THE RAGING ELEMENTS by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 28, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 26.

THE RAGING ELEMENTS.

By Editor

THIS is said to be the "cyclone season." But it is coming to the point where the cyclone season extends quite well through the whole year.

These terrific storms fill many minds with untold terrors. They do not understand what they mean. The meaning of them, however, is very definite and clear. For a quarter of a century the SIGNS OF THE TIMES has been telling that the last days of this earth's history would be filled with the most desolating storms of every description. We have stated again and again that earthquake and tidal wave, storm and flood, would be in ceaseless activity as the very last of the last days are reached. And while we have been, and are still, having some fearful storms, yet they are as nothing compared with what lies just before us.

We make these statements, not as a speculative theory, but announce them as literal facts. And the reason why we announce them so positively as facts is because we read such clear and unequivocal statements in the Word of God, as the following:—

"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The city of confusion is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened; the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction." Isa. 24: 1-12.

When the earth is being made "empty" and "waste" and turned "upside down"; when "the land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled," storm and tempest and every form of upheaval and disturbance will be doing their terrible work. It is impossible for pen to describe or brush to paint the fearful things that are even now beginning to come upon the earth. And we may search, and search in vain, throughout every realm of human investigation, and we will find no solution of the meaning of these calamities that are overspreading the world as the darkness of death and despair. It is only in the light that is shining from the inspired Book that we may know the portent of these things.

Sin has nearly completed its course of misery, injustice, and crime. The seeds of ruin and death that are being sown by transgression are producing their indescribable harvest.

"The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Verse 5. Then it is clearly because of transgression that the "curse devoured the earth." "The curse causeless shall not come." Prov. 26: 2.

Now, when we consider the vast amount of manifest wickedness that there is in this time, is it to be wondered at that there should be such commotions of the elements? The very "earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof." And this defiling of the earth by sin is the tap-root of every great storm. "The prince of the power of the air," by means of plunging the world into sin, would have destroyed every thing long ago were it not for the restraining power of God. But as the whole world gives itself over to sin, the Lord can not consistently keep back the destruction, and so the "prince of the power of the air" works direful ruin all over the land.

And do not be quieted with the thought that the conditions will get better. There is no more peace nor good times for this world until the coming of the Prince of Peace in the clouds of heaven.

"Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison [in the grave until the resurrection of the wicked at the end of the thousand years], and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." Isa. 24: 17-23.

This old earth is in her expiring agonies. Fearful will be the convulsions through which she will pass. But there is a glorious, bright beyond. The destruction of this world of sin means the beginning of that day "when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously."