Signs of the Times

The Importance of Escaping What Lies Ahead for Mankind

All true believers in Jesus Christ are constantly waiting with keen anticipation for Him to come back. Actually, He will return to our world twice. At His first coming, He will descend secretly and, in a single world-sweeping grab, snatch away all of His people to heaven. That exciting prospect for anyone who knows Christ is called the Rapture. At His second coming, He will descend in full glory, defeat His enemies with a few strokes of divine power, and make Himself king over all the earth. Between His two comings, the world will suffer divine judgment in the form of horrible catastrophes on a scale or of a kind never seen before. That period of nightmares worse than we can imagine is called the Tribulation.

Sadly, the Rapture will exclude many who regard themselves as Christians. A clear warning that even many churchgoers will not be taken appears in passage after passage of Bible prophecy. The purpose of this book is to give you all the information that you will need to escape the great sorrow and danger in being left behind. We will start by offering a Biblical perspective on our place in history.

Modern Trends in the Study of End-Time Prophecy

In the 1830s, a new interest in the prophetic Scriptures arose first among the Plymouth Brethren and then spread rapidly to other groups, so that by the 1870s, many Bible-believing Christians were studying things to come. Prophecy was a leading topic at the nineteenth-century Bible conferences that gave birth to the fundamentalist movement in America. This new interest, built on a growing sense that Christ’s return was drawing near, did not soon fade, but increasingly preoccupied the body of Christ. The great wars and catastrophes that engulfed the world in the first half of the twentieth century seemed to confirm that we are living in the Last Days. After the founding of the state of Israel in 1948—a development viewed as a sure sign of the end times—the interest in prophecy rose to great excitement. Many preachers seldom let a month go by without devoting at least one sermon to God’s prophetic timetable. Future events were often discussed on Christian radio programs, in Christian magazines, and at summer Bible conferences.

For me, interest in prophecy is a family heritage. During many of my father’s summer vacations when I was a young boy, he took us to a Bible conference at Gull Lake, Michigan, or Winona Lake, Indiana, where we heard leading Bible teachers of the day, and their theme was often prophecy. Then he went to work at Moody Bible Institute, which held a yearly Founder’s Week Conference, and again prophecy was a frequent subject. I myself have studied prophecy in great depth. It is a major division of my website offering Bible studies,¹ and I have written a commentary on Daniel based on extensive research.²

In recent years, however, the interest in prophecy has sharply declined. Many pastors have filed away their sermons on this subject, the result being a vacuum of good teaching that is being filled by twisted teaching. In the Christian media, prophecy has become the province of televangelists and online preachers who use sensational claims to reach the viewer’s pocketbook. The books available in Christian bookstores and through Christian channels are a bizarre assortment, including some that deny the bodily return of Christ. Others, like the Left Behind series, which has grossed millions of dollars, are so full of nonsense that they have greatly discredited the study of prophecy.

Because of this decline in good teaching, the average man in the pew is now very confused about God’s plan for the future. If you ask him the difference between a premillennialist and a pretribulationist, he will struggle to find the right answer. If you ask him to state his own position and defend it from the Scriptures, he will be speechless. He may not firmly grasp any prophetic idea except that Christ is coming again.

Yet his belief in the Second Coming may not be tied to any strong conviction that Christ will return soon. The teaching from many pulpits and lecterns in recent years has been that we cannot know whether Christ will come tomorrow or a thousand years from tomorrow. It is true, of course, that no one should try to predict the date of Christ’s return. Yet there are many signs that His return is drawing near, very near. Anyone who ignores these signs places himself in dubious company—among the Pharisees and Sadducees whom Jesus rebuked when He said,

2 . . . When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red.

3 And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. 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

Why We Must Know That We Are Living in the Last Days

The teaching that Christ may defer His coming until a time far in the future is doing grave harm to the church. One sad effect is that few Christians today are aware of their place in history. The church has forgotten the many voices that God raised to warn our fathers and grandfathers that the time of the end had arrived. William L. Pettingill, a leading Bible teacher in the period between the two World Wars who was greatly respected by my father, affirmed,

The Book of Daniel . . . is no longer sealed, for The Time of the End is here and the words of our Lord Jesus come to us with great force: "Let him that readeth understand" (Matthew 24:15). He was speaking here of the prophecy of Daniel; and this is the only Book which our Lord has specifically commanded His disciples to understand. May He help us to obey His Word! Let us bring to the study of this Book willing minds and surrendered hearts, eager to know the truth and determined to obey it, in order that by means of our knowledge and obedience the name of our blessed Lord may be exalted.³

If history has already passed into the time of the end, the final consummation cannot be far distant.

