I think by this time everybody knows what is the theme of this conference: the King is coming.
I believe this is the heartbeat of God’s people. It gives us great joy and expectation. The King is coming.
We remember our Lord Jesus said, “When you see all these things come to pass, look up, lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.” How true that is.
It seems as if this very fact—that the King is coming—is in the air. You can feel it.
You remember when our Lord Jesus came the first time? Before He came, there were many prophecies given to the nation of Israel.
As a matter of fact, every day in the temple, when the priest was offering incense, the prayer of the nation went up. And we knew that prayer was, “Oh, that the Messiah will come.”
Outwardly, it seemed as if the whole nation of Israel was waiting for the coming of the Messiah-King. But as a matter of fact, we know only very few—a remnant—were really waiting for His coming.
From the Word of God, we find people such as Zacharias, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, and some temple shepherds. They were the few who were really waiting for the coming of the Messiah.
You can say they were the people who prepared the way of His coming. They brought the Messiah near.
And, brothers and sisters, I am afraid this is equally true with His second coming. The prophecies concerning His second coming are many throughout Christendom.
Probably the message on the second coming of the Lord is one of the most popular messages in Christian circles. People are studying prophecy. People are interested in prophecy, fascinated by it. And the whole church is waiting—or appears to be waiting—for the coming of the King.
But unfortunately, the fact is probably that very few are really waiting for His coming. Very few are really preparing the way of His coming. Very few.
And this is the reason why we are gathered here at this time. We are not so much—I will not say interested—but emphasizing all these prophecies concerning the coming of the King.
But we feel that the coming of the King is sure and near, and it is time that God’s people should be prepared, should be ready to meet the King.
Or, to put it more emphatically, we feel that this is a time when God’s people should hasten His return.
It is not that the King delays His return. It is because the bride is not ready. So, brothers and sisters, we feel very strongly in our hearts that these are the few days left, and we should be prepared to hasten the coming of the King.
We take Matthew as the background. The reason why we do it this way is because we do not want to put too much emphasis, to be too heavy, on prophecy.
We know that people are interested in prophecy, but we feel that the emphasis should be preparedness, not the knowledge of prophecy.
So that is the reason why we will have the Sermon on the Mount, because we feel the Sermon on the Mount is the real preparation of God’s people for His coming.
We feel that it is not only the real preparation, but we believe that if God’s people live in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, they will hasten the coming of the King.
We take up Matthew 13, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. This is to give us a prophetic history from the first coming of the Lord to the second coming of the Lord, to show us what He is doing during this period of grace.
Outwardly, you find lots of confusion. But inwardly, the King is gathering His people, preparing His kingdom, in order that He may return.
And, of course, we will take up Matthew 24 and 25 to consider the signs of the times and what His coming means to us.
Now, my assignment is on Matthew 24 and 25. As our brother mentioned this morning, probably the Olivet Discourse is interpreted in many, many ways.
But our interest is not in these interpretations. We may present you with some interpretation; we cannot avoid it. But if you do not agree with it, you are welcome to your view.
Whatever interpretation you may hold, we feel this is not as important as being prepared for His coming.
So let us read Matthew 24. We will read from verse 1.
And Jesus went out from the temple, and was going away;
and His disciples came to Him to show Him the buildings of the temple.
But He answered and said unto them, “See ye not all these things?
Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”And as He sat on the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying,
“Tell us, when shall these things be?
and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?”And Jesus answered and said unto them, “Take heed that no man lead you astray.
For many shall come in My name, saying, I am the Christ; and shall lead many astray.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled;
for these things must needs come to pass; but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places.
But all these things are the beginning of travail.Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you:
and ye shall be hated of all the nations for My name’s sake.
And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another.
And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray.
And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold.
But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world
for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.
Verse 32:
“Now from the fig tree learn her parable:
when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves,
ye know that the summer is nigh;
even so ye also, when ye see all these things,
know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors.
Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away,
till all these things be accomplished.
Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but My words shall not pass away.But of that day and hour knoweth no one,
not even the angels of heaven, but the Father only.
And as were the days of Noah,
so shall be the coming of the Son of man.
For as in those days which were before the flood
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day that Noah entered into the ark,
and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away;
so shall be the coming of the Son of man.”
Now turn back to verse 27:
“For as the lightning cometh forth from the east,
and is seen even unto the west;
so shall be the coming of the Son of man.”
Let us pray.
Dear heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that we are gathered together here this evening in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We do thank Thee for Thy presence with us, and we do ask Thee that Thou wilt speak through Thy Word.
We pray that Thou wilt speak to our hearts, that we may not only hear the words, but that we may hear Thy voice calling us to be prepared to meet Thee. We commit this time into Thy hands and trust Thee for Thy blessing, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
In Matthew 16, the Pharisees came to the Lord Jesus and asked Him for a sign from heaven.
And the Lord Jesus said, “When evening comes, you say, ‘Fair weather; for the sky is red.’ And when morning comes, you say, ‘There will be a storm today; for the sky is red and lowering.’”
So the Lord said, “You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you do not know how to discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of Jonah.”
People know how to discern the face of the sky, but they are blinded to know the sign of the time in which they live. Unbelief blinds our eyes to the signs.
And then again, in Luke 12, our Lord Jesus said to the multitude, “When ye see a cloud rising in the west, straightway ye say, ‘There cometh a shower’; and so it cometh to pass. And when ye see a south wind blowing, ye say, ‘There will be a scorching heat’; and it cometh to pass.”
The Lord said again, “You can judge the appearance of the heaven and the earth, but you cannot discern this time. You do not know what is the right thing to do.”
Brothers and sisters, we are able to discern physical phenomena and tell what is going to happen, but we are not able to discern the spiritual and moral situation, to know what is going to come.
Ecclesiastes 8:5 says, “A wise man’s heart discerneth time and judgment.”
In other words, the heart of a wise man not only knows the time; because he knows the time, therefore he knows what to do.
If we do not know the time, we do not know how to react to it, how to act upon it, or how to conduct ourselves. So, brothers and sisters, it is very important to know the time in which we are living. And by knowing the time, we know what we ought to do.
And in Matthew 24, you find the disciples of our Lord Jesus came to Him privately and asked, “Lord, when shall these things be? And what is the sign of Thy coming and of the completion of the age?”
These disciples did not come to ask for a sign, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, out of unbelief. On the contrary, they came to the Lord to ask for the sign because they believed.
They believed that the Lord would come. They believed that the end would come. And because of that, they asked the Lord for the sign of His coming and of the completion of the age, in order that they might be better prepared for it.
And I think that ought to be our attitude. We need to know the signs of the time—not out of unbelief. We need to know the signs of the time because we believe, and we want to be prepared.
In the first coming of our Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, the sign was the sign of Jonah. Because this was a wicked and adulterous generation, there could be no other sign given but the sign of Jonah.
For His second coming, the Lord also gave us signs to the believing church. And this evening, this is something that we want to consider together before the Lord.
I believe, brothers and sisters, we all sense that we live in the last days, or at the end of these days.
Now, actually, “the last days,” or “the end of days,” is a Hebrew expression. You find it in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament.
And actually, “the last days,” or “the end of days,” means the end of the period of the law, of the dispensation of law, when the Messiah would be introduced. So in the Old Testament, you find the same expression.
The Apostle Paul used the term “the last days” in 2 Timothy 3:1. You find the Apostle John using the words “the last hour” in 1 John 2:18. And Peter used the phrase “the last days” in 2 Peter 3:3.
Now, even though there are little variations, we know that they mean the same thing: the last days, the last hour, the close of days.
Now, brothers and sisters, if the first coming of our Lord Jesus to this earth began the last days, and now we are living in the twentieth century, toward the end of the twentieth century, then without doubt we are living at the very end of the last days.
We are living in the end time. That is the time in which we are now living.
