Those Without: Lovers and Makers of Lies

In the last chapter of the prophecy of the book of Revelation, there are sharp contrasts drawn between the citizens of this world and the citizens of the kingdom of God who at Christ’s coming will enter into “the holy city, new Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2). In Revelation 22:10, the angel commands John, “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.” The contents of the book must be preached and proclaimed by the church in the world so that by faith God’s people understand and believe the contents of the book. And the contents of the book must be proclaimed so that the wicked and unbelieving, including those who are for a time mixed with believers in the church, are hardened, exposed for who they are, and depart from the true church.

Herman Hoeksema explains the purpose of expounding the contents of the prophecy of Revelation thus:

If this is done, the result will be two-fold, as is the case with the entire Word of God. Always there are those who are saved and those who are hardened. The Word of God is always a savor of life unto life, but also a savor of death unto death. What is true of the Word of God in general is also and emphatically true of the Book of Revelation. When it is opened and expounded, there will be those who will have nothing of it, who will deny the truth of its contents. As I said before, they will say, “You dream. You are beside yourself. You are a pessimist.” The sayings of this prophecy will arouse the opposition of the wicked, of those who have no hope, or whose hope is vain because it is only a hope in and of the present world. This prophecy leaves no hope for their vain dreams. Thus, it will arouse them to greater hostility and opposition, to more wickedness. But, on the other hand, it will also strengthen the faith and hope of the people of God. This, therefore, is inevitable.¹

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that as we draw very near to the end of all things, we are witnessing more than ever before the ripening of “the two-fold ethical fruit, that of the root-sin of Adam and that of the righteousness in Christ.”² God uses the means of his word, especially the preaching of the gospel, to bring about this twofold effect. Very clear lines are drawn between the believer and the unbeliever, between the righteous and the wicked. As Revelation 22:11 states, “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” God’s very purpose is that the antithetical difference between the righteous and the wicked is clearly on the forefront when Christ returns, so that the end may come. Hoeksema writes,

For the time is at hand! The Lord cometh quickly! Let this separating process, this process of the bearing of a two-fold ethical fruit, go on without restraint, so that the fruit may become ripe, and so that the end may come!³

The sharp contrast between heaven’s citizens and the children of the kingdom of this world can be seen in several passages from Revelation. Heaven’s citizens are the “blessed and holy” (20:6), those whose names “are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (21:27), the “righteous” and “holy” (22:11), and “they that do his commandments” (22:14). They are the elect of God who by faith wash their robes in the blood of Christ and who by the power of the Holy Spirit deny themselves and lead new and holy lives in the midst of this world, suffering for Christ’s sake.

In stark contrast are the children of the kingdom of this world as they are described in the book of Revelation. They are the “fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars” (21:8). As those who “shall in no wise enter into” the kingdom of heaven, they are further described as those who defile, work abomination, and make lies (21:27). The children of the kingdom of this world, those “without” the heavenly kingdom, hence the title of this article, are “dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (22:15).

The most accurate description that can be given to those “without” God’s heavenly kingdom is that they are lovers and makers of lies. God designates them as liars three times in the final two chapters of Revelation. Being identified as a liar is the severest condemnation one can receive from God. One who is a liar is the offspring of the devil. Jesus said to the unbelieving Pharisees who hated the truth he preached to them,

42. If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

43. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:42–44)

That one is identified as a liar means far more than that a person occasionally tells some lies, perhaps in order to escape some consequences and to make his way in life easier. The liar of Revelation 22 is a liar at the very core of his being. His name is Liar. He delights in the practice of falsehood, especially spiritual falsehood. His heart is deceitful, and he loves to have it so. And out of the fountain of his deceitful heart bubbles forth a river of falsehood. He lies about himself. He lies about God. He lies about his fellow man. He creates his own spiritual kingdom of which he is king, and he worships himself.

Based on all outward appearances, that men are liars and unbelieving might not appear to be the case at first glance. Remember, these lovers and makers of lies are found in the closest possible relationship to the church. They can for many years be outwardly faithful and upstanding members of the true church. Frequently they are the well-read, well-liked, and financially prosperous members of the church—those who seemingly have mastered the art of Christian living. They can be the well-respected members of the congregation whom others esteem and go to for advice. But all their outward appearances are just that—outward appearances. Under their pious veneers hides stinking carnality.

