted down and butchered. The wicked are very near the end of their task. Only a few saints, here and there, are still alive. If the wicked are given a couple of more days, they will succeed in destroying every one of the saints. It won’t be like it was in the days of Ahab, when God assured Elijah that He had reserved 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal. It won’t be like it is in the times of the new dispensation, when the people of God in one part of the world are persecuted, but in other parts of the world God’s people live in peace. But it will then appear as if Satan has won. Satan cannot rest until every saint is gone. If Satan accomplishes that goal, he will have won and Christ’s cause will have gone down to defeat.

 

The suffering imposed on God’s people will be dreadful. No saint, because he refuses to take the mark of the beast, will be able to live in society. He will not be able to buy or sell, according to Revelation 13. He will have to search for a few crumbs to eat for himself and his children in garbage cans and in dumps. He will have to go without medical care, without different clothing, without shelter. He will have to flee to some place where he can hide, but he will have to travel on foot, thus making himself an easy target. Or, if he escapes some persecution, he will be alone, with no companionship, no fellowship, no one to encourage him. He will think that Christ will come any moment; but if that does not happen, he will, in all his suffering begin to think that the world was right in denying Christ and that he was wrong. He will be tempted to consider the possibility that he was chasing a mirage, believing something that was not true, pursuing a dream of heaven that was like a balloon that bursts in his face. And the wicked will be sure to remind him of all this. And Christ doesn’t come, and doesn’t come, and doesn’t come . . . .  (See the parable of the virgins in the next chapter where Jesus describes the faithful virgins also as slumbering and sleeping because the bridegroom does not come at what is the appointed hour.)

 

Yet, at the same time, while the persecuted believer sees all his acquaintances, fellow members of the church, friends and family give in and escape persecution, he will have to be very sure he is right, and all the others wrong. He will not be able to follow the crowd or to find anyone to stand with him.

 

And, in the meantime, everyone in the world will have luxuries beyond counting, pleasures that are enticing and lives of plenty. All he sees will be sleek and fat people eating their rice and stuffing themselves with delicacies, while he starves. Everyone will be having fun, while he wraps his skimpy rags around him to keep warm. Other children will be plump and laughing, while his children will be crying for a crust of bread.

 

Yet God’s people will be faithful. God will not allow anyone of His beloved children to deny Him or His Christ. This will take grace, much grace, grace that is greater than all our sins, but it will be a grace that is more powerful than Satan and all his demons, for it will be God’s grace. We might worry that we will not be able to endure when we lose everything; but it is not so. If we hold firmly to Christ, walk with God and trust in Him, we will stand. There is no question about that. God Himself has promised. And God’s promises cannot fail.

 

God says that He will shorten the days so that not all the elect are destroyed. I am not absolutely sure what that means. It does not mean that a day will no longer be composed of twenty-four hours, but perhaps only twenty or eighteen. It does not mean that time will go more swiftly during the time of persecution than it does now. It does not mean that the sun will move very rapidly through the sky so that its speed can be seen – although our God can do all these things.

 

If I understand Revelation 11 correctly, then it seems to me that the meaning is that at that very point where the wicked are confident that they have rid themselves of the saints and that now they can do as they please without being bothered by those who condemn them; and that at that point that they begin a huge world-wide celebration to rejoice in their success, that God will take His people to glory before the very eyes of the wicked. It won’t be a rapture like the pre-mils claim, for it will be immediately followed by the pouring out of the vials, the final judgment of God upon the wicked, the destruction of this old and sin-polluted world, and the coming of our Lord Himself. Read Revelation 11 yourself and see what you think.

 

We must prepare ourselves for that persecution now. We must work while it is day, before the night comes in which no man can work. Specifically, we must ask ourselves in all honesty, whether we love Christ more than what we possess; whether we will give it all up in order to be faithful; whether we will endure shame, pain, grief, suffering for the sake of Christ Who died for us.

 

If we are God’s people, we will do all these things; if our religion is only outward and for other motives than that we love the Lord, we will go along with the world – and go to hell. Faithfulness means heaven – and Christ, and God, and the church, and the angels, and life everlasting.

 

Prof. H. Hanko.