The End of All Things (3): Observing Signs Among Nations and in Nature

Introduction

I have begun a series on the subject of the end of all things. The study of the end of all things is eschatology. When we speak of the end of all things, it is important to remember that the end is not like the end of a game or the end of a school day. The word end as it is used in eschatology means goal. The study of the end of all things is the study of the events that belong to the final revelation of God’s eternally appointed goal of all things. This goal ultimately is the glory of God in the eternal kingdom of Jesus Christ and his elect church when God shall be all in all. With a view to the coming of this end, all things that belong to the new dispensation have been ordained eternally by God as the way in which the end comes. 

The grand event that leads to the final consummation of all things is the second coming of Jesus Christ with power and great glory when he will raise the dead, conduct the final judgment, cast the reprobate out of the creation into hell, and make all things new as the everlasting inheritance and home for his elect church. Although we speak of the final appearance of Christ—when he shall appear as the sign of the Son of man in the heavens and descend with clouds and with his angels and his saints—it may not be forgotten that Christ’s coming is the cause of all other events. His coming is the ongoing event of the new dispensation. Christ’s coming is the event that stands behind all other events that take place.

I have written that the calling of the Christian in light of the coming of the end of all things is to know the time. He is to know in particular that the coming of the end is nearer than when he first believed. In light of the nearness of the end, the Christian is to live soberly in the world. That he is to live soberly does not mean simply that he refrains from living in drunkenness, but more especially he orders his life with a view to that end. He is not caught up in the world, does not live for the world, and does not set his affections on temporal and perishing things, but he lifts up his heart and stretches out his neck toward heavenly and eternal things. He lives and walks as a child of the light and of the day in a world that walks in darkness. In distinction from the world, upon which that day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, the Christian has a lively awareness of the coming of Christ and that it approaches quickly.

For the sake of the Christian’s knowledge of the end of all things, Christ himself and through his apostles gave to the church signs of his coming. The purpose of these signs is for the church. The purpose is not for the world. The world can observe the signs because they do not occur in a corner or in private; the signs are public events seen by all. Because the world does not have the Spirit, it cannot correctly interpret those signs and always lies about them. Take for instance the increasing intensity and frequency of violent storms. The world attributes that to the effects of man’s activity on the climate and not to God and to the coming of Jesus Christ. The world goes about to preserve itself against these judgments of God by passing laws or attempting to change man’s effects on the climate. Through the teaching of the Spirit and the word of God, the church is able to understand those events as signs of the approaching coming of Christ.

Foremost in the church’s understanding of the signs is the truth that those signs are created by the coming of Christ. The coming of Christ is the event of all history. For that purpose God made all things, and that is the event that controls all history. All history and every event in history are simply the effects of the coming of Christ. For the sake of the coming of Christ and the revelation of God’s purpose in Christ, Adam fell, the sentence of death was passed over the whole human race, and all men are conceived and born in sin. The announcement of the coming of Christ kicked off the history-long warfare between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent that dominates the pages of Old Testament history.

The same is true of the history of the new dispensation. Christ’s word through the angels at his ascension was that he would come again as the disciples had seen him go away. Christ’s word to the church through John in the book of Revelation is, “Behold, I come quickly.” These words do not mean that Christ eventually will arrive on the scene of the world at some point in the future, but the words mean that he is coming at all times and in every event of history. The coming of Christ explains the rising and setting of the sun, the changing seasons, the falling of a hair from your head, and the rise and fall of nations. The coming of some violent storm to the eastern or western coast of the United States is simply Jesus Christ, walking on the wings of that storm. It is as the song in the Psalter says: “He rides on the clouds, the wings of the storm, the lightning and wind His mission perform.”¹ The church as she lives by faith and waits in hope for the promise of Christ’s coming has a lively sense of that reality concerning history. All power and authority were given to Christ when he sat down at the right hand of the Father. To Christ was given the task to execute God’s counsel for the end of all things and the fulfillment of the promise of Christ’s appearance. All things are the work that his Father gave him to do, and in all those things Christ comes.

To Christ was given the task to execute God’s counsel for the end of all things and the fulfillment of the promise of Christ’s appearance. All things are the work that his Father gave him to do, and in all those things Christ comes.

In light of the subject of the signs of the times and of Christ’s coming and the Christian’s knowledge of the time through those signs, the question is, what makes the signs of Christ’s coming different from other events of history? The answer is that God ordained the signs; Christ carries them out; and accompanied with the teaching of the Spirit, the signs catch the attention of the church and draw out her hope for the coming of Christ. The church does not always live on the heights of faith. The church in the world is still encumbered by the flesh, and often her attention is captivated by the glittering vanities of the world, the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life. Oftentimes she forgets the promise of Christ’s coming and is enamored with her pleasant life in the world. In order to shake the church awake from her spiritually sleepy state, God sends startling and attention-grabbing events. These events are what we call the signs of Christ’s coming.

