PREPARATION FOR THE COMING OF CHRIST.
By D. E. Scoles
THE time of the second coming of Christ is a very indefinite thing in the minds of many. Some persons have erroneously set definite dates for that great event, while others go to the opposite extreme, and say we can know absolutely nothing about it. "It may be ten million years, it may be five thousand, it may be to-night." Are any of these positions correct? If not, what is the truth? It is certainly of great importance to each of us, for our "think so" will have very little influence in the day of final accounts. If God speaks in warning upon this subject, it surely behooves us to hear, believe, and obey. The only way by which we may safely arrive at right conclusions is to take the word of God. At different epochs in the world there have been great truths brought out for God's people. At such times it has been necessary for the people to believe the message given in order to be saved. Noah's case will illustrate the matter. God sent a message to the people in those days which was new and unpopular; and yet it was necessary that the people should be ready, not only for death, but that they give heed to the special message given by Noah. Christ's coming is an event which is of interest to every man, woman, and child who has ever lived on earth. At the coming of Christ the wicked are to be slain (Isa. 11:4; 2 Thess. 2:8), the righteous dead are to be raised, and the righteous living translated and taken home to glory (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). Such honor must naturally require special preparation by those who are to be sharers in it. In order that we may know when it is near at hand, God gives us positive signs, that we may not be deceived in so important a matter. "But of the times and seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night,"—to those not prepared and watching. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. 5:1, 2, 4. The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is devoted largely to signs of Christ's second advent. In verse 3 his disciples asked him, "What shall be the sign of thy coming?" He occupies thirty-two verses in answering it. In verse 29 he speaks of signs which shall occur, not at random, but at definite periods. In Mark 13:24 he speaks of the same time, and says, "In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened." He here speaks of papal supremacy, noted in the prophecies of Daniel 7, Revelation 12 and 13, and elsewhere. This period consists of 1260 years. And, true to prophecy, the Roman Catholic Church held sway just that long. We are informed by historians that the Papacy was established by the Emperor Justinian in a decree, which went into force upon the overthrow of the Ostrogoth nation, A.D. 538; and just 1260 years from that date the deadly wounding of the Papacy as a persecutor was completed by Berthier, a French general, who marched into the city of Rome Feb. 10, 1798, and took Pope Pius VI. prisoner, and carried him away to France. Christ says, "In those days the sun shall be darkened," but it was to be after the tribulation, or persecution, had ceased. The persecution, through the influence of the Reformation, ceased about 1776. Now, Christ tells us that in that period, between 1776 and 1798, the sun should be darkened, and the moon should not give her light. These events occurred, and were of sufficient importance to pass down into the annals of history. They are recorded as among the "great events of our first century." Upon the 19th of May, 1780 (right between the above dates), the sun was supernaturally darkened; and that night the moon appeared as blood. (See "Our First Century," chap. 4, and Webster's Dictionary, p. 1604, edition of 1881.) The next great sign which Christ said would be hung out in the heavens was the falling of the stars, described in Rev. 6:13 to be like falling figs cast off in a windstorm. This also has passed onto the pages of history. Nov. 13, 1833, such a display was given, and it attracted the attention of the world. It is spoken of as "the falling of the stars," and hence fulfills the prophecy, the Lord using language that we would understand. Christ further tells us that when we see these signs, we are to know that he is near, even at the door. How near?—Verily "this generation shall not pass, until all these things be fulfilled," and Christ comes. Such being the case, we can confidently say that some of the generation who first saw these signs in the light of the prophecy will still be living when the Lord Jesus shall come in the clouds of heaven. "Of that day and hour knoweth no man;" yet we do know the "generation." It is to be just as it was in the days of Noah. At that time there was a special message, of special importance, and of special necessity for their salvation; and an unpopular message it was too. To-day we are in the time of waiting. Many years of the last generation have passed, and God desires to call out a people who shall be made ready, through obedience to the truth, for the great event of Christ's coming, and translation. And, though that message of Christ's coming is plainly taught in the word, yet we find that the great majority reject it, hence will be unprepared. God would have his people come out from the world and be separate. As in the days of Noah, God has now seen fit to test the people upon a special truth and prove who are really his, and who only have "a form of godliness," but deny the power thereof. The crucial point of this message will be considered another time.