As to the meaning of the phrase, “the end of the world,” it may consistently be translated “the end of the age,” and in the margin of the Revised Bible it is rendered “the consummation of the age.” For an inspired definition of the term, let the reader turn to Matt. 13:38-40 and its context, where the same words are used and repeated in the original:—
“The tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
From Rev. 14:14-16 we learn that the harvest of the earth and the second coming of Christ are identical. [pg 017] So that by no possible means could it be established that the “end of the world” means the destruction of Jerusalem. Further evidence is found in Matt. 28:20 where the same expression, both in the original and in the translation, is used: “Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” But no one would have the audacity to claim that this promise expired in a. d. 70, as it must have done if those questions of the disciples and the subsequent discourse of Christ related only to the impending doom of the temple and city.
Verses 7, 8: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes have occurred all along since these words were spoken. Therefore, these, as they have ever existed, cannot be regarded as the especial signs of the end. It may be claimed, however, with a good degree of consistency, that the Scriptures teach that these calamities would abound in the last days to such an extent as to constitute a sign of the approaching Judgment. We wish to keep the important fact distinctly before the mind, that the sacred Scriptures do teach when men may not, and when they may, look for the second appearing of Christ.
The sacred writers have so uniformly associated such judgments as war, famine, pestilence, and earthquake, with the last Judgment, that the disciples would be in danger of concluding that the end would immediately follow the first appearance of these calamities; hence the caution given: “These things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Here the disciples were clearly taught that they should not expect the end in their day. This fact is worthy of the [pg 018] candid attention of those who object to the proclamation of the second advent of Christ in the form of an especial message. These sometimes assert that it was right for the disciples to look for Christ in their day, and that it has been scriptural and right for all Christians to look for the second appearing of Christ in their time, from the days of the chosen twelve to the present time. And they decide that no more can be learned and believed upon this subject in our time than by the Christians of past generations, and that the public mind should not now be moved upon this great question, any more than in all past time since the first advent of Christ.
We have seen that this position is incorrect so far as the early disciples were concerned. They are directed to the distant future as the time when their Lord should come. They are assured that they need not be troubled at hearing of wars and rumors of wars; “for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” Our Lord then guides the minds of his disciples, as we shall see in the examination of this chapter, down over the time of the great apostasy, and the long period of the rule of papal Rome, before mentioning a sign of his second advent. He does not intimate that his people during these long periods may expect the end. No, not once. But when he comes to a later time, the Lord names signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and adds: “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”
Mark this: Our Lord does not mention wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes as signs of his second advent; but rather as events of common occurrence all the way through the Christian age, which must exist before the end. And history attests the fact that these calamities have [pg 019] covered at least seventeen centuries. The following is from a work of Noah Webster, LL. D., published in 1799:—
“By famine and sword, 580,000 Jews were destroyed between a. d. 96 and a. d. 180.
“In Antioch, from a. d. 96 to a. d. 180, earthquakes destroyed 13 cities and over 100,000 lives.