03.14. No Sign of Christ's Coming
CHAPTER FOURTEEN No Sign of Christ’s Coming
TWICE this book has been reset in type and each time this chapter on signs of Christ’s coming has been revised. Each time I needed to modify further the teaching. Now for a fourth edition, after months of prayer and study, I am led to rewrite the chapter entirely. I find it did not heretofore emphasize, as much as it ought, the one great central teaching of Christ and the apostles, that Jesus Christ may come at any moment, that His coming is imminent.
Christ’s coming is imminent. That means that Jesus may come at any moment. That means that there is no other prophesied event which must occur before Christ’s coming. Nothing else needs to happen before Jesus may come. No signs need precede it. Jesus may come today. He could have come at any time since Pentecost. It is a glad event hanging over us for which we should expectantly await. The coming of Christ is imminent.
I do not mean that "Jesus is coming soon," as so many people say. He may come soon; He may not come for five hundred years. I do not know, no one knows. But His coming is possible at any moment and we should expect it.
I do not mean that certain signs have appeared which indicate that Christ is coming soon. We do not need signs; we simply need to believe and heed His plain statements in the Bible. He commanded us to watch, and we should watch, knowing that He may come at any time.
I do not mean that there is any special evidence that we are "in the end of the age" or that these are "the closing days," as so many people say. I believe that is wrong and unscriptural. I do not believe that anybody in the world knows how close to the end we are. When I say that the coming of Jesus Christ is imminent, I do not mean that there is any special evidence that anybody can give that this age is drawing to an end. I simply mean that He may come at any moment, as He said He might, and we should watch for His coming.
I do not mean that we should expect Christ’s coming because of world events. No, we should expect His coming because He said for us to expect Him. We should expect His coming not by sight but by faith, not by the newspapers, but by the Word of God. At any moment, day or night, Jesus may come to call all the redeemed up in the air to meet Him, with those that sleep in Christ raised from the dead, and with us who are alive and remain changed in a moment and caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air. This is the one most important phase of the doctrine of Christ’s Second Coming. It is the one part of that doctrine which is most emphasized in the New Testament. To get this matter straight and clear in our minds will keep us from many heresies and mistakes and from many a false emphasis.
We Are Commanded to Watch Always for Christ’s Imminent Coming
That Christ’s Second Coming is imminent, that every Christian should watch continually for it, is made clear by the commands of the Lord Jesus. Also the teachings of the apostles are that Christians are to watch, to wait, to look for Jesus.
1. Note How Definite Are the Commands of Jesus to Watch for His Coming In Mat 24:42 Jesus said, "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." The therefore refers to what Jesus has just said above, that the coming of the Son of man will be as sudden and unexpected as the coming of the flood in the days of Noah. He said that of two in a field, one shall be taken and the other left; of two grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left; and therefore, because of the unexpected suddenness of Christ’s coming, we should watch.
Again read the command of Jesus repeated in the next verses:
"But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Mat 24:43-44).
Here the Saviour’s return for His saints is said to be as sudden and as unexpected as the coming of a thief in the night. Therefore a Christian is to be ready, always ready, "for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Then the following verses tell how blessed is the servant who watches for his master and how displeased his master will be with the servant that does not look for his master and is not ready when he returns. In Mat 25:1-46 we have the story of the ten virgins and of the midnight cry, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." And we are told of five foolish virgins who had no oil and were left outside the wedding. Then Jesus gives the application, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Mat 25:13). The same command to watch is repeated again and again in the words of Jesus. In Mark He says:
"Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:33-37).
How solemn, how urgent is the command! Verse Mark 13:33 says, "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is."
Verse Mark 13:35 says, "Watch ye therefore."
Verse Mark 13:37 says, "And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch."
Now it is quite clear that if any one of the disciples watched daily for Jesus after He went away, and thought He might return at any moment, he was only taking at face value the solemn words of the Saviour. And we must say that if at any time since Jesus went away a Christian, reading these words, expected his Lord’s return and solemnly prepared each day to greet the Master, or each night thought that his sleep might be interrupted with the glad trumpet sound and the voice of the archangel, he could not be accused of unfaithfulness. He did exactly what Jesus said a Christian was to do. And today we are commanded to watch and expect Jesus’ coming at any time. These Scriptures certainly teach that the coming of Jesus Christ may occur at any moment and that all of us ought to be ready and waiting for that event.
2. Other Scriptures Likewise Command Us to Look for Christ’s Coming at Any Moment
All through the rest of the New Testament, if one reads observantly, he will find this attitude of expectancy is taught, just as in the gospels.
Read with me these inspired words written to the Philippians:
"For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Php 3:20-21).
Here the word conversation means citizenship. Our citizenship is in Heaven. We are to have our minds on Heaven, not on this world, because from Heaven is coming the Saviour for us. ". . . . whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ . . ." Every New Testament Christian was taught to look for the Saviour’s coming. We today have the same command. When Paul began his work among the Thessalonians, many of them were saved. And when they were saved Paul taught them that they were to wait for Christ’s coming. He says:
"For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come" (1Th 1:9-10. When the people of Thessalonica turned to God, they turned "to wait for his Son from heaven." To these Christians the second coming of Christ in the future was as glorious and real as His first coming to redeem them. This expectant attitude, taught by the Spirit of God through Paul, means that the coming of Christ must be imminent; that is that Jesus may come at any moment. He could have come then or He could have come at any time since then. Likewise, He may come today. In 1Th 4:13-18 Paul gives an inspired account of the coming of Christ, when those who are asleep in Christ will not be left behind but Jesus will come from Heaven with a shout:
". . . and the dead in Christ shall rise .first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
Note that here the Thessalonians were to comfort one another with glad expectancy of meeting their loved ones at Christ’s Second Coming. They were not taught to look forward to death, but to look forward to Christ’s coming. That means that Jesus could have come at any moment, even during their lifetime, and may come now at any moment. In 1Ti 6:14 Paul was inspired to command Timothy, "That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ." Timothy was to expect Christ’s coming in his lifetime.
