p. 4 | Signs of His Coming by Roderick S. Owen

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, Cal. · Dec 20, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 50.

Signs of His Coming

By Roderick S. Owen

By Roderick S. Owen

Will There Be Signs?

The temple built by Zerubbabel, and repaired and beautified by Herod, was indeed a massive and attractive structure, awakening pride and admiration in the breast of every loyal Jew. And why should it not? Was it not built by their fathers? Had it not been the center of the worship of their nation for about five hundred years? Had not God said that the “Desire of all nations should come to it and fill it with His glory?” And was it not to become a house of prayer for all nations? Yet Jesus beheld all its dazzling splendor in sadness, and viewed its throngs of worshipers in pity.

His disciples thought Him unappreciative, and so we read: “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matt. 24: 1, 2. Startling as this statement was to them, it was not new, for the prophet Micah had said, Zion shall “be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.”

With the words of the Master resting upon their minds, they thought of the temple foundations, settled as they were in the very rocks of the mountain. They viewed its massive walls composed of huge blocks of marble, some of which, according to Josephus, were twenty-five cubits long, twelve cubits in breadth, and eight cubits in height. To them it seemed so solid, so substantial, that its destruction must mean the destruction of the world.

An Important Question

With these confused ideas in their minds they came privately to Jesus afterward, as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, and said: “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” The Saviour did not reprove them for their inquiry. He did not tell them that there was no possible chance of knowing anything about the time of His second coming or when the world would come to an end. On the contrary, what He had said to them was intended to awaken the spirit of inquiry, to which He was glad to respond.

How much God’s people will need instruction concerning this great event, and how carefully they will need to consider what He has said, is shown in the fact that His first words of reply were a warning. “Take heed,” said He, “that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” Matt. 24: 4, 5.

Jesus would not have given this warning had it not been needed. Then how carefully we ought to study the instruction given, so that we may not be deceived. In referring to these deceptions a second time He says, “There shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” But the elect are only those who abide in Christ, or those in whom His words abide. Hence only those will escape deception whose minds are filled with and held by the Word of God.

With the solemn fact before us that all things earthly must be dissolved, that heaven and earth shall pass away, and that nothing will stand excepting that only which has the eternal Word for its foundation, sad indeed will be the bitter wail of the deluded and deceived; but happy will be that people whose God is the Lord, and whose trust is in Him.

There Will Be Signs

The disciples asked, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming?” The reply of the Master as well as many other scriptures, shows that there will be not one sign only, but many; for says the prophet Joel, “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” Joel 2: 30, 31. And Luke, repeating the words of the Saviour, said, “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.” Luke 21: 25, 26.

Here are presented two great classes of signs divided between heaven and earth; while the latter class, or those in earth, are divided also into two kinds; namely, those in the physical world, or such as affect the elements, and those in the political and social worlds, or such as affect nations and society.

How merciful our heavenly Father has been in thus placing high in the heavens,

among the great luminaries of earth, signs which, like the sun, moon, and stars, will pour their warning rays upon the children of men; while on the earth itself He has set up signs which, like the electric lights and gas-jets erected by men, are flashing forth their fitful rays, manifesting by intermittent but increasing light that the great day is just at hand.

Indeed, there are signs of Christ’s coming. God has given an abundance of them. Are we watching for them as one would watch for the morning? Are we looking for them when He said He would give them? Are we making it our first business to prepare to meet our God?

[Our next article is “Signs in the Sun and Moon.”]