In the third chapter of II Timothy, we are impressed with the description of situations that will exist in the end of the age. It must be understood that the expression “the last days” refers to the last days of one order or one dispensation; it does not speak of the end of time or the end of the world. the last days refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. We are not at the end of the age referring to the church age, and the establish of the kingdom of God on the earth where all governments become the kingdom of God. Although the kingdom is now, it is still in a spiritual dimension and not manifested in the earthly realm as it is in heaven. Occasionally people carry signs saying, “The end of the world is coming!” They have the right to declare what they believe, but the end of the world is not right at hand.
As we look into the Scriptures, we see that all the evils that are happening in the world today will he opposed and will make no further progress. We must remember this. There is a boundary set by God as to how far wickedness will go in any age. We are facing a time of a great deal of crime, with the law of the jungle prevailing as people prey upon one another. These situations will not diminish; they will increase. People will be lovers of self, refusing to be involved with anyone else, living only for themselves. They will be lovers of pleasure, lovers of money, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, with no response to reason. All of this will be the trend of this present period of time, and it will not become any less; it will increase and grow worse. At the same time, we must understand that the tricks of Satan are going to be resisted and blocked.
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith. But they will make no further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, as also that of those two came to be.
But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord delivered me! And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
This chapter says that these men are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Have you ever read anything that highlights the modern educational system better? People are ever learning, yet they are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. As people become specialists in their field, they are learning more and more about less and less. Continuing this trend to the extreme, soon they will know everything about nothing. The ultimate goal is to be a specialist with all knowledge about the smallest detail; the result is the loss of the general viewpoint. A good example is the field of medicine which is becoming highly specialized. Yet the old-fashioned practitioner, drawing upon his diversified knowledge and experience, and particularly with God’s guidance, can often give a truer diagnosis than a specialist.
Although they are not named in the Old Testament, Jannes and Jambres were the men in Pharaoh’s court who threw down their rods and saw them turn into snakes just as Moses had done (Exodus 7:11, 12). Sometimes people in the world who do not even know God are so subtle and clever that they can duplicate almost anything that the people of God can do. They can come up with religion that sells itself and makes God’s people look like a bunch of backwoods preachers compared to them and what they can do. Any time someone can furnish a religion without a cross, people will buy it. They will pay anything to avoid the cross experience; they do not want that.
We are faced with men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith. In some way they almost appear to have it, but Paul says they will make no further progress. What happened to Jannes and Jambres? Their rods became snakes, but Moses’ snake swallowed them. I like to see a good conclusion like that, something that ends in the way it should—with finality. Many of our current stories and movies have no decisive conclusion, but the Lord is saying that this age will have a decisive conclusion. It does not appear so now, but it will be so. The age will end with a finality. It will end with the exaltation of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom coming forth! People come into a walk in the Spirit from all kinds of churches and backgrounds, but we do not intend to proselyte or to force our teaching on anyone. We do not believe that arguing someone into a certain creed will do him any good. Those who stoned the prophets, killed the martyrs, and crucified Christ were all orthodox people. It was the common people who heard Jesus gladly. Even today it is those who are high up in religious systems who have so much to lose that they will persecute anything God brings on the scene that will loose people’s lives.
God says the establishment, both political and religious, will come down in our generation. I will be glad to see it come down. I am glad for this farce to come to an end. The way those systems have used the name of God in various forms in order to further their business and their profession is a mockery of God. Let commercial religion end. Down with it! Let us see it end! In the meantime, false Christs and false prophets will arise; and if it were possible, they would deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24). There should be a hunger in our hearts for the manifestation of the truth. God will help us. He has given us a promise, “Just so far will they go; then they will make no further progress.”
The country is headed for some real difficulties that will continue for a long time to come. That is good. Americans have been an arrogant people. It will be good for them to humble themselves a little. They have thought they had everything in the whole world. Now they will find they have to share with the other nations. They will find difficulties they never dreamed of before, and that is good.
The wicked are not so arrogant as they used to be. Something has taken the wind out of their sails. The Lord is doing a good job. He is bringing things around. I believe we are heading toward a real surge of faith in God—not in a wholesale way, because many people are too blind to see it—but I believe it is coming in a remnant, in a group of people. God always deals with just a few. Democracy can never really succeed because the rank and file of the majority do not care enough to take the time to inform themselves and become involved. How can democracy succeed when no one really cares enough to have it work? On the other hand, God talks about two or three being gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20). He talks about a remnant, using illustrations such as a handful of grain on the tops of the mountains (Psalms 72:16), showing that He will do a great deal with a very few. That is the way God has always worked. When He finally sifts the people down to just a handful, He can move the world with them.
