p. 473 | NOW by C. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 24, 1900

NOW

By C. S.

“Now” means “at the present time; at this juncture.” It excludes the past and the future. It is the present instant in the act of passing. It marks the entrance of the next thought to be evolved, the next breath to be drawn, the next step to be taken.

Everything that pertains to the “now” is “present truth.” It is the important crisis in all human affairs, in all religious experiences: it is the instant when decisions are made, far reaching as life and eternity; when the switch is turned, which shapes the future course of our lives to prosperity or adversity, to gain or loss, to victory or defeat, to the happy destiny of the saved or the perdition of ungodly men.

Of this important, decisive “now,” the Bible has much to say: warnings to ring in our ears, exhortations to persuade our hearts. Two striking instances the apostle Paul brings to view, in Rom. 13:11: “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”

An imperative duty, and the imperative reasons for it, are here brought to view. The reason is, “Our salvation is nearer than when we believed;” and “when we first believed,” as it is almost invariably quoted. But the apostle is comparing consecutive events, some of which take place in advance of others; and with the lapse of time, the critical nature of the situation increases. There had been a time when the truth first came to the knowledge of those whom he addresses; and they were persuaded, and believed. The subject of belief was the coming of the day of “salvation.” “Now,” says the apostle, that day “is nearer” than it was then.

That day has great and decisive blessings to bring; but these are all suspended upon conditions. But if our salvation is nearer, what have we to do, but to sit down and wait for it, and enjoy it when it comes? But that is not it. Salvation independently, indiscriminately, and absolutely, is not nearer, but the time is nearer when salvation will be conferred upon those who are ready for it, and when those who are not ready for it will be passed by forever.

And what are these conditions?—We must first “awake out of sleep,” we must “cast off the works of darkness,” we must “put on the armor of light,” we must “walk honestly, as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying,” but we must “put . . . on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”

How sweeping and far reaching are these exhortations of the apostle! He is addressing Christians; and his words show that even they may be asleep, and asleep, too, in the time of the greatest peril and danger. Sleep is a state of unconsciousness and inactivity. But the sleep here charged upon the church is of a peculiar kind. Of some things they are not unconscious; for they know the time. “And that, knowing the time,” says Paul, “that now it is high time to awake out of sleep.”

This is a knowledge of the time that shows us that our salvation is nearer than at any epoch in the past. We know that we are in the last dispensation of earthly history; that division after division of the features of the great plan of salvation has been wrought out; that the incarnation of our Lord has taken place, and the foundation for redemption been securely laid; that the great agencies to play their part in the theater of prophecy have appeared, and performed their work; that the leading prophecies of God’s word, except the closing scenes, have been fulfilled; that the prophetic periods have all expired, without the failure of one specification; and that the closing picture of the condition of things at the end of time, in its political, social, religious, and

physical features, is brought out in its most vivid and startling aspects: and we have reached the time described as a season of intense and peculiar peril; for influences hostile to the Christian profession and holy living, have been fostered for ages, till they are now almost all-powerful to hold, and mold, and sway the world.

And right at this time, Satan, we are warned, has come down with great wrath, great intensity, and determination to work his work, knowing that his time is short. It is his studied and settled purpose to blind, lead away, and destroy mankind. We have seen the fierce and malignant spider weaving his toils around his victim, making the captive fast in his web. With what intenseness and energy he applies himself to the task! How quickly he jumps and springs about! With what lightning rapidity he weaves new lines to hold and make sure of his prey! In the same manner Satan is working upon the nations, upon society, and upon individuals.

Think, then, of being asleep in such a time as this! unconscious of Satan’s wiles and power, and suffering him to bind us hand and foot, without any perception of his work, or efforts to escape it. In this case, what can we say for ourselves in the great day? To be unconscious of the movements of the nations, and what they signify, and ignorant of the working of Satan, who is weaving over a crazy world his appalling deceptions, is to surrender ourselves to be taken captive by him at his will. One who is not aware of these facts and conditions is asleep; and he who does not, in view of them, throw himself into a maelstrom of activity, to prepare for them, and to avoid them, is asleep.

This is the sleep out of which the apostle says that it is now high time that we awake. And what the expression “high time” means, it is not difficult to tell. It means that the time is already past in which the work should have been done. It means that we have passed the “danger point” in the work we are pursuing. It means that there is now no time to lose in the accomplishment of what we have in view. If we were in a burning building, and saw the flames approaching an explosive magazine, which would destroy everything within its reach, we would shout that it was high time to get out of that place, or to remove the fire. The “high time” means to spring beyond the reach of danger and destruction. If, under urgent necessity, we were about to take a train of cars, and the time had already come when the cars should be at the station, we would say, It is high time that we were at the station. There would not be a moment to lose.

So the apostle lifts to us a piercing note of warning in reference to the great dispensational events of our time: “It is high time to awake out of sleep.” The adage that “a miss is as good as a mile,” is all well enough when it refers to danger; but when it refers to salvation, a “miss” is just as disastrous and fatal as it would be to be a mile away. But we shall miss it, if we do not awake out of sleep; and the apostle says that it is now high time that we do this.

What, then, is it to awake out of sleep?—In 1 Cor. 15:34 he says, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not.” The deadly lethargy of sin is the trouble. And in Eph. 5:14 he holds out encouragement: “Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest! and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Now if we do not awake, and take up our duties, it shows that we do not believe the apostle’s words that it is now high time to do this. Well, how do we know that his words apply at this time, and that salvation is nearer than it was when we began to arouse to the time, and walk in our sleep in reference to the truth? Paul is speaking of consecutive events, and says, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” The night is the night of sin; the day is the day to be ushered in by the morning of the resurrection; and the “salvation” is not to be taken in the general sense of salvation from ourselves, and the carnal obliquities of our own natures, which we enjoy here, but it refers to the great and definite future salvation, which the apostles, in their best religious estate hoped for in the future (2 Tim. 2:10); which Isaiah says, at a certain time, is “near to come” (Isa. 56:1); which Peter says will be revealed in the “last time” (1 Peter 1:5); a salvation which takes in the “redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:23), that it may be fashioned like unto Christ’s glorious body. Phil. 3:21.

“The night is far spent.” That is why we know that salvation is now nearer, and that it is high time to awake out of sleep. The whole world has been explored. The gospel of the kingdom has gone to all the nations. “Then shall the end come.” “If the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would have come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.” The fact that he did not know the hour was the very reason why he should have watched.

Earth’s tide of iniquity has reached the highest watermark; the world’s cup of wickedness is full; the elements for the struggle of Armageddon are developing, and the armies are in motion. It is high time that we awake out of sleep. We are not of the night, but of the day. We are to cast off the works of darkness; and there is an armor of light prepared for us to put on.

In 1 Thess. 5:8 Paul tells us what the people of the day should do: “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” Then let us help him keep his appointment. Honest walk, as in the day, is the only walk that is allowable: no rioting nor drunkenness, no chambering nor wantonness, no strife nor envying, are to have any place among us. We are to put on the Lord Jesus, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

The way is marked out; the program is given; the time-table is arranged. Not to heed those words of the apostle, and act upon them, we say again, is to show that we do not believe them. And then where are we?—Wrapped in slumber, fettered and absorbed in works of darkness, when, of all men who have ever lived in this world, we ought to be free and awake. And if not in the right position, we are hastening on to the doom of those who will sink at last in darkness and despair.

But let us remember that “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.” If we reach any different doom, it will be because we take ourselves out of his hands. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” C. S.