Shaking of the Powers of Heaven.
By Ellet Joseph Waggoner
A SUBSCRIBER asks a question concerning the shaking of the powers of the heavens, spoken of in Matt. 24:29. In the Sabbath-school lesson, as he says, the idea was conveyed that this is to take place in connection with the coming of the Lord, and is not one of the signs of that coming. We give the substance of his query below:— “In three of the gospels, where events seem to be named in their proper order, so far as they have been fulfilled, the ‘shaking’ is made to precede his coming. Now can it be proved that the ‘shaking,’ of Matt. 24:29 and the passing away of the heavens (2 Pet. 3:10), are identical? May not this prediction of our Saviour be fulfilled in the disastrous storms of the present time, or in the great conflagrations upon the sun’s surface, as is evident from the sun spots, or in the perihelion disturbances of the solar system, or in all these combined? May not this prophecy be double in its signification, and be fulfilled before his coming, and again in connection with that event?” ANSWER.—In Heb. 12:25–27 we read: “For if they escaped not who refused Him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from Heaven; whose voice then shook the earth; but now hath he promised, saying, yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken,” &c. From this we learn that as the voice of God at Sinai shook the earth, so once more it will shake both earth and heaven, and but once more. This then would preclude the possibility of there being two “shakings.” The question then remains, when will the shaking occur? Peter says that in the day of the Lord “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise” (2 Pet. 3:10); the prophet says, “And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Here is the shaking of both earth and heaven; and it is in connection with Christ’s coming, for all the wicked hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon 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?” Rev. 6:14–17. We think our querist mistakes the meaning of the expression, “precede the coming of Christ.” Nothing can properly be called a “sign” of Christ’s coming except that which is given to show the nearness of that event, so that men may prepare for it. Those things that take place after the close of probation are not really signs of the coming, because there is then no need of them. Again, the second coming of Christ, like the first, is an event covering a period of time. The whole time of Christ’s earthly ministry is called the first advent. There are many events spoken of as taking place when the Lord comes, such as the resurrection of “all that are in the graves” (John 5:28), the translation of the righteous, and the punishment of the wicked with everlasting destruction (2 Thess. 1:7–9). But we know that the resurrection of the wicked, and their final destruction does not take place until a thousand years after the translation of the righteous. We therefore say that the “second coming of Christ,” with all its attendant phenomena, is not an instantaneous event taking in simply the moment of his first appearing in the clouds of heaven, but one which, like his first advent, covers a period of time. Of course the shaking of the powers of the heavens precedes the manifestation of Christ in the clouds, yet it occurs “in connection” with that event. And that is in the regular order of events as mentioned by the evangelists. Concerning the storms, conflagrations on the sun, etc., we would say that they are not such events as would meet the requirements of 2 Pet. 3:10 or Rev. 6:14–16 and other passages. And as for “the perihelion disturbances of the solar system,” the worst result we have seen from the perihelion is the overwhelming lot of trash that has been published concerning it in certain would-be scientific journals. E. J. W.