Signs of the Times (27)

 

In the last forum article I discussed with you verses 24-25 of Matthew 24, in which verses our Lord warned us in the strongest possible way that we had to be alert to false prophets who claim that they are Christ. And other people, even friends and relatives, will say, “Lo, here is Christ,” or “Lo, there is Christ.” The danger of deception is so great that the Lord warns us that the only reason God’s people are not deceived is that they are elect. If it were up to them, they would surely be deceived. But sovereign election holds them firmly.

 

In verses 27-28 the Lord gives us a sure way in which we are able to detect false prophets who claim to be the evidence of Christ’s coming with our Lord’s actual return: “For as the lightening cometh out of the east, and shineth 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.”

 

In describing the Lord’s actual coming, Jesus gives us a sure sign that His coming is the true coming, while the claims of the false prophets are evil and deceptive. The contrast between the claim of the false prophets is, “Lo here; Lo, there;” Christ’s coming is like the lightning. This is a difference easily seen.

 

The false prophets who claim to be Christ or who claim to know where he is, always find him somewhere in this world and only in one place. Antichrist will also be like that. We will have to go to Washington D.C. perhaps to find him and see him in person. He lives in only one place. One has to go there if one has business with him. He can be everywhere on people’s TV, but he lives somewhere here in the world.

 

But the coming of Christ is not like that and Christ’s coming to us is not like that. It is like lightning.

 

First of all, that means that Christ will be seen in the heavens above us, not here on earth. He will come to us just as He went away from us, riding the clouds (Acts 1:11). But secondly, He will not be in one place only so that we have to travel to Tokyo or Kuala Lampur to see Him. He will be like lightning travelling horizontally and vertically. He will be seen in every part of the sky. Whether you live in Singapore or in the United States, when Christ comes, you will see Him, but so will we. Christ’s coming will be public for all to see. It will be universally witnessed.

 

We will probably want to know how that can be; but it is no use in asking, for Christ’s coming is a great miracle. But the Bible is clear: Every eye shall see him. No one claiming to be Christ will be like this – visible to the whole world at the same time, and visible in the heavens.

 

The second sure evidence of Christ’s coming is stated in verse 28. It too will be a way in which we will be able to know that it is truly Christ and not some imposter. “Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” It seems at first glance to be a strange verse. But, as a matter of fact, it is a true and clear expression.

 

Eagles are birds of prey. They eat dead and rotted meat. They are found with vultures, buzzards and other meat-eating birds. One will find them along the roads eating animals, rodents and other birds that were killed by cars. One will also find them in desert areas waiting for the weak and helpless to die so that they can eat the flesh. So they are always looking for dead bodies.

 

The comparison here is a comparison with the number of birds gathered around a dead carcase. I have seen pictures of Africa where dozens of these meat-eating birds swarm over a dead lion or elephant. And so the comparison is this. Around those who claim to be Christ one will see hundreds and thousands of people joining him and depending on him for their food and drink, for their physical well-being, and for their objects of worship.

 

In contrast to the multitudes who gather around false Christ’s will be only a very few who look for the coming of Christ. Jesus himself says, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8b). The faithful people of God will be very few in number and those who are still looking for Christ’s coming can only be found scattered in the mountains. Persecution shall all but destroy the church – as we have noticed before, if Christ did not shorten the days, there would be no flesh saved.

 

This point the Lord makes is very practical. You in Asia and we in America see huge crowds gather in large auditoriums to hear Pentecostal preachers or glib and swift-of-tongue men with expensive suits and coiffed hair regale thousands. They speak of healing others – as Christ did, of really knowing what the gospel is all about – as Christ did. They are sect leaders. They claim to be mysterious people who clothe themselves in mystery and make outrageous claims on their followers. But the crowds, the multitudes are too great. The faithful are few in number. You must beware of the popular men. You must recognize our Savior by the fact that even most of that which calls itself church is not really expecting or wanting Christ to come.

 

So these two facts of Christ’s coming will guarantee our recognition of our Savior himself when He returns. Let us lift up our heads, for our redemption draws nigh.

 

Prof. H. Hanko.

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

Signs of the Times (25)

 

In the last forum article, we finished our discussion of the sign of the great persecution that must come on the church before the Lord comes back. Immediately following the sign of persecution is the sign of false prophets. I will quote the passage. “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before.”

 

Jesus considers the sign of false prophets to be such an important sign that He mentions it no less than three times in His sermon. The first time is recorded in Matthew 24:4-5; the second time in verse 11; and the third time here in the verses I just quoted. If Jesus considered this sign important, we ought to prick up our ears and pay close attention.