Paul taught young preachers that they must teach the imminent coming of Christ. In Tit 2:11-13 we read:
"For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
Here we see that it was an integral part of the gospel message that Christians should continually be "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus was to teach people to look for Christ’s coming. So it was proper for them to expect that Jesus might come at any moment. Christ was to be expected before there was any World War I or World War II, before any of the so-called present-day signs of Christ’s coming could appear. The second coming of Jesus Christ is to be expected continually, without any other basis except that He plainly promised He would return and that He commanded us to watch.
What should be the attitude of a Christian in this present world? He should be "looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."
Now the clear teaching of Christ and of the inspired writers is that every Christian should be watching, should be looking for, should be waiting for Christ’s coming. An honest God who puts those things in His Bible must mean that His Son may come at any moment. There is no other honest and fair meaning to be drawn from these plain words. Every Christian should watch daily, hourly, for Christ’s return.
3. Paul Himself Continually Expected Christ to Come During His Lifetime
It seems that, just before Paul was beheaded at Rome, God revealed to him that he would die. And he wrote Timothy, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand" (2Ti 4:6). But before that, in his epistles, Paul had, by divine inspiration, expressed the glad hope that he himself would be alive and remaining to meet Christ at His Second Coming. For example, see what Paul says in 1Co 15:52, "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."
Here Paul says that two groups will be wonderfully transformed when Christ comes. The Christian dead, those asleep in Jesus, will be raised from the dead. The Christians left still alive on the earth will be changed in a moment. And with which group did Paul expect to be numbered? He expected to be with those still living! "For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and WE shall be changed", he says. God put in Paul’s heart the glad expectation that he would be alive when Jesus came. The same thing is clear in the way Paul wrote the Thessalonians. He said, "And the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air . . ." (1Th 4:16-17). Here Paul clearly counts himself as likely to be with those still alive when Jesus should come.
Now mark very carefully what Paul said. He did not say that it was revealed to him that he would be alive when Jesus returns. He disclaims any knowledge of when Jesus would return. But God had Paul put down in Holy Writ his glad expectation. Was Paul wrong? No, he was right! He was looking for Jesus to come. He did not claim to know, but in the language used it becomes clear that he hoped that Christ would come in his lifetime. He was simply looking for the Saviour, waiting for the Saviour, watching for the Saviour, exactly as Christians had been commanded to do, and as we today are likewise commanded to do.
Certainly it becomes clear from the Scriptures we have used that the imminent coming of Christ is a New Testament doctrine. The coming of Christ was gladly expected in New Testament times. And if we, like they, obey the Saviour, we too will be looking for Jesus to come at any moment.
We should remember, too, that New Testament Christians were never exhorted to look for Jesus because of certain signs or historical events. They were simply commanded to watch, and they were to do that by faith, because it was commanded. In view of this solemn, oft-repeated command to watch for Christ’s coming, we know that Jesus could have returned to earth any time after Pentecost. There was no event foretold, after Pentecost, which must precede Christ’s coming. So Christians are not to wait for any signs. Christ could come before any wars, any growth in wickedness, before any origin of a new nation Israel. World events are not to influence the Christian in this matter. We are simply to watch for Christ to come because He commanded us to watch and because we know He may come at any moment. No One Knows or Can Know When Christ Will Return
It is surprising and saddening to find how many ways people try to get around the repeated and plain statements of the Bible, that no one is to know when Christ may come. Despite repeated warnings that no one is to know the day, the hour, the time, the season, many people try to find evidences or inferences or signs-by which they may foretell approximately or exactly when Jesus will come.
Perhaps half of the false cults are started by leaders who think they have some new knowledge about the time of the second coming. The Millerites and Seventh-Day Adventists tried to set the time encouraged by a misinterpretation of Dan 8:14 and by a meteor shower, and first thought that Jesus would come in 1843. That date failing, then October 22, 1844. The British Israelites have set dates for Christ’s coming judging by measurements in the great pyramid. Others have thought that they could make a day mean a year in the book of Daniel and so estimate when Christ should come. Martin Luther thought that the papacy was a sign of Christ’s soon coming. Others have thought that the rise of Napoleon, of Kaiser Wilhelm, of Mussolini, of Hitler, of Stalin indicated the soon return of the Saviour. Every major flood, earthquake, or famine has been used as a sign. The rise of modernism, the rise of communism, of the false cults, have all been cited as evidences that Jesus must come by a certain time. The founding of the modern nation, Israel, is often so cited. But all who try to prove by any signs or evidence that Christ will come within any specified time sin against the plain statements and the plain command of Jesus Christ. See again what Jesus said.
1. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus Said That Neither Man Nor Angels, Nor He Himself Knew When He Would Return In Mat 24:36, speaking of the Second Coming, Jesus said, "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only." In Mark 13:32-33, we have Jesus’ words as follows, "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is."
Here we are told that "no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son," but only the Father knows when Christ will return!
We believe that Christ now, in His exalted and glorious state, knows when He will return. But here I understand Him to claim that while on earth He did not know. If Jesus did not know, it was because He had emptied Himself of the outward evidences and marks of His deity. Certainly it is clear that no man in the world knows or can know when Christ will come and the angels themselves in Heaven do not know. That means that there are no signs by which one can know, no way of figuring by the Bible, or of marking things by world events. And again, in the next verse, Jesus solemnly warns, "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is." Not only are we told that we do not know when the time of Christ’s return is, but we are told that this is a part of the plan of God. It is a solemn duty to take heed, watch, and pray, and God has planned it this way so we will walk by faith and not by sight. God simply does not intend us to know when Christ will return. By comparison of the Scripture in Mat 24:1-51 and in Mark 13:1-37, we come upon another striking illustration given by the Saviour. In Mat 24:43; Mat 24:44 we read the following statement: "But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."
