THE SECOND ADVENT by James White

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Mar 16, 1876

THE SECOND ADVENT.

By James White

THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER OF MATTHEW.

(Continued from last issue.)

Says Campbell: “Macknight argues that the term know is here used as a causative, in the Hebrew sense of the conjugation hiphil, that is, to make known. His [Christ’s] answer is just equivalent to saying, The Father will make it known when it pleases him; but he has not authorized man, angel, or the Son to make it known. Just in this sense, Paul uses the term know: 1 Cor. 2: 2: ‘I came to you making known the testimony of God; for I determine to make known nothing among you but a crucified Christ.’”

Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Gospels, says: “Others have said that the verb rendered knoweth means sometimes to make known, or to reveal, and that the passage means, ‘that day and hour none maketh known, neither the angels, nor the Son, but the Father.’ It is true the word has sometimes that meaning, as 1 Cor. 2: 2.”

The Father will make known the time. He gave the period of the flood to Noah, which well represents the proclamation of the second advent, given in connection with the evidence of the termination of the periods of Daniel, during the great Advent movement of 1840–44.

And when the patriarch’s work of warning and building was finished, God said to him, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” “For yet seven days and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.” So when the waiting, watching, weeping, toiling time shall be finished, and the saints shall all be sealed, and shut in with God, then will the voice of the Father from Heaven make known the definite time. See Rev. 16: 17; Joel 3: 16; Jer. 25: 30.

The present is emphatically the waiting, watching time. It is the especial period of the patience of the saints. In definite time we would find relief from the state of suspense to which our present position subjects us. The Lord appeals to us thus: “Watch ye, therefore; for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13: 35–37.

NOAH’S TIME AND OURS.

Verses 38, 39: “For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” A picture of the present condition of the mass of mankind is here drawn. How dark the features! The people of the last generation will be like those before the flood, while the ark was preparing. Noah preached, and warned them of the coming flood, and they mocked. He built the ark, and they scoffed and jeered. He was a preacher of righteousness. His works were calculated to give edge to, and set home to the heart, what he preached. Every righteous sermon, and every blow struck in building the ark, condemned a careless, scoffing world. As the time drew nearer, the people were more careless, more hardened, more bold and impudent, and their condemnation surer. Noah and his family were alone. And could one family know more than all the world? The ark is a matter of ridicule, and Noah is regarded as a willful bigot.

But the Lord calls Noah into the ark. And by the hand of Providence the beasts are led into the ark; and the Lord shuts Noah in. This is regarded at first by the scoffing multitude as something wonderful; but it is soon explained away by the wiser ones, so as to calm their fears; and they breathe easier.

The day of expectation finally arrives. The sun rises as usual, and the heavens are clear. “Now where is old Noah’s flood?” is heard from a thousand impious lips. The farmer is caring for his herds and lands, and the mechanic is pursuing his work of building. On this very day, some are being joined in marriage. With many it is a day of unusual feasting and sports. And while all are looking to long years of future prosperity and happiness, suddenly the heavens gather blackness. Fear fills every heart. The windows of heaven open, and the rain in torrents descends. “The fountains of the great deep are broken up,” and here and there come gushing up rivers of water. The valleys are fast filling up, and thousands are swept away in death. Some flee to the highest points of land; but the water fast follows them up. Men bear their wives and children to the mountains, but are obliged to part with them there to drown, while they climb the highest trees. But soon they, too, are covered with water, so that there is not a resting-place for Noah’s dove. All are still in death. Horrid death! made still more horrible by being in consequence of slighted mercy! But where is Noah? Ah! safe in the ark, borne upon the billows. Safe from the flood; for God “shut him in.”

