MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR by J. H. Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 23, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 37.

MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR.

By J. H. Waggoner

BY THE LATE ELDER J. H. WAGGONER.

(Continued.)

3. THE SAINTS GATHERED TOGETHER.

At the coming of Christ, as in Matthew 24, the elect of God, the saints of Christ, will be gathered "from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Verse 31. This cannot be referred to the destruction of Jerusalem. Nothing occurred at that time to which it will possibly apply. Paul, speaking of the coming of Christ, mentions the same fact, as follows: "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him." 2 Thess. 2:1. How did the Lord come to Jerusalem at the time of its overthrow? We are answered, "It was a figurative coming." If it was not literal and actual, what was the nature of the figure used? It is said that he visited the Jews in judgment; that Titus, or the Roman army, really executed the judgment upon the doomed city. Then the coming of Titus, or of the Roman army, is represented as the coming of Christ. Was it a fact, then, that the saints of God, the followers of Christ, from the four winds, were gathered together unto Titus, in that day? This must have been so if the coming of Titus represented the coming of Christ, or if Christ came figuratively in the person of Titus. It is as sure as the Scriptures are true that the saints will be gathered unto Christ in the day of his coming; which did not occur, even in a figure, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; for the saints, instead of being gathered unto Christ, or to any person or thing which came to Jerusalem as his representative, were scattered from the city, fleeing from the presence of that which represented Christ! So absurd is that theory.

4. MAN OF SIN REVEALED.

The fact of Christ's coming, and the gathering of the saints at that time, being stated alike in Matthew 24 and 2 Thessalonians 2, proves that these chapters refer to the same time and event. We therefore in this connection notice a circumstance mentioned by Paul, as one to take place before the Lord comes. And to this point we call the special attention of all who deny the literal advent of our Lord. Paul cautions his brethren not to look for the coming of Christ until the man of sin is revealed. Who, or what, is that man of sin? Paul wrote this about eighteen years before Jerusalem was overthrown. What arose within these eighteen years which filled the outline of this prophecy?—Nothing at all. The old and well-accepted view of the Reformers—the Protestants—that this man of sin is the "Sovereign Pontiff" of Rome, is every way reasonable, and to produce a harmony of the prophetic scriptures, is unavoidable. Notice these points:—

1. Paul wrote only eighteen years before the overthrow of Jerusalem, but he looked forward to the future for the revealing of the man of sin. The elements were then already operating, but hindering causes had to be removed. Consequently, as he said, the coming of the Lord was not "impending" in his day.

2. It was not merely a sinful man to be revealed; there were many such then; "that man of sin,"—who legalizes and enforces sin, not merely one who breaks law, but one who overrides and breaks down law. Such has been the character of the Roman Pontiff. Many readers will remember his indictment on this point by Alexander Campbell, in his debate with Bishop Purcell.

3. Exalting himself above God. This he has done, not merely by assuming the prerogatives of God, but, by legislating on the law of God, which can be done only by a superior, in fact or assumed.

4. Claiming to be God. See the titles which have been given to, and assumed by, the pope; and most recently, the assumption of infallibility.

These, and other specifications of prophecy, have been fulfilled by the popes of Rome, and by no other. And we shall find that the proofs grow even stronger and clearer as we proceed.

(To be continued.)