Here the illustration is used of a man, a householder, who has the misfortune of having a thief break into his house and steal. The point is that the coming of the Saviour will be as sudden, as unheralded and unexpected as the breaking in of a thief. And we are told that "the goodman of the house" will not know even what watch of the night, which of the three-hour periods into which the Roman night was divided, the thief would come. And the indication is that likewise we cannot even tell what watch it will be when Jesus comes. This is a dark age in which we live. For the Christian, Christ is the bright and morning Star, a light in the darkness. When Jesus returns to reign on the earth, the darkness will be over, and so He is spoken of as "the Sun of righteousness" who will arise with healing in His wings for Israel. But this age is a dark age. It is the time of the Gentiles. The world is largely ruled by Satan, "the prince of the power of the air," who is called, "the god of this world." Now suppose that this long period between Christ’s first coming and His second coming be divided into four watches. If it should turn out to be the year 2,000 before Jesus came, then each watch would be 500 years. And one cannot tell in which watch Jesus will come. The same idea is expressed in the words of the Saviour in Mark 13:35, "Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning." Here the four watches of the night are named; the Evening Watch, roughly from 6 P.M. till 9 P.M.; the Midnight Watch, which ends at midnight; the Cock-crowing Watch, ending at 3 A.M.; and the Morning Watch, ending at 6 A.M.
We learn that no man can know the day nor the hour when Jesus comes. But here we also learn that no one can even know the watch when Jesus will return. If the whole age should be divided into four parts, no one has any evidence by which they can foretell in which watch Jesus would return.
We do not know what watch it is even now, according to God’s schedule, and we do not know when Christ will return. No one can know the day nor the hour or the century when Christ will return. But He may come at any moment.
2. The Risen Saviour Warns the Apostles, "It Is Not for You to Know the Times or Seasons"
We know how sorely tempted people are to try to set dates for Christ’s coming. Evidently the apostles were as anxious about that as other men. After Jesus was risen from the dead, He talked to His disciples. "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence" (Acts 1:4-5). Did the disciples now look forward to being filled with the Spirit and starting out to win souls? No, they did not. They immediately began to find out when Christ would return and set up the kingdom on earth, sitting on David’s throne. "When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6).
How many others would rather speculate on the time of Christ’s return than to be filled with power and win souls! Now hear the Saviour’s answer, "And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7).
Jesus did not tell them when He would return. He did not say when He would set up the kingdom. In fact, He plainly told them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." It is simply not God’s plan for Christians to know the future! The word times is used more than once in the Bible to represent years, and it may mean years here. In Dan 7:25 we are told that the saints shall be given into the hand of the Antichrist "until a time and times and the dividing of time." These three and one-half years are clearly expressed elsewhere (Rev 13:5; Rev 11:2-3). Rev 12:14 also speaks of these three and one-half years as "a time, and times, and half a time." If one is not to know the time, then one is not to know even the year in which Christ will return. And in Acts 1:7, Jesus said that one is not to know the season of Christ’s return. I judge that this means some extended period of time. So we may safely say that one is not to know the day, or the hour, or the watch, or the year, or the era in which Jesus is to come. The time of Christ’s return is deliberately and intentionally left in the realm of the unrevealed. It is presumptuous for people to set out to know what God has plainly declared is not to be known.
Nearly all the fortunetellers play on this carnal longing to know the future. Nearly all the false cults some way appeal to men on this basis. So the coming of Christ must be imminent. No signs need precede it. No preliminary warning comes of the end. No one can know when we are "in the closing days of the age." No one can know even approximately when Jesus will come. We are simply commanded to watch by faith and look for Christ’s coming because He said to watch. The Only "Signs" of Christ’s Coming Will Be After the Rapture We know from the Scripture that there will be two phases of Christ’s coming.
First, He will come into the air to receive His saints. At that time will occur the first resurrection, the living Christians will be changed, and all together will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and taken away for the wedding supper and the judgment seat of Christ in Heaven. On earth, meantime, will be a great tribulation.
Then will come the second phase of Christ’s Second Coming, when Christ will return with saints and angels, will appear on the Mount of Olives, with a mighty army of all the angels following Him. He will fight the Battle of Armageddon, set up His throne at Jerusalem, judge the Gentile nations, and reign for a thousand years. THE ONLY SIGNS MENTIONED IN THE BIBLE FOR CHRIST’S SECOND COMING REFER TO HIS REVELATION, WHEN HE COMES TO REIGN ON THE EARTH, IN THE SECOND PHASE OF HIS RETURN.
That, I believe, becomes evident on further study of the Scriptures.
I have been compelled to alter my previous position. During thirty years of ministry, I found that preaching on signs of Christ’s Second Coming did not turn out satisfactorily. I once thought the rise of Mussolini might be a sign that the Roman Empire was about to be restored. I know now I was wrong. I have found that events which seemed very significant at the moment later faded into insignificance when Christ did not come when expected. I find that more and more false cults and heresies tend to arise out of stressing signs of Christ’s coming. I find that preaching on signs of Christ’s coming tends to cause people to sin by setting times or dates or approximate dates for Christ’s return. More important, I find that the Bible doctrine of the imminency of Christ’s coming does not fit with signs, and that in fact, we are not promised any signs whatever of the coming of Christ to receive His saints into the air!
I am convinced that the only signs of Christ’s coming mentioned in the Bible are the signs which must occur after Christ comes for His own at the rapture, signs which will occur during the tribulation time or afterward.
1. A Definitely Foretold, Measured, Scheduled Period of Time Like Daniel’s Sev-entieth Week May Have Signs of the End; This Unscheduled, Undefinite Age May Not The Bible tells us that after Christ comes into the air to receive His saints, there will be a seven-year period called Daniel’s Seventieth week. In Dan 9:24-27, we are told that seventy weeks of Jewish history were foretold. We are told, "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times."
