WHEN WILL CHRIST COME?

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Nov 21, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 45.

WHEN WILL CHRIST COME?

ARE WE NEARING HOME? SIGNS OF THE END.

SIXTY centuries ago when our first parents yielded to the temptation of the devil, and sin became incarnated where God should reign, the prophecy was given, even to the evil one, which is also a promise to the pilgrims of earth, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Gen. 3:15.

There was implied in that prediction that there should come into the flesh of the seed of the woman, a power stronger than that of the author of sin, who deceived the woman, and through the woman overcame the man.

Republica Street, Limache, Chile, after the earthquake of Aug. 16, 1906.

Through the woman also was to come the Conqueror, who should dethrone sin in the flesh, and establish victory by righteousness.

By virtue of that promise and its earnest of God's Spirit, men fought life's battles and overcame. By faith they grasped the promise, and brought the power of God into their own flesh, and cast out sin, even to translation from this world, like Enoch and Elijah.

"When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Gal. 4:4-6. But the sonship of God's children, while manifested in an overcoming life, is not yet revealed in glory. This is the time of wrestling and strife, of temptation and trial, of sorrow and suffering, of the sufferings of sin and Satan. Yea, "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." The whole creation of God,

marred and distorted by sin, is waiting, longing, hoping for the better day. "For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God . . . in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God." Rom. 8:19-21.

When will this revelation occur? When will the unspeakable longing of the marred and pained creation of God be realized? Let the Word answer: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him;

for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2. "For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself." Phil. 3:20, 21. The power of that working is now, in this time of warfare, manifest in His children in the overcoming of self and sin and worldliness. Here in this life, it changes the spirit and character. Then, at His coming, it will change the body, and make the mortal immortal.

Christ is therefore coming again. He promised it over and over, that His church might never forget it. "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." John 14:3. "This same Jesus," said the angels, "which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11. "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward

every man according to his works." Matt. 16:27.

May We Know When His Coming Is Near?

"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. The exact day and hour of that coming no man knows, but when we see certain signs, then we are commanded to "know that He is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24:36. 33, margin. For—

"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 falling them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:25-27.

God has revealed it by His prophets. More than one dozen lines of prophecy, in Daniel, the Revelation, and elsewhere, starting at different periods in the swift circles of ages, show to us that we are rapidly nearing the end. They are great converging highways in time, rapidly focusing at the one great central event, Christ's coming.

Apart from this "more sure word of prophecy" which God has set as "a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn," He has given us a multitude of signs, fulfilled and fulfilling in this our day, standing like huge sentinels with mighty index fingers pointing to the Homeland, and crying with clarion voice, "The King is coming; we meet Him just on before."

How Rapidly History Is Making!

Only he who stands on the mountain of God can see it. Leave the glorious heights of His prophetic Word, live in the lowlands of doubt and worldliness and commercialism and lust and pleasure, and the miasmatic fogs of sin dim the vision, the noise and clamor of sin deafen the ears, the poisoned drinks of selfishness benumb our sensibilities, and we fail to see God's vision, fail to hear God's voice, fail to be impressed with God's Spirit, fail to note the sentinel warnings.

Let us briefly, rapidly, note some of the signs which show that we are nearing the coming of the Master.

I. The Increase of Knowledge

as foretold by Daniel the prophet (Dan. 12:4, 10). How the Word of God glows and shines to the earnest student! How it points steady fingers at the fast-multiplying evidences, revealing undesignedly God's two-fold witness of its truth! How its deep mines of spiritual truth are revealing their inexhaustible treasures even to a people slow to comprehend, and who largely skim the surface, and want to be told easy things! How all the researches of the ages tend more and more to demonstrate its truth of prophecy and precept, of its plan of salvation and personal Saviour! It all declares, dear reader, that Christ is coming.

II. Increase of Riches

the apostle James (5:1-8) declared there would be in the last days.

Have we seen it? Who has not seen it? And the fortunes continue to pile up, till the coming billionaire is not only talked of as possible, but probable. But little do the money-makers think of the ceaseless grind of bone and blood and muscle and life in which the mighty trees of so many growing fortunes are planted. What do they say to you, to those oppressed, and to those who feel for the suffering ones? “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . Stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” We soon shall greet our King.

