X.-Conclusion. The Time When These Things Shall Be
The interesting inquiry: When these things are to happen, was addressed by the disciples to the Lord, and the curiosity is natural to all. It has indeed given rise to the wildest speculations, which often have only proved the folly of those who would force from scripture more than it was intended to convey. The question naturally falls under two heads, viz., as to the Jews, and as to the church.
First—As to the Jews. After announcing His coming in Matthew 24:30, 31, the Lord goes on to say (vers. 32, 33, 36-44)— “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.” “But of that day and hour knoweth no one, no, not the angels in heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 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.”
There are three points very noticeable here: First, that the disciples are given distinct signs by which they will know that the Lord's advent is near—very near. Enlightened by scripture and instructed by the understanding ones, they will be able to comprehend, at least to some extent, the significance of the astounding political developments of the time. The marvelous resuscitation of the Roman Empire, at which the whole earth wonders, will have an inner meaning for them. But the first prominent sign is that given in the “parable of the fig-tree.” This tree is an emblem of Israel, and the putting forth of leaves may well indicate a national revival of that people. When the second beast (Revelation 13:11), Israel's false king, arises, this will be patent. But before that, while the branch is yet tender, there is a putting forth of leaves, and this is a sign to the remnant. The movement called “Zionism” now already commenced amongst the Jews, feeble, undefined, and tentative as it is, may be the commencement of what, after the church is gone, will become the putting forth of leaves of the fig-tree. The national revival of Israel, be it remembered, does not wait for the resurrection of the Roman Empire; the beast finds a covenant with Israel in existence, which he confirms. But when the gospel of the kingdom is preached in the whole world, the remnant will know that they are in “the time of the end,” with all its awful accompaniments, but that Christ is coming for their deliverance and in judgment upon their enemies.
Secondly, the Lord intimates that though His coming will then be very soon, yet that the actual time of His appearing will be a close secret even in heaven itself; the angels will not know it. In Mark's Gospel it is added, “neither the Son” “Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (13:32). This is a remarkable text, which has puzzled many believers, and been used by adversaries against the deity of Christ. Of this truth the believer does not need proofs; his armory is well furnished with texts, such as, amongst numerous others, John 1:1-4; Romans 9:5; Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:16, 17, 19; 2:9; what he requires is to see the relation which an isolated text, such as that in question, hears to the larger truth of the deity of the Lord Jesus.
That text then is really only an evidence along with many similar, of the perfection with which the Son took the place of man, and, as man, of servant. He “emptied himself,” so we are taught in Philippians 2:7 (Greek), and took the place of a servant. In this His self-subordination was perfect. The works which He did were the works of Him who sent Him (John 9:4). He sought not His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him (5:30). His words were the words given to Him of the Father (17:8). “I do nothing of myself, but as my Father hath taught me I speak these things” (8:28). “The Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak” (12:49). It is remarkable that that Gospel whose specialty is the deity of the Son, should also exhibit so signally the perfectness of His self-subordination as man. Now this beautiful and wondrous position of condescension which the Son has taken in love to us, still continues notwithstanding that He has entered into glory at the Father's right hand. He is indeed no longer in humiliation as when He was here. Jehovah, however, has said to Him, “Sit at my right hand until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet” (Psalm 110:1). It is in accordance with this that when, in Patmos, John was given to see Jesus, though His glory was overwhelming and John fell at His feet as dead, yet the Apocalypse is described as “the Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him"; and the Revelation itself, the Lamb receives out of the hand of Him who sits upon the throne (Revelation 1:1; 5:7). And the Lord, after His resurrection, tells the disciples that “the times and seasons” are placed by the Father “in his own authority” (Acts 1:7). In exquisite harmony with all this is the text which we have been considering—Mark 13:32. Even amongst men there is a personal knowledge, distinct from official knowledge. Personally a judge may have learned from newspapers the facts of a crime, but when he takes his seat upon the bench to try the case, that knowledge is laid aside. He officially knows nothing, and his mind is a tabula rasa for the reception of what may be brought before him in court. And so with the Lord Jesus. The omniscience pertaining to Him as God, is, in the instance quoted, held in abeyance, consistently with the proprieties of the position which He has condescended to take as the divine and perfect Servant.
Thirdly, notwithstanding the preaching of the remnant, the world will be in utter unbelief, wholly immersed in affairs of the present life, alike heedless of divine warnings, and oblivious of anything beyond the material world, just as men were at the previous awful judgment of the flood. So also states the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, “But of the times and of the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” (5:1-3).
Secondly—As to the church. Be it remembered that signs are not for the church, but for the Jew of the coming day. The calling of the church is to wait for the Son from heaven, without any sign; so that the first prophetic event upon the list is the removal of the church to heaven. Now if the events of prophecy do not commence until the church is taken to heaven, the question arises, When will this occur? Near two thousand years have passed since the church was placed in a waiting attitude. Has the Lord Jesus Christ then forgotten or relinquished His intention to come for the church? Impossible. His last message to His church is in the Revelation, and thrice in the last chapter of that book He impresses the verity of His coming. “Behold I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book” (ver. 7). “Behold I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be” (ver 12). “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus” (ver. 20).
