EVENTS DURING THE YEAR OF THE SECOND ADVENT.
By B. Franklin Richards
BY B. FRANKLIN RICHARDS, M. D. In the eighteenth chapter of Revelation and the eighth verse we read, “Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” The time is prophetic, and the “one day” referred to will cover a period of one year. Turning to Eze. 4:6, we find these words: “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; I have appointed thee each day for a year.” Again in Isa. 34:8, in referring to this period of time, the Lord says through the prophet: “It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” The End of Human Probation.
The above texts refer to that period of time known as one year, but it will be that particular year in which all things will be brought to an end as far as human probation is concerned. Before the beginning of that year the great investigative judgment which is now going on in the courts of heaven (Rev. 20:11, 12) has ended, and immediately the great fiat goes forth: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev. 22:11. From the moment of the going forth of this edict, which will take place at the beginning of that year, there will be no more opportunities for pardon, and the last sin will have been forgiven. Probation has then ceased for eternity. No more will the Mediator stand between the offending sinner and an injured God. For nearly six thousand years the Lord has been pleading with the children of men to turn to Him and be saved, but in the beginning of the year referred to a complete change will take place, and the pleading will be on the part of men in place of God. In proof of this, read Prov. 1:24–28: “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out My hand, and no man regarded; but ye have set at nought all My counsel, and ye would none of My reproof; I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress5and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon Me, but I will not answer; they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find Me.” This will occur after probation has ceased, between the time of the passing of the edict referred to above and the coming of the Lord. The same thoughts are expressed by our Saviour in Luke 13:24–28: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. When once the master of the house has risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and He shall answer and say unto you, I know not whence ye are; then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets. But He shall say, I tell you, I know not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” The Fearful Despair of the Unsaved.
Imagine, if possible, the terrible condition of the people when they fully realize that they are eternally lost. Every man and woman will be intensely interested then. That which they have slighted so carelessly in the past will be prized now above everything else, but it will be too late; and they will fully understand it, for every person will make it his business to try to find favor with God. See what the Lord says about their perplexity in Amos 8:11–13: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, and I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord; and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.” At this time the inhabitants of the earth have reached the point when they can look for no help from God. Even before this their sins have brought a change over their idol, the world. It has stopped producing. Destruction, and starvation, and utter ruin confront them on every side, intensifying still more in the year of His coming. “The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted; the new wine is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered; because joy is withered away from the sons of men.” “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come. Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed; because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.” Joel 1:10–12, 15–18. What a time this will be! Every lost soul will be wandering hither and thither, looking and pleading for pardon, without a single ray of hope. Demoralized and crushed with despair, with wringing hands, and agonizing sobs, they now realize the greatness of their loss; and as the hours come and pass, an indescribable fear seizes them, as recorded by the prophet Isaiah in chapter thirteen, verses six to nine: “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; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth; they shall be amazed every man at his neighbor [margin], their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” The Spirit of God Withdrawn.
It is the day of the Lord, that period of time when the Spirit of God has been taken from the earth. “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” Gen. 6:3. This time has finally come when the door of mercy has closed, when probation has ceased, and the wrath of God is being poured out upon the people. We read of this in Revelation 16: “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image.” Verses 1 and 2. The scriptures quoted above have shown us the condition of the people, driven almost mad with fear. The earth also has ceased to produce food for men, and now, in addition, come the seven last plagues, in which are filled up the wrath of God. The first plague will be general, and will be of an extremely painful nature,—“noisome and grievous.” “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea.” Imagine the people suffering with putrefying sores, their bodies burning with fever, and now another calamity breaks upon them. The great oceans of the earth are turned into blood, not ordinary blood but “the blood of a dead man,” extremely poisonous; so much so that every living thing in them dies. The air is charged with deadly vapors arising from those poisoned waters. Sickened by every breath, and writhing in pain, they are confronted with the plague of the third angel.” “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.” No more pure water to drink. O, what a condition! The people parched with thirst beyond all chances of relief. Business of every description will be paralyzed. Ships of every variety will have crossed the ocean for the last time. “And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness.” Rev. 18:17–19. During that year the gold and silver of the rich will be cankered. “Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.” James 5:1–3. Money by the millions will be stored away in vaults, never to be handled again. Great stocks of merchandise, placed on shelves and counters, representing fabulous fortunes, will remain untouched by mortal hand. The last building will have been erected, and the last invoice of stock taken. Christ Comes with Heaven’s Hosts.
Now as the year, which has been “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation” (Daniel 12:1) draws to a close, a scene which strikes terror to the hearts of the wicked suddenly comes into view. The earth begins moving; mountains and islands tremble and topple from their foundations. The sky becomes filled with living beings; they are angels of God! Jesus Christ, whom the wicked have rejected, leads the legions of heaven’s host. The moment of prayer has come; and what a prayer-meeting it is! “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand?” Every wicked man and woman living to see that day will pray. They will pray in earnest, too; not to the King of kings, but to mountains and rocks, imploring them for protection; for the great day of His wrath is come. While the wicked are engaged in prayer, the righteous are united in a song of triumph,—“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isa. 25:9. Translation and the Resurrection.
The resurrection of the just now takes place. No more crape fastened to the entrance of the home. No more funerals, no more tears. The last farewell has been spoken. At last death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Cor. 15:51–57. The moment of reward has come. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. All the righteous are now with the Lord, removed from the earth. Did the rocks and mountains save the wicked? Let the prophet Jeremiah tell us. “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.” See Jer. 25:30–33. The wicked temporarily slain, the righteous translated to heaven, the earth is without a human inhabitant, bringing us to the time recorded by the prophet Zephaniah: “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling-blocks with the wicked; and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.” “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, and they shall walk like6blind 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 will 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. 1:2, 3, 14–18. In conclusion let us see to what place the righteous have been taken: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire; and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb.” Rev. 15:2–4. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. . . . These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” See Rev. 7:9–17. What a busy year, filled with trouble and sorrow, pain and death to the wicked, and blessings, triumph, victory, and the beginning of eternal life to the righteous. No tongue can tell, or pen picture, the conditions that will actually be during the year in which Jesus will come, but, dear reader, with what company will you act your part during that time? Have you made the Lord, even the Most High, your habitation? If you have, “there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” Ps. 91:10, 11.