 

There is a difference however, between the sign of false prophet in verses 23-25 and the other two places where false prophets are mentioned. In the other two verses the Lord refers to the fact that the world is always full of false prophets, and that they constitute a constant threat to the churches. They are those who today preach a prosperity gospel, in which they promise those who believe in them long life, riches, health and a life free from trouble. They are also leaders of Pentecostal churches who speak of special gifts of the Holy Spirit, which most believers do not have, and which raise the one possessing them to a higher level of holiness than the ordinary Christian.

 

But in this sign, the Lord is speaking directly of false prophets that arise in the times of the great tribulation and try to persuade the people of God that they are very foolish to suffer persecution, because the Lord is not coming back anyway. Peter warns against them as well in his second letter: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days, scoffers walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 3:3-4).

 

I am going to take you on a sidetrack for a little while, because there are some things in this chapter of 2 Peter that are important. These things have to do with the terrible heresy of evolutionism. This deadly error is directly related to the signs of Christ’s coming particularly the sign of false prophets. Evolutionists, even when they are “theistic” evolutionists – if there really are such persons, for it is impossible to believe evolutionism and the true God at the same time -- are false prophets. If one truly believes in evolution, three fundamental doctrines of Scripture are denied.

 

One is, as we all know, the doctrine of creation.

 

The second is the doctrine of providence, especially that part of providence that teaches the truth that God continues to give every creature its existence by the word He speaks. God, Who gives existence to every creature, is sovereign over all, so that nothing happens without His direct act and control.

 

And third, evolutionism denies the second coming of Christ. This is the reason why evolutionists have adopted the social gospel that teaches that we must work hard to “Christianize” society and make this world a better place to live, because the kingdom of heaven comes to this earth and makes this earth Christ’s kingdom – through evolutionary processes.

 

Peter, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, attacks evolutionism by attacking its most basic premise: “All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation” (2 Peter 3:2). That, while it is fundamental to all evolutionism, is, says Peter, false!

 

Evolutionists call this belief of theirs, “The Principle of Uniformitarianism.” The principle of uniformitarianism claims that scientists can know what the creation was like a million (or a billion) years ago by what it is like now. The creation is governed by laws of nature that have always and still do determine how things are now, how things were a millennium ago and how things were millions and billions of years in the past.

 

That principle, says Peter, is false. The fact is that things do not continue as they were from the creation of the world. God brought about tremendous changes in His creation. Peter refers to the most drastic change that God made in the creation at the time of the flood. He tells us, in so many words, what that change was: Before the flood, “the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water” (vs. 5). Now, after the flood, “the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (vs. 7).

 

What Peter means is that the creation before the flood was composed of water, its most basic ingredient. We find that hard to imagine, for the change that took place at the time of the flood was basic. But we can understand it a little when we read in Scripture that the waters above came crashing down on the earth and the fountains of the deep earth were opened so that water tore the earth to pieces. Further, the flood was a partial relaxation of the curse when God, at the time of the flood, tilted the earth on its axis 23 ½ degrees and thus created the seasons (Gen. 8:20-22).

 

It is not difficult for us to see how now the world is fundamentally fire. We are surrounded by fiery bodies in the skies that number in the billions; the creation itself is composed of atoms and sub-atomic particles, which are basically electrical charges and are really fire – as any short in an electric wire will show one; the terrible destruction of a bomb that uses the principle of splitting an atom or uniting a hydrogen atom is fire at its worst.

 

Of course, wicked men who love their anti-God evolutionary theories, deny the flood. When I was taking a physics course in college, a Christian physicist who worked on the atom bomb during World War 2, spent hours persuading us that there could not ever be such a thing as a chain reaction that would blow up the whole world. The time he spent trying to disprove it was a strong proof of its very real danger. Why cannot God destroy the world today by fire? (2 Pet. 3:10).

 

Peter says that the evolutionist is “willingly” ignorant of these truths. He doesn’t want them because he is addicted to his precious evolutionary theories that push God out of his own creation.

 

But He won’t be pushed out!

 

And so you see how evolutionism denies God’s promise that Christ will come again. The slogan of the evolutionists is: “Every day and in every way we are getting better and better.” What nonsense! Don’t they read the Newspapers? Or visit hospitals?

 

I read a book many years ago with the title, “The Omega Point.” It was written by a French paleontologist, who was also a Roman Catholic. For many years the RC Church put the book on the list of banned books. But later it was taken off. The author, Pierre, d’ Chardin, was a theistic evolutionist. In his development of the theory of evolution he claimed that as man improves through evolutionary processes he will continue to become a better and a higher creature until he reaches “the omega point,” which is to become God himself. One is reminded of the devil’s temptation of Eve: “Ye shall be as God. . . .”

 

And the flood is not all. When the curse came upon the creation with Adam’s fall, the curse brought death with its vast changes in the creation.

 

Evolutionism denies the coming of Christ!

 

Prof. H. Hanko