p. 61 | Untitled article by R. F. COTTRELL

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 17, 1869

THE CLOSING MESSAGES.—NO. 1.

By R. F. COTTRELL

The probation of our race will come to an end. The time will come when Jesus will no longer act as an intercessor for a sinful race. The day of the Lord, the great day of his wrath, will then come. That will be a day of trouble and distress, such as there has been none like since the beginning of the world. It is reasonable to believe that the inhabitants of the world will have special warning of its approach. God has always, in the past, given warning of special judgments before he sent them; it is reasonable to expect that he will do the same when the most terrible of all his judgments is about to come.

It is not only reasonable, but scriptural. In Rev. xiv, 6–12, we have in prophecy the very messages of warning with which God has determined before to warn the world of the Judgment and day of wrath. These merciful warnings are three in number, following in a regular order. The first announces the hour of God's Judgment come; the second, the fall of Babylon; and the third, gives a final, most fearful warning, to be followed by unmingled wrath upon the heedless and disobedient. Then follows the representation of the coming of the Son of Man to reap the harvest of the earth, then fully ripe.

It needs no extraordinary intellectual powers, and no great advantage of education, to understand the time when these messages are to be given. One need not be a doctor of divinity to know that they are to be given just before the return of the Saviour, and before the great day of wrath so frequently predicted in the prophecies. But to place them anywhere else one would need uncommon powers and skill—skill in deceiving and being deceived.

They have not been fulfilled in past generations; for there is no history of their fulfillment; and they would not, if given in the past, have been true, unless the hour of Judgment and the outpouring of unmingled wrath are in the past. There is no possible place for them but just before the close of human probation and the second coming of Christ.

Is it possible that they are being given in our day? Why not? It is evident that they will not be given in a way to force the conviction on every mind of their truth. There will be unbelievers and scoffers to the last. These will inquire, as these things are being agitated, Where is the promise of His coming? Say they, We see no signs of change. All things continue as they were. And Jesus himself emphatically asked the significant question, “When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” The day of the Lord cometh to the unbelieving as a thief in the night. So Paul taught the church of the Thessalonians. And when they shall say peace and safety, sudden destruction shall come upon them, and they shall not escape. Though warned in the most solemn manner, they will not believe till the great day of wrath is upon them. Then they will say, The great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?

It will require a faithful heeding of the prophecies to understand the fulfillment of these closing messages of the gospel; but they will be plain and easy to the humble believer of the word of God. Whenever their fulfillment is seen, it must be believed; and God will guard their fulfillment, so that the humble believer need not err.

Let us open our eyes, and see if they are not being given in our day. Its being possible, renders it a matter of the deepest concern to every individual who hopes for salvation at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. R. F. COTTRELL.