Those sixty-nine weeks of years, 483 years, were fulfilled from the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, unto the coming of the Saviour. Then the Saviour was cut off, Jerusalem was destroyed, and the history of Jews as a nation lapsed. But after the rapture of the saints, the Man of Sin will make a covenant with the Jews for this last seventieth week of years. In the midst of that period, after three and one-half years, he will commit the "abomination of desolation" and begin his terrible persecution of the Jews. And this 3 1/2 years, 42 months, 1,260 days, is called "the Great Tribulation."
See how definitely this period of time is outlined in the Bible. The first sixty-nine weeks have already been fulfilled, so we know that really they are weeks of years, or more literally, sevens of years. We do not know whether the prophesied covenant with the Jews by the Antichrist, a cov-enant for seven years, will be made immediately after the rapture, or a little later. But after that covenant is made, anybody left on the earth knowing the Scriptures ought to be able to count and find about when the Lord Jesus would return to destroy the Antichrist and set up His kingdom on earth.
We are told that the abomination of desolation, when the Man of Sin will claim to be God on earth, will happen "in the midst of the week" (Dan 9:27). That will leave three and one-half years as the time when the Man of Sin or Antichrist will persecute the Jews and persecute the saints. This period is called "a time, and times, and the dividing of time," three and one-half years, in Dan 7:25. It is the same 42 months of Rev 11:2; the 1,260 days of Rev 11:3, it is the "time, and times, and half a time," 3 1/2 years of persecution of "the woman," Israel, mentioned in Rev 12:14; it is the 42 months in which the Antichrist will continue, mentioned in Rev 13:5.
Obviously, after the rapture when Christ takes His saints into the air, we shall enter into a scheduled period of time well outlined.
Recently as I rode a Pennsylvania train from Chicago to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, I could tell when we approached Lancaster by the stations we went through. We were at Pittsburgh about nine o’clock, and I knew we were hours away from our destination. But later we passed Johnstown; we were getting nearer. At Altoona, I knew that time was shorter. When we arrived at Harrisburg, I knew that the next stop of the fast train would be Lancaster. You see, on approaching a scheduled and timed event, one can see the end approaching. In th-at case there are signs of the end, or milestones.
However, such is not the case in this present age. There are no milestones to go by, saying that the end is coming, because the end is promised to come suddenly, without warning, so that no man can know when it approaches. If the coming of Christ be imminent, that is, that Jesus may come at any time, without any preliminary warning, without any scheduling of previous events, then there can be no signs of Christ’s coming into the air to receive His saints. This coming of Christ into the air to receive us is to be as sudden as the coming of the unexpected flood in Noah’s day, as sudden as a thief coming in the night, so that the goodman does not know what watch of the night the thief will come. It is to be like a master unexpectedly returning in the midst of the night from a long journey. We are to -watch because there will be no warning, no sign, no preliminary events to warn us. For example, if Jesus could have come in Paul’s day, and if Paul was right to expect His coming and to teach the Thessalonians to "wait for his Son from heaven" (1Th 1:10), then it is obvious that World War I, or World War II, or the return of the handful of Jews to Palestine, could not be signs of that coming! The coming of Christ to receive His saints is an unscheduled matter, the time is kept secret, and there are no events which can herald the approach of Christ’s coming.
We will be saved grief, heresy, and trouble if we will remember the thing the dear Saviour stressed the most, "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come" (Mat 24:42).
2. The Signs Promised by the Saviour in the Olivet Discourse Are to Follow the Rapture, Not to Precede It
How many thousands of preachers preach sermons on "Signs of Christ’s Coming"! So did I. But I was wrong, because I misunderstood some Scriptures and did not look closely enough to see what they said. In the Olivet Discourse, as recorded in Mat 24:1-51, let us see what questions were asked Jesus and what He really promised.
First, read what Jesus said and the disciples’ questions.
"And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily 1 say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Mat 24:2-3).
Note the two questions:
1. "When shall these things be?" that is, the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. Obviously, this happened in A.D. 70, and is already passed.
2. "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" The question as recorded in Mark 13:4, is, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?"
Now which phase of Christ’s coming is meant in this question? Are the disciples asking about when the rapture will take place, when Christ will come into the air, when we shall be caught up to meet Him? Or are they speaking about His return to reign, when His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives, when He shall destroy the enemies of the Jews and set up His kingdom at Jerusalem?
Naturally, Jews would be more concerned with the revelation of Christ, His literal descent to the earth to regather all the Jews and save them and re-establish David’s throne at Jerusalem. Throughout the Old Testament the prophecies about Christ’s Second Coming are nearly always concerned with this second phase of His return when He is to come all the way down to the earth and regather Israel, save them and restore the Jewish kingdom. The rapture is scarcely mentioned in the Old Testament and we can see why. When these same apostles asked Jesus about His return in Acts 1:6, they said, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" That question is only a few days after this one in the Olivet Discourse. You see, it is the return of Christ after the tribulation, with saints and angels, which is meant here. That is made specially clear because the question has two parts. "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" That means the end of Gentile rule, the times of the Gentiles. And this age will not end at the rapture, but after the tribulation time, when Christ sets up His kingdom on earth. So the sign of Christ’s coming mentioned in Mat 24:3 is a sign of His coming in power and glory, bringing us back with Him after the tribulation. That is the way Jesus answered the question, too. Later in the chapter we read:
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Mat 24:29-30).
After the tribulation, that is, after we have been caught up in the air to meet Christ and have gone with Him to Heaven, after Daniel’s seventieth week is finished, after the tribulation is over, then will appear "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" and people shall "see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." In the tribulation time, anybody who is left here, converted in that time and called to preach, might well preach on the signs of Christ’s coming. But now there are to be no signs until after the rapture, and after we shall be taken to Heaven.