By most people, the evidences of the soon coming of Christ are considered insufficient to base faith upon. But the testimony and acts of one man condemned the people destroyed by the flood. The evidences then were sufficient, otherwise the world would not have been condemned. But a hundred times more convincing evidences come pouring in upon us that the day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly. We follow down the numerous prophetic chains of Daniel and of the Revelation, and we find ourselves in every instance standing just before the day of wrath. We see the signs spoken of by prophets, by Christ, and in the epistles, fulfilling or fulfilled. And at the right time, and in the right manner, to fulfill certain prophecies, a solemn message arises in different parts of the world: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2: 1. Wherever we look, we see prophecy fulfilling. While the knowledge of God and the spirit of holiness are departing, spiritual wickedness, like a flood, covers the land.

But these evidences are considered insufficient to rest faith upon. Well, what kind of evidence would the unbelieving have? “When the signs of the end,” says the skeptic, “are fulfilled, they will be so plain that no one can doubt.” But if the signs are of such a nature, and are fulfilled in such a manner, as to compel all to believe in the coming of Christ, how can it be as it was in the days of Noah? Men were not then compelled to believe. But eight believing souls were saved, while all the world besides sank in their unbelief beneath the waters of the flood. God has never revealed his truth to man in a manner to compel him to believe. Those who have wished to doubt his word, have found a wide field in which to doubt, and a broad road to perdition; while those who have wished to believe, have ever found everlasting rock upon which to rest their faith.

Just before the end, the world will be hardened in sin, and indifferent to the claims of God. Men will be careless about hearing warnings of danger, and blinded by cares, pleasures, and riches. An unbelieving and infidel generation will be eating, drinking, marrying, building, planting, and sowing. It is right to eat and drink to sustain nature; but the sin is in excess and gluttony. The marriage covenant is holy, but God’s glory is seldom thought of. Building, planting, and sowing, necessary for convenient shelter, food, and clothing, are right; but the world has gone wholly after these things, so that men have no time nor disposition to think of God, Heaven, Christ’s coming, and the Judgment. This world is their god, and all their energies of body and mind bow down to serve it. And the evil day is put far away.

The faithful watchman who sounds the alarm as he sees destruction coming, is held up before the people from the pulpits of our land, and by the religious press, as a fanatic, a teacher of dangerous heresies; while in contrast is set forth a long period of peace and prosperity to the church. So the churches are quieted to sleep. The scoffer continues to scoff, and the mocker mocks on. But their day is coming. Thus saith the prophet of God: “Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid; pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Isa. 13: 6–9.

Most dreadful day! and is it near? Yes; it hasteth! It hasteth greatly! What a description given by the prophet! Read it; and as you read, try to feel how dreadful will be that day: “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zeph. 1: 14–18.

Now we hear the “peace-and-safety” cry from the pulpit, and all the way down to the grocery shop. “Where is the promise of His coming?” is murmured from the impious lips of a thousand last-day scoffers. But the scene will speedily change. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, … and they shall not escape.” The scoffing of the haughty scoffer will soon be turned to wailing and howling. “The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.” Isa. 2: 11, 12. “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” Jer. 25: 33.

THE FINAL SEPARATION.

Verses 40, 41: “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” This language was designed to illustrate the final separation of the righteous and the wicked. Many husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and sisters, will then part, never to meet again.

THOSE WHO WATCH, WILL KNOW THE TIME.

Verses 42–44: “Watch, therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

The day and hour of Christ’s second coming are not revealed in the Scriptures. Neither is the year in which this glorious event is to take place pointed out. No one of the prophetic periods reaches to the second coming of Christ. The sanctuary was to be cleansed at the end of the 2300 days, and Daniel was to stand in his lot at the end of the 1335 days. But that these events occur before the second appearing of Christ, is susceptible of the clearest proof. Both these prophetic periods terminated in 1844. But we cannot give a defense of our position in regard to these periods in this work.

The time from the end of the prophetic periods to the coming of Christ is emphatically the waiting, watching time. Those who watch, as our Lord commands, will know the time. No man will make it known; for it is not revealed to man in the Scriptures. Angels will not make it known, though they may minister to, and communicate with, the children of men. Neither will the Son. But the Father will make it known when he speaks again from Heaven.