It is not for nothing—this threefold warning of the Lord's return. It is not for nothing that the last of the three is an asseveration, “Surely I come quickly.” This betokens not slackness, but the Lord's eagerness for His return. Is it not the identical sentiment which we have in the fourteenth of John— “that where I am there ye may be also"? Plainly, it is His desire to have us with Himself. Yet some will say, How can be reconciled the Lord's coming quickly with the time that has elapsed since the promise was made? Well, when a mighty ship sets out from England to Australia, her throbbing engines force her huge bulk through the water at almost railway speed. She comes quickly, yet it will be long before she reach her port. Take another illustration. The swiftest thing within human knowledge is light—186,000 miles per second is its rate of travel. Yet at that inconceivable speed it takes a ray of light three years to reach us from the fixed star which is nearest to our own system (a Centauri). That ray of light indeed comes quickly, though three years must elapse before it reach our earth. And so with the Lord's coming. There is no delay; it is approaching with all the speed that can be, though nineteen centuries have passed. Not that there is any prophetic requirement to be fulfilled. The clue to the lapse of time is found in the explanation of Peter, that the object is the salvation of others yet to be called (2 Peter 3:9, 15). The gathering of souls is going on—the gospel is still the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. But there will be a moment when the last elect member of Christ's body will have been brought in; and then the Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, and the dead in Christ will be raised, and, joined by the living, pass into heaven. It is literally true, therefore, that we do not know the moment when the Lord will come.
But although we have no sign to look for, the growth may be unmistakably discerned of tendencies which will blossom in the changed moral atmosphere of the post-church period. Scripture reveals stupendous events which are to follow the church's rapture, and two of these have really begun to appear in our own day—at least so far as they can while the restraining presence of the Holy Ghost in the church remains below. They are—the apostasy of Christendom, and national activity amongst the Jews. The former has been sketched in previous pages; and the second, “Zionism,” which has been but a few years in existence, is a national political agitation amongst the Jews such as has been unknown before, since their dispersion. At a meeting of the English Zionist Federation held in London in September, 1903, Mr. I. Zangwill stated with reference to the sixth Zionist Congress held at Basle that “the conclusion which he had carried away from it was that never for the last eighteen hundred years had Palestine stood so near to Zionists as it did that day"; and, so definite and tangible is the Zionist movement, that a letter was read “from M. de Plehve, Russian Minister of the Interior, in which he announced the willingness of Russia to assist Zionists in obtaining Palestine for them."
There is, however, dissension amongst the Jews on the subject, a large number having no zeal for their ancient patrimony, and no exalted national aspirations; all they desire being an amelioration of their worldly condition. Accordingly, M. de Plehve has since opposed the Russian Zionist Societies, on the ground that they have changed their policy of furthering the emigration of Jews to Palestine, into an endeavor to form an inner organization of Jews in their present place of domicile.
Still, the inception of a definite political movement to obtain Palestine for the Jews is certainly remarkable, as is also the offer of one of the great Powers to befriend and assist it. Let it be attempted now to realize the immense truth, that there is nothing revealed as necessary to occur before our Lord may descend into the air and translate the living saints to heaven; and not only so, but that the anointed eye can discern premonitory movements towards events which are to burst on the world after the rapture of the church. This surely is a solemn reflection. The reader may believe in a second advent of the Lord, and that there will be some who will be alive and caught up into glory; but does he recognize that according to the whole tenor of scripture, it is his duty and privilege, if a Christian, to expect to be one of those? Inspired scripture never says they “which are alive and remain"; always we. “Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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” (1 Corinthians 15:51, 52). “We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our body of humiliation,” etc. (Philippians 3:20, 21). “The Lord himself will descend from heaven... then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (l. Thessalonians 4:16, 17).
Summing up, then, the subjects we have been considering, we have revealed to us the following—(1) The rapture of the church to heaven. (2) A temporary calm in the world, and the rising of a great leader of remarkable and comparatively peaceful success, who is rewarded with a crown ("a crown was given to him"). (3) The sealing of a remnant of Israel as servants of God, and their going forth to preach the gospel of the kingdom. (4) A parallel movement in the hardened Jews. Under the wing of the protecting power of Isaiah 18, they enter into possession of their land, the temple is rebuilt, and ritual established. (5) Persecution and martyrdom of the remnant for the name of Jesus. (6) Cessation of the world's delusive peace, and the outbreak of wars and rumors of wars; but the end not yet. (7) The nations (western) come into a state of tumult and revolution with awful threatenings; society is alarmed, men's hearts failing them for fear. (8) Reconstitution of the Roman Empire in ten kingdoms, with Rome at the head. (9) The new power (the beast) confirms a covenant with the Jews for seven years. (10) The ten horns and the beast destroy the harlot (corrupt Christianity), utterly abandoning and ending Christianity, thus consummating the apostasy in the west. (11) The beast breaks his covenant with the Jews, abrogating the Jewish ritual, causing the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. This in the east is really the full consummation of the apostasy. The destruction of Christianity in the west, and Judaism in the east (10 and 11) prepare the way for “the man of sin.” (12) Revelation of the man of sin—the antichrist and second beast of Revelation 13:11-18. (13) The gospel of the kingdom being preached in the whole world, the time of the end comes on. The accomplishment of the preaching being a matter of degree, the criterion which determines and characterizes that time is the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. (14) The great tribulation. (15) Complete subversion of all government and the Son of man is seen coming in the clouds with power and great glory (Matthew 24:30).
If the result of these papers be to clear the views of anyone as to when and where prophetic events are to be expected; if they assist to show that many things which had been thought to precede the Lord's coming, are really to follow it, and that the first prophetic event is the rapture, or catching up of the church, to meet the Lord at His coming, these pages will not have been written in vain.
E. J. T.
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