We need to know: what are the signs of this time? Then we may be better prepared.
In Matthew 24, our Lord Jesus and His disciples were coming out from the temple in Jerusalem. They were on their way out of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives.
And as they were coming out, the disciples pointed out to the Lord the stones and the buildings of the temple.
You know, not only did the Jewish people at that time take great pride in this temple—the temple that was built by the remnant returning from Babylonian captivity, and enlarged and beautified by King Herod, adorned with beautiful stones and offerings—but even the disciples were carried away by these beautiful stones and magnificent buildings.
So they pointed out to the Lord these stones and buildings. And, to their surprise, the Lord said, “You see these things? The day will come when there will be no stone upon another stone.” In other words, there would be complete ruin.
Of course, the disciples could hardly believe it. And they dared not ask the Lord on the way, lest they be overheard. It would be blasphemous in the ears of the Jewish people.
So when the Lord arrived at the Mount of Olives, some of the disciples—and we know there were four: Peter, Andrew, John, and James—came to the Lord privately, secretly. Maybe they were whispering to the Lord, saying, “Lord, when shall these things be? And what is the sign of Your coming and of the completion of the age?”
Maybe in the minds of these disciples, these three things went together: the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, the coming of the Lord, and the end of the age.
To the disciples, if such things should happen, then surely the Lord would come, and that would be the end of this age. So perhaps in their minds these three things were one. But actually, we know they were three things.
“When shall these things be?” We know that in A.D. 70, when the Roman army entered Jerusalem, they attacked the temple.
But it was made of massive stones. Finally, they threw firebrands into the temple, and it began to burn. But even though the temple was burned, the wood could be burned; surely the massive stones would still remain, one upon another.
Every stone was cut smooth in such a way that one stone fitted into another stone. It was so fitted. How could all these stones not remain one upon another?
But history tells us that it happened. The reason was because the temple was overlaid with gold. The fire burned, and the gold melted and fell into the crevices of these stones.
So, in order to get the gold, they dug up every stone. No stone was left upon another stone. What humanly was thought impossible was literally fulfilled in A.D. 70.
“When shall these things be?” It already happened in A.D. 70. “What is the sign of Thy coming and of the completion of the age?” We find almost two thousand years in between.
That is what we call the church age, the dispensation of grace. It is a mystery. It had been hidden throughout the generations, but is now revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the prophets and the apostles.
And we know what this mystery of the gospel, the mystery of the Christ, is: it is the mystery of the church, the dispensation of grace.
But we know, even so, the end will come, and we know that the Lord will return. So here you find the question: “What is the sign of Thy coming and of the completion of the age?”
Now, actually, the coming of the Lord—or the parousia of the Lord, the presence of the Lord—and the completion of this age are two different things. But they are very closely related.
The coming of the Lord will bring in the completion of the age. Timewise, they coincide with each other. But location-wise, the coming of the Lord, or the parousia of the Lord, deals with the things above, and the completion of the age deals with the things below on earth.
But anyway, I think for the time being we will not distinguish these two. Let us just put it this way: What is the sign of the end time?
We are living in the end time, the last of the last days. And are there signs given to us that we may discern, and that we may do the right thing?
In Matthew 24, the Lord said in verse 4:
“Take heed that no man lead you astray.”
Before the Lord showed us the sign of His coming and of the completion of the age, He gave us a warning: “Take heed that no man lead you astray.”
You know, brothers and sisters, the study of prophecy is most fascinating. And because naturally we have curiosity, we are always curious about the future. And not only curious, but we are anxious about the future.
And because we are curious and anxious, we can easily be misled. We are open to temptation.
So the Lord said, when you are dealing with prophecy, be careful that you are not misled. No one should mislead you. In other words, do not follow any man. Go to the Word of God.
Many will come with fancy ideas—fascinating ideas—and how people will latch on to these things and be deceived.
My brothers and sisters, as our brother mentioned this morning, we have to go back to the Word of God. This is a sure foundation.