From the beginning of the Church Age until recently, the Lord left His people in the dark as to the time and season of His return (Acts 1:7; 1 Thess. 5:1), but He wants the present generation of believers to know that He is coming soon. Why must we know this? So that we will be alert to the special dangers besetting us.

Jesus Himself spoke of these dangers.

34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.

36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Luke 21:34–36

Escape what evil things? He is talking about the Tribulation. But when Jesus said that we should pray always, He did not mean that we should pray to escape the Tribulation, but rather that we will be accounted worthy of escape only if we are praying people. This is made clear in the context, where Jesus laments that saints with a habit of faith-based, persevering prayer will be rare at the time of His return (Luke 18:6-8). In light of these passages, we need to make prayer a high priority.

Paul also spoke of the dangers besetting us.

1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

2 Timothy 3:1–5

Here we learn that many professing Christians in the Last Days will know nothing of godliness. They will be overgrown spoiled brats. Yes, they will go to church occasionally, but not because they want to find and follow God’s will. They will see it as a good place to keep their children out of trouble or to enjoy entertaining meetings and meals and social gatherings, or perhaps even a good place to ease their conscience toward God, because a typical pastor in that time of history will tell them they’re okay if they just come to church now and then. But what is the truth?

. . . Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Luke 18:8

37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

38 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,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Matthew 24:37-41

The truth conveyed by these and other texts we could cite was meant by God as a thunderbolt to shake the complacency of today’s Christians. The truth is, very few will be taken at the Rapture. Jesus even compares the raptured saints to Noah and his family. They were just eight people out of perhaps the millions who were alive at the time of the Flood. We dare not manufacture self-serving exegetical schemes to rewrite and escape what Jesus is truly saying. He is telling you, make sure you are among the few.

If we recognize our place in history, we will be wary, vigilant, slow to mold ourselves after the example of others, quick to turn away from counterfeit godliness, and eager to heed those Scriptural admonitions written especially for our benefit, such as the following:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Hebrews 10:25

Incidentally, this passage shows us that keeping up our church attendance must also be a priority. Don’t slide. Except when you have been providentially hindered from coming, your excuse for staying away will not win a sympathetic hearing at heaven’s throne.

One Text Clearly Teaching That We Stand Near the End of the Church Age

What are the signs that Christ is coming soon? For starters, we will look at one especially helpful passage.

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.

James 5:7–9

The author’s use of a developing crop to picture church history is reminiscent of Jesus’ Kingdom Parables, especially the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43). Just because the patient husbandman is a poetic image, we should not, from an outlook that sees poetry as vague and imprecise, assume that his story is meaningless except as an illustration of patience. On the contrary, when we approach the compositions of great poets—the Miltons and Shakespeares of our world—we expect to find design in details. After all, depth and density of meaning are proofs of genius. Why should we expect anything less than genius in the Word of God? In every speck of matter that comes from the same creative source, we find design too intricate for human comprehension. It is therefore wise to assume that when James, the divinely inspired author whose work is infused with meaningful imagery, uses a farmer to represent Jesus waiting to return, he intended even the details of the image to be true prophecy.

When we view this text with eyes open to larger meaning, we find it highly significant for three reasons.

1. It agrees with several others that Jesus would return only after some delay. In the Parable of the Talents, where Jesus compares Himself to a man who returns home from a far country and rewards his servants according to their work while he was gone, He says that the man returns "after a long time" (Matt. 25:19). In a similar vein, Peter teaches that in the Last Days, men will arise who scoff at Jesus’ promise to return. Why will they see it as a false promise? Because so much time has elapsed and still nothing has happened (2 Pet. 3:3–4). To correct their wrong perspective, Peter adds, "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Pet. 3:8). Who could fail to see his implication that the delay in Jesus’ return might stretch to thousands of years? We find another warning of an extended Church Age in James’s epistle. He compares Jesus to a husbandman who wants to harvest the fruit of his garden, but who chooses not to come for it immediately. Rather, he waits with long patience until the fruit is ready.
2. James says that the fruit will not be ready for His return until it has received both the early and the latter rains. Most commentators view the two rains as merely a way of describing a full growing season. But as we argued earlier, a better approach is to look for specific prophetic meaning. Rain is probably a metaphor referring to the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus likened to living water (John 7:37–39). Whatever the rain represents, its indisputable effect is to spur growth. So, James is clearly saying that the Church Age will continue until there is a final period of growth to balance the growth at the beginning.
         The prophecy has been fulfilled. Expansion in the church has been mainly confined to two historical periods. In its infancy the church spread like wildfire despite fierce opposition by the Roman government. Countless believers were martyred, yet the church thrived. This was the time of early rain. Vigorous growth of the church has also taken place during the modern era, since 1800. For the first time in history, the church has carried out Jesus’ command to spread the gospel to the uttermost part of the earth. This has been the time of latter rain.
3. James tells us what will happen after the latter rain. The waiting will be over and the husbandman will come. Where do we stand in history? The latter rain has now fallen for generations, but it is subsiding. Missionary work is being scaled back. The churches in many countries are at some stage of drift into the waters of unbelief and corruption. Since Scripture foresees no more rain after the second outpouring, the apostasy we see all around us in our day must be the final apostasy foreseen in many prophecies (2 Thess. 2:1–3; 2 Tim. 3:1–5, 13; 4:3–4; Luke 18:8; etc.). Exactly how long this retreat from vital faith might continue, we have no idea. Nevertheless, we can be sure, as James says, that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh."