3. There Is No Prophetic Significance in the Present Partial Worldly Establishment of a Jewish State in Israel
Thousands of Christians suppose that when a handful of unconverted Jews by worldly methods seized part of Palestine and part of Jerusalem and were proclaimed a separate nation May 14, 1948, that that was a definite sign that Christ must come soon. But they base that teaching on a misunderstanding of what Jesus said in that Olivet Discourse, as I will show you.
Now read Mat 24:29-33 :
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors."
I wanted you to see those verses all together. Note that everything in these verses happens "immediately AFTER THE TRIBULATION." The things prophesied here do not happen before Christ comes to call us out to meet Him at the rapture. Rather, they come after the tribulation time.
Someone says that the fig tree in the Bible always represents Israel; therefore the establishment of Israel as a nation is a sign that Christ must come. But here we see that these words are not for our times at all. The present small and partial establishment of the nation Israel in unbelief is an entirely different matter from the tremendous, miraculous event which is foretold in the Bible. When Christ comes to the earth bodily, in glory, to set up His kingdom, "immediately after the tribulation," His sign will appear in Heaven, and all men shall see it coming.
Then "he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect [Israel, the chosen nation, all the Jews left alive in the world] from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
Note that this regathering is to be miraculous, is to be done by the angels of God, and is to be complete. Every Jew in the world will be miraculously regathered to Palestine.
If you will read the Old Testament prophecy of this event in Deu 30:1-6, you will see that every Jew will be re-gathered miraculously, that every one will be circumcised in heart, that is, born again, and all will be brought "into the land which thy fathers possessed," Palestine. But no such miraculous and universal regathering of Israel has yet taken place. The prophecy has not been fulfilled. It will be fulfilled "immediately after the tribulation." What has happened in Palestine is not the prophesied event which will come later, after we are caught up to meet the Lord in the air and when we return with Him to reign. So when we speak of signs of Christ’s coming, we ought to mean signs that will occur after we have been caught up with Christ in the air, after the tribulation.
4. Daniel’s "Time of the End" Does Not Refer to Our Day, but to the Tribulation Time In Dan 12:4 are these words often misunderstood by those who preach on signs of Christ’s coming. We read, "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased."
Many people suppose that the truth about preliminary events before Christ should return to catch away His bride were hidden from people in Daniel’s time, but would be revealed in "the time of the end." And such good Christians often suppose that the term "the time of the end" or "the end time" refers to the last few years of this church age, before Christ shall come into the air to receive His saints. But they are wrong. "The time of the end" refers to the tribulation time. In the Scofield Bible is a very clear and helpful note on this question. On page 919, Dr. Scofield says:
"The ’time of the end’ in Daniel. The expression, or its equivalent, ’in the end,’ occurs, Dan 8:17-19; Dan 9:26; Dan 11:35; Dan 11:40; Dan 11:45; Dan 12:4; Dan 12:6; Dan 12:9. Summary: (1) The time of the end in Daniel begins with the violation by ’the prince that shall come’ (i.e. ’little horn,’ ’man of sin,’ ’Beast’) of his covenant with the Jews for the restoration of the temple and sacrifice (Dan 9:27), and his presentation of himself as God (Dan 9:27; Dan 11:36-38; Mat 24:15; 2Th 2:4; Rev 13:4-6), and ends with his destruction by the appearing of the Lord in glory (2Th 2:8; Rev 19:19-20). (2) The duration of the ’time of the end’ is three and one half years, coinciding with the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel (Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7; Rev 13:5). (3) This ’time of the end’ is the ’time of Jacob’s trouble’ (Jer 30:7); ’a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation’ (Dan 12:1); ’great tribulation such as was not from the beginning of the world . . . nor ever shall be’ (Mat 24:21). The N. T., especially the Book of the Revelation, adds many details." A careful study of the Scriptures mentioned will convince one that Daniel’s "time of the end" is the tribulation period, and that none of the things mentioned are signs to us who live now and will be called out to meet Christ before the tribulation begins.
5. The Preaching of the Gospel to All the World Now Could Not Be a Sign of Christ’s Coming
Some are wrong in supposing that Mat 24:14 refers to this present time. In my humble judgment, one is entirely wrong to suppose that the present-day preaching of the Gospel in all the world, now, is referred to in Mat 24:14. In the first place, the Gospel has already been preached in all the world, long, long ago, and that is not a peculiar sign of this age. The Gospel was preached in all the world, even in apostolic times. At Pentecost, we are told, "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven," and these had the Gospel preached to them, and in turn they preached it to their people. In Rom 1:8, Paul says, "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world." If the whole world had heard of the Christian faith of the saints at Rome, then the whole world had heard the Gospel. And in Col 1:5-6, Paul speaks of ". . . the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world . . ." So all the world had already heard the Gospel in apostolic times. In the second place, in Mat 24:14, Jesus clearly had in mind the end of the age, that is, the "times of the Gentiles," and that end of the age, or the end of the world about which the disciples asked in verse Mat 24:3, will not come until after the rapture, after the tribulation, after the return of Christ in glory with saints and angels, and after the battle of Armageddon, with the setting up of Christ’s throne. It is during the tribulation time that the Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, again, and then will come the end of the tribulation and the end of the age. So the preaching of the Gospel now in all the world could not possibly be a sign of Christ’s coming.
Some Other So-Called Signs Are Only Characteristics of This Whole Age In His discourse on the Mount of Olives concerning His Second Coming, Jesus gave the disciples plain warning that they should not be deceived about signs of His coming.
1. Wars, Famines, Pestilences, Earthquakes, False Cults Are Characteristics of This Whole Age, Not Signs of Christ’s Second Coming When Jesus started to answer their question, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" (Mat 24:3), this is the warning He gave them:
"And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours :of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places" (Mat 24:4-7).
Jesus names a number of things here, including wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, etc., but He makes clear "for all these things must come to pass, BUT THE END IS NOT YET"! The things named here are not signs of the second coming. Rather, they are characteristics of the whole age!