And furthermore, do not become content with interpretations. You may find some interpretations that satisfy you, but do not be contented just with the knowledge of all these interpretations.
We need to study prophecy, the prophetic Word of God, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts, as Peter says.
Now, what does it mean? It means that when we are studying prophecy, do not just stop in trying to find the best interpretation that satisfies your mind.
But when you study prophecy, study it until the day dawns. Brothers and sisters, we are living in the darkest of the night. But prophecy, as you study it, is as if the day begins to brighten up and the morning star rises in your heart.
The morning star is none other than our Lord Jesus. One day, when He shall return, He will be as the Sun of righteousness. When He comes as the Sun of righteousness, everybody will see Him, just as everybody sees the sun shining.
But only those who are watchful, only those who are alert, only those who are awake, will see the morning star.
Brothers and sisters, study prophecy until the day dawns in our hearts and the morning star arises in your heart. In other words, you study prophecy until you see that He has come—as if He has already come. He comes. And that is the way to study prophecy.
After the Lord’s departure from this earth to heaven, we find there were false prophets, false teachers, and false Christs in this world.
We find there were, and there are still, wars and rumors of wars. We find that nations fight against nations, kingdom against kingdom, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes everywhere.
But the Lord said, “This is not the end. This is the beginning of the end, the beginning of birth pains.”
In these two thousand years, there have always been false prophets, false teachers, and false Christs. In these two thousand years, you find wars, rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes. These things have happened for twenty centuries.
How do we know that the end is near? Well, the Lord tells us very clearly: when you see these things, do not say, “This is the end.”
Naturally, when there is a great earthquake, if you are there, you will think that the end has come. When these disasters strike, it is natural for us to say, “Now this must be the end.”
So the Lord says, “No. This is not the end. This is the beginning of the end. It is the beginning of birth pains.”
You know, brothers and sisters, we all feel that wars, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes are bad. They are very negative and destructive. They do not seem to us to serve any purpose.
They are just suffering. And oftentimes people ask the question, “Why does God allow these things? If He does not initiate these things, why does He allow these things? God being love, why is it that He allows all these things to happen?”
And some people even attribute these things to God and blame Him for all these things.
Of course, we know that these things are the consequences of our sins. We know these things happen in this world because there is an adversary.
And he is a liar, a murderer from the very beginning, and he is the ruler of this world. And because of this, you find all these things happening in this world.
But, brothers and sisters, the Lord said these things are the beginning of birth pains. Now that gives us a different viewpoint.
If we look at all these things, we say, “What good will these things come to?” These things just result in disasters, ruin, suffering, and death. But the Lord said, “Remember, these are the beginnings of birth pains.”
When a woman is in birth pains, she is going to bring forth a child.
I do not know if I am right, but I believe that in the beginning, when God created Adam and Eve and God blessed them that they should have many sons and many daughters—in other words, that there would be many of us—I believe that if man had not sinned, probably birth would have had no pain.
Birth pain came after man fell, and God said a woman would bear a child with pain.
But even so, when a woman is in birth pain, she is going through a process of death. But after a child is born, then all the pains are forgotten because of the joy.
And the Lord said these are birth pains. In other words, even though the enemy means it for evil, the Lord turns it to good. Out of all these sufferings, He is going to bring forth that which He is after.
Now, if my interpretation is correct, I believe that Revelation 5 is a replay of the ascension of our Lord Jesus, as Revelation 4 is a replaying of the glory of the Creator.
There you find our Lord Jesus ascended up to heaven, the Lamb newly slain standing before the throne, receiving from the hand of the One who sits upon the throne that scroll, sealed with seven seals, because He is worthy.
And if you connect that with Psalm 2, you find that at the ascension of our Lord Jesus, the Bible says, “Ask of Me,” the Father said, “and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance.”
I wonder if this is the time. I wonder whether, when the Lord ascended up to the throne, He received from the Father the title deed of all this universe.
