The
End of The Age
The topic for today¡¦s Gospel Sunday sermon is ¡§Signs
of the End of The Age¡¨. The disciples once asked Jesus what sign there would be
of His Second Coming and of the end of the age. Jesus¡¦ reply was that in the days leading to the end, false Messiahs
would appear to deceive people. There would be rumors of wars. Nation would
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There would be famines and
earthquakes in various places. For the sake of the name of the Lord, Christians
would be persecuted, put to death, and hated by all nations. (Matthew 24:10-12)
The signs and symbols of the last days, besides tensions in the relationships
of countries and peoples and the proliferation of natural disasters, will in
particular be an increase in the transgressions of man and the extreme
deterioration of morality.
The apostle Paul had the following
penetrating description of society and human nature in the last days: ¡§But mark this: There will be terrible
times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers
of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God.¡¨ (2 Timothy 3:1-4) In the Bible, the last days refer to the
period of time just before the Second Coming of Christ, generally known as the
end of the age. Paul described it as terrible times. Here ¡§terrible¡¨ can also
be translated as ¡§violent¡¨, meaning frightful, difficult and making one feel
impotent. This term only appears twice in the New Testament, first in Matthew
8:28 to describe demon-possessed men coming from the tombs as being very
¡§violent¡¨. Things that happen in the last days truly generate shock and a
gruesome feeling. Looking at the daily news reports, I¡¦m sure you will all
agree with my viewpoint.
A recent news article came out of
Taoyuan Municipality in Taiwan. A 3-year old boy was being foster-cared at a
friend¡¦s house because his parents had been incarcerated for crimes. This child
was tortured to death by the man who supposedly had custody. According to the
coroner, the skin on the lower part of the boy¡¦s body was cankerous, his left
arm was broken, and his thighs and head were inflamed and covered with bruises.
The man, surnamed Chang, was nonchalant about the child¡¦s tormented death. He
even had an elephant tattooed onto the boy¡¦s penis! Concerning this, his
incredible response was, ¡§It¡¦s just for fun¡¨. How can such abominable acts be
visited onto a weak, helpless 3-year old infant? This nauseating behaviour is
nothing less than beastly. Yet, similarly violent episodes are regularly
reported in the press, and appalling crimes that are still to be uncovered seem
too numerous to imagine. Now, the moment has been reached when the inundation
of iniquity and the utter depletion of man¡¦s good conscience are causes for
panic and trepidation.
From Adam, the ancestor of man, we have
inherited the sinful nature, and from our infancy carry evil thoughts in our
hearts. Although internally, we have morality and good conscience as reminders
and externally, there is the scrutiny of education and societal rules and laws against
the latent potential of sin that lies within our nature, yet it is hard to
rectify and ameliorate. When opportunity or temptation presents itself, man
will sin. Before holy and glorious God, man is totally corrupted. If not for
the mercy and indulgence of the Lord, we would all have been condemned and
punished long ago. From the Bible we learned that Sodom was a city full of
iniquity. After years of compassion and patience, God finally brought fire down
from heaven to punish that city. In these last days of the world, man¡¦s sins
and corruption are nothing if not more than that of the Sodomites. We can
really see from all the trespasses during these times that the day when our
Lord Jesus Christ comes to lay down His judgment is very near. Our Lord is seemingly
standing just outside the door.
Christians must be vigilant, have
patience to the end, trust and rely on Christ, and not give up mid way. If we
hold firmly to the word that was preached, we will be saved by this Gospel. (1
Corinthians 15:2) On the other hand, if on this day you do not yet know the one
true God, and do not understand that Jesus Christ is the redeemer of sinners, I
sincerely urge you to take this opportunity, admit and repent your sins to God,
and trust and rely on our Saviour Jesus Christ. For this is still the time when
God indulges and accepts the sinner, and are still the days when He generously
bestows His salvation.
¡§As surely as I live, declares the
Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that
they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will
you die, O house of Israel?¡¨ (Ezekiel 33:11)
By: Daniel To