02.15. The Age and its Apostasy
XV THE AGE AND ITS APOSTASY
I
THERE are certain strategic words in the study of prophecy which, if made clear, would do much to solve many of its difficulties. For this reason it is proposed in this and another chapter to attempt a glossary of such words.
Take the word "age," for example. How often it is used! "This age" is spoken of; "the god of this age," "the end of the age," "the millennia! age," etc. ’What does it mean! The word occurs some forty times in the New Testament though it is commonly translated "world" (Greek "aion"). Here are some instances: "The harvest is the end of the world" ("age") ; "what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world" ("age") ; "be not conformed to this world" ("age") ; "the powers of the world (" age") to come." (See Matthew 13:39; Matthew 24:3; Romans 12:2; Hebrews 6:5.) It represents various periods of time, but of that we need not now speak. A more interesting question is the object or reason of the“ages." Chapell’s "Theology" suggests that it may be the opposing forces of Satan and his hosts in the heavenly places that causes them; for he regards them as so many stages in the divine warfare,so many epochs in the execution of the plan of redemption. There are concealments of God’s purpose in the ages which may be necessary in order to obtain victory (Matthew 24:43); or, as he remarks further, even the cycles of the heavenly bodies may have something to do with them, for" there is a wonderful harmony between the material and immaterial worlds."
However, for our present purpose it is more practical to observe that "age" is commonly used as synonymous with "dispensation" (Ephesians 1:10), which means "a period of time during which man is tested in respect of obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God." The Scofield Reference Bible speaks of seven dispensations:
(1) That of Innocency, when man was subjected to a very simple test, and warned of the consequences of disobedience (Genesis 2:17).
(2) That of Conscience, when man was responsible to do all known good, and abstain from all known evil, and to approach God through sacrifice (Genesis 3:23-24; Genesis 4:1-26; Genesis 5:1-32; Genesis 6:1-22; Genesis 7:1-24).
(3) That of Human Government, when man became responsible to govern the world for God (Genesis 8:1-22; Genesis 9:1-29; Genesis 10:1-32; Genesis 11:1-9, especially Genesis 9:5-6).
(4) That of Promise, which was exclusively Israelitish, when the descendants of Abraham came under a covenant, wholly gracious and unconditional, and which lasted until, at Sinai, Israel accepted the law (Genesis 12:1 - Exodus 19:8).
(5) That of Law, extending from Sinai to Calvary (Exodus 19:9 - John 19:30).
(6) That of Grace, which begins with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and extends to His coming again (John 1:17; 2 Corinthians 6:2).
(7) That of the Kingdom, or the Millennial Age, which continues from Christ’s Second Coming onward for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-4).
Some find an eighth dispensation revealed, that of the "Fullness of the Times" (Ephesians 1:10), and identified by them with the age when Christ shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father (1 Corinthians 15:24-28), a subject so large as to demand a separate article to define it.
It will be recalled that all of these" ages" passed into one another without any change of a catastrophic character except the Flood. There were changes revolutionary in principle, but they were not felt immediately and universally over the earth or over the race. In some cases they were slow of accomplishment or in reaching a consummation. The age of Innocency ended in the expulsion of man from Eden. The change to the dispensation of Promise effected little at first, outside of the family of Abraham; while that from Law to Grace, although in some particulars the most revolutionary of all, came to pass without the knowledge of the world beyond Jerusalem. And how much of the crucifixion was known or understood even within its walls, and how little were its general inhabitants affected by it!
Such may be the case when the present age passes into that of the Millennium. The descent of Christ into the air and the translation of His body, the Church, to meet Him there, may not seriously, nor for very long, disturb the rest of mankind. A seven days’ wonder, it may soon be forgotten. And the judgments to follow on the ungodly nations may seem at first only a repetition of the present" frightfulness" and its accompanying tribulations. Indeed, the effects of the passing of this age into the next will be continuous doubtless for a thousand years. (See the earlier chapter, "The Day of the Lord--When It Comes and What It Means.")
II
"Apostasy" is another word worth dwelling on because of its large place in the study of prophecy, and because of the serious relation it bears to the current history of the Church and the world. The word is not in the Bible, but that for which it stands is frequently named in the New Testament.
