MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR by J. H. Waggoner

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Dec 9, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 47.

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MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR.

By J. H. Waggoner

BY THE LATE ELDER J. H. WAGGONER.

(Concluded.)

WE invite the attention of the reader to the following list of points made plain in our examination of this chapter:—

1. The Saviour gave definite and plain signs which were to precede his coming.

2. He told the effect which these things would produce. See Joel 2:1 and other prophecies.

3. He said that by these signs we might know when it is near, even at the doors.

4. And the language is stronger than that of permission or the expression of ability to know. It is imperative; we are commanded and required to know when it is near.

5. The signs are so easy to understand that we may know when it is near, just as we may know that summer is near when the trees put forth their leaves.

6. That we are commanded and required to know is confirmed by the illustration of the time of Noah. (1) Noah knew the time that the flood was near. (2) He preached its coming. (3) He prepared for the event. (4) It was fatal to all those who did not (would not) know the time. "So shall also the coming of the Son of man be."

7. The Saviour says it will in like manner be a fatal error on the part of those who do not know when the Son of man is coming. But this could not be so (1) if we could not know the time or (2) if it makes no difference whether we know or do not.

All this teaches us that the doctrine of the second advent is

A PRACTICAL DOCTRINE.

The truth on this subject is important; it is important to us that we understand it. The oft-repeated saying that "it makes no difference," is not applicable here. And this is yet more evident in that, when the Lord comes, he will find faithful and wise servants, who will be giving "meat in due season." This seasonable nourishment to the household of faith, at that time, must be the "alarm" which is sounded when the day of the Lord is near. Joel 2:1.

We may also learn by contrast what is this meat in due season. Two classes of servants are presented by the Saviour. One is represented as a faithful and wise servant. This is the one who gives meat in due season. The other, a slothful and wicked servant, says, "My Lord delayeth his coming." One observes the signs given by the Saviour and heeds the warning to know that it is near, while the other heeds not the warning, and proclaims that he is not coming. Nothing need be plainer than this.

Peter says (2 Peter 3:3, 4) that in the last days scoffers shall arise, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? It is evident that no one would scoff at the Lord's coming if none were looking for his coming. If the alarm were not being given; if the message of Rev. 14:9-12, which immediately precedes the appearing of the Son of man, were not being proclaimed; if nobody expected him to come, there would be nothing for them to scoff at. In the last days somebody will be preaching the Lord's coming; the Scriptures must be fulfilled.

Those who scoff at the Lord's coming in the last days, who are noticed in the Saviour's prophecy, are not blasphemers and infidels; they are those whom the Lord has called his "servants." They call Jesus "My Lord." Their saying is, "My Lord delayeth his coming." They also have the duty laid upon them, as servants, to give meat in due season; to sound the alarm; to proclaim the message of the advent near, even at the doors. But they are "evil servants," recreant to the trust committed to them, unmindful of the "sure word of prophecy." They do not want to think, nor to have the people think, of the Lord's coming. All the scriptures which speak of that day call for watchfulness, diligence, and earnest zeal to be prepared to meet him. But these are worldly-minded, selfish servants. They love their ease; they cry, "Peace and safety," when sudden destruction is impending. 1 Thess. 5:1-3. They love to slumber; they say, "To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant." Isa. 56:10-12. They join the idle throng in singing, "There's a good time coming." In the words of the Saviour, they "eat and drink with the drunken," "walking after their own lusts." The sociable, the festival, the fair, the supper for feasting—these have attractions for them which their selfishness cannot resist. By these is piety dethroned; zeal is extinguished; cross-bearing and self-denying become distasteful graces; to hunger and thirst after righteousness is a burden; the "form of godliness" is retained, but "the power thereof" is gone. What a condition for a servant of God to be found in when his Master appears! And yet this is a fitting description of the mass of feasting professors who turn away

with scorn from the unwelcome thought of the Lord's near coming.

But many evade the truth on this subject by referring to the good and pious of former generations to whom the warning message of Rev. 14:9-12 was not given. They were accepted of God, and died happy; we will live as they lived, and go to Heaven also. To this there are two just replies:—

1. Professors of this day are not living as their fathers lived. Even one generation ago Christians possessed a simplicity of godliness which is ignored by the mass of professors in this day. The church suppers and festivals; the gambling devices to obtain money; the church theatricals, and other profane amusements now foisted upon the name of Christianity 'for pious uses' (to quote a term of the mother church), would not have been tolerated for a moment by our fathers of past generations. The earnest vital godliness of a half century ago is now known to the few,—a 'little flock' when all told. Our fathers, in all the denominations, will rise up to condemn this pleasure-loving age. The objection we are noticing is a reproach to the piety and zeal of our fathers, as their lives are a rebuke to the cold formality of present-day religion.

Let us in turn ask, Why was it that Seth, Enoch, and others before the day of Noah, were not required to build an ark? Enoch was so godly as to receive the testimony that his ways pleased God, and to be translated without seeing death. Could not Noah live as Enoch lived and be saved, without the cross and labor of building an ark? The answer is nigh unto everyone. He could not; and why?—Because Noah lived in the time of the flood and Enoch did not. Enoch could not preach Noah's message; he lived at a time too early for that. Noah could not be accepted of God and do only that which Enoch did, as he lived under different circumstances. Extraordinary events require extraordinary preparations; and those preparations are suited to no other time but their own.

And so with the preaching of the Lord's coming. To past generations it was not 'present truth.' They could not give the message of warning. But we, who have seen the signs of his coming, who know the time (Rom. 13: 11, 12), who see the day approaching (Heb. 10:25), must proclaim this truth, and sound the alarm, as Noah proclaimed the approach of the flood. As it was necessary in order to be saved to receive the message of Noah, so it is necessary in order to be prepared for our Lord's advent that we accept the truth in regard to his near coming.