LECTURE IV

THE MORAL STATE OF THE WORLD IN THE LAST DAYS

Happy expectancy of Christ's coming. People ignorant of this doctrine. Consider Matt. 24. Parable of the Tares. End of this age compared to wickedness in Noah's day. Iniquity shall abound. The ten virgins. Perilous times. "Covetous." "Disobedient to parents." No Millennium until Christ comes.

THERE ought to be no doctrine more pleasing to the Christian than that of Christ's second coming. Yet there is probably none less understood. We all pray, "Thy kingdom come," without faith that our petitions will be answered. The expectation of His coming has almost passed from the Church. The number is very small, who believe there is any probability that His second advent will be in our day. This is the state of things in the Church with regard to this great doctrine. Yet all of God's people should be eagerly looking for and expecting this glorious event.

One reason why there is such apathy on this point is that the people do not understand the bearings of the subject. They mistake many things with reference to His coming. The impression exists largely that by preaching and the influence of education, and the great moral reforms of which we hear so much, the world will be converted to Christ. There are men who think that the Millennial day will shortly be ushered in by these means. An aged minister, writing to me a short time ago of a great evil in the land, and the means adopted to get rid of it, exclaimed after

urging his views, "And then the Millennium." But does the Bible teach any such doctrine? I answer emphatically no. When the Savior looked forward to the period in which He should come, He inquired: "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" This indicated that He will find but few disciples when He comes, and those so backslidden in heart that the very existence of faith may be questioned. As for the conversion of the nations, the Lord asks the question (Isaiah 66:8): "Shall a nation be born at once?"

He nowhere asserts that such shall be the case. But the fact as taught in the Word of God is that the Savior's great second coming shall be in the midst of the most abounding wickedness. There shall be sin then in high places and in low. The world will be sunk in iniquity. In Matthew 24:3 we have the Savior's utterances. The disciples came to him and said: "Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" In the Savior's answer He told them in the first part of this chapter, how they might know when Jerusalem would be taken, to which the first question alludes. Then he proceeds with the second inquiry and replies to that. In the twentyninth verse he begins an explicit answer to the third. Matt. 24:29-31: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth

mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

The tribulation here mentioned must be a remarkable one to be pointed out so specifically. But I leave it for future consideration, as it will deserve more time than I can give it in this lecture. Notice this point, it is "after the tribulation of those days" that Christ is to come. The tribulation then is to precede His coming. Now this idea is not usually entertained. We have thought all along that the time to be dreaded was just after He came; here He tells us it is to be just before. For, said He: "And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh." It will be a source of true joy when these things begin. The Christian will then perceive that his Redeemer is near. His deliverance from persecution, from suffering, from martyrdom, and from all the enemies of Christ, is at hand. And instead of being dreaded by true disciples it will be a thing to be longed for. He will be ready for a change from this mixed world of sin and violence to a kingdom of righteous

ness.

Let us study the condition of the world when the Lord Jesus comes, from His own words.

Matt. 13:24-30:

"Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened

unto a man which sowed good seed in his field. But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn."

Here the world's moral history is written under the teaching of a parable. The good and bad seed were sown together. When they came up the servants of the good man were astonished to find the tares mixed with the wheat. They wanted to begin the work of extermination. They wanted at once to root out the tares. But the Master said nay. Let them alone Then he would have them separated. Now the disciples did not understand this as thoroughly as they desired, and came to Jesus afterwards, and asked an explanation. As was His custom, He gave them the following interpretation of the parable.

until harvest.

Matt. 13:37-43: "He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the

wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world (or age). The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."

The good and bad seed flourished together until the latter day; or the end of this dispensation. "End of this world" here means the end of this age.

The bad were not to be rooted out until that time. The Son of God will then send forth the holy angels, and they shall gather all the wicked and everything that offends out of His kingdom. But remember, they are to flourish in the world just as much as the righteous do, until "the end of the age (or world)." Then their reckoning shall take place. The righteous are not to convert the wicked, nor get rid of them in any way until the great day of the Lord.

The Son of God has given us in His latter day discourse an exact account of the world's moral condition when He should come.

Matt. 24:37-39: "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