{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/003/0030438.htm","path":"chr/ecf/003/0030438.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/003/0030438.htm","text":"Chapter XXXIX.\u2014Concerning Those Who Come in the Name of Christ. The Terrible Signs of His Coming. He Whose Coming is So Grandly Described Both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, is None Other Than the Christ of the Creator. This Proof Enhanced by the Parable of the Fig-Tree and All the Trees. Parallel Passages of Prophecy.\nAs touching the propriety of His names, it has already been seen 5015 that both of them 5016 are suitable to Him who was the first both to announce His Christ to mankind, and to give Him the further name 5017 of Jesus. The impudence, therefore, of Marcion\u2019s Christ will be evident, when he says that many will come in his name, whereas this name does not at all belong to him, since he is not the Christ and Jesus of the Creator, to whom these names do properly appertain; and more especially when he prohibits those to be received whose very equal in imposture he is, inasmuch as he (equally with them 5018 ) comes in a name which belongs to another\u2014unless it was his business to warn off from a mendaciously assumed name the disciples (of One) who, by reason of His name being properly given to Him, possessed also the verity thereof. But when \u201cthey shall by and by come and say, I am Christ,\u201d 5019 they will be received by you, who have already received one altogether like them. 5020 Christ, however, comes in His own p. 415 name. What will you do, then, when He Himself comes who is the very Proprietor of these names, the Creator\u2019s Christ and Jesus? Will you reject Him? But how iniquitous, how unjust and disrespectful to the good God, that you should not receive Him who comes in His own name, when you have received another in His name! Now, let us see what are the signs which He ascribes to the times. \u201cWars,\u201d I observe, \u201cand kingdom against kingdom, and nation against nation, and pestilence, and famines, and earthquakes, and fearful sights, and great signs from heaven\u201d 5021 \u2014all which things are suitable for a severe and terrible God. Now, when He goes on to say that \u201call these things must needs come to pass,\u201d 5022 what does He represent Himself to be? The Destroyer, or the Defender of the Creator? For He affirms that these appointments of His must fully come to pass; but surely as the good God, He would have frustrated rather than advanced events so sad and terrible, if they had not been His own (decrees). \u201cBut before all these,\u201d He foretells that persecutions and sufferings were to come upon them, which indeed were \u201cto turn for a testimony to them,\u201d and for their salvation. 5023 Hear what is predicted in Zechariah: \u201cThe Lord of hosts 5024 shall protect them; and they shall devour them, and subdue them with sling-stones; and they shall drink their blood like wine, and they shall fill the bowls as it were of the altar. And the Lord shall save them in that day, even His people, like sheep; because as sacred stones they roll,\u201d 5025 etc. And that you may not suppose that these predictions refer to such sufferings as await them from so many wars with strangers, 5026 consider the nature (of the sufferings). In a prophecy of wars which were to be waged with legitimate arms, no one would think of enumerating stones as weapons, which are better known in popular crowds and unarmed tumults. Nobody measures the copious streams of blood which flow in war by bowlfuls, nor limits it to what is shed upon a single altar. No one gives the name of sheep to those who fall in battle with arms in hand, and while repelling force with force, but only to those who are slain, yielding themselves up in their own place of duty and with patience, rather than fighting in self-defence. In short, as he says, \u201cthey roll as sacred stones,\u201d and not like soldiers fight. Stones are they, even foundation stones, upon which we are ourselves edified\u2014\u201cbuilt,\u201d as St. Paul says, \u201cupon the foundation of the apostles,\u201d 5027 who, like \u201cconsecrated stones,\u201d were rolled up and down exposed to the attack of all men. And therefore in this passage He forbids men \u201cto meditate before what they answer\u201d when brought before tribunals, 5028 even as once He suggested to Balaam the message which he had not thought of, 5029 nay, contrary to what he had thought; and promised \u201ca mouth\u201d to Moses, when he pleaded in excuse the slowness of his speech, 5030 and that wisdom which, by Isaiah, He showed to be irresistible: \u201cOne shall say, I am the Lord\u2019s, and shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe himself by the name of Israel.\u201d 5031 Now, what plea is wiser and more irresistible than the simple and open 5032 confession made in a martyr\u2019s cause, who \u201cprevails with God\u201d\u2014which is what \u201cIsrael\u201d means? 5033 Now, one cannot wonder that He forbade \u201cpremeditation,\u201d who actually Himself received from the Father the ability of uttering words in season: \u201cThe Lord hath given to me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season (to him that is weary);\u201d 5034 except that Marcion introduces to us a Christ who is not subject to the Father. That persecutions from one\u2019s nearest friends are predicted, and calumny out of hatred to His name, 5035 I need not again refer to. But \u201cby patience,\u201d 5036 says He, \u201cye shall yourselves be saved.