Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
By W. A. S.
The Hand of God in History — No. 28
Notes on Important Eras of Fulfilling Prophecy
“Then Shall the End Come”
In the vision of the closing gospel work, the prophet saw the message of Rev. 14: 6-12 carried swiftly during the judgment hour to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people;” and then he beheld the white cloud, with the Son of man coming to reap the harvest of the earth. When the last gospel message of warning and invitation has been carried to all nations, Christ will come. The prophecy pointed to a time when all nations and tongues were to be brought within hearing of the gospel message. A generation ago comparatively little was known of the vast interiors of Africa, Asia, and South America. Rear-Admiral Wharton, of the British navy, says:— I hear people complain that Africa goes slow. When I look at what has been effected in my own lifetime, it appears to me that on the contrary it has been rushed. The maps that I learned from as a boy showed the whole interior as a blank. There are now no parts that are not more or less known. Railways are running over regions unknown forty years ago.—London Geographical Journal, October, 1905. The following from Mill’s “International Geography” shows how organized and systematic geographical work has been timed to fit into the great plan of world-evangelization in this generation:— The first [geographical society] was founded at Paris in 1821, the second at Berlin in 1828, and the third, which is now the largest and most influential, at London in 1830. There were in 1896 no less than 83 active geographical societies in Europe, 6 in Asia, 6 in North America, 4 in South America, 4 in Africa, and 4 in Australia; 107 altogether, with a total membership of 50,000 persons. There are also at least 153 different geographical journals or magazines published regularly in all parts of the world. It may safely be said that this argues a more wide-spread interest in geography than exists in any other science. These are some of the forces that have been working to leave not a corner of the world unknown in our generation, nor a tongue beyond our knowledge. Why have vast regions hitherto unknown and uncharted been opened up in our day?—Surely because with the coming of the hour of God’s judgment, in 1844, came the time of the prophecy when the message of the “everlasting gospel” was to be carried to every tribe and people; and no longer was any part of the world to be barred of access or left in obscurity. In 1842 the first four treaty ports of China were opened, with privilege of residential missionary occupation. In the history of African missions the years from 1841 to 1860 are set down as the years of extension into the interior. It was in 1844 that Krapf landed at Mombasa, and from the grave of his wife sent the message to Europe:— This is a sign that you have commenced the struggle; the hour is at hand when you are summoned to the conversion of Africa from its eastern shore.—“Africa Waiting,” page 73. “Livingstone’s overmastering thought began to grow upon him in 1845,” says the book just quoted. “We find him saying: ‘Who will penetrate through Africa?’” And ere long, moved by an impelling power, he turned his face northward, to be the greatest single factor under Providence in opening the Dark Continent. It was in 1844 that Allen Gardiner established the Patagonian, or South American, Missionary Society, which first began to arouse Christendom to the needs of the Neglected Continent. In 1843 a youth was publicly executed in Constantinople for turning from Mohammedanism. Next year the Sublime Porte engaged to take effectual measures to prevent such persecution, and the door to the Moslem peoples was officially open. “The year 1844 is memorable in Turkey and among the Mohammedans,” says Dr. Barton, “for this record of concessions in the interests of religious liberty in Turkey.”—“Daybreak in Turkey,” page 251. One position after another was occupied by the missionary advance. Dr. A. T. Pierson wrote of conditions in the period just before these times, and of the days of falling barriers that followed after:— Most countries shut out Christian missions by organized opposition, so that to attempt to bear the good tidings was simply to dare death for Christ’s sake; the only welcome awaiting God’s messengers was that of cannibal ovens, merciless prisons, or martyr graves. But, as the little band advanced, on every hand the walls of Jericho fell, and the iron gates opened of their own accord. India, Siam, Burma, China, Japan, Turkey, Africa, Mexico, South America, the Papal States, and Korea were successively and successfully entered. Within five years, from 1853 to 1858, new facilities were given to the entrance and occupation of seven different countries, together embracing half the world’s population.