The church of Jesus Christ is really the church of the future. She lives by this principle and in this hope. And as soon as she loses this anticipation of her Lord's return ("Maranatha", 1 Corinthians 16:22) she has become conformed to the world and has lost the character of the church of Christ.

If a married man is away from home and his wife for some time, for good reason, isn't it natural, if their relationship is normal, that his wife eagerly an­ticipates his return? That's how the Lord describes the deep yearning of the true church for His coming. The first question is not how we feel or think about these things, but what the Scriptures say. The last prayer of the church of Christ in the Bible is the urgent "Come Lord Jesus, yes come quickly." There is "tension" here; she is not satisfied with the pre­sent situation. The life of the church will not be com­plete until her Saviour returns and all things are made new. Does all this sound too idealistic for us? This is what the Word plainly teaches us. This is what the true church is like, also today. Often in history, especially in times of persecution when mar­tyrs were being burned at the stake and in times of great hardship and war, God's people have fervently prayed and cried for His return. While we readily understand that attitude in such times, the Scrip­tures teach that this expectancy must always be present in some measure in the church of the New Testament. Doesn't this make you uncomfortable?

The Lord gave us some signs of His return, signs wherein we can see judgments and recognize the ful­fillment of His prophesies. There are the common signs of wars and rumors of wars, of poverty, earthquakes and other calamities, as well as the coming of the lawless one, the antichrist. But these signs were not given to tell us what time it is on God's history clock and to lead us to conclude that since all of these things have not yet taken place, He is not yet due to return. That is exactly what Christ does not want us to do. The signs tell us that He is com­ing back. But they do not tell us when that will be. We must always expect His return. 1983 might be the last year of time. We must not only be aware of this; we must also pray for His return.

What world conditions will be like in the very last days, we don't know. It's not at all sure that they will be chaotic and that people will be living under great stress and in the daily dread of a devastating nuclear war. Possibly they will be days of great peace and prosperity. Many of the signs of Christ's return appear today. And they seem to become more prominent. Which Christian is not reminded of them when he thinks of the conditions of not only our country, but of the world in general? We do not see only the signs of unrest, fear of war and poverty. We also see the signs of which our Lord spoke in Luke 17 and Matthew 24 when He compared the last days with, those of Lot and Noah.

One of the most striking signs of the times is our failure to recognize them as signs. We are like the Israelites receiving manna every day for some forty years. That special work of God, a daily miracle, became so common to them that they no longer saw God's hand in it.

In speaking of the common signs of the times I have in mind what Jesus said about conditions before the coming of the flood and before the destruction of Sodom. Notice that Jesus did not speak about great catastrophic and earthshaking events in Noah's day such as the flood, but of the days preceding the flood. He mentioned the common activities, eating and drinking, people getting mar­ried, and their concern about their physical need, planting and building. One might ask, "What's wrong with being busy with such things? Doesn't this activity show that these people were industrious?"

The first thing wrong was that such activity took up the whole of their lives. They were wholly materialistic and secular-minded. The secular, material and temporal things of this life were all these people lived for. That's all they had.

And they lived such lives in the time of Noah, "the preacher of righteousness." Scripture tells us that Noah was a preacher as well as a builder of the ark. How he preached we don't know. Likely he didn't give sermons as "preachers" do today. But in some way he made it known to the people, in words and in the deeds of the building of the ark, that God is a righteous God, and that judgment was coming in the form of a flood. This went on for a hundred and twenty years. No doubt there were multitudes of people living already in those days. And even though they didn't have the modern means of com­munication, many heard about Noah, what he preached, what he said was coming and what he was building.

They remained wholly unconcerned. There was no repentance, surely no expectation of the predicted flood. They simply continued their secular life, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in mar­riage, and planting and building until the very day that it began to rain.

The Lord Jesus compares Noah's time with the conditions of the world and its manner of living before He comes back. The true church surely preaches about the return of Christ, the righteousness of God and the coming judgment of all peo­ple according to their works. But the life of the world and of much of the church is characterized by the same secular preoccupation as was life in the days of Noah and Lot. Wouldn't we expect Jesus to describe in strong language how spiritually deca­dent and morally corrupt the world will be in those final days? But he doesn't. In speaking the way He does, we are shown how strongly God condemns the secular and materialistic mind. In the daily lives of people, in their conversations, in their thoughts and aspirations, what is uppermost? The answer is ob­vious, the temporal things, the economy, the reces­sion, the lack of business and work. Noah also men­tions marriage, which refers to the sexual aspect of life that is so prominent in our society.

Of course, during all this time the nominal church will profess to believe in the Bible. She will also have a few beautiful articles about the return of Christ neatly tucked away in the back of their "Psalter Hymnal". But there they will usually stay, and the preaching may be little more than a social gospel.

The Lord Jesus also says that at that time two people will be in the field, the one will be taken and the other left, and that two will be at the mill, and one will be taken and the other left.

This means, first of all, that not all will be saved when He returns. That one of the two in the field and one of the two at the mill will be saved surely does not imply that fifty percent of the world will be saved and fifty percent will be lost. Rather, some will be saved and some will not.

Jesus' words, however, mean more than this. They imply that these unbelieving people will not expect Him. People who are building, planting and working in the field expect a future. They're making plans for it. And to them, engrossed in doing this, the coming of the Lord will be wholly unexpected. It will take them by "surprise." He will come as a thief in the night.

How different all things are with the Lord than with us. When some prominent person comes to "town" he usually gets the red carpet treatment. His coming is announced in advance in the daily papers and over radio and T.V. Schools may even be closed. It will not be so on the greatest day of all, that of the return of the great Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. People will be at the mill, in the field, working and engaged in various activities. Planes will be soaring through the sky, trains hastening to their destinations, in the factories people will be working, highways will be jammed with traffic in some places. All will be busy with their "own thing" in their secular and material world.

This does not mean that work is wrong. Still less does it mean that in the last days Christians should quit working. Notice that also one at the mill and one in the field are taken, being saved. God wants us to work, live normal lives. Let the people of God, also today, live normal lives. But they must have their hearts in the right place, keep a proper Chris­tian perspective. Let young people take their place in the world and in the church. Let them "date", be married and bring forth children. But in all this let them live by God's Word, using, but not abusing the things of this world, and living as pilgrims who await, the return of their Lord.

Aren't these words of Christ frightening for all of us? They admonish all who read or hear them to serious soul-searching, to investigate what our priorities are and how secularized we have become. Christians as well as unbelievers must hear that only to those who wait for Christ will He come the second time unto salvation. He will come at a time when people will least expect Him, as a thief in the night.

The child of God finds comfort in these words. In the measure that he lives as a Christian he learns by experience that this world is not his home. He also begins to learn how abominable sin is and he some­times yearns to be delivered from it. I can still hear some old saints who were members of churches I served, say that they could get so tired of sin in this world and their own lives and were looking forward to be with the Lord in heaven.

We also find a message of love in these words of Christ. Jesus gives His bride assurance of His return. He says, "Remember, I told you about these things so that when you see them you will know that I'm coming back." And the bride in seeing them rec­ognizes all these things as fulfillments of the prom­ises of her Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.