EVERY one who studies the prophecies and believes them is impressed with the rapid fulfilments of the divine predictions. We live in the midst of transpiring scenes that were delineated in prophetic vision some millenniums ago. How inspiring is the thought! How gloriously sublime it is to be living to-day! This is the one generation on which all prophetic utterances are focused; the days are at hand when Christ is to appear in person, panoplied in all the shining splendor of heaven, and attended by every angel of glory. The voice of the Son of God is soon to be heard reverberating throughout the whole earth, and then we will stand amid the exultant scenes of the resurrection of the righteous dead. How soul-inspiring! The sublimest joys and the fruition of every Christian hope are soon to be richly realized by the return of the Prince of Peace—Creation's omnipotent King.
The Day and Hour.
We may not know the exact day and hour of His coming. No one can tell the year or even the decade in which He is to come. But we may know when the time is at hand; for He Himself has said: “Now from the fig-tree learn her parable; when her branch is now become tender, and putteth forth its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; even so ye also, when ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:32-35, R. V. The Lord does not leave us to doubt or conjecture, for He says, “When ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors.” “Know ye,” is the perfectly definite statement. And we are to “know” that He is near when we “see all these things.” “All these things” that we are to see, and thus “know” that He is near, even at the doors, are the signs that the Lord has given to apprise us of His coming. There are not only the signs that He mentions in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, from which the foregoing text is taken, but there are numerous lines of prophecy and various other signs mentioned in other places in the Word of God.
The Great Lines of Prophecy.
If you are a careful student of the Bible, you should be aware of the fact that there are at least four distinct lines of prophecy in the book of Daniel, every one of which begins in the old monarchies that existed before the time of the birth of Christ, and traces the history of the world to its close. And in the book of Revelation there are at least four other lines of prophecy that, in like manner, trace the history of the world in advance, so that we may “know” when the end is approaching. Every one of these lines of prophecy casts its great search-light upon this generation in which we live, and shows this to be the very time in which we are to “know” that the end of all things is right at hand.
Numerous Signs.
And not only are there these great lines of prophecy, but Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Micah, Paul, Peter, James, and others of the prophets and evangelists, have foretold numerous things that would particularly characterize this last generation that is to exist before the Lord comes.
Now, have you been studying these things? Do you know that “all these things” which the Lord has foretold to mark the second coming of Christ may be seen to-day? Do you “know” that He is near to come? O, do you know that He is very near, “even at the doors”? And are you ready to meet Him? If not, you have no time to lose. The day is right at hand. Hasten, O, hasten to get ready!
If you are ready to meet your Lord in that day of His coming, you are zealously at work for others. You are seeking to tell every one5that Jesus is soon to appear, with all the angels. You are telling them that the resurrection day is almost here. You are urgently inviting every one to prepare to enter the city of God and dwell in the glorious new earth that Jesus has promised to every one who will receive His salvation.
These are momentous days. Let us live them full of faithful service to the Master.