are
still His people. And then the greatest sorrow, the greatest
suffering, the greatest poverty is found amongst them; the witness that
they are under judgment. Over and over again in every century has
solemnly come to pass what their forefathers cried, "His blood be upon
us, and upon our children." We shall later point out the startling
change which is coming upon them as a nation when the age ends.

III

+The End of the Age+. Like every previous age, our age will also come
to a close. It is here we find one of the vital errors amongst
Christians at the present time. They never think of this age of Gospel
preaching and Gospel privilege as coming to an end. If one speaks to
them about the end of the age, they think it means after the world is
converted, and the passing away of the world itself. Peter has given
us the witness that this would be one of the characteristics of the
last days, when mockers shall come, saying, "Where is the promise of
His coming? for from the day the fathers fell asleep all things
continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." This is
what we find so much in our day. In spite of the horrible conditions
in which this age has been plunged, and the confirmation of the
predictions of the Bible relating to this age, the mass of professing
Christians expect that things will continue, and that after the war the
age will speedily improve. We have seen before how impossible this is,
for the Bible teaches us that this age is an evil age, and there is not
a single passage which promises an improvement. On the contrary,
everything in the Word shows that as the age ends, and its real end
comes, all the evil conditions present in this age come to a head and
climax. We find therefore a great deal said in the Scriptures about
the end of the age. The Lord Jesus speaks of it in His parables in
Matthew xiii. He has given also a complete panorama of the age-ending
in His great Olivet discourse. Then when we come to the Epistles we
find that the Spirit of God through every writer gives a warning and a
witness about the end of the age. All these warnings and witnesses do
not tell us of a converted world, and a world which is won to
righteousness, of nations who lay down their armaments and no longer
make war; nor do these warnings and predictions speak of a triumph of
the doctrine of Christ. They tell us the very opposite. They give
warnings that the faith is going to be rejecte