“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Tim. 3:1-5.
“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” Verse 13.
In very many scriptures it is plainly declared that when Christ comes, he comes not only to reward and save his people but also to punish his enemies. Looking upon the last days he exclaims, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. The idea of a thousand years of peace and righteousness before Christ comes might be dismissed as utterly out of the question. But space will be given to one or two passages supposed to teach it, which will represent the whole class. The first and chief is found in Isa. 2:2-4:—
“And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
Almost the same language is used in Micah 4:1-3. It is enough to call attention to the authorship of the [pg 082] propositions contained in the text. They come from the people. “Many people shall go and say, Come ye,” etc. Inspiration asserts that in the last days the mountain or power of the Lord's house or church shall be established in the tops of the mountains, or civil power. Undoubtedly it will. Everything is tending to the union of Church and State and the professed church of Christ is riding on a high tide to civil power in all lands. But farewell to godliness and spiritual power. When this is accomplished, in a general chorus all will proclaim the dawning millennium.
How the Lord regards the people who are saying these things is shown in the succeeding verses:—
“Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers. Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.”Isa. 2:6-8.
Now let us see what God says on the same point and concerning the same time:—
“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw [pg 083]their shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” Joel 3:9-16.
Mark, this is not what the people say, but what the Lord says of the very same time when the people are preaching a good time coming.