Thirty-two thousand men were summoned by Gideon’s trumpet-blast to fight the Midianites. Gideon was not even a professional soldier, but he talked to the Lord. The Lord told him there were too many people. He was to send everyone home who was afraid. Twenty-two thousand out of the thirty-two thousand went home. Ten thousand were left standing there, probably feeling rather glum. The Lord said there were still too many. These were not afraid, but they were not exactly what God needed. He said, “Bring them down to the brook and let them all drink the water. Those who throw their swords and shields aside and lap the water as a dog, send home. But those who keep their shields and swords and drink the water from their hands, keep because they are alert.” When the men finished drinking, there were three hundred left out of thirty-two thousand (Judges 7:2–7). Have you ever felt as if you were the leftover in a rummage sale? That is exactly the way God’s people feel!
When Jonathan and his armor bearer were trying to decide what to do about the Philistines, they said, “God is not limited to save Israel by many or by few.” There were two of them—that makes a few! They decided to show themselves; if the Philistines said, “Come on up,” then they would take it as a sign from the Lord that they were to go up. If the Philistines said, “We are coming down,” they would take it as a sign from the Lord that they were to wait for them to come down. They were exercising faith. They determined the Philistines would fall wherever they met them. The Philistines bid them to come up, and that day Jonathan and his armor bearer slaughtered about twenty men in an area of half an acre. Soon the whole army was fleeing (I Samuel 14:6–16).
Days of exploits, days of signs and wonders are here! Daniel prophesied of the end days, The people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. Daniel 11:32b. Just a handful of people could change the whole world. God is not interested in majority rule.
The majority moves in rebellion. There was a famous remnant in that day at Kadesh-barnea when the Israelites came to the end of their wanderings in the wilderness. The twelve men who were sent out to look over the land were greatly impressed. Ten came back in utter fear, exclaiming, “There are high-walled cities and giants; we do not have a chance.” But Joshua and Caleb said, “We can take them. Absolutely, we can do it!” The people picked up rocks to throw at Joshua and Caleb; they wanted to stone them right there (Numbers 13:27—14:10).
Faith is a rare commodity. It seems foolish for someone to say, “I am a believer, no matter what I see happen. It does not make any difference if I stand alone or with one or two. What God has said in His Word, that I will believe.” This seems foolish at a time when people do not even believe that the Bible is inspired. We believe it is inspired! In spite of all the unbelief and depraved conditions described in the third chapter of II Timothy, Paul exhorts Timothy to hold fast to the faith because all Scripture is inspired by God and has great value. It will become a lever with a fulcrum, and we can move a world with it if we just believe it. We must stand and believe the Word of God and not allow anything to cause us to waver from it.
Does it ever seem as if nothing is true anymore, that there is nothing you can depend on, not even yourself? At such a time faith must be strong in what the Lord has said. You must declare, “I believe God; I believe Him!” Do not think for a single minute that God wants to use large numbers to change the world. He only needs a few men. This has been true down through the years.
In the history of Oxford University, six men were expelled because of their prayer life. I suppose since then many men have been expelled from Oxford for all kinds of reasons, but for those six it was because of their prayer life. John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were three of them. They changed the course of England. When England was ready to go down as France had in a bloody revolution, they turned the tide; and after the days of the Wesleys, England went on to her greatest glory. The tide can be changed. It just takes people who will believe.
When Paul came to Thessalonica, the Jews caused an uproar, screaming, These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also. Acts 17:6b. The best description of the Apostle Paul I can give is that he was probably a short, bald-headed Jew with a large nose; he blinked his eyes rather excessively and was quite homely. People said of him, “His bodily presence is nothing, and his speech is contemptible” (II Corinthians 10:10). In spite of this, when he spoke, people were changed; there were riots; and great things happened. I like men like Paul who have no point to prove, who are not trying to sell anything. They are just stating the way it is and believing God, as they watch everything simply explode in front of them and leave in their wake desolation to the established order and to conventional ways of religion. No wonder people hated Paul.