Christ Presents Signs by Which We May Know It—Sun, Moon, and Stars Testify—Warned Against Delusions—False Christs and False Prophets
By A. S. BOOTH
The Lord has seen fit to point out the last generation that will live on the earth before His second coming. The Bible speaks of two special generations—the one that lived at the time of Christ’s first advent, and the one that will be living when He comes the second time. The twenty-third chapter of Matthew has especially to do with warnings and admonitions to the generation living at the time of the first advent; and the twenty-fourth chapter, to the one that will live in the last days.
BLINDLY MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE
The mistakes of that former generation are liable to be repeated by the last generation. One of those mistakes the Master emphasized, saying: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.” Matt. 23:29, 30.
Ah, yes! They would say: “If we had lived in the days of Noah, we would not have questioned the word of God. If we had lived in the days of Lot, we would have been the first to obey the voice of God.” However, they made a more fearful mistake in rejecting their Lord and Master.
We are more responsible than any other people that have lived on the earth. All the mistakes made in the past, by those who have rejected the counsel of God, are before us; and the Bible is clear in pointing out the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. We need not take the words of any man. God has spoken. Let us not say, “Surely we would have believed Noah, Lot, and Jesus,” and then reject the Lord God of heaven by refusing to listen to the admonition of His Son Jesus Christ concerning the days in which we live.
WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN?
As Jesus and His disciples viewed the temple, said the Master: “See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matt. 24:2.
The disciples naturally associated the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple with the end of the world. Therefore, as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, His disciples came to Him, and inquired, “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
BEWARE OF DECEIVERS
The Lord did not disappoint them by saying: “It does not matter relative to My second coming. Just pray, study your Bibles, and attend church when it is convenient, and all will be well.” Ah, no! But He answered: “Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye646shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:4–14.
In these few words, the Lord carries us from His first advent down to His second. He then makes emphatic that just before the end, there would go forth to the world a message calling attention to the consummation of all things. The mere fact that just such a message is now going to the world, preached in practically all countries of the earth, is evidence enough, to the thinking mind, that these things should be diligently considered.
THE FIRST GREAT LANDMARK
From verses fifteen to twenty-one of this chapter, special emphasis is laid on the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. That event would mark the first great epoch between the first advent and the second.
Following the destruction of Jerusalem, the Master tells of the Dark Ages, when the Old World was practically drenched with the blood of martyrs. Those days began in 538 A. D., and continued till 1798 A. D., 1,260 years of fearful persecution.
FALSE CHRISTS AND FALSE PROPHETS
At the close of those days, many false Christs and false prophets were to arise, and deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. As the end gradually approaches, Satan musters his hosts of evil to do all in his power to deceive the inhabitants of the earth.
Though all the prophets and apostles have foretold remarkable signs that would occur to usher in the day of God, yet it was left for the Lord to give the most definite. He placed His signs in the heavens. There were to be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars. Seven times in the Bible are these signs spoken of, yet many even of the professed people of God are as ignorant of these things as if the Lord had never spoken a word.
SIGNS IN SUN, MOON, AND STARS
Continuing, the Lord said: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matt. 24:29, 30.
The sun was darkened May 19, 1780. That was a supernatural darkness. It was not an eclipse, for the moon was full. It was not owing to the thickness of the atmosphere, for stars could be seen around the disk of the sun. Science bows the knee, and admits that it cannot explain.
One writer says of the remarkable darkening of that day, “The dark day of May 19, 1780, was one of those wonderful phenomena of nature which will always be read with interest, but which philosophy is at a loss to explain.”
And we inquire, If the darkening of the sun May 19, 1780, was not the fulfillment of the sign in the sun, spoken of in so many places in the Bible, then how could the Lord ever darken the sun in such a way as to fulfill His word?
THE GREATEST METEORIC SHOWER
November 13, 1833, the stars fell from heaven, just as the Lord said they would, “even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Rev. 6:13. The meteoric shower of 1833 was the greatest that the world has ever witnessed. Argo computes that at one time there were visible above the horizon at Boston over 240,000 fireballs. Many testimonials might be given; but let it suffice to ask, If the falling of the stars in 1833 was not the fulfillment of the words of the Saviour, then pray tell, how could the stars fall so as to fulfill the prediction of such an event, many times made in the Bible?
It is in the conclusions and admonitions of this twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew that the Lord points out the last generation in a very definite way. We are now living in that generation. In the next issue of the SIGNS, the writer will consider the special thoughts emphasized by the Lord, in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, that point out this generation.
Surely we are living in the time of the end. Soon the opening heavens will reveal the Lord coming with power and glory. Dear reader, are you ready for that great event? There is just one thing that will separate the individual from his God in that day, and that is unconfessed sin. Just one class of sins can be forgiven by the Lord, and that is those which are confessed. May God help us to put away every evil thing, that we may stand before Him, in that day, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