God is the owner of this universe. He never gives up His ownership. It may be usurped and squandered by the enemy, but He is the owner. And now He has One who is able to execute the reclaiming of the inheritance.
And, brothers and sisters, I cannot believe that our Lord Jesus would take that scroll and wait for two thousand years before He opened the seals. Can you imagine that?
Surely, I believe that after He received the scroll, He started to open it. And what do you find there? You find Revelation 6.
There you find, during the first four seals, the four horses—the four horsemen.
The first horse was a white horse: false Christs. Why? Because he has a bow, but no arrow.
The second horse is red, speaking of bloodshed and war. The third horse, black: famine. The fourth horse, pale green: pestilence.
And, brothers and sisters, when you compare Revelation 6:1-8 with Matthew 24:5-8, you find a similarity there.
Brothers and sisters, why is it that the Lord Jesus said, “These are the beginning of birth pains”? Because He is the One who opens the seals. He is the One who releases the horsemen. In other words, He is in control.
Even though these things come from the enemy, or in a sense are the last struggle of the enemy, the Lord is claiming His inheritance, and the enemy is resisting and struggling with what he has and what he is: a liar and murderer.
Oh, how I thank the Lord. Even though I cannot explain all the things that are happening in the world today, I can look up and say, “Lord, You are in control. You are working out Your purpose.”
You are bringing forth that child, that man-child, that You are after. It is not all in vain.
You know, when a woman begins to have pain, that pain will increase in intensity, in magnitude, and also in frequency. These pains will come more rapidly until the time of giving birth.
And is it not true even today? It is true that all these things—false prophets, wars, rumors of wars, famine, earthquakes, and pestilence—have been happening for two thousand years.
But is it not true that as we are coming to the end, the magnitude and intensity, and the rapidity, have greatly increased? Now that shows His nearness. But this is only the beginning of the end.
Then, second, the Lord continues in Matthew 24, from verse 9 through verse 14: “He that endureth to the end.”
Now, brothers and sisters, when all these things are happening in this world, what happens to the church? What happens to the believers?
The Lord said:
“Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you:
and ye shall be hated of all the nations for My name’s sake.”
Brothers and sisters, we are not of the world. The Lord has called us out of the world system.
We do not belong to this world system. We are strangers and sojourners upon this earth. And because of this, we do not belong to this world system—this kosmos—under the rulership of the god of this world, Satan the enemy.
And what can you expect? Persecution.
Brothers and sisters, can we expect welcome and friendship from this world that is under the enemy of God? We belong to another kingdom. We belong to another world.
And because of this, throughout the twenty centuries, you find Christians have been persecuted and hated everywhere. They are hated because of the name of the Lord Jesus.
When our Lord was on earth, He was hated. He was crucified. And can we expect better treatment from the same world?
Do not be surprised if we suffer for the name of the Lord Jesus. This is what we need to expect.
We are witnesses of the Lord, and the word “witnesses” in the original is martyrs—the same word.
We need to witness to our Lord with our life, or even by giving up our life. This is the natural—or supernaturally natural—thing that we should expect.
The blood of the martyrs waters the seed of the gospel.
But because of persecutions and pressures, many will be offended. Even among God’s people, many will be offended because they are not prepared for these things.
They are prepared for prosperity, for success. They are not prepared for suffering.
And even among God’s people, in order to protect themselves, they may deliver up their own brothers. And we find this happening even today.
Because lawlessness increases, the love of the many grows cold.
Brothers and sisters, we live in a time of lawlessness. Everywhere you turn, there is lawlessness. And because of this, our love toward the Lord is affected.
We begin to compromise. We begin to lose our first love for the Lord. The love of the many grows cold.
Added to this, there are false teachers and false prophets leading people away from Christ, turning our hearts from the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, the church is in the Laodicean stage. But we are still boastful and proud of ourselves.
But thank God, our Lord Jesus said, “He that endureth to the end, he shall be saved.” This is the endurance of the saints. This is the patience of Christ. How we need to keep the word of His patience.