A side benefit of our investigation of James’s seemingly simple exhortation is the discovery of a double sign that the Lord’s return is near: first, that the latter rain has fallen; second, that it is stopping.

Before closing his words of prophecy, James makes two key applications.

1. He stresses again that the imminent return of Christ makes it easier for us to endure the troubles of life in a wicked world (v. 7). The confidence that He is coming soon is the secret to waiting for Him with a patient heart. It removes the anxieties that would otherwise keep us unsettled and sad.
2. The imminent return of Christ is another incentive to guard our tongue (v. 9). James warns, "Grudge not one against another, brethren." "Grudge" renders a word suggesting complaints spoken with a sigh or groan. It could be translated "grumble." He evidently is not referring to passing frictions of a minor sort, soon forgiven and forgotten, because the consequence is severe—to be condemned at the Judgment Seat of Christ. There, although a believer will not have his salvation taken away, he may incur penalties. The kind of offense in James’s mind is probably a chronic resentful attitude toward a brother, or a deliberate scheme to defame a brother for the sake of gaining some personal advantage, or a delight in gossiping about him because his failings, real or imagined, give the gossiper a sense of superiority—any of which may lead to the wars and fightings he discussed earlier (Jas. 4:1–2). The danger in holding on to such an attitude is that our lives on earth might come to an end at any moment, perhaps through sudden death or even perhaps through the surprise return of Christ. In either event, there will be no chance to put away sin before we see our Judge. If we wish to protect ourselves from His displeasure, we must deal now with any wrong spirit that is poisoning our love for the brethren. Lest we balk at correcting ourselves, James reminds us that the Judge stands before the door. The image has two meanings. Christ is standing at the door of heaven, ready to pass through into our realm and steal away His people. He is also, figuratively speaking, standing at the door of the courtroom, ready to enter and conduct our trial. Let us therefore live as though we might at any moment receive a summons into His presence.

In describing this summons, Scripture compares the returning Christ to a thief who approaches secretly and strikes without warning.

For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

1 Thessalonians 5:2

The prize He will come to steal away is the church. He will instantly catch up living saints to His presence in the sky, and from there He will transport them to a heavenly refuge. When speaking of this approaching event, Christians call it the Rapture, a word with the basic meaning, "a lifting up and carrying away." All others alive on the earth when the church is removed will see nothing of the thief’s work. They will know only that the saints have suddenly disappeared.

Soon after they go to heaven, the raptured saints will be judged.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

11 Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

2 Corinthians 5:10–11

Since the prospect put terror in Paul’s heart, we may assume that whereas the good things will bring reward, the bad things will earn at least the Lord’s frowning disapproval and perhaps even His hand of punishment (Luke 12:42–48). It is therefore obvious what lesson we should draw from the clear teaching of Scripture that Christ is coming soon. Our rapidly approaching trial before the Judgment Seat of Christ should motivate us to live, as Paul says, "soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world" (Titus 2:12).

After Christ comes for His church, the next event for the ungodly will also be judgment. The rapture of saints will usher in the period of world history known as the Tribulation. God will bring upon this world a rain of calamity unprecedented in the entire experience of mankind since the Flood. His purpose will be to try the hearts of men by giving them a clear choice between the rule of God and the rule of Satan. The calamity drowning the world will warn them that the certain consequence of preferring Satan will be their eternal destruction. The clear teaching of Scripture that Christ is coming soon has therefore a lesson for unbelievers as well as believers. The lesson is, if they wish to escape the Tribulation, they had better repent now, before it is too late.