Notes on the Coming Issue
By Editor
Do you love Jesus Christ? Then, of course, you love His appearing, and you will be glad to know He is coming again, and coming soon. In our next week's issue (not our next Special) will be found our first "experience meeting." We are sure the testimonies will cheer and comfort other hearts. Laodicea.—On page 6 is a combination of pictures in one heading. One of those is the ruins of Laodicea, once an important and wealthy city in Western Asia. It was not an ancient city, hence is not named by any of the older prophets. There was a Christian church in the city, and that church is used as a type of the backslidden state of the church in the last days. The city itself is not denounced in prophecy, but the Laodicean church is denounced. The Lord tells her that because of her utter indifference to holy things He is about to spew her out of His mouth. Rev. 3:14-16. He designs that His church shall be the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its keeping power, there is nothing to prevent both the salt and that which is designed to preserve from going to destruction. So God's denunciation of the church, and the failure of that church, meant denunciation against the city and the failure of the city. When Lot's family failed, Sodom went down. When the church of Judah failed, Jerusalem was ruined. Our Cover Page.—Study our cover page by Mr. Mente, of New York. In the center is a type of a strong prophet of God, with scroll and pen. Upon him shines the light of God. "Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." On the left side of the picture is a symbol found in Daniel 2, a great metallic image, composed of various metals, gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay, symbolizing respectively the empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome in its imperial form and its broken condition, all to be succeeded by the everlasting kingdom of Christ Jesus, symbolized by the Stone cut out of the mountain without hand. This is God's declaration of the lasting power of earthly empire. Nebuchadnezzar, a type of all other worldly patriotic rulers, believed that his empire should stand forever, and he imaged forth his idea in a figure all of gold, in appearance, at least, as represented in the image on the other side. In the four corners are God's symbols of the nations as set forth in Daniel 7. Below the prophet is the open Bible, emphatically made so by the light of prophecy, while above, mirrored in the clouds, is the everlasting city of God prepared for His children. Heb. 11:16; 13:14. To get a full understanding of what that first page means read the whole paper.