We think that modern war is terrible. Actually more people died for the number engaged in the Civil War in America than in World Wars I or II. The Thirty Years’ War in Europe was more destructive of life in the area covered than other wars since that time in Europe. The destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jewish nation a few years after Jesus gave these words was infinitely more terrible than has happened to any single nation since that time. Wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes are simply characteristics of this whole age and ought not to be counted as signs of Christ’s Second Coming.
I am very familiar with the interpretation some give that the last two so-called world wars were "global" and that the others before were not. Actually, of course, there is a sense in which the Thirty Years’ War in Europe involved most of the nations of the world. The Napoleonic Wars involved Europe, Africa, Asia, and Mexico. The wars of Caesar and of Alexander the Great involved three continents. Then it is equally true that World Wars I and II did not involve every nation in the earth. The difference in the wars was in degree but not essentially in kind. I believe that one has no right to say that Mat 24:6-7 taken at its face value pictures "global wars" that would not picture the wars before World War I. In fact "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" simply states that one nation will rise against another nation, and one kingdom shall rise against another kingdom. There is not even a hint here of a global war as such, or universal war. That very popular interpretation, it seems to me, is stretched to meet the needs of the theory, but that interpretation is not inherent in the Scripture itself. Can you say that a war is global if it does not involve all the nations? Is it total war which leaves untouched the scores of nations in South America, much of Africa, and much of Asia? At very best, the participation of a majority of the nations in the last World War was only a token participation, and did not seriously threaten the nations or occupy much of their manpower or resources or essentially immediately concern their destiny. The war was bad, but so are all wars.
Again, it goes against the context to say that in Mat 24:4-7 Jesus is speaking at all of any signs of His second coming. Only one "sign" was mentioned in the question (Mat 24:3), and only one "sign" is mentioned in Christ’s answer (Mat 24:30). The disciples said, "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Notice it is only one sign mentioned. And Jesus answers that in Mat 24:29-30. He says, "Immediately after the tribulation . . . then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven." So the single sign here discussed in Matthew 24 will occur after the tribulation, and therefore after the rapture.
Neither the question nor the answer referred to the wars, false cults, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes mentioned in these verses, Mat 24:4-7. These verses describe the course of the age, and Jesus plainly says that "for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." They are not to be regarded as signs of Christ’s coming. They are simply the marks of the whole age, concerning which Jesus plainly warns us that we are not to be deceived.
2. The Term "the Last Days" in the Bible Refers to this Whole Age, Not Simply to a Few Years Preceding Christ’s Coming A number of times in the New Testament, terms are used referring to a certain period as "the Last Days" or "the latter times." People have sometimes supposed that such terms refer to closing days or years of this age, just preceding Christ’s coming into the air for His saints. So 1Ti 1:4, speaking of "the latter times," is supposed to give a sign of Christ’s coming. 2Ti 3:1-5 is supposed by some to picture the terrible apostasy just before Christ returns, because it mentions "in the last days." 2Pe 3:3 mentions "in the last days" scoffers who will deny the second coming. This is regarded as a sign that Christ must soon come. But all these inferences are not justified by the Scriptures because the term "the Last Days" in the New Testament refers to this whole age, that is, the New Testament age instead of the Old Testament age. The term refers to this age of the Great Commission, the age of the church, instead of the age of the ceremonial law. That is easy to prove. In Acts 2:14-21 we find Peter standing up at Pentecost and explaining the miraculous happenings of that day. He said:
"But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass IN THE LAST DAYS, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams" (vss. Acts 2:16-17. The pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost partially marks the fulfillment of that prophecy, says Peter, by divine inspiration. So the last days must include the Pentecostal revival, and go on through until "that great and notable day of the Lord" (vs. Acts 2:20). "The last days" means this whole age.
Scriptures that tell of what will happen in the last days or the latter times mean certain characteristics of this whole age.
Again in Heb 1:1-2 we read a definitive passage of Scripture about the "last days":
"God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath IN THESE LAST DAYS spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds."
- Jesus Christ’s public ministry began the last days.
- The last days included Pentecost.
- The last days go on through this age till "the day of the Lord," as we saw in Acts 2:20.
Thus the Bible passages referring to the last days do not mean a few closing days or years before Christ comes, but the whole age. So the events or conditions mentioned could not be signs of Christ’s coming. Further study of every passage in the New Testament with the term "the Last Days" or its equivalent will show that the time then present was meant.
Another interesting passage which bears on this question is 1Jn 2:18 :
"Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time."
It was already "the last time" when John wrote his epistle. So the term "the last time" or "the Last Days" or "the latter times" refers to the whole age, and what people have thought were conditions which must immediately precede Christ’s coming, are really conditions during the whole age, and have nothing to do with signs of Christ’s coming.
Yet Other Scriptures Are Sometimes Misunderstood to Mark Signs That Will Precede Christ’s Coming
Perhaps in one brief chapter we cannot answer every question, but there are yet two other Scriptures which have been misunderstood, and so have been used as a basis for preaching the signs of Christ’s coming.
1. The "Great Apostasy," Supposed to Come Just Before Christ Returns, Is a Result of a Misunderstood Scripture
2Th 2:1-3 speaks of "a falling away" which is supposed to come before the day of the Lord, that is, before Christ returns to reign. Let us read the passage prayerfully.
"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, nor 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."
Some Thessalonians had misunderstood Paul’s first letter, perhaps, and they thought that the day of the Lord, when Christ will return to regather Israel and reign on the earth, was to come immediately. No, Paul wrote them by divine inspiration that certain other things must occur first before the reign of Christ.
These things are numbered:
(1) "the falling away," first;
(2) "And that man of sin will be revealed."
We are told that these two things must come before Christ returns to fight the Battle of Armageddon, regather the Jews, and reign on David’s throne. There must come a falling away and a Man of Sin, the Antichrist, must appear, bringing with him, of course, the Great Tribulation.
Then we are told a little further that "the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed . . ."
