WHAT DOES IT MEAN? by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 30, 1900

WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

By Uriah Smith

A MARVELOUS and dangerous condition of things is to exist in the last days. The dangerous part is that the great day of the Lord will be near, and hasting greatly, veiled, in its silent and stealthy approach, by a great display of easy and prosperous times, and the sound of its coming drowned in the rush and roar of ordinary business and the swelling cry of “peace and safety,” and so the careless will be overtaken by it unawares. The marvelous part of it is that many, even under this state of things, will deliberately, though it may be unintentionally, set about the work of deceiving themselves and others in regard to the coming of that day.

So the Lord, speaking to his disciples on this subject, says, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” And the great apostle to the Gentiles gives a most emphatic indorsement of this important sentiment in his instruction to the Thessalonians upon the same great theme, he says, “Let no man deceive you by any means.” What does it mean that these repeated cautions—for many others might be given—are thrown out upon this subject in the guide-book of our heavenward journey? When the great day is approaching in the pomp of its mighty heralds, and the foreshadowings of its stupendous results, would not everybody wish everybody else to know of it, and prepare to meet it?

The question the disciples addressed to the Lord was one of most weighty consequence: “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” He did not hush them up by saying that that was a theme which it was not their province to study or inquire into, and therefore they should not trouble their minds in regard to it; but instead of this, he at once took up the subject in a profoundly serious manner, and gave the instruction couched in the language already quoted. “Take heed that no man deceive you.”

Though spoken over eighteen hundred years ago, these words belong to the last generation, who will be concerned in the event itself, which is the subject of the discourse; and in this time we have not only the great fact that the day of the Lord is impending, demanding all watchfulness and care to be making the requisite preparation for that event, but we have this new element of danger to guard against; namely, that of being deceived by those whose efforts are calculated to lead us astray on this most far reaching of all occurrences in our experience.

And what direction would a deception in this matter be likely to assume? There are three directions in which the enemy of our souls would be likely to press his deceptions upon the minds of those who are seeking for the truth. One of these is to lead men to think that something is a fulfillment of the prophecy when it is not; another is to lead them to think that certain things are not a fulfillment of the prophecy when they are, and should be so regarded, and acted upon; and the third is to lead men to think that they can know nothing about the subject, and so should dismiss it from their minds entirely.

“Many shall come,” said Christ, “in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” These are cases where that which is taken for a fulfillment of prophecy is not a fulfillment of prophecy; and yet he would have no one lean so far in this direction as not to recognize a fulfillment of prophecy when it does come; for he upbraided the stupid and undiscerning Jews in these words: “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” Here was a case where they did not take that to be a fulfillment of prophecy which was a fulfillment of prophecy, and they suffered a fearful loss thereby. Then the antediluvians and the Sodomites are adduced as examples of those who think that nothing can be known about these things, and that no attention should be paid to them.

This last proposition is perhaps the most frequently urged upon the people, from the pulpit, through the press, and in private converse. How often, and with what assurance, the declaration is made by professedly heaven-sent teachers to the inquiring multitude, “The Lord will not come in

your day or mine. We can not know anything about the question, therefore we should not trouble our minds about it in the least.” If this is so, and such directions should be followed, how could the instruction of Christ and his apostles be heeded? The very language itself makes it certain that the subject will be agitated, and erroneous views be set forth, which are liable to deceive and mislead the people, concerning the end of all things. The most common efforts, perhaps, which have been, and will be, urged upon the people, are those designed to show that what is presented as evidences of the coming of the Lord are not well taken or are misapplied, and do not show that the Lord is coming soon. And the influence drawing in this direction will be so strong that even some of the servants of the household will be in danger of saying in their hearts, “My Lord delayeth his coming.”

Take, for instance, the great and ever-standing demonstration that the Lord is at hand, embodied in the preaching of the everlasting gospel, now going to all the world, at the conclusion of which, or when it shall have spread abroad sufficiently to be “a witness to all nations,” the end is to come. This is more specifically contained in the Third Angel’s Message of Rev. 14: 9–12. Is this message now going forth?—We say that it is; the objector says, No. How shall we test the matter? The prophecy is plainly stated, and the conditions involved in it are fully described. Now here is a people claiming, and proving by the clearest arguments, that this message is now due, and that they are giving it. They are calling upon men to listen, and take heed. If what this people claim is true, the end is near. If it is not true, what shall we do with the present movement? If this is not a fulfillment of the prophecy, then how can that prophecy ever be fulfilled? What new points of harmony or identity between the prophecy and the movement are to be established? What would constitute a fulfillment in harmony with the prophecy if this does not?

