{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/203/2030883.htm","path":"chr/ecf/203/2030883.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/203/2030883.htm","text":"34. Now let us shew briefly, if you will, that these things were foretold by the Prophets. You will yourself, since you are so minded, gather together more from the ample range of the Scriptures. The Prophet Malachi says, \u201cBehold the Lord Almighty shall come, and who shall abide the day of His coming, or who shall abide the sight of Him? For He doth come as the fire of a furnace and as fuller\u2019s soap: and He shall sit, refining and purifying as it were gold and silver.\u201d 3390 But that thou mayest know more certainly Who this Lord is of Whom these things are said, hear what the Prophet Daniel also foretells: \u201cI saw,\u201d saith he, \u201cin the vision of the night, and, behold, One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and He came nigh to the Ancient of days, and was brought near before Him; and there was given to Him dominion, and honour, and a kingdom. And all peoples, tribes, and languages shall serve Him. And His dominion is an eternal dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be destroyed.\u201d 3391 By these words we are taught not only of His coming and judgment, but of His dominion and kingdom, that His dominion is eternal, and His kingdom indestructible, without end; as it is said in the Creed, 3392 \u201cand of His kingdom there shall be no end.\u201d So that one who says that Christ\u2019s kingdom shall one day have an end is very far from the faith. Yet it behoves us to know that the enemy is wont to counterfeit this salutary advent of Christ with cunning fraud in order to deceive the faithful, and in the place of the Son of Man, Who is looked for as coming in the majesty of His Father, to prepare the Son of Perdition with prodigies and lying signs, that instead of Christ he may introduce Antichrist into the world; of whom the Lord Himself warned the Jews beforehand in the Gospels, \u201cBecause I am come in My Father\u2019s Name, and ye received Me not, another will come in his own name, and him ye will receive.\u201d 3393 And again, \u201cWhen ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, standing in the holy place, let him that readeth understand.\u201d 3394 Daniel, therefore, in his visions speaks very fully and amply of the coming of that delusion: but it is not worth while to cite instances, for we have enlarged enough already; we therefore refer any one who may wish to know more concerning these matters to the visions themselves. The Apostle also himself says, \u201cLet no than deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above everything that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself as though himself were God.\u201d 3395 And soon afterwards, \u201cThen shall that wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming: whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.\u201d 3396 And p. 557 again, shortly afterwards, \u201cAnd therefore the Lord shall send unto them strong delusion, that they may believe a lie, that all may be judged who have not believed the truth.\u201d 3397 For this reason, therefore, is this \u201cdelusion\u201d foretold unto us by the words of Prophets, Evangelists, and Apostles, lest any one should mistake the coming of Antichrist for the coming of Christ. But as the Lord Himself says, \u201cWhen they shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, He is there, believe it not. For many false Christs and false prophets shall come and shall seduce many.\u201d 3398 But let us see how He hath pointed out the judgment of the true Christ: \u201cAs the lightning shineth from the east unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be.\u201d 3399 When, therefore, the true Lord Jesus Christ shall come, He will sit and set up his throne of judgment. As also He says in the Gospel, \u201cHe shall separate the sheep from the goats,\u201d 3400 that is, the righteous from the unrighteous; as the Apostle writes, \u201cWe must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that every man may receive the awards due to the body, according as he hath done, whether they be good or evil.\u201d 3401 Moreover, the judgment will be not only for deeds, but for thoughts also, as the same Apostle saith, \u201cTheir thoughts mutually accusing or else excusing one another, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men.\u201d 3402 But on these points let this suffice. Next follows in the order of the faith,\u2014\n\u201cThe Creed\u201d is either the Constantinopolitan, or, more probably, that of Jerusalem, with which Rufinus, as a Presbyter of that church, must have been familiar. There is no reason to suppose that the clause was in the Creed of Aquileia.\n556:3393 556:3394 556:3395 556:3396 557:3397 557:3398 557:3399 557:3400 557:3401 557:3402","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Ser. II, Vol. III: Life a...","type":"page"}