Friday, October 24, 2014

Signs of the Times (26)


In the last forum article, I talked about the sign of false prophets as Jesus describes them in Matthew 24:24-28. I think I will quote it again so that you have it in your minds: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; inasmuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”
The Lord makes a distinction in this text between false prophets and false Christs. I talked about these false prophets in the last article when I wrote about the terrible theory of evolutionism, which denies the coming of Christ. False prophets spread their false doctrine everywhere: in homes, in books, in schools, and even, sad to say, in churches that claim to be Reformed and Presbyterian.
But included in these false prophets are all those ministers in the churches, televangelists and teachers who spread false religion. They too are false prophets, for a prophet is supposed to speak the Word of God; and there are so many that do not do this. When Antichrist finally comes and everyone will have to make that final and decisive choice between Christ and Antichrist, these false prophets will go with Antichrist.
But our Lord speaks also of false Christs; that is, men who claim to be Christ himself. From very early times the church has always had to contend with men like this. Here and there, throughout history, have appeared men who claim to be the Messiah. In our more modern day, these who literally claim to be the Messiah or Christ are cult leaders. And these men claim not only to be Christ, but to have received special revelations from God.
All these false Christs will reach their climax in Antichrist himself. Antichrist is called Anti Christ because the word “anti” means “in the place of” as well as “against.” Antichrist not only is against Christ, but he takes the place of Christ. He is against Christ because he claims to be the true Christ Who is in heaven.
            Paul makes this clear in II Thessalonians 2:1-4: “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, not by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
            The final, great, false Christ comes in the person of Antichrist. He will literally claim that he is Christ, and that therefore, he is God. We could stop a minute to notice this. Antichrist will not deny that Christ is the Son of God, the most basic truth of the Christian faith. But he will claim that he is Christ, and therefore, God.
            He will say, “Christ has promised to come again. I am Christ and have now come.” He will say, “Christ performed miracles. I too perform miracles.” (II Thess. 2:9, Rev. 13:13, Matt. 24:24). He will say, “Christ came to establish a kingdom of peace and prosperity. I too establish such a world-wide kingdom of peace and prosperity” – for, under his rule, there will be indeed world-wide peace and world-wide prosperity.
            And so he will claim to be God and demand that all men worship him and take the mark of the beast. Those who refuse will be killed.
            Jesus warns strongly against being deceived by these false Christs. He puts an exclamation mark behind His warning by saying that, if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. That is frightening! It means that the deception will be so great that we also will be sorely tempted to believe Antichrist. We will think about it, consider seriously his words, almost be persuaded that what he says is true, and come within a hair’s breadth of joining him by taking the mark of the beast.
            Don’t forget: God’s people will be sorely persecuted. One by one they will be killed as traitors and apostates. They will be shown how attractive the kingdom of Antichrist really is: no more war, no more low wages, miracles of healing and scientific and medical wonders everywhere; pleasure as much as one wants, no more watching your children and babies die a slow death by starvation, no more running into the mountains, no more inability to find work or purchase groceries, no more trying to run a successful business and enjoying the fruits of one’s hard work -- and Christ himself does not come! In Matthew 25, in the parable of the virgins, the bridegroom does not come when everyone thought he would come. He seems to delay his coming, until it appears as if he is not coming at all, but that Antichrist is right when he claims to be the Christ, for Christ does not come when expected. He comes as a thief in the night.
            And, in additional to all this, so many choose to go with Antichrist. Our parents or one of them, our children or most of them, our closest friends, our fellow members in the church, our brothers and sisters in our families and in our congregation – they are all persuaded that we are fools to expect another coming of Christ than the one who has already come.
            That is why, among the signs of the coming of Christ, is also the sign of the great apostasy, what Paul calls in II Thessalonians 2, a great falling away. When the world’s billions and the church’s thousands all go after this one man and believe him, and you stand almost alone, if not alone, then you are going to ask yourself the question: “Is the whole world wrong, and I am the only one who is right?”
            The only, absolutely only, reason why God’s people are not deceived is that they are elect. If any part of the decisions were left up to them, they would follow the Antichrist. But they are elect. They cannot be deceived. God holds on to them tightly by His almighty grace and power. It is, as it were, that we are straining on a tight leash to run after the world’s and church’s throngs; but God holds us back and prevents us from destroying ourselves.
            And He holds us back by giving us grace to suffer for Christ’s sake, to rejoice and be very glad that we are not deceived, and to continue to look towards heaven, from whence our Lord will come.
            There is one way that we will know that Antichrist is Satan’s tool and not Christ at all. But we will wait with that till next time. The reason why we will know is in verses 27-28. But in the meantime, let us obey Peter’s command in II Peter 1:10: “Wherefore, the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure, for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall.”


Prof. H. Hanko

No comments:

Post a Comment