God's Calendar of Coming Events by John L. Shuler

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California, U.S.A. · Oct 28, 1930

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 57, No. 42.

God's Calendar of Coming Events

By John L. Shuler

Men to-day are troubled more than ever before over the uncertainties of the future; whereas, if they would only study God's prophetic word, the future would be clearly unfolded before their eyes.

JOHN L. SHULER

SINCE God knows the end from the beginning, it is self-evident that He has a very definite program for our world. What that program is may be clearly seen by a study of the latter-day prophecies of the Bible. The events that are to come, relative to the destiny of our world in accordance with God's purpose, are plainly set forth in the sure word of prophecy.

EVENTS OF DEEP MOMENT

The ancient prophets to whom these great scenes were revealed in holy vision longed to understand their import. They “inquired and searched diligently, . . . searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify. . . . Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you; . . . which things the angels desire to look into.” 1 Peter 1:10-12.

“To us who are standing on the very verge of their fulfillment, of what deep moment, what living interest, are these delineations of the things to come,—events for which, since our first parents turned their steps from Eden, God's children have watched and waited, longed and prayed!”

What a pity that “at this time, before the great final crisis, as before the world's first destruction, men are absorbed in the pleasures and the pursuits of sense. Engrossed with the seen and transitory, they have lost sight of the unseen and eternal. For the things that perish with the using they are sacrificing imperishable riches. Their minds need to be uplifted, their views of life to be broadened. They need to be aroused from the lethargy of worldly dreaming.”

The Bible makes it plain that the moral and spiritual condition of the world in the last days will be the darkest, the most delusive and perilous, of any time in the long, tragic history of humanity. (2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13; 1 Timothy 4:1, 2.) But at this very time there will be the fullest and clearest revelation of divine truth and gospel light ever given to any generation of men. (Proverbs 4:18; Daniel 12:4.) The nearer we come to the end, the more Satan's power will be manifested (Revelation 12:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 16:14); also the more God's power will be manifested in His faithful remnant (Acts 2:17-21; 3:19, 20).

GOD'S CLOSING PROGRAM

We shall now present from the Bible fourteen items from God's program of the closing events of earth's history.

1. There will be no lasting world peace during this gospel dispensation. Jesus declares that there will be wars and rumors of wars until the end of this present age. (Matthew 24:6.) “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” through the whole course of human history. (Verse 7.)

Nations the world over are experimenting with new weapons of warfare. This photograph shows clouds of nonpoisonous gas spreading from a portable tank during maneuvers staged at Berlin, Germany. Germany was forbidden to use poisonous gases by the Treaty of Versailles.

2. The closing days of this age will not be days of security and safety, but in “the last days perilous times shall come.” 2 Timothy 3:1. There will be a time of international distress, unrest, and upheaval. Men's hearts will fail them for fear, and for looking after the unusual things that are coming on the earth. In connection with these things Christ will appear in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Luke 21:25-27.)

3. There will be outbursts of anger and dissension among the nations, and then the wrath of God will fall upon them to destroy them. Then the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and He will take into His hands the great power of God, to destroy His enemies, and will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 11:15-18.)

4. In the closing years of the gospel age, just prior to the final conflict, there will be an unprecedented and universal preparation and mobilization for war. (Joel 3:2, 9, 10.)

5. Just before the time when all nations will be gathered to Armageddon for the final struggle, there will be an awakening of the nations of the East (Joel 3:12; Revelation 16:12-16), in preparation for their part in the final clash and crash of nations in the war of the great day of God.

6. Just before the end a great peace movement of world proportion will come to the front on the international stage. There will be general talk of disarmament and of outlawing war. (Isaiah 2:2-4.)

A GREAT CONFEDERATION

7. The nations will turn to the church to save the world from the peril of war, and a great international religio-political federation will be formed in an attempt to establish a man-made millennium of peace and righteousness in the earth. But in our study of

prophecy we find that this world religio-political confederacy will unconsciously set the stage for the personal appearance of Antichrist and the terrible destruction in Armageddon.

8. The great peace movement will seem to be a success, and there will be an apparent lull in strife and war, and the world in general will think at last a way has been found to lasting and universal peace. A great peace and safety cry will sweep over the world. (1 Thessalonians 5:3.) But the dream of peace will turn into a frightful nightmare of war and Armageddon of fatal destruction. Like a furious tornado the great tempest of war and destruction will break suddenly upon a surprised and unprepared world. (Jeremiah 23:19, 20.)

WITH STARTLING RAPIDITY

9. When the stage of the world is being set for the final conflict, things will move with a startling rapidity. In the closing years of the age there will come a distinct rush in worldly affairs, in direct contrast to other centuries in the past. (Daniel 12:4; Nahum 2:4.)