Observing Christ’s Near and Sudden Coming

The church must observe these events, and through them she can take note that the coming of Christ draws near and approaches quickly. It is true that no man knows the day or the hour of Christ’s appearance. Jesus said in Matthew 24:36 concerning his coming, “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” It has been the folly of heretics throughout history to attempt to establish precisely the day and the hour of Christ’s coming. If the false teachers are not attempting to establish the day or the hour, then they attempt to fool the church by teaching that Christ can come at any moment or that indeed Christ has already come.

Jesus himself warned in Matthew 24:23–28 about this work of false teachers:

23. If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.

24. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

25. Behold, I have told you before.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

Jesus spoke these words in connection with his prophecy of the days of tribulation that will befall the church at the time of the final antichrist. These words refer ultimately to his bodily, visible appearance. However, there is a general application of these words to the truth of the signs of Christ’s coming. There are false teachers who arise and say that Christ has come already. They say that he is in the desert or in some secret place. They teach that they have the key of knowledge to bring the church to Christ. They play upon the desire of the church to be with Christ. But the words of Jesus over against the false teachers who attempt to bring the church into their power is that Christ’s coming will be like a flash of lightning that spreads from east to west in the heavens. His coming will be visible and plain to all. It will be no secret, but it will be open for all to behold. The church will need no teacher to instruct her when or where Christ is coming.

Over against the anxiety of the church that she might miss that day, Jesus gives a quaint analogy about the eagles. Many have puzzled over his words and allegorized the meanings of carcass and eagles. Carcass they say refers to Christ or to Christ as he died for his church. Or the carcass is supposedly the destroyed kingdom of antichrist. The eagles are the church. But all such allegorizing misses the meaning of the analogy.

Jesus also used this analogy in Luke 17:34–37:

34. I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left.

35. Two women shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

36. Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

37. And they answered and said unto him, Where, Lord? And he said unto them, Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.

In verses 34–36 Jesus describes the suddenness of his coming and how that coming will separate the elect and the reprobate. In response to that description, the disciples ask, “Where, Lord?” Where will this mysterious separation take place? Will the church miss that day? Will the church have to travel to a certain location to participate in that day? In response and in answer to their question, Jesus gives again his analogy about the carcass and the eagles.

So what does the analogy mean? The analogy is common sense. Everyone who lives in the Midwest notices from time to time the circling of turkey vultures. The reasons the vultures are gathered together and circling are that they have scented and spotted a dead body. Mysteriously the vultures gather together and circle in the skies. The issue in the analogy is the mysterious gathering together of those birds of prey. That analogy then also answers the question of the disciples, “Where, Lord?” The Son of man will mysteriously gather together his church to himself on the day of his coming. The church will not miss that day or miss the coming of the Son of man in his glory. As surely and as mysteriously as the vultures gather together over some carcass will the elect be gathered together in Christ’s day.

And this is also Christ’s explanation in the parallel passage in Mark 13:26–27, where he does not use the analogy of a carcass and eagles, but he explains that analogy concerning his coming:

26. Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.

27. And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.

There will be a gathering of the elect in the day of Christ as surely as there is a gathering of vultures around a carcass.

Observing Signs Among the Nations

The elect do not need anyone to tell them “here is Christ and there is Christ,” for in the last day Christ himself will show the elect his coming and will gather them to himself. Therefore, scripture indicates not only that there are signs but also that those signs give clues to the church of where she is in the calendar of history. This is the meaning of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:6–8:

6. 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.

7. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8. All these are the beginning of sorrows.

Jesus says something similar in Luke 21:9–11:

9. When ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.

10. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:

11. And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

In Matthew 24 Jesus names some of the signs of his coming, such as “wars and rumours of wars,” and in Luke 21 Jesus adds “commotions,” which point to a general state of instability from disturbances in the relationships between nations or among groups within nations. Certainly to commotions belong social, political, and racial conflicts. In Luke 21 Jesus also adds, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Wars and commotions are part of the ordinary history of the world. When man attempts to bring a kingdom in the earth, he does so by force or threat of war or by social upheaval and civil rebellion. The announcement of a potential war or the coming of a war is disruptive to the relationships between the nations. Such an announcement disturbs economies, societies, and the calm peace of the world. Riots in the streets over political or social differences create an atmosphere of instability in a nation. Wars and commotions are stirred up by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the interest of his church. When all the world is at peace, then the world turns its attention from itself and remembers again its hatred of the church. To protect his church, God often moves one world power to attack another.

An example of that is Saul’s persecution of David as recorded in 1 Samuel 23:26–28:

26. Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.

27. But there came a messenger unto Saul, saying, Haste thee, and come; for the Philistines have invaded the land.

28. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.

