The Sabbath-School by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Aug 7, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 30.

The Sabbath-School.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST—AUG. 23.

What events did Christ name as signs of his coming?
What have we learned as to their fulfillment?
How surely do these signs prove his coming to be near? Matt. 24:32, 33.
What expression shows the nearness of the coming?
What did the Lord say would not pass before his words would be fulfilled? Verse 34.
To what generation must he refer?
Cite another instance where the term "this generation" is used with reference to a people not living at the time. Ps. 95:8-10.
What reason had the disciples for not expecting the Lord's coming in their day? Matt. 24:4-8.
What was Paul's teaching on this point? 2 Thess. 1, 2.
What did he say must first come? Verses 3, 4.
Why may we be so confident that the Lord will come in this generation? Matt. 24:35.
Can any man tell the exact time when the Lord will come? Verse 36.
Show how we may know a thing to be near, and yet not know just when it will come.
Are we to expect that all will heed these signs of Christ's coming? 2 Pet. 3:3, 4.
Will the last days be days of quiet to the humble Christian? 2 Tim. 3:1.
What will make the last days perilous? Verses 2-4.
To what time does Christ liken the days immediately preceding his coming? Matt. 24:37.
How wicked were the people in the days of Noah? Gen. 6:5.
Upon what were they wholly intent? Matt. 24:38, 39.
Against what does Christ warn us? Luke 21:34.
In what condition does he say we must be? Luke 12:35, 36.
Can we be said to be waiting for that which we are not prepared to receive?
Since the times are dangerous, and we know not how soon the Lord will come, what are we exhorted to do? Mark 13:37.
While waiting and watching what else must we do? Luke 21:36.

THERE are some things that all men may know. There are others which are concealed, concerning which it is useless for man to inquire. It is written: "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever." Deut. 29:29. This is perfectly reasonable. If the Lord has revealed anything, it is most certainly for our benefit. Whenever, therefore, we find definite statements in the Bible concerning any event, we may speak of that event with the utmost positiveness, to the extent that the statements are made. Now let us apply this to the subject of the Lord's coming. We know, (1) That the Lord will come again. We have his own word for that. (2) That his second coming will be as literal as his first,—"this same Jesus,"—and that it will be so glorious, and accompanied with such manifestations that no one can be ignorant of it. Matt. 24:27; Rev. 1:7; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. (3) That before his coming certain signs will take place. (4) That these signs, as recorded in Matt. 24, and learned in our last lesson, are the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars. (5) That these signs have actually taken place in the exact manner foretold by our Saviour. We do not obtain our knowledge of any of the above things by any process of reasoning, but by plain statements of fact. There is yet one thing more that we may know, that we are commanded to know. The Lord, after having informed the disciples of the signs above-mentioned, said: "When ye shall see all these things, know that it [margin, he, that is, Christ] is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24:33. We are to know it just as certainly as we know that summer is near when the leaves begin to appear on the trees. There can, then, be no more doubt that the coming of the Lord is near, than there is that the stars fell in 1833.

"VERILY I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Matt. 24:34. There need be no difficulty in understanding this verse. He certainly did not mean to say that his coming would take place before the close of the generation then living, for that would be a contradiction of his own words in verses 4-8, and is directly contradicted by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:1-8. Moreover, whoever claims that Christ did mean that he would come before that generation should pass, must also claim that the dead have been raised and the living translated. 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. The fact that Christ has not yet come is sufficient proof that he did not predict an immediate coming. Then what did he mean? This can be answered by finding out of what time he was speaking. It was not of the time then present, for he was looking forward. He had spoken of the destruction of Jerusalem; he had described the 1260 years of papal supremacy, with its disastrous results to the people of God; and he had minutely described the signs that were to follow, the last of which took place, as we have seen, in 1833. Looking at that time, he said, "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." What things? The things recorded in verse 31. A similar use of the expression "this generation" is found in Ps. 95:10. There are hundreds of persons now alive who witnessed the falling of the stars in 1833. Does anybody doubt that some of that generation will be alive when the Lord comes? Hear what the Saviour says: "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." Matt. 24:35.

"BUT of that day and hour knoweth no man." Here is one of the secret things that belong to God alone. The exact time has not been revealed; therefore we have nothing to do with it; it does not concern us. Yet our ignorance of the exact time does not in the least affect our knowledge of what is revealed, namely, that his coming is near. The farmer knows when summer is near, yet he cannot tell the day when it will be fairly open. We often speak of a friend as coming very soon, yet we do not know the exact time of his coming. After Christ has given us such unmistakable evidences of the nearness of his coming, it is not only foolish but wicked to pay no attention to them, simply because he has not revealed to us the day and hour.

THE fact that comparatively few even of religious people believe in and teach the doctrine of the near coming of the Lord, is sometimes urged as proof that the doctrine cannot be true. If no one believed it, that would not invalidate the Scripture record in the least; the Scripture cannot be broken by the unbelief of men. But the fact that but few are looking for the Lord's coming is one of the signs by which we may know that we are in the last days. Paul says that in the last days perilous times will come, because men shall be lovers of their own selves. 2 Tim. 3:1. Then he gives a list of special sins of which they will be guilty, and to show that he does not refer to the non-professing world, he says, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." "They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him." Titus 1:16. And this is in the last days.

MOREOVER, our Saviour himself has given a description of the time immediately preceding his coming. He said: "And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man." Luke 17:26. To find, then, what will be a characteristic of the last days, we have only to read a description of the time just before the flood. Here it is: "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Gen. 6:5. Here is total depravity. If it had been otherwise the Lord would not have destroyed the people of that time. When the Lord comes it is to destroy the inhabitants of the earth. (The righteous are simply sojourners, and not dwellers.) But he would not destroy them unless they were incorrigibly wicked. We are therefore not to expect any great reformation before the coming of the Lord, or general preparation for that event. Yet the warning is to be given just as faithfully, and people are to be just as earnestly exhorted to repent, as though all were expected to reform. All must hear. "This gospel of the kingdom" must be preached in all the world for a witness. The world has not yet arrived at that state of wickedness described by our Saviour. It is the faithful preaching of the word that will call out the few that will turn to God, and harden the others in their rebellion. The preaching of truth always causes a division. Luke 12:52, 53. And when the word shall have been preached in all the world, separating men into the two classes, "then shall the end come." It is for this alone that the coming of the Lord now waits. E. J. W.