Thus the prophet Joel outlines the program of the muster call for the last conflict: “Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together.” Joel 3:11, A. R. V.

The final movements will be rapid ones. The nations will rush into war like the rushing of mighty waters. (Isaiah 17:13.) The onslaughts of war and military drives will come with the sweep of a mighty tidal wave, or as the rush of a swirling flood when a great dam gives way.

Preparedness is the watchword among the great nations of the earth to-day. Every one realizes that it can be but a short time until another great war will be staged, compared with which the past World War will seem but child's play. God's clock of time is rapidly approaching the zero hour.

The prophet Jeremiah compares this final conflict of the nations to a great whirlwind. We all know that destructive winds travel fast, in fact their destructive power is usually determined by their velocity. Evil will go forth from nation to nation with the rush of a great whirlwind, which will draw all powers into its destructive vortex. And in connection with this final struggle the slain of the Lord shall be from one end of the earth to the other. (Jeremiah 25:31-33.)

CHRIST'S INTERCESSION CEASES

10. Some day—the date of which no man knows—suddenly and unexpectedly, like a thief in the night, unmarked by any special event on earth, the intercession of Christ as our advocate and priest will be finished, human probation will close, the day of salvation will terminate, and the day of wrath will begin. Man's day (1 Corinthians 4:3, margin) will close, and the great day of God will be ushered in (Acts 2:20).

The work of the investigative judgment (Daniel 7:9, 10; Luke 20:35), which has been in session in heaven since 1844 (Revelation 14:6, 7; Daniel 8:14), will be finished. The priestly mediation of Christ on the throne of grace for the salvation of sinful men will cease. (Revelation 22:11, 12.) The gospel of the kingdom (Matthew 24:14) will have finished its work of witnessing to every tongue and nation, and of preparing a people in all the world to meet Christ at His appearing. Thus the way will be prepared for Christ to come to reap the harvest of the gospel. (Revelation 14:6-14.)

Christ will not come, and He cannot come, till the threefold message of Revelation 14 has finished its work in thus preparing the way of the Lord. Hence we shall find, in our study of Revelation 7:1-3, that the day of Armageddon, with its universal war and strife, cannot come till the gospel work is finished and the sealing of God's servants is accomplished.

11. Seven terrible plagues, similar to those ten plagues that fell on Egypt just prior to the deliverance of God's ancient people, will then sweep over the world. See Revelation 16. These plagues will be the wrath of God without mercy, and forgiveness of sin will never be granted any more after these plagues begin. (Revelation 15:5-8; 22:11.)

12. During these plagues there will be a time of trouble such as never was since the nations first came into existence. (Daniel 12:1.) These great international complications and troubles will culminate under the sixth plague, in the gathering of all nations to Armageddon for the war of the great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:12-16.) There will be a time of bloody strife that will far exceed any previous conflict of the nations. This war will involve not merely the nations of one or two continents, but those 'of the whole world,' both civilized and uncivilized. When the armies of the nations are gathered to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, then Jesus will come upon them as a thief. (Revelation 16:15.)

ACCOMPANYING ARMAGEDDON

13. In connection with this great conflict at Armageddon there will come the final events of this present age, which will usher in the descent of Christ from heaven. Among these we will mention:

a. The greatest earthquake ever known (Revelation 16:18-20), which will shake heaven and earth (Hebrews 12:26). Under this mighty convulsion the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. (Matthew 24:29.)

b. The overthrow of Babylon the Great,—the destruction of the bloody harlot of Revelation 17. (Revelation 16:19; 18:21.)

c. The fall of great hailstones (the seventh plague) (Revelation 16:21) that will utterly crush every structure of false teaching (Ezekiel 13:10-14).

d. A rift in the sky. “The heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together.” Revelation 6:14. The sky will open, and through the parted heavens Jesus will come forth as the all-conquering King of kings, and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11-16.)

14. The visible, literal, personal descent of Christ from heaven attended by all the holy angels (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Matthew 25:31; 24:30, 31) to wind up the great controversy between good and evil. The coming of Jesus Christ, as the divinely appointed ruler of earth, to take the government upon His shoulder, to rule and reign in righteousness, will bring a lasting cure for the present degradation and sin-cursed condition of this world.

NOT HUMAN VAGARIES

These items are not the vagaries of human theories, but the truth of the living God. Line upon line they are traced out in the very words of Inspiration. The statement of each item is simply the logical results of the facts set forth in the Scriptures, and every one is in perfect harmony with the Bible.

Such is God's outline of the closing conditions, developments, and events of this present age, as they relate to our theme. The important question is, How and where does our day stand in relation to this prophetic outline? In order to ascertain this we must study current conditions and happenings in the light of this divine blue print.

(To be continued)