THE TIME OF THE END by A Congregationalist

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 20, 1877

THE TIME OF THE END.

By A Congregationalist

BY A CONGREGATIONALIST.

“I heard, but I understood not; then I said, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Dan. 12:8–10.

That ministers of the gospel are the Lord’s watchmen, and that it is incumbent on them carefully to familiarize themselves with the teachings of the Sacred Oracles, and to bear to the church and world, as ambassadors of Christ, a faithful testimony of what is there inculcated, will hardly be denied by any unregenerated believer in Inspiration. “For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” Isa. 21:6. Of such, multitudes of anxious listeners are now seriously inquiring, “Watchman, what of the night?” Is that inquiry a reasonable one, or do those inquired of satisfy the obligations devolving on them when such inquiries are left unheeded?

THE EXPECTATION GENERAL THAT A CRISIS IS IMPENDING.

That this world is verging toward a momentous crisis is testified to by men in every walk and department of life. Endeavor to divest themselves of the impression as they may, they cannot shake off the conviction that events of unprecedented importance are impending, which may change and revolutionize the whole framework of society. Men may not be agreed as to the nature of these; but whatever their views respecting the future, they express themselves in similar phraseology, and unite in denominating the era in which we live as one that is to be terminated by the “sounding of the seventh trumpet,” “the binding of the great red dragon,” “the regeneration,” “the pouring out of the Apocalyptic vials,” “the battle of Armageddon,” etc., etc.,—terms which Inspiration and the faith of the church have ever connected with the ushering in of the millennium. Are all these voluntary utterances meaningless expressions and idle rhetorical flourishes, designed merely to amuse the hearer or reader? or are they solemn expressions of honest and serious convictions? And if so, whence come these convictions, and whence originates the impression, everywhere encountered, that events of startling importance and world-wide interest are about to transpire? Can they be other than the premonitions which God, by his providence and grace, grants to his children when about to perform any marvelous work?

GOD REVEALS COMING EVENTS.

No truth of Inspiration can be more clearly enunciated than that “surely the Lord God doeth nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7. He does not necessarily do this by a special revelation, nor by visible manifestations—his communications with men being different in different ages of the world. “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” Heb. 1:1, 2. And the prophets by whom he now speaks are the faithful men who are called in his providence and qualified by his grace to become “ambassadors for Christ”; and he revealeth his secrets to them by moving them to study and enlightening them to comprehend the import of the “sure word of prophecy, whereunto,” says an inspired apostle, “ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.”

It is not to be truthfully disputed that, during the last half-century, the attention of the church has been called to the study of the prophetic Scriptures in a manner never before witnessed, and with an intensity and earnestness of investigation that is irreconcilable with any theory that denies that God is thus moving upon the people and preparing his chosen ones for some manifestation of his dealings with them, the nature of which can only be known by a careful and prayerful study of his word.

That he should thus give admonition of the future is in harmony with the record of all his past doings. Said the Rev. John Hooper: “As God is one, having one will and one purpose, so his dealing with mankind has ever been the same. What he was to man at the beginning, and what he was to him in after ages, he is now and ever will be—Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day and forever; he changeth not, neither can change.” To this the psalmist beareth witness, saying, “Thy memorial, O Lord, endureth throughout all ages.” Now, one great feature in God’s dealing toward his people is, that he revealeth himself to them according to the age in which they live and according to their need in their day and generation, that they, knowing his will and purpose concerning them, might worship him truly and serve him acceptably, and so be prepared for greater manifestations of his glory, and dwell forever in his presence.” —Apoc., p. 12.

In accordance with this principle, when man had fallen from the created innocence in which God had placed him, one of God’s first acts toward him was to reveal his purpose of redemption, by the triumph of the Seed of the woman over the head of the serpent. When the wickedness of man had become great on the earth, and it was necessary to destroy all flesh by a flood of waters, God revealed his purpose to Noah, and instructed him to build an ark, so that as many as believed might enter in, and be saved from the coming judgment. During one hundred and twenty years the long-suffering of God then waited, and men doubtless were faithfully admonished and entreated; and though the unbelieving multitude knew not the nearness of the judgment till the flood came and swept them all away, yet those that believed were in the secret of God, entered into the ark at the appointed time, and were all saved. At a later period, when the nations had become sunk in idolatry, and Abraham, apparently, was alone faithful, God communicated his purpose to make his seed a blessing to all the nations of the earth, revealed the length of their sojournings, and made known the time of their restoration. When the destruction of wicked Sodom was determined on, the Lord said (Gen. 18:17), “Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?” And due notice was given to righteous Lot, who, with his daughters, was preserved; and none, even in that guilty city, perished without due warning.