This is a test question, which can be applied to all the prophecies. Now this movement that we call the Third Angel’s Message, in point of time and quality, that is, in its chronology and the nature of its work, meets all the conditions of the language in which it was foretold; and in the matter of magnitude, it is fast filling out the outlines drawn for it. Then we must take this for the true movement, or find ourselves plunged into an ocean of uncertainty, doubt, and despair.

Take, again, the predicted disturbances in the physical world—signs in the matter of floods and fires, tidal waves, earthquakes, pestilences, and famines; and among men distress of nations with perplexity. “But,” says he who would allay all apprehension and quiet the people, “these things have always been, and always will be. They are no evidence that we are in the last days”—oblivious of the fact that the coming of these things in the right time, and in a strange, abnormal degree of intensity, makes them peculiar and noteworthy.

Take the signs in the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon, and stars. “Well,” says one, “the darkening of the sun and moon in 1780, and the falling of the stars in 1833, can not be signs; for there have been many instances of that kind of phenomena, and the ones mentioned are no more signs than any which preceded.” This is the answer often made to the claim that 1780 and 1833 witnessed the phenomena that fulfilled the prophecy of Matt. 24: 29, and presaged the soon coming of the great day. But unless we dislocate the prophecy as to time, these events, as signs, are confined to a definitely fixed and limited period. Are there any other events of this kind in that period?—None. Are there any events of this kind, at any time, in all the world’s history, so prominent in appearance and startling in character?—The answer is again a negative—none!

But it is claimed that there could have been nothing preternatural about the phenomenon of the falling stars; for science has demonstrated that these exhibitions appear by a fixed law of nature every thirty-three years. But 1899 was the closing year of one of those cycles, when the stars, if running on the scientific schedule, should have paid us a visit; and thousands of glasses were accordingly turned heavenward, and thousands of eyes kept constant vigil, that night in November, to catch a view of the visitants, which were expected within our domain. But the stars kept studious retirement, and thus served notice on the world that their movements were governed by a power whose workings science need not attempt to fathom.

But still further it is claimed that we have not yet reached the fulfillment of Matt. 24: 29; for the phenomena there mentioned are to be witnessed on a grander scale than anything seen in the past; and that will be when Joel 3: 15, 16, is fulfilled; and all that is yet in the future. Undoubtedly the darkening of the sun and moon and the falling of the stars will be repeated, according to Joel 3: 15, in immediate connection with the coming of the Son of man. But let it be noticed that, as set forth in Matt. 24: 29, these phenomena are set forth as signs of the nearness of the day of the Lord, to lead men to prepare for that event. But Joel 3: 15 is too late for the presentation of signs for such a purpose. The scenes of Joel 3: 15 can not therefore belong in the same category with those of Matt. 24: 29. The latter, having been fulfilled, brings us into the time comprised in verse 33. So we are not to look to the future for the fulfillment of Matt. 24: 29. And if the phenomena should appear again, how could they be urged as a sign of the end? for, as mentioned above, the answer would fly to every lip, “These are no sign; for we have already had them in the past.” And it could hardly be expected that more startling appearances of this kind will ever be seen, except as a part of the convulsions of the great day itself, as foretold by Joel. But if Matt. 24: 29 has already been fulfilled, and instead of believing this and acting accordingly, we are led to look to the future for its fulfillment, which would lead also to a postponement of Joel 3: 15,—for Matthew must be fulfilled before Joel,—then we are deceived; and it is made possible that we may be taken by the final closing scenes of all, unawares.

The only safeguard against being thrown off our guard, or led to wrong conclusions, is a minute study of the word of God, to know it so well that the least variation from it can at once be detected, and avoided. It is thus we treat the question of money; we become so well acquainted with the genuine bills that we can detect the least variation which shows a counterfeit, and so avoid it.

Men may say, Give no attention to the subjects of “the last days,” “the coming of the Lord,” and “the end of the world;” do not trouble your minds with them; for you can know nothing about them. But Christ says, Study this question carefully; acquaint yourself with every feature of it; know all the truth upon it, so that you can detect any erroneous teaching concerning it. Which will you follow? This is what the caution means, “Take heed that no man deceive you.” U. S.