The Signs Of The End-1967

The Signs Of The End – 1967

Neville Goddard 10-20-1967

Tonight’s subject is: The Signs of the End. We are told that as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the Disciples came to him privately saying, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

This is a long chapter. You read it in the 24th chapter of the book of Matthew. I think most of us are familiar with it. It’s in the 24th chapter of Matthew and the 13th [chapter] of Mark; but here are the highlights: He said, “Many will come in my name saying ‘I am Christ.’ There will be wars and rumors of wars. There will be famines. There will be earthquakes in various lands. They will come saying, ‘Here is the Christ’ or ‘There he is.’ I tell you, believe them not. This is not the end. These are the sufferings, the tribulations, the sorrows that must precede the coming of the Son of Man.”

The word translated for us, in the King James Version, as “sorrows” – and then “tribulations” and “sufferings” in the Revised Standard Version – means literally, “childbirth pains” – the pangs of the birth of the Messiah. All these things must happen. In spite of all the organizations in the world trying to organize peace on earth, there are wars forever and forever. The conflicts in man produce conflicts in society.

Go home. Is there harmony in the house? Well, that added to another house, added to another house; multiply the conflicts in the individual’s life; and you find the wars all over the world. There are “wars and rumors of wars,” and there is never peace here on earth! Don’t look for it. You’ll never organize it. These are the birth-pains of the coming of the Son of Man.

But now, he gives them a sign. What is the sign? That’s what they ask for. He said, “As the lightning comes out of the east and shines as far as the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.”

There will be no doubts in the minds of the man, or the men, in whom He has come. Just as a flash of lightning lights up the entire horizon, from one side to the other and exposes the entire landscape in one flash – in an instant; so this comes just like that. You don’t expect it. It comes suddenly and lights up the entire landscape, and then you know who the Son of Man is. That’s how He comes.

Now, the words translated “as he sat on the Mount of Olives” – well, the Mount of Olives we find in the Old Testament. We find it in Numbers; we find it all over the Old Testament. But there is a prophecy in Zechariah, in the l4th Chapter that before the coming of the Lord, the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, and a large valley – a deep valley will divide it; and then one half will move northward, and the other half will move southward. [See Zechariah 14:4.] This must happen before the coming of the Son of Man.

Now, there is no such thing as any Mount of Olives, no matter where you look in the world. Oh, they will call a mount in the Near East, the Mount of Olives; it is some other place [ed. note: meaning within]. The whole drama takes place right here in us individually. You are unique, and every one contains the entire Bible right here. As he said, “He who rejects me has a judge. My word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.” [John 12:48]

I tell you, the Book is contained in you; and you are here for one purpose: to fulfill Scripture. You are not here for any other purpose. You may be led to believe you are here to make a fortune, to become famous, to become great, to become some intellectual giant. You are here for one purpose: to fulfill Scripture. For when you fulfill Scripture, the Wisdom of God is yours, the Power of God is yours; everything that is God is yours, for it is God fulfilling His Word! You are His Word! The Word is called “Christ.”

Now listen to these words carefully, as we come back eventually to the splitting of the great Mount of Olives. It must come first. It comes before the appearance of the Son of Man. It’s such a shock to the man in whom it happens. It just comes suddenly, just like the flash of lightning.