A LATTER-DAY PROMISE by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 22, 1900

A LATTER-DAY PROMISE.

By Uriah Smith

“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:10.

This last clause contains the promise, “The wise shall understand.” Considering the time to which this applies, the nature of the matter to be understood, the result of understanding, and the fate of those who do not understand, the promise expands into wonderful comprehensiveness and power.

When is it that the wise shall understand?—It is when the “time, times, and a half” shall have ended, according to the oath of Him who, with both hands uplifted to heaven, uttered an unalterable declaration, that the great truths, which staggered even the mind of Daniel himself, shall be fulfilled. It is in the “time of the end,” that deplorable and trying period of human history, when the love of many shall wax cold (Matt. 24:12); when evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse (2 Tim. 3:13); when false Christs and false prophets are to spring up everywhere, and show such power that, if it were possible, the very elect themselves would be thrown into confusion, and be deceived (Matt. 24:24); it is the time of which Paul speaks in 1 Thessalonians 5: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall not escape.” And he supplements Daniel’s declaration, that then “the wise shall understand,” by saying, “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” The reason they are not deceived is because they are the elect, because they are the wise, who at this time are to understand. Not to understand, at such a time as this, is to be overtaken as by a thief, and perish.

This shows what it is that the wise understand. It is the prophecy of the book of Daniel, the time in which we live, the time of our visitation, like that which came upon Jerusalem, and for not understanding or knowing which, Jerusalem was destroyed. Luke 19:44. What would be an adequate expression of thankfulness to God for light in such a time as this?

Not to understand now is to be given over to the power of wickedness and apostasy from God; for it is the “wicked” who do not understand, and because they do not understand they “do wickedly,” or are led on into darker and more daring deeds of wrong. “Wickedness,” says A. F. Cox, “debases the understanding, and renders a man so selfish and carnal that he becomes incapacitated for taking any comprehensive view of the divine administration, and indisposed to these sacred inquiries. One important point, especially, which the one, through the teachings of that Spirit which is humbly but incessantly sought by Christians, does understand, and which the other, through willful blindness and perverseness of heart, does not understand, is the connection of the operations of Providence, in the general affairs of the world, with the establishment, extension, and ultimate triumph of the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Thus the twilight of wickedness, in the minds of the evil-disposed, settles down into the blackness of darkness: while the path of the just grows brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.

The wise are trained for the position they occupy and the course they take, by the trials through which they pass. “Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried.” “We must,” says Paul, “through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.” The great purpose of affliction is to take away sin. It is not only a fact that tribulations lie between Christians and their rest, but the profitable point to consider is that they have been placed there, deliberately, by a wise and loving Father, in order that, by passing through them, we may be prepared for the rest beyond.”

In some of the most delicate manufactures, the web is made to pass slowly through a vessel of liquid, emerging upon the other side. As the cloth goes into the liquid, it seems to be all of one dull, monotonous color. As it comes out, after the bath, it glitters in a variety of brilliant and beautiful hues. The liquid through which the cloth passes is composed of powerful and biting acids, calculated to eat and cleanse away everything undesirable and defiling, and all the unsightly elements that cling to it, so that in the end, the figures and designs of the finished piece may shine out in all their beauty and perfection. So in this life the disciples of Christ are drawn through trials and tribulations, by a Lord who loves them, that they may be fitted to enter into the heavenly courts, and there shine forth in all their resurrection glory. Peter says that the trial of our faith is more precious than gold, which perisheth. This will never perish, but endure to life everlasting.

There are in Dan. 12:10, three remarkable points of contrast:—

First, A contrast of character. The term “the wise” expresses the character of those who possess that wisdom which cometh from above. The epithet “the wicked” expresses both blindness and depravity of heart.

Second, A contrast of moral and spiritual progress; the wise, made white and purified by their trials; the wicked, under the same discipline, doing wickedly, and growing worse and worse in their base actions and their wicked career.

Third, A contrast of mental and spiritual perceptions. The wise “understand,” but none of the wicked do understand. The one attainment, then, to be sought for, and gained, is to be among the wise.

But what is it to be wise? Whom does heaven recognize as the wise? And how may we attain to that desirable condition?—We are told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding. And again, “A good understanding have all they that keep his commandments.” Ps. 110:11. But for the wise ones of earth shall we not look to the universities, and the great schools of culture, discovery, and science?—That is where the men of this world would naturally go; and there they would find the kind of wise ones whom they could recognize as such. But not many of the wise of God’s school are there. Daniel stamps them in the text with one qualification; and that is, they “understand.” Understand what?—Not perhaps what men have said, but what God has said. This, certainly, is the essential thing which they understand. If they did not know that, could God say of them, These understand? and could he enter them in his vocabulary as “the wise”?

But to enable us still further to identify those who in God’s sight are “wise,” he tells us what they will do: “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and ever.” This gives to the subject an intensely practical turn. If we are wise, when we see souls going out of the way, the very first impulse and aim of our hearts will be to exert all our powers to turn them right again. When we look at all the works done under the sun, and compare them with this, we must feel persuaded that no other efforts known to men are worthy to be mentioned on the same page with those which are put forth to “turn many to righteousness.” The turn in the path in the right direction should of course be made as near the beginning as possible. This points to the Sabbath-school, as a place not to be neglected. A very slight variation in the direction one way or

the other, in the start, will make a wide divergence in the end. If we are wise, we shall seek Christ continually for grace; for it is through him alone that God gives forth such favors as are necessary to the children of men.

In addition to all else we want that which the Scriptures designate as “the power.” There are different kinds of power. Intelligence is power; union is power. But there are manifestations in the lower forms of life, that all the teachers in all the schools of Christendom, can not make. They can not make the tiniest flower grow, and unfold its petals to our admiring gaze. To turn many to righteousness we must have the power that has life. Then must we draw wholly from Christ: for all power has been given to him. Without that, everything else is but a cypher.

The promise applies at a time when darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. The things to be understood pertain to things which the prophet himself did not understand, in his own day, and in reference to which he seems to entertain some fears that they would not be understood when the crisis should come; and the answer seems to be, in a large measure, a response to the prophet’s request. “I was astonished at the vision,” he says in one place, “but none understood it.” “I heard,” he says again, “but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?”

The form of the question indicates the anxiety of the prophet’s mind. He does not say simply, When shall be the end of these things, but, What shall be the end of these things? He takes in a wider range than simply the idea of duration; that is, he asks not merely how long, but what shall the issue be, including, of course, also the time. Consequently the answer included both points. The reply was, “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end;” and the last verse of the chapter repeats the instruction: “Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.”

Thus gently was the prophet dismissed from his labors, comforted with the promise that the wise should understand, and that he at last should stand in his lot. We, who are living down here in the time about which Daniel wrote, can see clearly what was not clear to his mind; that is, how the wise are made to understand. We see that the seal has been taken from the book, and that a special message has been prepared to go forth to the world, in the spirit and power of Elias, explaining all these things. We hear the tones of the message ringing out, and see its influence spreading among the people, and multitudes of witnesses rising up, to testify to its power. Instead of saying now, as was said to Daniel, the wise shall understand, we can say, The wise are understanding, and are heralding to the world, in their living bearing, the truths so long ago penned by the prophet. U. S.