God’s purpose is that this carnality and deceit be exposed by the truth, particularly the proclamation of that truth in the preaching of the gospel within the instituted church. Remember the angel’s command to John: “Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand” (Rev. 22:10). The sayings of this prophecy, and all of the word of God, must be opened and expounded so that the carnal members and their loving and making of lies are exposed by their opposition to the word. And by the proclamation of that very same word, the faith and hope of the people of God are strengthened.

This separating process is most visible and striking where the truth is proclaimed in all its power in opposition to all lies, that is, in the true church. Christ by his word brings this separation. Outside the true church this cannot happen. The preaching in nominally Reformed churches has no power to separate. All the listeners in those churches are simply confirmed in their lies and false doctrine. The minister preaches a god with a gracious disposition toward all men, a well-meant offer of the gospel to all who hear it, and that God’s covenant is conditional and dependent upon man’s choice for its accomplishment. This preaching produces an amalgamation with the world and other false churches. There is no power of Christ in this preaching to separate the spiritual from the carnal.

Readers of this magazine who sit in the pews and listen to sermons in their churches week after week and do not witness this separating process take place ought to be alarmed. Those ones can be sure that they are not hearing the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians about his preaching,

15. We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

16. To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

17. For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. (2 Cor. 2:15–17)

After Jesus’ sermon on the shores of the Sea of Galilee and in the synagogue of Capernaum, we read that his disciples said, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6:60). When Jesus answered, “There are some of you that believe not…Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father,” then “from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (vv. 64–66). From Peter’s response to Jesus’ question to his small band of twelve disciples, “Will ye also go away?” we know that Jesus’ preaching had strengthened and confirmed the faith of the elect. Peter confessed, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou are that Christ, the Son of the living God” (vv. 67–69).

Always the pure preaching of the gospel gathers the elect and separates them from all unbelievers who oppose the gospel. And those who oppose the truth as it is preached bear the ethical fruits of lying and deceit.

First, within the church unbelievers set themselves in opposition to the preaching of the gospel. That opposition takes many forms. The opposition might begin with murmuring that they do not like the tone and manner of the minister as he preaches. He should not raise his voice, but he must speak gently to the sheep. If the minister would tone it down, he would not scatter the sheep. Deceitfully hidden under these complaints is the real reason for their opposition. They hate the content of the preaching. As that preaching continues to come in all its power, they cannot help but reveal their opposition to it. When the preaching proclaims that man is nothing and that Jesus Christ is everything to the believer, they hate it. When the preaching proclaims that man is carnal, they will not hear it.

Exactly the truth that God uses the pure preaching of the gospel to separate believers from unbelievers within the church is what unbelieving and carnal men hate. The Heidelberg Catechism cannot be any clearer on the opening of the kingdom of heaven to believers and the shutting of that kingdom against unbelievers. Lord’s Day 31 reminds us of the almighty power of the preaching of the gospel:

Q. 84. How is the kingdom of heaven opened and shut by the preaching of the holy gospel?

A. Thus: when according to the command of Christ it is declared and publicly testified to all and every believer, that, whenever they receive the promise of the gospel by a true faith, all their sins are really forgiven them of God, for the sake of Christ’s merits; and on the contrary, when it is declared and testified to all unbelievers, and such as do not sincerely repent, that they stand exposed to the wrath of God and eternal condemnation, so long as they are unconverted; according to which testimony of the gospel God will judge them, both in this and in the life to come. (Confessions and Church Order, 118)

Further, when that gospel is applied to the lives of the members of the congregation—regarding the antithetical walk of the believer in this world, for example—the anger and opposition of unbelievers increase. Jesus preached, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it” (Luke 9:23–24). In response to Christ’s word, unbelieving men rebel and say, “There is no room for you to hold your own view and how you believe the Spirit leads you in your personnel [sic] life with others.”⁴ They actually say “no room for you to hold your own view,” as if in the church of Jesus Christ one may have his own view that contradicts the clear teachings of the scriptures.

