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SIGNS OF THE END TIMES
(Conclusion)

6. HEAPED UP TREASURE

In James 5: 1-6, we are told that in the "LAST DAYS" there shall be a class of "rich men," who shall have "HEAPED treasure together," and that by "FRAUD," and who shall use their ill-gotten gain in the pursuit of "pleasure" and "wantonness," and that God will hear the cry of those who have been cheated of their just share of the profits, and will send a sore judgement upon the guilty. What a description we have here of the unprincipled, speculative and profiteering spirit of this age, when more and more are becoming millionaires, and multimillionaires, in a short space of time. Truly we are living, in the "Last Days" of this Dispensation.

7. A LAODICEAN CHURCH

In the Message to the Church of Laodicea (Rev. 3: 14-22) we have a description of the last stage of the professing Church on earth. It is described as neither "hot" nor "cold," but nauseatingly lukewarm, so that Christ says He will "spew it out of His mouth." It boastingly will claim to be "rich" and "increased with goods," and to have "need of nothing," not even of Christ, for He will be excluded and will have to knock for admittance, and it will be ignorant of its true condition, that it is wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. Unspeakably sad it is that this is the condition to a large extent of the professing Church of today.

8. THE FIG-TREE SIGN

When Jesus' Disciples asked Him, after He had foretold the destruction of the Temple: "Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the SIGN of THY COMING, and of the end of the world (Age) ?" (Matt. 24:1-3), Jesus says as a "Sign" of His Coming (The Second Coming no the Rapture) the "Fig-Tree Sign." The "Fig-Tree" symbolises the nation of Israel, and its "budding" the revival of Israel as a nation. Here again we have evidence of the nearness of the Lord's Return for the revival of Zionism, and the passing of the Land of Palestine into the hands of a Christian nation, opens the way for the restoration of the Jews to their own land, and the fulfilment of the Fig-Tree Sign.

The fact that the City of Jerusalem surrendered without the firing of a shot is significant. Jesus said that Jerusalem was to be trodden down of the Gentiles until "The Times of the Gentiles" should be fulfilled (Luke 21: 24), and the taking of Jerusalem at this time may signify that "The Times of the Gentiles" is drawing to a close.

9. THE DISTRESS OF NATIONS

In Luke 21: 24-27 Jesus tells us that as the "Times of the Gentiles" come to a close, "there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth DISTRESS OF NATIONS, with perplexity; the sea and the waves (the peoples of the earth) roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the 'Powers of Heaven' (the Principalities and Powers of Evil, Ephesians. 6:11-12), shall be shaken. And THEN shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud (The Second Coming) with power and great glory."

In the prophecy of Haggai 2: 6-7, we read: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will SHAKE ALL NATIONS, and the DESIRE (Christ) OF ALL NATIONS WILL COME." This has never been fulfilled as yet, and the present "Distress of Nations," the uprising of the masses in "National Revolutions," the "Tottering Thrones" and other indications that the nations are Being Shaken, is still further proof that we are living in the times just preceding the appearing of the Son of Man, the "DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS" who will bring peace to this troubled earth.

10. NOAH DAYS

The last "sign" that we would mention is the "sign" of the "Noah Days." Luke 17:26-30. "As it was in the days of Noah, they did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built, so shall it be in the days of the Son of Man". People say, where is the sin in doing, these things? They are not only commanded, they are necessary. That is true. The sin was not in "doing" them, but in doing them "UNTIL the Flood came." That is, they did nothing else. They forgot to worship their Maker.

So today men and women are so busily engaged in doing the good things of life that they have no time to worship God. They are so busy building homes for themselves on earth that they are neglecting to secure a home in heaven. They are more anxious that their children should make a good match on earth, than that they should be united to the Lord. They are so much concerned about their case in Court, that they have forgotten that they must stand at the judgement Bar of God.

None of these signs will appear;
"until that which is delaying be taken out of the earth" 2 Thessalonians 2:7.

The influences which will bring about the great apostasy of the end time have been at work from the beginning, but have been restrained by another, counteracting force. What is this? Some say it is the Holy spirit who came among men at the day of pentecost. John 16:7-16 and Acts 1:8 & 2:1-4. But the Holy Spirit must continue to work here throughout the apostasy, enabling a few to endure to the end, and empowering others to be faithful to death. The apostasy is restrained by the presence of the saints, the true ecclesia, the invisible church.

One day soon will come to pass that which Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, " for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of the God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we be ever with the Lord".

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