A PROCLAMATION OF HIS COMING.
By Matthew Larsen
Having already shown in previous articles that the second advent of Christ as a personal, visible Saviour is plainly taught in the Scripture (Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 1:7), that we are to know when that event is near (Matt. 24:33), to be watching and waiting for it (Heb. 9:28; Mark 13:34-37), and that there should be signs given by which we might know of its approach (Luke 21:25-27), we are now prepared to entertain a consideration of another important question, namely, a warning message, or PROCLAMATION OF CHRIST'S SECOND COMING.
In all past ages whenever any event of importance that concerned the human family was about to take place, we notice that God invariably made it known to his people, and caused a warning proclamation to be given, so that the people might have opportunity to prepare for the same. Thus, in the days of the antediluvians, when the world had become so sinful, and "the imagination of the thoughts" of their hearts was only "evil continually" (Gen. 6:5), so that God could no longer endure them, but proposed to destroy them with a flood, he raised up Noah, a "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2:5; Heb. 11:7), and sent him forth for a hundred and twenty years, with a faithful message, warning them of their coming danger,—the flood. So, also, in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, before God sent them destruction, he warned them through Lot (Gen. 19:14), and, although Lot seemed unto them as one that mocked, the rejection of that message proved their destruction. In like manner,6also, in the days of Nineveh, before God would destroy them, he first sent Jonah, the prophet, to warn them. They accepted the message and were saved. Jonah 1:2; 3:3-10. When Christ was about to come the first time into the world, John the Baptist was raised up, and went forth to prepare the way of the Lord for that event. Nearly seven hundred years before, the Lord had declared that just such a message should go: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isa. 40:3. The years came and passed, and the prophecy was left untouched, until "the fullness of time came,"—the proper time for the message to be given,—and immediately that "voice" began to be heard, and the message was carried far and near. And when the Jews inquired who he was, John answered them with a positiveness, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." John 1:19-24. There was no guesswork about it. And those who refused to heed that message, did so at the peril of their own souls. "They rejected the counsel of God against themselves," says Christ. Luke 7:30. These instances will serve to illustrate the importance of our giving heed to whatever message God may have for his people. If God has some special message for us, for our time, we do well to give heed to it. To reject it will be at our own peril.