The Second Advent by James White

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Feb 1, 1877

The Second Advent.

By James White

CAN WE KNOW WHEN THE EVENT IS NEAR?

No TRUTH of inspiration can be more clearly stated than that God reveals his designs to his prophets, that men and nations may be warned before their accomplishment. “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. Before visiting with judgments, God has sent forth warnings sufficient to enable the believing to escape his wrath, and to condemn those who have not heeded the warning. This was the case before the flood. “By faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world.” Heb. 11:7.

At a later period, when the nations had become sunken in idolatry and crime, and the destruction of wicked Sodom was determined, the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” Gen. 18:17, 18. And due notice was given to righteous Lot, who, with his daughters, was preserved; and none, even in that guilty city, perished without due warning. Lot evidently warned the people; and, in thus communing with them, was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.” 2 Pet. 2:7, 8. When he warned his sons-in-law, “he seemed as one that mocked.” Gen. 19:14. And when “the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter,” Lot warned them, and entreated them to desist from their wickedness. And they at once did that which all sinners, since the days of righteous Lot, have been disposed to do to those who faithfully warn them of their sins; namely, they charged him with being a judge.

Before the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a forerunner was sent to prepare the way before the Lord. Those who did not receive Christ were rejected, “because,” as he said to Jerusalem, when warning the people of the destruction of their city and temple, “thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.” Luke 19:44. We have on record the Lord’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem during the time of the generation that rejected him, which was fulfilled in less than forty years from the time of his crucifixion. And that the Christians in Judea might escape its impending doom, they were told that when they should “see Jerusalem compassed with armies,” or, as recorded by Matthew, “the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place,” they were to flee to the mountains. Luke 21:20; Matt. 24:15. They heeded the admonition, and escaped in safety to Pella.

Such is the testimony of inspiration respecting the dealings of God with his people in past ages. And it cannot be supposed that he will change his course relative to the future when that future is to realize the crowning consummation of all prophetic declarations.

We accept the Bible as a revelation from Heaven. What God has revealed in that book, let no man call a mystery, or a secret of the Almighty. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.” Deut. 29:29. If the Sacred Scriptures do not designate any period in particular for the second appearing of Christ, then men should at once abandon the search for proofs of his soon coming. But if prophecy, in a most harmonious manner, does point to the period of that great event, and if there is evidence that “it is near, even at the doors,” the subject at once assumes vast importance.

Can anything be learned from the Bible relative to the period of the second advent is a question unsettled in many minds. This is a grave inquiry, and, from the nature of the subject, is worthy of close investigation and a candid answer. How did Christ himself treat the subject? When the disciples inquired, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and the end of the world?” he did not reprove them for prying into that which was purposely hidden from all men. No, he answered them in the most definite manner. He even states that there should be signs of that event, and adds, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” The simple fact that the Lord mentions signs of his second advent is the best proof possible that his people were not to remain ignorant of the relative nearness of the event. Add to this evidence his declaration that when these signs should be seen, his people should know that it was near, even at the doors, and the case becomes an exceedingly strong one.

J. W.