The Truth for the Times.
By R. F. Cottrell
THE great and benevolent plan for the redemption and salvation of lost men has been progressive in its development. There have been, however, no change in the essential conditions of salvation. These have ever been in all ages, the same as they are now, "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." The moral law is ever unchangeable, the same, hence sin, which is its transgression, is ever essentially the same, demanding repentance toward Him whose law has been violated. The faith of Jesus also is ever essentially the same; but it embraced the several points of progress in the fulfillment of the divine plan; that is, it gives credence to the fulfillment of each promise in the revealed plan, when it takes place; and this is doubtless what the apostle meant by being established in the "present truth." 2 Pet. 1:1. The Lord reveals each step of progress in the fulfillment of his plan to his people living at the time, according to the positive and emphatic assurance: "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. This is a sure promise that no great event shall take place upon earth, in the fulfillment of God's plan and purpose, but that it shall be revealed beforehand to his people, whom he calls his servants the prophets. He has always had, and still has, such a people on earth, though they have not all been such as we usually call the prophets, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc. Enoch, "the seventh from Adam," and Noah, the tenth, had some of God's purposes revealed to them, though they are not usually called prophets; and the same may be said of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These last, though they have left us no books of prophecies, we only having the historic facts of certain promises revealed to them, and certain brief utterances made by them of a prophetic character, yet the inspired Psalmist, long after their days on earth, styled them prophets. God, we are told, "reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Ps. 105. And should we trace the whole history of God's people, down to the first advent of Christ and further, we should find the promise verified: "Surely the Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." Before God sent the flood, he revealed his purpose to Noah, and through him warned the whole world. By his act of faith in building the ark he "condemned the world," and then, and not till then, God could send the flood. Before the cities of the plain were destroyed with fire from heaven, God revealed his purpose to Abraham and Lot, and a warning was given. Gen. 18 and 19. These examples are of especial interest to those who live in the last days, just before the second coming of Christ; for Jesus called especial attention to them, and said that as it was with the people in those days, "Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Matt. 24:36-39. Luke 17:26-30. God will fulfill his promise to reveal his purpose to the last generation, before the great day of his wrath; but to the mass, not believing the warning, that day will come upon them unexpectedly, like the flood upon the wicked in the days of Noah, and the fire upon Sodom Gomorrah. According to the text, God warned Abraham of the servitude in Egypt during four hundred years, Gen. 15:13, Joseph of the famine which brought Jacob and his entire family thither, Gen. 41, and he revealed it to Moses when the time of the promise had come that God would judge that nation and lead his people out. See Gen. 15:14. Acts 7:17, 34. To Jeremiah he revealed the seventy years of the captivity of Israel in Babylon, and at the end of the seventy years he punished the "king of Babylon, and that nation," as he had forewarned. Jer. 25:11-14. Then, when the time had come, and the commandments to restore and build Jerusalem took effect, the work was accomplished through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. God had revealed to Daniel in Babylon, that from the commencement of this restoration, sixty-nine weeks (of years) should reach to the first advent, to his manifestation as the Messiah. At the baptism of Jesus, a voice from heaven announced his Sonship, and immediately after the temptation in the wilderness, he began his preaching with the announcement, "The time is fulfilled;" evidently referring to the sixty-nine weeks. But before this, the people "were in expectation" of Christ; because the time of the promise was at hand; and this brought up the question whether John the Baptist was not the Christ. Luke 3:15. But previous to this, the Lord had revealed the secret to his servant Simon, that he should not die till he had seen the Lord's Christ; "And when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." Luke 2:25-32. And Anna a prophetess "coming in at that instant gave likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem." And when Jesus had come to the age when he was about to enter upon his public ministry, John the Baptist was sent of God to prepare the way, and to introduce to the people "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." His was a prophetic message; it had been foretold seven hundred years beforehand by Isaiah the prophet, as "the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord." The Lord had also said by Malachi, "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before thee." These promises were fulfilled, and the great event of the first advent of the promised Messiah did not take place unheralded. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." And will God's promises fail in respect to the greatest, most awfully sublime and important event to mankind that has transpired since the world began? Will the second coming of Christ in terrible majesty, in "the great day of his wrath," take place without a signal and without a warning? Will the great and dreadful day of the Lord, the day that shall close man's probation and bring the outpouring of the vials of the wrath of God without mixture of mercy upon all the wicked of earth, come unheralded? Reason, analogy, and the word of the Lord forbid it. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Signs were promised. When Jesus was asked of his disciples what should be the sign of his coming and of the end of the world, he said, "There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of the heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." There are people who profess to believe in the second coming of the Lord; but hold that none can know whether it is near at hand, or not. They say it may come immediately, for aught any one knows. Of such we ask, Have the promised signs appeared? If they have not, his coming cannot be at hand, unless his promise shall fail. His word is pledged that these signs shall be seen, when his coming is near, even at the doors. If the signs have appeared, we may know it, and we may also, as he has commanded us, "know that it is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24:33. When the Lord bids us know, he makes it possible for us to know, and it is dangerous for us not to know. When his promise is fulfilled, it is infidelity not to believe. Noah warned the people of the coming flood; but "they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Verse 39. God has promised a special warning to the world, to be given when the great day is near at hand. Says a prophet, "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. This may be called a prophetic commandment—a prophecy of a future event given in the imperative mood. It does not mean that the day of the Lord was nigh at hand eight hundred years before Christ, when Joel wrote, but that the alarm will be sounded, when that day is nigh at hand. It may be illustrated by a similar prophecy, recorded in Zech. 9:9, and its fulfillment when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, as recorded in the New Testament. Matt. 21:1-9; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-16. As the promised mission of John the Baptist was fulfilled, to prepare the people for the first manifestation of Christ; so the prophetic messages of Rev. 14:6-12, will certainly warn the world of the hour of judgment, and the impending wrath of God. You who admit that the great day is at hand, where do you see the fulfillment of these messages? And who hold that it may come to-day or to-morrow, where is the promised warning? Will the word of the Lord fail? If the warning messages are being given, the day is at hand; if not, it is not at hand; and therefore we may wait for the promised signs and warnings. But be it known that the signs in heaven and on earth have appeared; and that the predicted messages of warning have been announced in the given order; and that even now the effect of the last warning is being seen throughout the United States, and in almost every country of Europe. Is this movement all a farce? It is in perfect harmony with word of promise. If we cannot depend on it, what confidence can we have in the word of God? Ah! this is the difficulty—want of faith in the promises of God; and for this reason, though the people be warned, that day will come unexpected, as the flood upon the antediluvians. Upon those who say, peace and safety, sudden destruction shall come; "but ye brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. 5:4. R. F. COTTRELL.