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THE TIME TO LOOK!

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 31, 1879

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 54, No. 6.

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THE TIME TO LOOK!

By B. F. Merritt

How could the Jews consistently look for the Messiah at any other period than at the termination of the sixty-nine weeks from the going forth of the commandment to restore and build Jerusalem? See Daniel 9:25. How can they look for him yet, when it is written, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come!” Gen. 49:10. Judah held the scepter with a trembling hand when Jesus appeared; but it was soon thereafter wrested from him forever. Why, then, look for Shiloh after the scepter has departed? It is just as inconsistent to look for the sun to be darkened, as a precursor of the second advent, at any other time than “immediately after the tribulation of those days” of papal persecution. That immediate period is passed.
In Mark 13:24, we read, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened.” The days of papal supremacy terminated in 1798. The “tribulation” ceased prior to that. Then the time to look for the sun to be darkened was after the tribulation ceased, and before the days ended. The sign was given in due time, and the prediction was exactly fulfilled. The time to look for the second advent is not until after the signs that were to be tokens of its approach are fulfilled. The sun, moon, and stars were to indicate the advent night; but before the Saviour is seen descending in glory, that other sign, the shaking of “the powers of heaven,” must be fulfilled. This will probably occur after man's probation has ceased, when the voice of God, which once shook the earth (when his law was proclaimed), shakes not only earth but also heaven. See Heb. 12:26.
Mercy's door of grace has been open long. Unmistakable tokens have been given that it is about to be closed forever. We know of nothing more to look for till it is proclaimed through Heaven and earth, “It is done!” That hour draws on. It is near. Let the trumpet be blown in Zion, not with an uncertain sound. Soon will the doom of a sinful world be forever sealed. Afterward we look for our Saviour's glorious appearing.
B. F. MERRITT.