Now it has come about naturally that many people thought that "a falling away" mentioned here is a spiritual apostasy. In fact in the margin of the Scofield Reference Bible is a note which says "the apostasy." And that idea comes from a very curious truth. The Greek word here is literally apostasy. The English word apostasy is not a translation, but a transliteration of the word. However, people are misled by this fact because the word in the Greek does not necessarily mean the same as apostasy means in English. In the Greek it means a loosing, a falling away; and so the King James translators properly translated it "a falling away"
It often occurs that when a word goes from one language to another it has a greatly modified meaning. For example, the Greek word dunamis came over into the English language as dynamite. But it does not mean dynamite in the Greek at all; it means power and is the word used in Acts 1:8, "ye shall receive power."
Another illustration is our English word impediment. It is really a Latin word, brought over into the English language. But in the Latin it means army baggage, as one who has studied Caesar’s Gallic Wars might remember. The baggage was in the way in fighting and so it came to mean an impediment, a hindrance; but that is not the literal meaning in the Latin. So the Greek word for falling away does not mean necessarily apostasy.
Then what does it mean? It seems to me to definitely mean the rapture of the saints. One of these days the pull of gravity that binds us to this earth will be loosed in a moment, and we will be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the air. We will literally fall away from the earth to meet Jesus Christ. And this literal meaning fits the Greek fully as well if not better than to spiritualize the word and make it mean a falling away from Christ or doctrine.
Besides, this meaning is necessary. Look again at 2Th 2:3. Two conditions must be fulfilled before Christ comes to reign on earth. Those two conditions are the falling away and the Man of Sin with his persecutions and tribulations for the earth. But what about the rapture of the saints? Must not that come first? If the coming of Christ is imminent, and may come at any moment; if Christ’s coming into the air to receive His saints is the next thing on God’s program, then certainly the rapture must come before Christ’s return to reign. If you make "a falling away" mean Christians falling away from this earth, caught up to meet Christ in the air, then the picture is complete. Without this you have an apostasy coming before Christ’s reign, and the Man of Sin coming before Christ’s reign, but nothing about the rapture at all!
Yet later in the same passage, the rapture is inferred, because the Holy Spirit is said to now hinder the coming of the Antichrist and his wickedness, until He, the Holy Spirit, be taken out of the way. The Holy Spirit will doubtless be caught up in the bodies of believers, and in that sense, He will no longer hinder the appearance of the Man of Sin. But the rapture is not mentioned as one of the things preceding the day of the Lord unless "a falling away" refers to the rapture, as I believe it clearly does.
How could Christ’s coming be imminent, if Christ could not come until the theory of evolution became popular? Or how could Christ’s coming be imminent, so that He might have come even in New Testament times, if He could not come before modernism gained such headway in certain American denominations? No, it simply doesn’t fit. Apostasy in doctrine is no sign of Christ’s coming. There are no signs by which anybody can know when the coming of the Saviour approaches. And 2Th 2:3 says that the rapture itself must precede the coming of the day of the Lord. Properly speaking, the only two things that precede the "day of the Lord" are the rapture and the Man of Sin with all the entails.
Apostasy? It happened in the first and second centuries so that not a single one of the churches mentioned as the seven churches of Asia in Rev 2:1-29 and Rev 3:1-22, now remain. Rome, with all her heresy, developed centuries ago.
- Does any reader believe that the awful apostasy which almost put out the Gospel light for centuries in the Dark Ages was preferable to the apostasy today?
- Does anyone believe that the Spanish Inquisition, the burnings at the stake, the massacre of whole cities and peoples was essentially better than modernism and false cults today? The simple truth is that the tendency of poor, carnal human hearts to fall away from the truth is inherent in the race and happens in all ages. Apostasy was as much current in the seven churches of Asia as it is current today in American denominations. Those who think that modernism and worldliness are new manifestations have simply not learned from the Bible how wicked is the human heart in all ages, and have not learned from history how depravity thus has showed itself in every century.
Apostasy is not a mark of the close of the age, and has nothing prophetically to do with the second coming of Christ. We are to expect the dear Saviour to come at any time, signs or no signs, because He said He would, and because He commanded us to watch.
2. The Warning of Heb 10:25, "As Ye See the Day Approaching" Told the Jews in Jerusalem of the Near Destruction of the City in A.D. 70
Once I supposed that Heb 10:25 spoke of the Second Coming. It says, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." However, on making a more thorough study of the book of Hebrews, I became convinced that this is a warning of the coming destruction of the city of Jerusalem which occurred in A.D. 70, at the hand of Titus and his Roman army.
We remember that Jesus had given most solemn warning of this coming ruin to the city He loved.
"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled" (Luk 21:20-24). This destruction occurred A.D. 70, about thirty-seven years after Jesus made this prediction.
Later the book of Hebrews takes up the same kind of solemn warning. When the book of Hebrews was written, the temple seems to have been still standing in Jerusalem, the Levites and priests carrying on the regular sacrifices. Heb 10:11 says, "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins." Note the present tense of that Scripture. The sacrifices were still being offered in the temple when the book of Hebrews was written.
Note also Heb 7:9 which says, "And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham." The priests and Levites, descendants of Levi, were even then receiving tithes in the temple at Jerusalem. And Heb 1:5 in the same chapter says, "And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law . . ." Note also Heb 13:10, "We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle."
Priests and Levites even then, when the book of Hebrews was written, ate of other sacrifices brought to the temple at Jerusalem. So the book of Hebrews was written shortly before the destruction of Jerusalem, probably A.D. 64.
Now throughout the book of Hebrews, Jews were being prepared for the final dissolution of all the temple sacrifices and services.
Hebrews tells:
- How Christ is better than angels, - How Christ is better than Moses, - How Christ is better than the high priests of Israel, - How the sacrifice made by Christ once and for all purchased salvation, as the animal sacrifices could not do.