What does it mean? But first, what does itnotmean? An apostate is not an ordinary unbeliever in Christianity, a pagan for example, who has never heard of Christ and His Gospel. Neither is he a back-slidden Christian--one who, through sin, has lost his fellowship with God, and for whom forgiveness and cleansing wait on his penitent return (1 John 1:9). An apostate is not one who simply errs as to some specific truth of revelation, of which he may be as yet ignorant (Acts 19:1-6). Nor is he a heretic merely, for, as another says, heresy may be accounted for by the snare of Satan, and at the same time be consistent with the holding of a measure of the true faith (2 Timothy 2:25-26). An apostate is different from any of these, in that he is one who once knew, or professed to know and to hold the truth of Christianity, but who has altogether and definitely renounced it. That is not to say that he has renounced the whole of it, or the outward appearance and the profession of it; but that he has renounced the vital part of it, the Godhead of Christ and redemption through His sacrificial death; that which really makes one’s life a part of the life of God, through the reconciliation of the cross (Php 3:18; 2 Peter 2:11). The "apostasy," therefore, is a condition in the professing Church that expresses a definite and permanent falling away on the part of many from "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3). The parables of our Lord in the thirteenth of Matthew all predict this, but very especially that of the wheat and the tares, where "the supineness of the servants affords opportunity to the enemy to sow tares where good seed-had been already sown." The evil once introduced would be removed only by judgment at the end of the age. The Church had not been formed when these parables were spoken; but hardly had it come into existence before they began to be fulfilled. Listen to Paul in his address to the elders at Ephesus: "I know that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29-30). Compare also his words to the Church at Rome (Romans 16:17-18), to that at Corinth (2 Corinthians 12:20-21), Galatia (Galatians 4:8-10), Philippi (Php 3:18-19), Colosse (Colossians 2:4-23), and the well-known predictions in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, 1 Timothy 4:1-16, and 2 Timothy 3:1-17.
III To dwell on that in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17. In his first epistle to this church, Paul had enlarged upon that stage of the second coming of Christ associated with the translation of the Church to meet Him in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-16). But in this second epistle he does the same for that later stage of the same event, when Christ shall descend from heaven with His holy angels in flaming fire to judge the wicked and disobedient (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9). It would seem that some in that Church supposed that this had already come, that their tribulations at the hands of persecutors were nothing less than part of the general sorrow to be experienced in the "Day of the Lord." But Paul disabuses their minds of this. "Let no man deceive you by any means," he says: "for that day shall not come except there come a falling away (apostasy) first, and that man of sin be revealed," whom he describes.
He then adds, "the mystery of iniquity doth already work,"i.e., the apostasy had already begun, "only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way." The meaning of this seems to be that there was some power exercised in the earth and over Christendom preventing the full expression of this iniquity, hindering the apostasy from coming to a head.
Whatever this power may have been, it seems still to be working and exercising its restraining influence. Perhaps it is the semblance of Christianity, as represented in the nations of Christendom; perhaps it is the presence of the true Church not yet translated; in any event, it is the Holy Spirit Himself acting in or through these or other agencies. When he, i.e.,this restraining power, shall be removed, "then shall that wicked (or lawless one, the Antichrist) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." In other words, the apostasy will be brought to an end with the destruction of the chief apostate.
IV The modern development of the apostasy dates back to the close of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, in the rise of the destructive criticism of the Holy Scriptures. When man’s faith in the inspiration and authority of the Bible is undermined, the whole structure built upon it must eventually crumble; which explains what we hear now on every hand in the scouting of the deity of Christ, the lost condition of the race, the need of redemption through a sacrificial atonement, eternal retribution of the wicked, and practically all the fundamentals of revealed truth. And there is a close relation between this and the judgments on the nations synchronizing with the end of the age. Sooner or later, ecclesiastical corruption paves the way for the open revolt of the kingdoms and nations of the earth" against the Lord and against his Anointed." A writer in theNew York Evening Postremarks, that "the Bolsheviki are doing more damage to the Central Powers to-day with their ideas than they were ever able to do with their bayonets"--a principle that has a wide application. The United States and the Allies will be able to overcome the artillery and the submarines of Germany, we confidently believe; but the poison gas of her universities, pouring through the theological seminaries of our land, is a more lasting menace.
QUESTIONS ON THE LESSON 1.How often does the word, “age”occur in the New Testament and how is it commonly translated?
2. Quote some instances of its use.
3. What is Chapell’s theory of the object or reason of the ages?
4. What word in Ephesians 1:10 is synonymous with age?
5. What does "dispensation" mean?
6. How many dispensations are spoken of in the Scofield Reference Bible?
7. Name and describe these different dispensations.
8. What eighth dispensation is sometimes named?
9. Describe the manner in which these ages or dispensations passed into one another.
10. Apply the teaching of these historical facts to the coming Millennium.
11. Define the word, “Apostasy” from the negative side.
12. Who is an apostate?
13. State what the “Apostasy" is.
14. How many Scripture references have you examined showing the early rise of the Apostasy in the Church?
15. Expound 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 in your own words.
16. How will the Apostasy be brought to an end?
17. Describe the modern development of the Apostasy.
18. Describe the relation between the Apostasy and the coming judgment on the nations.