When “the time of the promise drew nigh which God had sworn unto Abraham” (Acts 7:17), we find the children of Israel (Ex. 2:23) sighing by reason of their bondage, and crying unto God for deliverance. We also find that Moses was divinely moved to visit his brethren, supposing they “would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they understood not,” till the period of their Egyptian servitude was more nearly fulfilled; when Moses spake unto them the words of Jehovah and performed wonders in their sight, and “the people believed.” This was a pre-requisite for their deliverance; and so (Ex. 12:41) “it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt.” As we come down through the periods of Jewish history, and it became necessary to punish them for their transgressions (2 Chron. 36:15), “the Lord God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes and sending; because he had compassion” on them. When “they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words,” so that his wrath “arose against his people, till there was no remedy,” they were graciously informed of the duration of their punishment,—that it was to be in Babylon for seventy years.

As what is once written needs no repetition by a special revelation, so the record of Jeremiah (25:11) was amply sufficient to make known the end of the Babylonish servitude. And, accordingly, we read that Daniel (9:2) “understood by books the number of years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem”; and therefore he set his heart toward God to seek its accomplishment. To him also was made known (Dan. 9:25–27) “that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks,” of symbolic time, or four hundred and eighty-three years. And in just that period from the date of the decree which Artaxerxes the king gave to the priest Ezra (7:11), we hear “a voice from heaven [Matt. 3:17] saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And the Saviour affirms the accuracy of the prediction when he declares (Mark 1:15), “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Previous to the appearing of our Lord, there were those among the Jews who understood from the Scriptures that the time of his advent drew near, and who were “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” To one of these, the “just and devout” Simeon (Luke 2:26), “it was revealed that he should not see death till he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” And there was a widow also (verse 36), “one Anna, a prophetess,” of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day,” who “spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” Not only (Matt. 13:17) “many righteous men desired” to see his day, but the opinion was so general, that when the Baptist preceded him (Luke 3:15) “the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ or no.” Nor was the belief confined to Palestine that some remarkable personage was about to appear in Judea. Says Suetonius, a Roman historian: “An ancient and settled persuasion prevailed throughout the East, that the Fates had decreed some one to proceed from Judea, who should attain universal empire.” And Tacitus, another Roman historian, says, “Many were persuaded that it was contained in the ancient books of their priests, that at that very time the East should prevail, and that some one should proceed from Judea, and possess the dominion.” When he came, the glad tidings of his birth were announced by angelic voices to shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night; and wise men, recognizing his star in the east, came to worship him. A forerunner was sent to prepare the way before him; and those who received him not were rejected, “because,” as he said to Jerusalem (Luke 19:44), “thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”

When he laid down his life, he first revealed, not only to his disciples, but to the entire nation, that in three days he should rise again; and when he ascended on high, he left the promise of the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, till the reception of which the disciples were commanded to tarry at Jerusalem. If these illustrations are not sufficient, we have on record the Saviour’s prediction of the destruction of Jerusalem during the continuance of the generation that rejected him, which was fulfilled in less than forty years subsequent to his crucifixion. And, that the Christians living in Judea might escape its impending doom, they were told (Luke 21:20) that when they should “see Jerusalem compassed with armies,” or, in other language (as in Matt. 24:15), “the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand in the holy place,” they were to “flee to the mountain”; which admonition they heeded, and escaped safe to Pella.

Such is the testimony of Inspiration respecting the dealings of God with his people in past ages; in view of which is it to be supposed that an unchangeable Being should pursue an opposite policy respecting events of the future, particularly when that future is to witness the “crowning consummation of all prophetic declarations”? Under every dispensation the near coming of every great event has been known to his people. In every important instance he has told them what he was about to do; so that none of them were ignorant of it, or unprepared for it who regarded his revelations

respecting it, those only being left in darkness who disregarded and wickedly closed their eyes and ears to the instruction which God gave them. Therefore it cannot be that God will withhold from his people, in any age, such knowledge of their own times, as is needed for their serving him acceptably in the performance of the duties pertaining to their respective age. And that he would not do so respecting the time of the closing of the present, and the ushering in of the millennial dispensation, may be clearly inferred from the considerations already presented.—The Time of the End.