THE DAY AND HOUR by H. L. Dieffenbacher

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 16, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 16.

THE DAY AND HOUR.

By H. L. Dieffenbacher

BY H. L. DIEFFENBACHER.

For many years Seventh-day Adventists have watched the fast-fulfilling signs which point to the end of all things, foretold in the sure word of prophecy. We know not the day or the hour, yet when we see these things, these signs and omens, come to pass, we should “know that He is near, even at the doors” (Matt. 24:33, margin), and that in this generation the Son of man will come (verse 34). Just before Jesus comes, Satan is to work “with all power and signs and lying wonders.” 2 Thess. 2:9. If possible, the very elect will be deceived. Matt. 24:24. But the elect “are not ignorant of his devices.” 2 Cor. 2:11.

One of the devices of Satan is to work through false prophets or teachers in setting the day and hour for Christ’s coming. In the Christian Herald and Signs of Our Times, edited by Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, of July 6, 1892, there is an article by Rev. M. Baxter entitled “The Fast Closing Age.” It is taken from an address at a recent prophetic conference in Memorial Hall, London, England. What he says is founded on Dan. 9:25. He said:—

But then there is to be a future fulfillment of the sixty-nine weeks as weeks of days from a future commandment to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, to the day when Christ will be made a covenant to his people at his second advent, which we expect will be on March 5, 1896. . . . We believe that Christ will descend to the air to summon his waiting people to meet him on March 5, 1896. Even the very hour of the day is not left vague and indeterminate. We know by Daniel’s prophecy it is to be the hour of the evening sacrifice, which biblical expositors, such as Hartwell Horne, in his Introduction, states to have been the ninth hour, when Christ, the Passover Lamb, died on the cross. All Daniel’s dates are interlaced and interlocked, and

consequently whatever time of the day one begins or ends, the others will begin or end. The Jewish ninth hour was 3:00 P.M.

Thus this noted divine not only presumed to give us the day of Christ’s second advent, but he fixed the very hour at 3 P.M. of the above date. Will men never cease to pervert the right way of the Lord? It is just such statements as these that Satan uses to lessen faith in Bible truth when presented “as it is in Jesus.”

By the circulation of such articles Seventh-day Adventists have been given credit for setting the day and hour of Christ’s coming. But we say with our beloved Lord: “But of that day and hour knoweth NO MAN, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Matt. 24:36.

Garwin, Iowa.