p. 2 | OUR COMING LORD

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Jul 1, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 25.

OUR COMING LORD.

The Tokens of His Appearing.

THE second coming of Christ, with all the blessed hopes that center therein, is a Bible doctrine. By precept and promise, by symbol and figure and parable, is the grand culmination,—our Lord's eternal reign, which begins at his coming,—kept before us throughout the entire Word. At his coming occurs the resurrection of all the righteous dead, the conferring of immortality upon all the good of all ages, the revelation of his glory in his people, and the beginning of eternal righteous rule, when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms "of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever."

This is not a shadowy reign by proxy. It is a spiritual reign of a spiritual king over spiritual subjects, but it is most emphatically literal. "This same Jesus" will come again. Acts 1:9-11. "The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout." 1 Thess. 4:16. "Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty." Isa. 33:17. "Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness." Isa. 32:1. "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, . . . then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." Matt. 25:31. "If we suffer, we shall also reign with him." 2 Tim. 2:12. "And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him." Dan. 7:27. Welcome indeed will be the glad home-coming of all the children of light! Welcome the glad surcease from the sorrow and crime and sin and madness and unutterable wo and misery of earth! Welcome the eternal reign where "the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever." Isa. 32:17.

When Will He Come?

When will that glad day which knows no crime, no sin, no oppression, sorrow, death, or pain, be ushered in?—Soon; for his coming is near. A volume might be written in proof of this; we must be content to set it before our readers more briefly, and endeavor to help them to see by the eye the vast amount of evidence by the accompanying diagram.

I. The Prophetic Highways.

It is a common saying in England that all roads lead to London. This is a general truth; but it is an emphatic and universal truth of the Word of God that all the great lines of prophecy, the great highways on which God has marked out the course of empire, the rise and fall of kingdoms, and other great and striking events, lead to the second coming of Christ and his eternal reign. The radial double lines on our diagram represent these prophetic highways. There are more in the Word than are here given. We will not take them in order as they come upon the diagram, but as they occur in the Word of God.

1. The Second Chapter of Daniel.—In this the four great empires of earth, from the prophet's day forward, are represented by a great metallic image composed of gold, silver, brass, iron, and iron and clay. The head of gold represents the empire of Babylon, the one empire above all others which has molded, shaped, and influenced every succeeding kingdom by her grandeur, her pride, her assumptions, and especially her fornication, or the union of Church and State which obtained in that kingdom. To Babylon succeeded Medo-Persia, represented in the prophecy by the breast and arms of silver, reigning from B.C. 538 to 331. To Medo-Persia succeeded Grecia, the kingdom of brass, B.C. 331 to 161. Following Grecia came Rome, represented in her imperial and united state by iron, and in her divided state as she now exists in the Old World by iron and clay. In her last period of existence there will again be ten horns, symbolized perhaps by the ten toes, and by the ten horns of Rev. 17:12. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed." And the time draweth on apace.

2. The Seventh Chapter of Daniel.—This we have recently considered. Herein are the same four great empires presented under the symbols of cruel beasts, the lion, Babylon; the bear, Medo-Persia; the four-headed leopard, Grecia, and the great and terrible beast, Rome. The division of Rome into various kingdoms, symbolized in the second chapter by the admixture of iron and clay, is here shown by horns. The little horn we have shown in our

two last issues to represent the Papacy, which exercised spiritual domination over the world for 1,260 years, from A.D. 538 to the "time of the end," 1798. At the time of the later prophetic history of this power, the prophet sees the judgment of God in session, and, shortly after, the destruction of earthly powers, and the reward of the people of God. On this great highway the next event is the reign of Christ.