We are told how the new covenant supersedes the old covenant and the old is ready to pass away. Then we are told in Heb 9:1-28, how the blood of Christ is infinitely superior to the blood of goats and calves, and the heavenly sanctuary is infinitely better than the temple at Jerusalem. Finally all this teaching comes to a mighty climax in Heb 10:18, "Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin." The Old Testament sacrifices are over. The temple will be destroyed, the priesthood scattered, the animal sacrifices offered no more! For now, through Christ, we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, we are told. If you will read Heb 10:18-25 with this in mind, you will see how God brings the subject to the mighty climax. The believers among the Jews are solemnly warned to meet together to exhort one another, to hold fast the profession of faith without wavering, as they see the armies gathering about Jerusalem and the inevitable destruction of it, as foretold by Jesus Christ, about to take place! ". . . so much the more as ye see the day approaching."
Now after building up to the mention of destruction in Heb 10:25, verses Heb 10:26-31 speak of the vengeance of God, His judgment and fiery indignation, and of sinners dying without mercy who have trodden under foot the Son of God. God’s vengeance is coming! "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31).
Thereafter, properly enough, the rest of the book of Hebrews leaves off the discussion of the Hebrew temple, sacrifices, covenant and priesthood to speak of the heroes of the faith, of trial, and testing, and martyrdom, and chastening. And the one place which mentions again the Jewish altars and sacrifices is in Heb 13:10-14, which tells these Jewish Christians solemnly, "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (vss. Heb 13:13-14). Jerusalem will be destroyed. These converted Jews will be wanderers on the face of the earth now, without any continuing city, and so they are told that they may bear the solemn reproach of Christ and look for another city, when Jesus comes! A solemn study of Heb 10:25, in view of the whole book, seems to me conclusive proof that when Paul, by divine inspiration, warned the Hebrew people, ". . . but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" he was warning them of the destruction of Jerusalem which Jesus had clearly foretold and which was to occur within a short time. He was not warning of the second coming of Christ.
Nobody will "see the day approaching" when Jesus will come. Multiplied thousands have thought they saw it, but were mistaken.
- Martin Luther thought he saw it when he rushed his book on Daniel into print before the Saviour should come.
- The Millerites thought they saw it with the shower of meteors which they thought fulfilled prophecy and portended the coming of the Saviour.
- "Pastor" Russell thought he saw the day of Christ approaching, and solemnly promised that Christ would come in 1914, but he was mistaken.
No, we do not "see the day approaching" of Christ’s coming. But Jews saw solemn portents of terrifying signs that the city of Jerusalem would be destroyed. And the book of Hebrews was written partly to prepare Jewish believers for the utter destruction of the temple and its sacrifices and the scattering of its priesthood. When Jesus said ". . . The kingdom of God cometh not with observation" (Luk 17:20), He certainly did not mean that people could see His coming approaching, but the contrary, as the context shows. When Jesus said, "No man knoweth the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" He certainly meant that we could not see the day of His coming approaching. The Danger and Harm of Date-Setting and Sign-Watching A deep concern has come upon me as I have seen the results of setting out to find signs on every hand for Christ’s coming, and practically setting dates for Christ’s return.
First of all, Jesus plainly said not to do it. He said concerning His Second Coming, ". . . It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power" (Acts 1:7).
Again He plainly said, ". . . The kingdom of God cometh not with observation" (Luk 17:20). That is, Jesus said, no one can now observe the approach of the kingdom. There are no signs, no preliminary events by which anyone can judge how near is Christ’s coming. Surely we must be impressed with the thought that one who seeks to know what Jesus plainly said we were not to know, sins against the Saviour.
Such setting of dates tends to heresy. I call your attention to Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Seventh-Day Adventists, the British Israelites, and all the other groups who pretend to know that we are in the very closing days of the age, and who claim they have special revelation concerning it which other cults do not have. The so-called Latter Rain is such a heresy. Currently there is a great turning of heretofore sound Bible teachers to believe that the church must go through the tribulation. They are "restudying prophecy," they say. The simple truth is that they have set so many signs, and then found their prophecies were not fulfilled and Christ did not come, until now many choose to believe that they were right about it being the closing days of the age, but they believe the tribulation time is simply coming on without the rapture, and that saved people will go through the tribulation. In this they sin against the clear Bible teaching of the imminence of Christ’s coming.
- All this preaching on signs tends to put the emphasis on the newspaper instead of on the Bible.
- It tends to teach a doctrine depending on sight instead of depending on faith.
- Also, it cultivates a certain sensationalism, a clamoring for attention by bizarre and strange interpretations.
Preachers are spending much time preaching on the atomic bomb, on Russia, on the coming world war III, and political alliances with other nations, on "the kings of the east," instead of preaching Bible truths. How many have accused evangelists of being sensational because they preach on sin, Hell, and judgment! On these, good evangelists ought to create a sensation. But it is infinitely worse to be sensational about simple worldly current events, trying to give them some eternal and prophetic significance beyond what the Bible speaks. That is wrong. This looking for signs, this preaching that we are in the closing days is a discouraging business. It leads people to believe we can have no more great revivals. It leads to defeatism in prayer and labor. It discourages soul winning. And one terrible result of all this speculation, and theorizing, and sign-finding, and date-setting is that great reproach is brought on the blessed scriptural doctrine of the premillennial return of Jesus Christ.
Let us come back to the Bible emphasis, brethren. Let all of us come back to teach and preach again, and warn our own hearts repeatedly that Jesus is coming, that no one knows when, and that we are to solemnly watch and wait and look for His coming as a matter of simple faith because He said to do it.
Signs there will be in the tribulation time, especially signs for the Jews, ". . . the Jews require a sign . . " (1Co 1:22). But this day does not require a sign; it requires faithful obedience to the plain word of Jesus Christ. We are to be like the faithful porter waiting to open the door to the returning master, however late his coming. Jesus may come today. He may not come for a thousand years. But we can hope for His coming now, and be ready at any moment while we do His will.