The Coming and Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ: The Apostasy, Part 8

 •  5 min. read  •  grade level: 10
 
So too, dear reader, if you would escape from the terrible vortex of religious corruption that surrounds us at the present day, and which will be part of Babylon in its last phase, you must be in spirit in the wilderness. In separation from it, in the presence of Christ, there alone can you see it in its true colors. And if you would enter into God’s thoughts about the church, and discern its distinctive heavenly character, you must in spirit enter where Christ is, and accept by faith the high and exalted position which is the Christian’s true portion.
The evil religious power being crushed, the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies are gathered together against the Lord, and He judges them also; the beast, and the false prophet with him, being cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 19:11-21). Details of this we will reserve till we dwell on His coming in power and great glory to judge and reign.
The Assyrian who attacks Jerusalem from without, and takes it (Zech. 14:2), overruns with his armies the land of Israel, as well as many other countries; and after further warlike exploits, himself finally falls as he is about to attack the city a second time; but we shall see more of this also further on (Isa. 10:24-34; 29:1-8).
Two-thirds of the Jews are cut off in this great tribulation; but one-third, preserved by God, are brought through the fire (Zech. 13:8-9). Some are martyred for their testimony, and for refusing the mark of the beast, and have part in the first resurrection; one-third bear testimony, and are brought through by the power of God into millennial blessing; the remainder, the apostate, idolatrous Jews, who receive the mark, and think they are safe, are cut off in their wickedness, either by the awful invasion of the Assyrian, who is the rod of God’s anger, sent by Him against the hypocritical nation (Isa. 10:5-6), or by other summary judgments of God.
This fearful hour was referred to by the Lord when He spoke of the unclean spirit who saith, “I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first” (Luke 11:24-26). Terrible picture of Israel’s condition under antichrist.
But judgment will not be limited to the land, but go out far and wide in the earth. The God-fearing Jews who bear witness for Jesus, publishing the glad tidings of the kingdom among the nations, will be special objects of persecution wherever they are found. “Take heed,” said the Lord, “to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to counsels; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony against them” (Mark 13:9). The early Christians received similar treatment; but the fulfillment of this passage is yet future. So terrible will be the hatred, even in their own families, that “brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13:12-13).
Thus will be fulfilled in the most special and literal manner the words of our Lord, “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” Men generally will show their persistent hatred of the name of Christ by persecuting those who publish the glad tidings of His coming kingdom and glory. But he that endures to the end, that is, to the end of the hour of tribulation, shall be saved— saved out of it for blessing in the millennial earth (Jer. 30:7). “In those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be” (Mark 13:19). “And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom He hath chosen, He hath shortened the days” (Mark 13:20). “This generation” (or race), said the Lord to His Jewish disciples, “shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away” (Matt. 24:34-35).
How blessed for the Christian to know that he is delivered from this terrible hour! that as the Lord delivered Lot before judging Sodom, and translated Enoch before drowning the world with a flood, so will He bring His own loved ones of this present interval of grace to the glory above, before He judges the habitable earth for its wickedness, sweeping it with the besom of destruction.
How false the security of the poor world, deluding itself, and deluded by Satan, that things are getting better! Many cry, “Peace, peace, and there is no peace.” How vain to think that God’s grace to a lost world will lead to its conversion! Nay; but the Word of the Lord is yet to be fulfilled: “When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9). But O, how blessed to know that when the consumption decreed shall have had its course, it shall overflow with righteousness (Isa. 10:22), and the despised and rejected Nazarene, Jesus, the Son of God, will have His rights and title in the earth!
Could we stay where death is hovering?
Could we rest on such a shore?
No; the awful truth discovering,
We could linger there no more;
We forsake it,
Leaving all we loved before.