3. The Eighth and Ninth Chapters of Daniel contain a prophecy given when Babylon and her glory were in the past. It presents the three remaining of the great earth-empires under the symbol of a ram, a goat, and a little horn greater than all. The little horn is a symbol of Rome in its entirety, and its persecuting work against the people of God, under the daily or continual desolations of paganism, and the transgression of desolation under the form of Church and State which followed paganism, and which met its completest type in the Papacy. This great highway of prophecy is marked by the suffering and persecution of the people of God from the crucifixion of the Prince of princes to the end. So great is it that an angel of God asks, "How long shall be the vision concerning the daily [continual, paganism], and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?" And the answer to the people of God in the person of the prophet is: "Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." The cleansing of the sanctuary is the last act of our great High Priest in heaven, the blotting out of sin, the approval of those worthy, previous to his coming. These days, or years (see Eze. 4:6), began with "the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, B.C. 457." (See Dan. 9:25; Ezra 7:7.) In this period, during this great highway of time, are the following breaks in the journey: 49 years (B.C. 408) to the restoration of Jerusalem under Nehemiah; 483 years to Messiah the Prince, A.D. 27; 486½ years to his death upon the cross, A.D. 31; 490 years to the cutting off of the Jews as a special people, A.D. 34; the remaining 1,810 years reaching to 1844, when began in the earth the proclamation of the last great threefold message of Rev. 14:6-12, and in heaven the finishing of the work of our great High Priest in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. The next event in this great highway of time is the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. The Eleventh Chapter of Daniel is a literal prophecy of the important kingdoms and kings of the Old World from the time of the prophet onward. The last event is the utter destruction of the king of the north, held by many Bible commentators to be Turkey. In this prophecy is also fixed "the time of the end," which began in 1798. The next event in this road of time is the standing up of Michael, or Christ, to reign. Dan. 12:1.

5. Chapters 6 to 8 of the Revelation contain a prophecy of the seven seals, the opening of the book of the mystery of God, beginning with the opening of the Christian dispensation, and closing with the coming of Christ, and the prayer of the wicked to be hid from his presence. In this prophecy is also revealed the closing work of God in the earth in sealing his servants, a work now going on.

6. Chapters 8 to 11 of Revelation contain a prophecy of the seven trumpets and the two witnesses. The trumpets especially show the breaking up of the Roman Empire by the incursions of the northern barbarians, and the part which the Turkish power has played in this work. The following prophetic periods are herein mentioned. One hundred and fifty days, or years, from July 27, 1299, to 1449, from the reign of Othman to the time of the four sultanies of Aleppo, Iconium, Damascus, and Bagdad, and from thence 391 years and 15 days to August 11, 1840, when the independence of the Turkish Empire came to an end by the ultimatum of the powers of Europe. Since that time the Turk has been the "sick man of the east." Beyond this event in the prophecy are the last warning message, the wrath of the nations, and the coming of the day of judgment. In the prophecy of the two witnesses we have the period of 1,260 again repeated, fixing the time of the end in 1798.

7. Revelation 12 is a great general prophecy of the enmity of Satan and the earthly kingdoms through which he has persecuted Christ and his church. Satan and his agents are represented by a seven-headed red dragon; the church by a woman, and our Lord by the Man child caught up to God and his throne. Twice in this prophecy is the period of persecution of 1,260 years again presented. The close of our journey in this great highway brings us to the remnant church, keeping the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, persecuted by the dragon through the powers of earth. The next event is the coming of Christ to save his people. Compare Rev. 14:12, 14.

8. Revelation 13:1-10 is a prophecy of the powers of earth used by Satan. In chapter 12 Satan as the great instigator of all persecution is shown. In chapter 13 his agents are symbolized by the beast with seven heads and ten horns, notably through the great 1,260 years' persecution of the Dark Ages. In the latter part of this chapter is the symbol of our own country, the last great molding power of the world. But, like all other earthly powers, it at last becomes an agent of Satan in persecution. Against these deceiving and persecuting powers the Lord sends to all the people of the earth a solemn warning message (Rev. 14:6-14); and the next scene which bursts upon the vision of the prophet is the triumph of the people of God at Christ's second coming over all earthly powers (Rev. 15:1-3).

Here are eight great prophetic highways, beginning at different places in the great field of time, but all of them leading us by unmistakable waymarks to the same goal, the second coming of our Lord. By each and all we are brought to the eve of that great event. The evidences upon each road thicken as we near the end, and the worn earth and her weary pilgrims of hope may look with expectant faces and exultant courage to the soon appearing of their King. "Whoso readeth let him understand."

But the waymarks in these great highways of prophecy are not the only evidences that God has given us that we are nearing the glorious, glad day when the earth will greet her King. God has given us special signs, all of which are this side of "the time of the end"—signs which will appeal to all—showing that Christ's coming is near. These, if the Lord will, we will present next week.