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T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
October, 1933
year since His ascension—but the Lord’s return is near today in a sense in which it has never been before. It was always imminent. But we know, not by the speculative opinions o f men, but by the infallible Word of God which cannot be broken, that the Lord’s return is near today. When our Lord had prophesied the destruction o f the temple in Jerusalem, the disciples asked Him, “ When shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign o f thy coming, and of the end o f the world?” (Matt. 24 :3 ). The Lord answered in the Olivet discourse, and He gave very definite signs o f the end of the age; first, signs o f the destruction of the temple, which were fulfilled some forty years later; then, signs o f the end o f the age, which have not yet been fulfilled, but which are being fulfilled now for the first time since He uttered those words. People say we should be very careful not to say that the return of the Lord is near, because other equally sin cere Christians have said the same thing in earlier years and have been mistaken, and so we may be mistaken. They said, for example, at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and at the time o f the French Revolution, that the Lord was coming. In both cases they were mistaken; what right have we to say that we know any more than they ? The difference is that, at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and at the time o f the French Revolution, and at every earlier time before this present generation, many of the scriptural signs of the end had not occurred. Today, for the first time, practically all of the signs are synchronizing. This has never happened before. The Lord said in Luke 21, referring to events that should indicate His return, “ Nation shall rise against na tion, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences.” A little later He says: “ And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” We have had this fourfold sign in a single decade. The greatest earthquake in the his tory of the world, the greatest war'* in the history of the world, the greatest famine in the history of the world, and the greatest pestilence in the history of the world, all occurred within the ten years from 1912 to 1922. The greatest war was the World W ar; there has never been another one like it, but there will be another greater one. The greatest famine was that in Russia. The greatest earthquake was one in China, that destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives and moved mountains. The greatest pestilence, o f course, was the “ flu” epidemic at the close of the war that took more lives, especially among young peo ple, than the entire war. T h e S ig n o f t h e F ig T r e e “ Behold the fig tree,” said the Lord. The fig tree repre sents Israel, and the Lord, among other signs, gives us the sign o f the fig tree, which is beginning to be fulfilled before our eyes in Israel’s awakening and return to her land. When a Jew arrives in Palestine, he registers his name as they had to register when Joseph and Mary came to Bethlehem. “ It is wonderful,” writes a Jew, “ after all o f these years o f hard work, to be registered as a citizen o f my own land, with a Jewish clerk in the government office that respects my religion, in my own Hebrew tongue, with blanks in Hebrew, sworn to on the Hebrew Bible.” Hebrew, for the first time in nineteen centuries, is now a spoken language in the land o f the Hebrews. F a l s e C h r is t s The Lord says that “ 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.” There are many false Christs now coming to the front. But more subtle than the individual characters that are appearing are the false Christs being offered by
professing Christian movements and even groups o f mis sionaries. There are leaders today who talk much about “ Christ” ; one o f the outstanding cases, of course, is the “ Christ” of Christian Science, of Mary Baker Eddy. The Christian Science “ Christ” is not the Christ of God, nor is the “ Christ” of certain modernists who leave out the offense o f the cross. Let us be on our guard against any false teaching concerning Christ. M u l t ip l ie d W e a l t h Another of the signs that is being fulfilled before our eyes is that of great wealth. You remember what James said: “ Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you . . . Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” Just before the de pression, the wealth o f many individuals was unbelievably large. I read a newspaper article saying that if the busi ness o f Ford continued as it was then going, four or five years ago, it would not be long before his income would be one million dollars a day. The depression ended that, but he and others may see great riches again. Only this week, I heard of a business man who says he has no ques tion that the values o f securities within a short time will exceed the values before the depression. God only knows whether these statements are true, but we know that God has permitted many men to become very rich, and that this is one of His predicted signs of the end o f the age. And the great wealth o f some individuals today is being used liberally to make possible the propagating o f false religion and o f the apostate church. T h e Y o u t h M o v e m e n t The youth movement o f today is a sign being fulfilled before our eyes— the rising o f children and young people against their elders, against government, against parental authority, against self-control in any way. Self-expression is their slogan. It is startling to see the way the Scriptures foretell this as a sign o f the end o f the age. “ This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers o f their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents; . . . Without natural affection” (2 Tim. 3 :1 -3 ). Away back in Isaiah’s time, we have a prophecy o f the same sort, in the third chapter: “ And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.” . Older people, as far as children and young people are concerned, might just as well not exist! The young people today are asserting their “ right,” as they call it, to entire freedom from any control or restraint or parental authority. There is lawlessness in the home. Children revolting against parents, parents revolting against government, and government revolting against G od ! It is all the spirit of lawlessness, and it will be identified with “ the lawless one” who will head up the age in the final revolt against God. I m m o r a l it y The immorality of today is another sign of the end of the age. The Lord prophesied that, as it was in the days o f Noah, so it would be at the time of His return. Those days stood for immorality of the lowest and grossest form that has ever been known in the human race; and the strange, shocking, and tragic fact is that immorality of just that sort is a commonplace among young people and older people today. Some who try to be optimistic in regard to these times say: “ Oh, sin has always existed; immorality has always existed.” But here is the strange fact about the immorality o f today: While immorality has always existed, it has been condemned in earlier years by parents and teachers and by the professing Christian church. Today immorality is encouraged by teachers in oUr colleges, in many o f our schools, and even in the home. [Continued on'page 336]
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