Chapter 64
How did the Saviour say it would be in the days of the Son of man (or when the Son of man would be revealed)?
"And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." Luke 17:26. Luke 17:26. Read also verses 27-30, and Matthew 24:37-39.
How was it in the days of Noah?
"And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis 6:5.
How did Paul characterize the last days?
"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." 2 Timothy 3:1.
What will make those times perilous?
"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 Timothy 3:2-5.
But will not this state of things grow better before the Lord comes?
"But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." 2 Timothy 3:13.
Will it be easy for those living at this time to serve the Lord?
"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus [Yahushua] shall suffer persecution." 2 Timothy 3:12.
According to the parable of the wheat and the tares, how long are the good and the bad to remain together?
"The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but 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." Matthew 13:38,39.
"Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." Matthew 13:30.
When does the harvest come?
"The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels." Matthew 13:39.
When shall the "man of sin" (2 Thessalonians 2:3), also called "that Wicked," cease his iniquity?
"And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
How long is the "little horn" (Daniel 7:25) to make war with the saints?
"I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." Daniel 7:21,22. " Daniel 7:21.
How many classes of people will there be on the earth when the Lord comes?
"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thessalonians 5:2-4.
What will those who are in darkness say when they hear about the Lord's coming?
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Peter 3:3,4.
What will be popularly taught in the last days?
"But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Micah 4:1-3.
What does the Lord say will be the actual condition of the world just before the end?
"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 plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong." Joel 3:9,10.
But are not the heathen to be given to the Lord for an inheritance?
"Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession." Psalms 2:8.
What will the Lord do with them?
"Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." Psalms 2:9.
When does the Lord thus rule the wicked nations in wrath?
"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." Revelation 19:15,16.
Then instead of looking for the conversion of the world, what should be the hope of the church?
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" Titus 2:13. See also 2 Timothy 4:6-8; 1Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Peter 5:4. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" Titus 2:13.