In the preaching of the gospel, God places before men Jesus Christ and losing their lives for Christ’s sake on the one hand and on the other hand their carnal and unbelieving friends and family members who remain year after year in churches that are thoroughly apostate. Without hesitation unbelieving men save their own lives, “gain the whole world,” and hold on tightly to their carnal, earthly friendships and relationships (Mark 8:36). And no matter how piously men may talk about how the “Spirit leads” them and how they “cover [their] mouth[s] at the doctrine of reprobation and stand in awe of it,” they slap Jesus Christ in the face and exclude him from their gatherings with carnal family members and friends.⁵ Those who are without the heavenly kingdom love and make the lie that Jesus Christ never comes with a sword to divide in their families. Unbelieving men love and make the lie that son and daughter, father and mother are above Jesus Christ. They love and make the lie that one does not have to lose his life for Christ’s sake and the gospel’s sake. God exposes them as unworthy of Jesus (Matt. 10:37). And they bear the ethical fruit of loving and making lies. Jesus Christ accomplishes his purpose in the proclamation of the gospel to them.

Second, when these members can no longer endure sitting under the pure preaching of the gospel and all its applications to their lives in the midst of this world, God declares to them in the preaching about their impenitence “that they stand exposed to the wrath of God and eternal condemnation, so long as they are unconverted” (Heidelberg Catechism A 84, in Confessions and Church Order, 118). They then remove their membership and set themselves in opposition to the truth outside the church.

Not content to leave the truth quietly and desiring others to join them in their deceit, they fulfill the words of Proverbs 17:4: “A wicked doer giveth heed to false lips; and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue.” Joining hand in hand with fellow liars, those who are without the heavenly kingdom rage against the truth and God’s saints who continue to confess it. Their lie-loving and lie-making will not allow them to remain silent. They are possessed by Satan himself in their opposition to the truth. Just as the Pharisees hated Jesus’ preaching so much that they “went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him,” so do these latter-day enemies of the truth (Matt. 12:14). Having set themselves against the preaching of the gospel and its applications to the lives of believers, they inevitably bear the rancid ethical fruits of deceit and falsehood. Falsehood permeates every aspect of their lives. They call evil good and good evil.

Consider the rancid ethical fruits of falsehood contained in the document titled “A Call to Freedom and Unity in Christ.”⁶ The very name itself of the document is a masterpiece of falsehood, as there is no freedom and unity in Christ in separating from the true church. “Therefore all those who separate themselves from the same [the true church], or do not join themselves to it, act contrary to the ordinance of God” (Belgic Confession 28, in Confessions and Church Order, 61). Acting contrary to the ordinance of God, these rebellious men, using the name of Christ, actually dared to call saints away from the true preaching of the gospel and Christian discipline and into that which is not church. They have no “lively preaching of His Word,” but they listen to sermons preached by men long in the grave who cannot apply that word to them in their rebellion (Heidelberg Catechism A 98, in Confessions and Church Order, 126). They hated the sharp application of the truth against their sins in the church that exposed them as carnal, and it is no surprise that they will not allow that word to be applied to their rebellion outside the church. Having no lively preaching and no rule of Christ by means of officebearers, they have no Christian discipline, and they throw off the yoke of Christ (Belgic Confession 29, in Confessions and Church Order, 64). Finally, they have no administration of the sacraments in direct violation of the Reformed confessions. And they call this “freedom and unity in Christ.” Unethical fruit!

The ripeness of their unethical fruit is also evidenced in their contempt for the doctrine of the antithesis. That doctrine as taught in the scriptures they slander as legalistic and man’s law. They write, “God’s children groan under this heavy bondage.”⁷ God’s children do not view the living of the antithesis as God brings it to pass in their lives as a heavy bondage under which they groan. Painful at times, yes. Burdensome bondage, never! Jesus Christ confesses his people’s names before the Father. Losing their lives for Christ’s sake, the elect have everlasting life in Christ (Matt. 10:32–42). Their antithetical walk is an inevitable fruit of God’s saving them and separating them from this present evil world.

Surely the separating process as a result of the preaching of the gospel becomes increasingly evident and the fruits of the root-sin of Adam and the righteousness of Christ are becoming very ripe as we near the end of all things. Those who oppose the gospel are being hardened in hostility, opposition, and greater wickedness. The faith and hope of God’s people in the midst of this darkness and opposition are strengthened, and God’s people long more for the imminent return of Christ. And when the separation process is complete and the fruit is completely ripe, the Lord will return.

“Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).