\u201d 5037 Of this very patience the Psalm says, \u201cThe patient endurance of the just shall not perish for ever;\u201d 5038 because it is said in another Psalm, \u201cPrecious (in the sight of the Lord) is the death of the just\u201d\u2014arising, no doubt, out of their patient endurance, so that Zechariah declares: \u201cA crown shall be to them that endure.\u201d 5039 But that you may not boldly contend that it was as announcers of another god that the apostles were persecuted by the Jews, remember that even the prophets suffered the same treatment of the Jews, and that they were not the heralds of any other god than the Creator. Then, having shown what was to be the period of the destruction, even \u201cwhen Jerusalem should p. 416 begin to be compassed with armies,\u201d 5040 He described the signs of the end of all things: \u201cportents in the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity\u2014like the sea roaring\u2014by reason of their expectation of the evils which are coming on the earth.\u201d 5041\nThat \u201cthe very powers also of heaven have to be shaken,\u201d 5042 you may find in Joel: \u201cAnd I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth\u2014blood and fire, and pillars of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come.\u201d 5043 In Habakkuk also you have this statement: \u201cWith rivers shall the earth be cleaved; the nations shall see thee, and be in pangs. Thou shalt disperse the waters with thy step; the deep uttered its voice; the height of its fear was raised; 5044 the sun and the moon stood still in their course; into light shall thy coruscations go; and thy shield shall be (like) the glittering of the lightning\u2019s flash; in thine anger thou shalt grind the earth, and shalt thresh the nations in thy wrath.\u201d 5045 There is thus an agreement, I apprehend, between the sayings of the Lord and of the prophets touching the shaking of the earth, and the elements, and the nations thereof. But what does the Lord say afterwards? \u201cAnd then shall they see the Son of man coming from the heavens with very great power. And when these things shall come to pass, ye shall look up, and raise your heads; for your redemption hath come near,\u201d that is, at the time of the kingdom, of which the parable itself treats. 5046 \u201cSo likewise ye, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.\u201d 5047 This will be the great day of the Lord, and of the glorious coming of the Son of man from heaven, of which Daniel wrote: \u201cBehold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven,\u201d 5048 etc. \u201cAnd there was given unto Him the kingly power,\u201d 5049 which (in the parable) \u201cHe went away into a far country to receive for Himself,\u201d leaving money to His servants wherewithal to trade and get increase 5050 \u2014even (that universal kingdom of) all nations, which in the Psalm the Father had promised to give to Him: Ask of me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance.\u201d 5051 \u201cAnd all that glory shall serve Him; His dominion shall be an everlasting one, which shall not be taken from Him, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed,\u201d 5052 because in it \u201cmen shall not die, neither shall they marry, but be like the angels.\u201d 5053 It is about the same advent of the Son of man and the benefits thereof that we read in Habakkuk: \u201cThou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people, even to save Thine anointed ones,\u201d 5054 \u2014in other words, those who shall look up and lift their heads, being redeemed in the time of His kingdom. Since, therefore, these descriptions of the promises, on the one hand, agree together, as do also those of the great catastrophes, on the other\u2014both in the predictions of the prophets and the declarations of the Lord, it will be impossible for you to interpose any distinction between them, as if the catastrophes could be referred to the Creator, as the terrible God, being such as the good god (of Marcion) ought not to permit, much less expect\u2014whilst the promises should be ascribed to the good god, being such as the Creator, in His ignorance of the said god, could not have predicted. If, however, He did predict these promises as His own, since they differ in no respect from the promises of Christ, He will be a match in the freeness of His gifts with the good god himself; and evidently no more will have been promised by your Christ than by my Son of man. (If you examine) the whole passage of this Gospel Scripture, from the inquiry of the disciples 5055 down to the parable of the fig-tree 5056 you will find the sense in its connection suit in every point the Son of man, so that it consistently ascribes to Him both the sorrows and the joys, and the catastrophes and the promises; nor can you separate them from Him in either respect. For as much, then, as there is but one Son of man whose advent is placed between the two issues of catastrophe and promise, it must needs follow that to that one Son of man belong both the judgments upon the nations, and the prayers of the saints. He who thus comes in midway so as to be common to both issues, will terminate one of them by inflicting judgment on the nations at His coming; and will at the same time commence the other by fulfilling the prayers of His saints: so that if (on the one hand) you grant that the coming of the Son of man is (the advent) of my Christ, then, when you ascribe to Him the infliction of the judgments which precede His appearance, you are compelled also to assign to p. 417 Him the blessings which issue from the same. If (on the other hand) you will have it that it is the coming of your Christ, then, when you ascribe to him the blessings which are to be the result of his advent, you are obliged to impute to him likewise the infliction of the evils which precede his appearance. For the evils which precede, and the blessings which immediately follow, the coming of the Son of man, are both alike indissolubly connected with that event. Consider, therefore, which of the two Christs you choose to place in the person of the Son of man, to whom you may refer the execution of the two dispensations. You make either the Creator a most beneficent God, or else your own god terrible in his nature! Reflect, in short, on the picture presented in the parable: \u201cBehold the fig-tree, and all the trees; when they produce their fruit, men know that summer is at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is very near.\u201d 5057 Now, if the fructification of the common trees 5058 be an antecedent sign of the approach of summer, so in like manner do the great conflicts of the world indicate the arrival of that kingdom which they precede. But every sign is His, to whom belong the thing of which it is the sign; and to everything is appointed its sign by Him to whom the thing belongs. If, therefore, these tribulations are the signs of the kingdom, just as the maturity of the trees is of the summer, it follows that the kingdom is the Creator\u2019s to whom are ascribed the tribulations which are the signs of the kingdom. Since the beneficent Deity had premised that these things must needs come to pass, although so terrible and dreadful, as they had been predicted by the law and the prophets, therefore He did not destroy the law and the prophets, when He affirmed that what had been foretold therein must be certainly fulfilled. He further declares, \u201cthat heaven and earth shall not pass away till all things be fulfilled.\u201d 5059 What things, pray, are these? Are they the things which the Creator made? Then the elements will tractably endure the accomplishment of their Maker\u2019s dispensation. If, however, they emanate from your excellent god, I much doubt whether 5060 the heaven and earth will peaceably allow the completion of things which their Creator\u2019s enemy has determined! If the Creator quietly submits to this, then He is no \u201cjealous God.\u201d But let heaven and earth pass away, since their Lord has so determined; only let His word remain for evermore! And so Isaiah predicted that it should. 5061 Let the disciples also be warned, \u201clest their hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this world; and so that day come upon them unawares, like a snare\u201d 5062 \u2014if indeed they should forget God amidst the abundance and occupation of the world. Like this will be found the admonition of Moses,\u2014so that He who delivers from \u201cthe snare\u201d of that day is none other than He who so long before addressed to men the same admonition. 5063 Some places there were in Jerusalem where to teach; other places outside Jerusalem whither to retire 5064 \u2014\u201cin the day-time He was teaching in the temple;\u201d just as He had foretold by Hosea: \u201cIn my house did they find me, and there did I speak with them.\u201d 5065 \u201cBut at night He went out to the Mount of Olives.\u201d For thus had Zechariah pointed out: \u201cAnd His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.\u201d 5066 Fit hours for an audience there also were. \u201cEarly in the morning\u201d 5067 must they resort to Him, who (having said by Isaiah, \u201cThe Lord giveth me the tongue of the learned\u201d) added, \u201cHe hath appointed me the morning, and hath also given me an ear to hear.\u201d 5068 Now if this is to destroy the prophets, 5069 what will it be to fulfil them?\nSee above: book iii. chap. xv. and xvi. pp. 333, 334.\n414:5016\nThe illam here refers to the nominum proprietas, i.e., His title Christ and His name Jesus.\n414:5017 414:5018 414:5019 414:5020\nConsimilem: of course Marcion\u2019s Christ; the Marcionite being challenged in the \u201cyou.\u201d\n415:5021 415:5022\nCompare, in Luke 21:9, 22, 28, 31, 35.\n415:5023\nLuke 21:12, 13.\n415:5024\nOmnipotens: \u03c0\u03b1\u03bd\u03c4\u03bf\u03ba\u03c1\u03ac\u03c4\u03c9\u03c1 (Sept.); of hosts\u2014A.V.\n415:5025\nZech. 9:15, 16 (Septuagint).\n415:5026 415:5027 415:5028 415:5029 415:5030 415:5031 415:5032 415:5033\nSee Gen. xxxii. 28.\n415:5034 415:5035\nLuke 21:16, 17.\n415:5036 415:5037\nComp. Luke 21:19, Matt. 24:13.\n415:5038 415:5039\nAfter the Septuagint he makes a plural appellative (\u201ceis qui toleraverint,\u201d LXX. \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f51\u03c0\u03bf\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd\u03c3\u03b9) of the Hebrew \u05dd\u05dc\u05b6\u05d7\u201d\u05dc\u05b0, which in A.V. and the Vulgate (and also Gesenius and Fuerst) is the dative of a proper name.\n416:5040 416:5041\nLuke 21:25, 26.\n416:5042 416:5043 416:5044\nElata: \u201cfear was raised to its very highest.\u201d\n416:5045\nHab. iii. 9-12 (Septuagint).\n416:5046\nLuke 21:27, 28.\n416:5047 416:5048 416:5049 416:5050\nLuke 19:12, 13, etc.\n416:5051 416:5052 416:5053\nLuke 20:35, 36.\n416:5054 416:5055\nIn Luke xxi. 7.\n416:5056 417:5057 417:5058 417:5059 417:5060 417:5061 417:5062\nLuke 21:34, 35. [Here follows a rich selection of parallels to Luke xxi. 34-38.]\n417:5063\nComp. Deut. viii. 12-14.\n417:5064 417:5065\nHosea xii. 4. One reading of the LXX. is, \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u1ff3 \u03bf\u1f34\u03ba\u1ff3 \u03bc\u03bf\u03c5 \u03b5\u1f55\u03c1\u03b5\u03c3\u03ac\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5.\n417:5066 417:5067 417:5068 417:5069","title":"Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol III: Tertullian: Part II: Concer...","type":"page"}