Confession of Faith: Article XXXVII (2)

The Lord has warned His church to give heed to the signs of the times. He says to the hypocrites, “When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowering. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” (Matthew 16: 2-3). Therefore we must know and give heed to the signs that preach the coming of Christ, the approaching coming of the King on the clouds. These signs are:

1. The preaching of the gospel throughout the whole world. We may also contribute a little to that by bringing the Word to Bolivia where there may be people who have never heard the gospel. At the time when Christ comes back, the lamp of the Word, the light of the gospel will have come to all nations; it will have been in all places. It was in Asia Minor and has departed from there. It has been in other places where it is now dark as the night, but it has been there. But there are still a few places where it has not yet been. Before Christ comes back, it will have been everywhere. That is what we read in Matthew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.”

2. The great apostasy, the falling away from the truth. Do we not see this also? Thirty years ago about 20% of the people in the Netherlands were without any religion or at least did not belong to a church; now the number is about 50%. Maybe as yet the numbers are not dropping so much in Canada and the United States, but the religion of many is becoming shallower and shallower, and we see a general falling away from the truth over the whole world. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

3. Another sign is that sin shall abound, as in the days of Noah. People will eat and drink, will live for pleasure and money. There will be a spirit of materialism, false ease, selfdeceit; and there will be no shame. “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37).

4. There will be an increasing number of famines and earthquakes; certain signs which seem to say that the creation is shaking and trembling under the feeling that the King is coming. “And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matthew 24:7).

5. There shall be wars and rumors of wars. “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” (Matthew 24:7).

6. We could also mention the severe oppression and persecution of the church. “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake” (Matthew 24:9). If you do not fit into the New Age, you will be hated. You may have some kind of religion, a mixture of eastern mystical religion and pagan beliefs, but if you believe that salvation is in none other, but only in that precious Redeemer, Jesus Christ, you will not fit anymore. You will be a stumbling block.

7. Love and care for others will grow cold. And are we not living in an increasingly cold society? It is not getting much warmer in the church, although the Lord has still left something among us. “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.”

8. The antichrist shall reign. “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).

9. Finally, that coming will be unexpected. It will be as a thief in the night.

But what will be the purpose of His coming? It will be to judge the quick and the dead. A solemn truth! It will be all mankind; you and I, not one of us excluded, will stand before Him. “For we must all appear [literally, ‘be revealed’] before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10). And then the books will be opened; everything will be revealed, the hidden things of our heart and of our mind. Nothing will be hidden anymore. The Lord will recognize His own work and only His own work. All that is ours and all that is not of His work, all that is manmade, although perhaps with the appearance of godliness, will fall away. It may have impressed many; it may have had beauty of words; it may have had eloquence; it may have had an abounding knowledge; but if that true seed of grace is missing, it will fall away. Then a true creeper, one who did not dare to place himself among the people of God, but whose heart was yearning for God and His fellowship, who could not do without Him, who was truly sorry for his sins, in whose life Christ was many times hidden, but whose longing was, “O that I may know Him, that I may be His,” whose heart has been inclined to surrender to Him and to give up himself unto Him, will not be put to shame.

Hidden hypocrisy will be revealed, but also God's true work will be made manifest.

It will be the time of which we read in Matthew 25:32, “And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.” The angels will be sent out to gather the elect into the glorious presence of Christ, but they shall also assemble the wicked before His judgment seat.

Then we will see the difference. We read, “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” Hidden hypocrisy will be revealed, but also God's true work will be made manifest. For the ungodly it will be a terrible time, for their consciences will then speak loudly, and they will have to submit to that testimony. They will not be able to silence or contradict their consciences anymore, to excuse themselves. And also they will not be able to find one excuse for having remained an unbeliever. They will be immortal. Oh, they will wish that they could die under the mountains and the hills. Then in despair they will cry out, “May this be the end,” but it will just be the beginning. They will go into everlasting fire. We read in Malachi 4:1, “And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” That is the great day.

But then in the next verse we read of the Sun of righteousness. There is comfort for the godly:

1. That day will be the hour of their deliverance from all sin, temptations, sorrow, and grief. Revelation 7:16-17 will become a reality: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

2. We also read that they will receive the fruits of their labors, 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7. They shall receive rest and glory when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels.

3. Then their innocence — innocence in the blood and righteousness of the Lamb — will be revealed, confirmed, and known by everyone.

4. They will receive a blessed reward and a gracious inheritance. “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him” (Isaiah 64:4).

There is the testimony that the Lord is coming. What should that cause us to do? Luther said that if he knew that tomorrow the Lord would come back, today he would still plant a tree. In other words, he would still do his work, and he would continue to fulfill his obligation with the help of the Lord. Yet there is an obligation for the church of God. They should walk carefully in this world in this time when the days are evil. As the apostle says in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Arnoldus van Rotterdam speaks of the obligations of believers. They should give thanks to God for the hope they receive from Him. They should also often meditate upon His coming and upon the inheritance promised. They should live in true godliness and not cease in the warfare against sin. They should also heartily long for the future of the Son of God and patiently wait for that great day, of which we read in 2 Peter 3:13, “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

Then it will appear that a weak, troubled, despised people will be more than conquerors. This is the victory that will overcome the world, that is, their faith. I know that this faith is also a gift; they could not exercise it in their own strength; but they will in Him, in Christ, be more than conquerors.

We will close this discussion. And “therefore we expect that great day.” What is our expectation? Is it that we may be ready when the Bridegroom comes, to meet Him, to rejoice in Him?

Those who loved His appearance will give Him all the honor for what He has so graciously given them.

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