A SIGN OF THE TIMES

The Lord Jesus once spoke to the people, saying, “Can ye not discern the signs of the times?”  It was necessary work to be practiced by the Jewish people, but it is also very necessary for us and our children.

Our great God not only speaks to us by His Word, but He speaks also to us in different ways;  He also speaks by the signs of the times.  Did not the Lord speak to a proud and sinful generation before the flood?  How did the Lord speak to the Jewish people before their land and temple was destroyed?  Many signs were given by God.

We believe that this world is now in its evening-tide.  The glorified Emmanuel will soon come with great glory to judge the quick and the dead.  Do we not see and hear His coming in the signs of the times?  Shall there not be many more signs in heaven and upon earth to teach and tell us of the coming of this majestic King of kings and Lord of lords?

Jesus has spoken:  “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.  But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.  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.  And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:36-39).

One very lamentable sign of the times is the hardening of hearts.   It is considered by some as the greatest judgment upon mankind, not excluding churchgoers.  This was a sign of the times before the flood which was brought from heaven upon the people during Noah’s life; the days of Noah are being repeated.  The great God is perfectly just if He leaves sinners over to the hardening of their hearts.  We read in John 12:40: “He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, or understand with their heart.”

God is a righteous Sovereign.  He can let a sinner harden himself to the end of his life and then comes the judgment; woe to him who falls into the hands of the living God!  It is truly a great blessing and mercy from heaven if the Lord stops a sinner from hardening his heart and grants him by His Spirit a broken heart and a contrite spirit; then he speaks like David, “I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day.”

So often the Lord warns sinners against hardening their hearts – “Harden not your heart” Ps. 95:8.  How inclined is a sinner, however, to reject and despise the warnings and admonitions from God.  How blind and perverse; how unwilling to heed His wise command.  Deeply is he corrupted through leaving God in Paradise.

To harden the heart against God, His Word, His warnings and admonitions, indicates a great insensitivity, carelessness and indifference. 

When does a sinner harden himself against God, His Word – even against his own welfare and salvation?

1. When he rejects all warnings and admonitions which come directly or indirectly from heaven to him.

2. When he despises and abhors the blessed invitations of Christ in the Gospel, saying to the dear Redeemer: “Away with Him! Away with Him!”

3. When he will not hearken to the voice of his conscience and will sear it with a hot iron. Many have been quite young when this voice was ignored.

4. When they break through all discipline and the rod of correction which the Lord may bring upon them in sickness, poverty, losses, pains, danger of death at home or at war. Many have vowed before God at such times that they would repent and serve Him, but soon they forget these solemn vows or resolutions and harden their hearts in sin and wickedness.

5. When a sinner seeks and is found at places of worldly amusements, which places are condemned by the Word of God. When he continues in such wickedness as drinking, dancing, swearing, whoring, blaspheming, stealing etc.  How great is His long-suffering in sparing such sinful and deep sunk wretches!  But what if the measure of sin is full?

6. When a sinner breaks his promises and leaves the blessed truth of God to go his own way, turning his back to all truth and religion, or turning to a false or superficial religion. How many are weak and fall into temptation.

7. When he despises and mocks God’s dear people, His servants and rewards evil for good. This is what Israel did with the prophets in olden times.

8. When a sinner forgets the goodness and mercies of God bestowed upon him and does not love, honour and glorify his Creator.

9. When his whole poor soul is bewitched with TV, computer images and mobile phones and has not the least soul-desire to see King Jesus in His beauty etc.

May I ask you – are not the majority of the people hardening their hearts in this evil time?  Do they not walk in their own ways, ways of destruction?  Do we not live in a time when even God’s people do harden themselves to a certain extent and become as the slumbering virgins in Matthew 25?  Jesus asked His disciples, “Have ye your heart yet hardened?”

This great evil, then, is a sign of the times.  This evil is as a fountain of many other evils.  We must warn faithfully against this evil.  God in heaven warns against it saying, “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness” Ps. 95:8.  “Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” Heb. 3:15.

May the Almighty God show mercy unto us and our children, to a back-sliding and hardened people; may He fill us with His blessed Spirit and soul-melting grace and love.

“O remember not against us,
Evil by our fathers wrought;
Haste to help us in Thy mercy;
Near to ruin we are brought;
Help us, God of our salvation;
For the glory of Thy Name;
For Thy Name’s sake come and save us;
Take away our sin and shame.”

                                                                                                                                                J.V.Z.

The Banner of Truth
Grand Rapids, Michigan