—“Modern Mission Century,” page 25. There are few blank spaces on the map to-day. Practically all lands and all peoples are spread open to view. At an International Geographical Congress in New York City, Sir John Murray introduced the following resolution:— The Eighth International Geographical Congress, realizing that the only untouched fields for geographical discovery are the regions immediately surrounding the poles of the earth, desires to place on record its sense of the importance of forthwith completing the systematic exploration of the polar areas. It is as if the angel of Revelation 14 were now pointing to literally “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,” all placed within reach in this generation, for the first time since the human family was spread abroad over the face of the earth. Away beyond the feet of the missionary the highways are still being prepared for a quick work. As an illustration of changes in hitherto little-known regions of Africa take the following statements regarding the French territory:— Nothing, indeed, shows more graphically the civilizing work done by the French in these almost unknown lands than the means of communication; there12being in operation to-day in French Africa 6,000 miles of railway, 25,000 miles of telegraph, and 10,000 miles of telephone. Think of being able to buy a round-trip ticket from Paris to Timbuktu; of sending Christmas or New-year’s greetings to your family by telegraph from the middle of the Sahara; or of sitting in the American consulate at Tamatave [Madagascar] and chatting with a friend at Antananarivo, three hundred miles way. And, as a final touch, they have erected a wireless installation at Fez [Morocco], by means of which his Shereefian Majesty dash-dotted his respects to the president of the republic at Paris.—E. O. Powell, Outlook, Oct. 28, 1911. Along with the opening up of all countries, the Spirit of God is manifestly preparing the hearts of the peoples for this time of the final witnessing. All missionaries bear witness to changing conditions within very recent years that make for the hastening forward of world evangelization. Secretary Paton of the American Board said a few years ago:— Within five years the missionary situation of the world has been so transformed as to be hardly recognizable by those who studied the problem in the previous period. There has been nothing like this in history since the preparation of the Roman empire for the advent of Christ. We are in a new fulness of time. And the great World’s Missionary Congress, held in Edinburgh, in 1910, declared its united conviction in a message addressed to all Christendom:— The next ten years will, in all probability, constitute the turning-point in human history, and may be of more critical importance in determining the spiritual evolution of mankind than many centuries of ordinary experience. We have entered the time of crisis in the history of the world and of the work of God in the earth. The special gospel message for the hour is the message of reformation and preparation for the coming of the Lord—the advent message recorded in Revelation 14. That is “the everlasting gospel” for the time just preceding the second advent of Christ. Every one who reads the chapter must see that this is so. Inspiration plainly says it. Wherever the light of God’s Word is being spread, the way is being directly prepared for this last message. Every Bible that is read is teaching the coming of the Lord, and the “commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” We frequently hear of persons in various lands who have been convinced as to the Sabbath and advent truths by their own reading of the Bible, guided by the Holy Spirit, with no knowledge that a people are gathering in all the earth who are proclaiming these truths. Every year thousands of new voices take up the cry of the message. All the work of the century of missions has been preparing the world for this last gospel witness and warning. And now, as Jesus said, in giving the signs both of the destruction of Jerusalem, in that day, and of the end of the world at his second coming:— “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24: 14. Through the long ages since man fell and lost Eden, time has been waiting for this glad day. Through all the centuries the Lord has revealed himself as the living God, able to save to the uttermost. All the lines of consecutive prophecy have been bearing witness through the ages to the hand of the living God in human history; and with one accord they now point to this time in which we live as the world’s crisis. “He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9: 28. God’s purpose is at last to be fulfilled. Christ is to take the kingdom. While the nations are arming for the final Armageddon, the last message of the “everlasting gospel” is speeding to the world. By his Spirit, the living God is able to speak to every heart on earth. Only the Lord can tell when the witness has truly been borne to “all nations;” and “then shall the end come.” Christ will appear in glory, consuming sin and sinners and bringing salvation to those who have put their trust in him. “Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” “Now learn a parable of the fig-tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24: 32-35. (The end of this series of articles)