Will there Be Signs of His Coming?
By C. P. Bollman
To this question the Scriptures give full and definite answer, as they do also to every question which directly concerns the salvation of souls. On one occasion, as Jesus “went out, and departed from the temple,” “His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Matt. 24: 1, 2. This statement greatly surprised the twelve, and a little later, “as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Verse 3. Instead of rebuking His disciples for trying to “pry into the secrets of the Almighty,” our Lord answered their question specifically, saying, in part, “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Luke 21: 25, 26. Not only did our Lord say there would be signs of His coming, and that they would appear “in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth,” but He told the nature of these signs, and fixed the chronology of the first one, namely, the sign in the sun, so definitely as to leave no reasonable question in the mind of any one as to its literal fulfilment. The chronology of this sign was upon this wise: In the 7th chapter of the book of Daniel is a prophecy of a persecuting power that was to arise, as we learn from a comparison of other scriptures, in the year A.D. 538, and continue his cruel and blasphemous work for twelve hundred and sixty years, or until A.D. 1798. Of this power the prophet said: “He shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into His hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” Verse 25. As before stated, this prophecy covers a period of twelve hundred and sixty years. In answering the question asked by His disciples, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” our Lord referred to this long period of oppression of His people, saying: “Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Matt. 24: 21, 22. This great time of trouble was the period of papal supremacy and persecution between the years A.D. 538 and 1798. Unlike the time of trouble “such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time,” foretold in Dan. 12: 1, this time of trouble foretold by our Saviour, and also in Dan. 7: 25, was a time of trouble to the people of God; and it was for their sakes that the days were to be shortened. Let the reader remember that our purpose in discussing this time of trouble, or tribulation, is to show how our Lord definitely located the chronology of the sign of His coming which was to be seen in the sun. In Matt. 24: 29 Jesus said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened.” Or as recorded by Mark, “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened.” Mark 13: 24. In Those Days but After the Persecution
Now it must be evident to every one, that the days themselves could not be shortened, or cut short; but the tribulation could be and actually was shortened, or cut short, to such an extent that so far as putting to death “heretics” was concerned it entirely ceased several years prior to the end of the days in 1798. Perhaps the most potent factor in shortening, not the 1,260 years of papal supremacy, but the days of persecution to the death, was the decree of religious toleration issued by Maria Theresa, the Empress of Austria, in 1776, the same year of the Declaration of Independence in this country. History testifies how literally this sign was fulfilled, not only as to the actual darkening of the sun, but as to the time when that darkening occurred, “in those days, after that tribulation.” Heavenly Bodies for Signs
When the Lord created the heavenly bodies, He said, “And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years.” Gen. 1: 14. It ought not therefore to be a matter of surprise that the sun, moon, and stars were to be, and that they have actually been, used to warn the world of the approach of the second advent. But the signs of our Lord’s second coming are not limited to the sun, moon, and stars; there were to be also signs upon the earth, or in other words, phenomena that would cause people to think of the judgment and of the end of the world. How these signs have been fulfilled and are fulfilling can not be told in this brief article; but it is scarcely possible for any careful student of the Scriptures, who is also an observer of the signs of the times, to be ignorant of these things. To those who wilfully close their eyes to these tokens, our Lord says, “Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?”