3730 - Waxing Worse and Worse by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 23, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 17.

3730 — Waxing Worse and Worse

By Editor

Is there a text which says the world will wax worse and worse until the end comes? I know what is said in 2 Tim. 3:13. M. D.

The world is made up of men and women. It is not the mere earth itself which grows worse and worse, altho this will deteriorate. As stated in Hebrews 1, it will "wax old as doth a garment;" but the world is that which has moral accountability, and this of course is composed of men. 2 Tim. 3:13 would imply that the world itself would grow worse, influenced by men and evil seducers. These would grow worse as time passed on. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." The first five verses of this same chapter are even stronger. They tell us that in the last days the very conditions will exist among those who profess godliness, as existed in the apostle Paul's day in heathenism. Compare the last few verses of Romans 1 with the first five verses of 2 Timothy 3. We are not surprised to find these sins in the heathen world; they belong there. But when we have eighteen such potent sins, these mighty elements of evil, among those who profess the name of God but deny His power, certainly we could find no worse condition possible. See also the picture drawn in Revelation 18 and Isaiah 59, and other scriptures. The harvest ripens the tares of which our Lord speaks in Matthew 13. And the ripened tares are worse than the green. All the various prophecies of God's Word show that the world ends its time of travail in evil things.