It will not be too long. And he who endures to the end, he shall be saved.
And, brothers and sisters, the gospel of the kingdom must be preached to all the nations, and then the end shall come.
Who will be preaching the gospel of the kingdom—the gospel of the King?
Only those who endure to the end. Only those who live in Matthew 5 through 7. Only those who keep the word of His patience.
These are the people who will preach the gospel of the kingdom to the nations, to tell them that there is a King. He has a kingdom, and His kingdom is indestructible; it is eternal.
And then the Lord said, “The end shall come.”
Number three: “As in the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man.”
There is much we can say about the days of Noah. If you go back to Genesis 4 through Genesis 6—the reason why we have to go back to chapter 4 is because men at that time lived very long—you find that the days of Noah cover quite a long period.
To understand the days of Noah, the Lord Jesus said, “So shall be the coming of the Son of man.” What are the phenomena of the days of Noah?
Genesis 6 says that when population began to increase, there was a population explosion. I think everybody is talking about population explosion.
Recently, I saw an article. It says that every day 255,000 people are added. Every year, 90 million are added. Today we have 5.2 billion world population.
Another billion will be added in ten years. By the year 2020, we will have two more billion added. And by 2100, the population will be 15 billion.
Now, I am not interested in the number of population, but when population is exploding, you know what happens. Wherever there are so many people, invariably you find an increase of sin and crime and all these things. That is the problem.
And people, of course, were saying, “Well, the food problem.” There are a lot of problems.
Now, these things happened in the days of Noah, and today we find they are multiplied, I do not know by how many degrees.
And again, you find in the days of Noah, in Genesis 6:4:
“The Nephilim were in the earth in those days,
and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men,
and they bare children to them:
the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.”
The Bible says in those days there were giants. And in Hebrew, the word Nephilim actually means “the fallen ones.”
Originally, these applied to the fallen angels—those angels that did not keep their proper place. In other words, the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage. But these angels seemed to come to men, and they united in marriage with the daughters of men.
And the result was heroes, men of renown, giants. Gradually, you find this word Nephilim applied to the descendants of these fallen angels.
You find this not only in Greek mythology, but you find that in the Bible even after the flood. One of the reasons why the flood came was because of these abnormal species.
And God is the God of order. Everything is after its kind. So when there is this disturbance of God’s order, judgment will come upon this earth.
Another interpretation is that the sons of God refer to the descendants of Seth, the godly descendants, and the daughters of men refer to the descendants of Cain.
And here you find, in the days of Noah, the godly descendants of Seth had become ungodly in intermarrying with the daughters of Cain. In other words, only Noah and his family were righteous before God. Think of it.
And, of course, in the days of Noah, you find violence and corruption everywhere. Of course, you expect that. When people throw away the divine order of God, when people do not honor or respect God’s order, they will not respect men.
Everybody will seek for his own benefit, and there will be violence and corruption—no doubt about that. And, brothers and sisters, what do we see today?
Strangely enough, when the world is getting so corrupt, so violent, full of sins and crimes and all things you can imagine, yet at the same time we feel we are getting more civilized, more cultured—music, art, all these cultural things.
And no wonder, during the Holocaust, when they sent these Jewish men, women, and children to the death furnaces, they were there playing classical music.
Strangely, these two things go together. As were the days of Noah, so are the days of the coming of the Son of Man.
So, brothers and sisters, what are we waiting for?
Are we not really already at the end of the last time? We are approaching the end.
Now, these that we have just considered are the general signs.
Does the Lord give us something more specific, that we may know that we are actually living very, very near to the end, that the coming of the Lord is imminent, that the age is coming to a close? Are there signs given?
The Lord said, “Learn from the parable of the fig tree.”
The emphasis in that parable of the fig tree is not so much on the fig tree; it is on what we need to learn.
The Lord said, “Learn from the parable of the fig tree.” Now, of course, everybody knows the fig tree is a symbol of the Jewish nation.