“Fearful Sights and Great Signs”
WHEN the Master was here in person, He frequently spoke of His second coming. Indeed, the great climax of all the history of this world centers in the second coming of Christ. Toward that momentous event inspiration has ever kept the eyes of the prophets turned. Hence it is not surprising to find that when the Saviour was here in person, He frequently spoke of His return to earth, when sin would be destroyed and His eternal kingdom established. On one occasion, while telling of the things that would precede His coming, He said: “Great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.” Luke 21: 11. It must be apparent to any one who is at all observant of the conditions in the world to-day, that physical disturbances are becoming more and more pronounced and terrifying. One day, for instance, he will read in the dispatches of “hailstones as large as baseballs” in one section of the country. The next day, the eye is greeted with the heading, “Two Dead and a Loss of Two Hundred Thousand Dollars, with Scores of Other Lives Imperiled,” by a terrific gale that sweeps down the coast. Another day, the reports tell of still a different section, where crops are damaged by a heavy storm. Still another day, the dispatches tell of two tornadoes sweeping through the South, with “twenty-one deaths, and a list of injuries that may run to one hundred.” Thus the record might be continued. There is no denying the fact that terrifying storms, earthquakes, and disasters of this character are increasing more and more. And as these things appear, there is also no further denying the fact that they create the impression, despite ourselves, that some great calamity is hovering over this world. But the event that is presaged and that creates these conditions, is in no sense a calamity, if we are prepared for it. The most glorious and most joyous day of all the ages is approaching. There are signs innumerable upon every hand, which show it. Prophecy after prophecy, fulfilled, and also in process of fulfillment, gives the unmistakable evidence that the great day is near. Our heavenly Father, who is all-powerful, and who loves every individual with an undying love, is creating a conviction upon our minds, in spite of ourselves, that some great event is bearing down upon the earth, irresistible in its power, and awe-inspiring in its character. This conviction that comes from God is one of the evidences, to each individual, that our Father loves him regardless of his sinful condition, and that He will do everything that a loving Father can do to save him. He will cleanse the individual from sin, and prepare him for the great day, if he will only permit of it.