Probably there is no prophecy that better describes the present state of unbelief in the world in regard to the second advent, caused partly by fanatical time-movements, than the following: “Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth? Tell them, therefore, Thus saith the Lord God: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged; for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.” Eze. 12: 22–25. The burden of this prophecy is time; therefore the word here mentioned that the Lord will speak, will be the time.

Rev. 3: 3, is also to the point: “Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” Those who do not watch, will not know the hour. Those who watch, will know the hour.

The present watching condition is clearly defined in 1 Thess. 5: 1–4: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 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, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”

The present watching, waiting position requires much faith and patience. Says Paul: “Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God [in proclaiming the coming of Christ], ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.” Heb. 10: 35–39.

Says James, “Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” Chap. 5: 7, 8.

The present position and present duty of God’s people are defined in Rev. 14: 12: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”

THE FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT.

Verses 45–47: “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.”

In this figure, Christ is represented as the Lord of the household of faith (see Mark 13: 35; Heb. 3: 6), leaving his house, and committing the work of caring for his church to his servants. A blessing is promised those servants who are faithfully discharging their

duty when their Lord comes. They are to feed the flock of God, over whom the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers. Acts 20: 28. They must preach the word. 2 Tim. 4: 2. They should watch for souls as they that must give account. Heb. 13: 17. They will not only give meat to the household, but they will give it in due season. They will preach the present truth. Their last work, before the return of their Master, will be to proclaim his coming, and to teach the necessary preparation. They will sacrifice the society and blessings of home, and go everywhere, preaching the word, suffering fatigue of body and burden of spirit. But such will have great reward in the kingdom of God. “Who is that faithful and wise servant?” Where shall we find him? Ans. He is faithfully and wisely attending to the interests of the household of faith.

1. He is faithful. As a faithful watchman, he will give timely warning when he sees the sword coming. His work just before the end, is seen in the following scriptures: Joel 2: 1: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Isa. 58: 1: “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.” 2 Tim. 4: 1–5: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”

2. He is wise. “He that winneth souls is wise.” He must be wise. He will expose error, then hold forth the truth in its harmony and beauty, and thus win men to the truth. When it becomes his duty to “reprove and rebuke,” it will be at a proper time and place, and then with all “long-suffering and doctrine.” He will study to show himself “approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2: 15.

THE EVIL SERVANT.

Verses 48–51: “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of; and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” What the evil servant says and does, shows most clearly the position and work of the faithful and wise servant. Why the evil servant says, “My lord delayeth his coming,” is because the faithful servant is proclaiming the coming of his lord. Why the evil servant smites the faithful servant, is because he teaches the speedy coming of his lord. The faithful servant, true to his commission to preach the “gospel of the kingdom” to a fallen church and a scoffing world, toils on, and the evil servant smites on. One is laying up treasure in Heaven, and is preparing to go home to his eternal reward; while the other is calling down upon his head the displeasure of the high and holy One, and is getting ready to receive the unmingled cup of the fury of the Lord. The faithful servant is turning some at least to righteousness, to shine forever as stars in his crown of glory, while the evil servant pursues his downward course and work of death, making the bitter cup of woe which awaits him still more bitter. But the separating day is coming. The Lord will come, and cut asunder the evil servant, and appoint him his portion with the lost. In the general wailing and gnashing of teeth, with hypocrites he will receive the portion due him for his works.

Read the doom of the false shepherds, the ministers of the last generation, who come up to the day of the Lord with their garments all stained over with the blood of souls. They now cry, Peace and safety, and their flocks confide in them. They stand between us and the people, and turn away the arrow of truth. But their day is coming, dreadful beyond description. Thus saith the Lord: “Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard; for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture. And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord.” Jer. 25: 34–37.

JAMES WHITE.

(Concluded.)