Treasures of Hail by T.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 9, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 26.

Treasures of Hail

By T.

ONE of the great challenging questions the Almighty put to Job was: “Hast thou entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?”

The “time of trouble” and “the day of battle and war” are forms of expression used in the Bible to denominate the period of violence, rioting, and war preparations that will immediately precede the end of this present world, and culminate in the second coming of Christ. The foregoing scripture announces that the almighty Father has reserved “treasures of the hail” against that time of trouble and war.

We are in a time when the preparations for war are more terrible than ever before; and never did statesmen have to struggle harder than now to keep the nations from rushing to the battle-field. We are also in a time when intense violence and revolution is threatening all parts of the world. This violence and revolution is with difficulty suppressed, as is witnessed by the recent labor wars so general over England, and that prevailed in sections of Spain, France, Austria, and elsewhere in the Old World, as well as in many parts of the New. This strife that has been so general is not a transitory spasm in society, but it is a chronic condition of the time. It presents one of the mightiest and also one of the most generally recognized and dangerous problems of the age.

In view of these conditions, and many of a like character that, without mention, the reader will call to mind, it should be readily recognized that we have reached the time of trouble and of war. The many prophecies that point it out, and the conditions that confirm the predictions, are clear and unmistakable.

In view of the fact that we are facing this time of world-wide trouble and war, it is not surprising to find such articles as have recently appeared in the Country Gentleman and a number of the French journals in regard to the “gigantic hail problem.” These articles discuss methods of “fighting the hail-storms,” and “hail-storm insurance.” The fact that calls out this discussion, to use the words of one of the writers, is that “the total damage done to rural industries the world over by hail-storms averages not less than two hundred million dollars a year.”

We see some of the beginnings of the bringing out of these “treasures of the hail” that Jehovah has “reserved” for the years that will immediately precede the end of time. What will it be when this “treasure” is opened up more fully and the height of it is reached? Intense and violent wickedness has always been visited with divine judgments. And phenomenal storms of hail are among the things reserved for the culminating sins that mark the end of this world.