Saul was hunting David like an animal and was intent on annihilating David. David was in such a situation that he had no way to escape. And God provided a way of escape by causing the Philistines to invade Israel, so that Saul was forced to give up his pursuit.

This work of God to raise up warfare, strife, and social upheaval in the nations is described to the prophet Zechariah in the vision of the carpenters:

18. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

19. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

20. And the Lord shewed me four carpenters.

21. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it. (Zech. 1:18–21)

The horns are the world powers that would attack and destroy Judah and Zion as types of God’s church. But God raises up carpenters who demolish the horns and their power. The carpenters are other world powers—in themselves they are equally hostile to Zion—that God uses to take peace from the earth and to turn the world against itself.

This same work of God is pictured in Revelation 6:3–4 as the running of the red horse:

3. When he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

The context of these verses is the opening of the book with seven seals by Jesus Christ. The book is the counsel of God for the end of all things. Christ in the opening of those seals reveals what God has ordained and controls the carrying out of what God has ordained. Out of the first four seals run white, red, black, and pale horses. These various horses are powers that God uses to bring all things to their appointed end. The red horse is the power of anger, hatred, strife, revenge, and war among and within the nations.

Wars and commotions are stirred up by the Lord Jesus Christ himself in the interest of his church. When all the world is at peace, then the world turns its attention from itself and remembers again its hatred of the church.

We see and hear of these things, and Christ says to his church in Matthew 24:6, “See that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” The church is to know from these things that they must come to pass as means and instruments to bring about the end of all things. They are not things that happen because the world is out of control, but they must happen as sovereignly ordained by God. But wars, strife, upheaval, and instability in the nations indicate to the church that the end is not yet. The wars and strife among nations mean that they have not been united yet into one kingdom under one head, which means that the persecution that the church endures presently is not the final, great tribulation by the antichristian world kingdom and that there are great, world-changing events that must take place before the end comes.

Observing Signs in Nature

In a similar way the church is to understand that “there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles” (Mark 13:8). Jesus mentions earthquakes not because they alone are intended as signs of Christ’s coming but because earthquakes in particular are associated with the coming of the end of the world. There was an earthquake at Christ’s cross: “When the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God” (Matt. 27:54). There was an earthquake at the cross because then the world essentially came to an end; the end of all things had come in principle.

Haggai describes the coming of the end in terms of an earthquake:

6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;

7. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. (Hag. 2:6–7)

The writer to the Hebrews describes in Old Testament language an earthquake at the coming of the end:

26. Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

27. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Heb. 12:26–27)

The book of Revelation repeatedly describes the coming of the end in terms of an earthquake, for example, in Revelation 16:18: “There were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” To the earthquakes we can add storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and typhoons that cause disasters for the nations of the earth. Some of these disasters are mentioned by Christ as “famines and troubles” (Mark 13:8). “Troubles” mean disturbances and riots.

Observing That Christ Cannot Come at Any Moment

How is the church to understand the occurrence of these things? Jesus says, “These are the beginnings of sorrows” (Matt. 24:8). The word “sorrows” that Jesus uses is a metaphor that refers to the labor of childbirth. When Christ returns, the child will be born. Storms, earthquakes, and the famines and riots and disturbances that accompany them are the first signs that labor has begun. It has begun and cannot be stopped, but it is only just begun.

The apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–4 warns against a specific error regarding the coming of Christ, that is, that the coming of Christ can be at any moment:

1. Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2. 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.

3. 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;

4. 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 Thessalonian church was troubled by false teachers almost immediately after Paul left. Part of their false doctrine was to teach that “the day of Christ is at hand.” The Greek word translated as “at hand” means at any moment. The false teachers taught that the day of Christ could come at any moment. The practical result of that teaching was in part that many Christians in Thessalonica were lazing around waiting for that moment.

Over against that false teaching, the apostle Paul instructed the church that Christ’s coming cannot be at any moment. Christ’s coming cannot be at any moment for three reasons. First, when the apostle says that there must come first a falling away, the implication is that the day of Christ awaits the worldwide preaching of the gospel. If there must be a falling away, there first must be the preaching and gathering of the elect church. Second, the day of the Lord cannot come at any moment because there first must be that falling away, that is, apostasy from the truth of Christ. Third, the day of the Lord cannot come except the man of sin be revealed. The man of sin is the personal antichrist whose way is prepared by apostasy from the truth. In the day of antichrist’s revelation, there also will be the gathering of the nations into his kingdom.

The teaching of the apostle still has bearing today on the church’s understanding of the end. We can say too that the day of Christ cannot be at any moment; indeed, that day appears yet to be a little way off. For we have not seen the man of sin, and we are not witnesses yet to the gathering of the nations into his kingdom.

To the signs of apostasy and the man of sin, I will turn next time.