III. The War Spirit

is still dominant in a world groaning under war-wrought debts. Every year adds to its awful burdens. While the last year has seen no great war, it has witnessed a great and mighty nation conquered by a more active one, writhing in agony over destructive warfare between her classes, and intestinal conflicts are eating the heart out of all attempts at stable government. Other nations at peace with the world are relegating to junk heaps what a little while ago were monsters of destruction on the deep, but with anxiety and feverish haste are building far more effective battle-ships, limited only by the power of the people to bear heavier taxation. Not swords into plowshares, but metals which ought to be used in arts preservative are moulded and cast into weapons of war to satiate the brute appetite for destruction. The nations are saying that we are nearing home. Joel 3: 9-12; Jeremiah 25; Rev. 16: 12-14. Every gun that is fired in sympathy with the great war fever, every item of news which tells of greater ordinance, more powerful explosives, more effective weapons, are voices crying, “Armageddon is at hand; the King is soon to appear.”

IV. The False Cry of “Peace and Safety”

foretold by prophet and apostle (Isa. 2: 3-5; 1 Thess. 5: 3) still echoes around the earth. Peace societies are organized with good intent by the promoters; peace congresses are held, and good resolutions passed; we are told that there is a smooth sea ahead and no breakers; but the preparation for war goes grandly on. Some persons even argue that the preparation for war bodes peace. As well might we argue that the constant and increasing training of boxers would lessen pugilistic encounters. What do all these voices declare to you? “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them; . . . and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that [great] day [of the Lord] should overtake you as a thief.” The way before will be rougher still. Armageddon’s hosts are preparing for the great battle of the day of God Almighty. Then Christ will come.

V. “Distress of Nations with Perplexity”

is one of the signs Jesus gave of the nearing end. Not Russia alone is troubled. Her conqueror Japan has her internal perplexities. China is a seething hot-bed of discontent. France is stirred by socialistic, pistic, anti-Jewish, and monarchistic propaganda, and is halting between a consistent liberal government and the Papacy, with the latter threatening endless trouble. Germany is seemingly stable only by the friendship and support of the Papacy, and the compromise is sapping her very vitals. England is struggling with increasing poverty, socialism, and growing Catholicism. The great prosperous United States is rearing a mighty fine brood of surging, rebellious, anarchistic discontents in both high and low life, among rich and poor. Other nations of the earth are hot-beds of revolution or are not worthy of weight in the world’s balance. But all join in one mighty chorus, saying, The kingdom of man is soon to end, and the kingdom of the Lord’s Christ to begin. Can you not hear it?

VI. Spiritism, Mis-called Spiritualism, says, in a thousand muttering, whispering forms, despite its diabolical author, that Christ’s coming is near. The Master so foretold it by His own word and by inspiration as one of the occurrences in the last days. Isa. 8: 19; Matt. 24: 23-27; 2 Tim. 3: 6, 8; 2 Thess. 2: 9, 10; Rev. 16: 13, 14. It is one of Satan’s last efforts to revive the false and delusive beliefs of the heathen ages, based on his first lie. Gen. 3: 3, 4. Spiritism includes in its shapeless, conglomerate mass “Christian Science,” “New Thought,” “Buddhism,” “Theosophy,” “Mormonism,” and many other delusions. By all these manifestations Satan is trying to lure the Christian sailor onto the bars and shoals which lie outside the harbor mouth. Praise God for the lighthouse of His word which gleams above the deceptive waters.

VII. The Power of the Papacy

to corrupt and destroy governments seems not to be felt at all save by one great government of earth; namely, France; but France sees it from an earthly view-point alone, and it is likely to profit her but little. Only in the light of God shining upon history can it be read aright. And so few seem willing to learn that. Through the slumberous haze of more than a century and the present glamor of the seeming rejuvenescence of the Papacy, the Dark Ages look dim. The persecutions of Waldenses and Albigenses are forgotten, the massacre of St. Bartholomew is a thing of the past, the decadence of Austria and Italy and Spain, and the ruin of France in her bloody revolution, all results of papal domination, are all misread, while the Papacy poses as the preserver of law and order, of commonwealth and society. And the great blind world believes it more and more, while with incredible swiftness and rapid growth she is entangling every nation within her toils, not the least of which is the great Republic of the West. Her amazing progress tells us that we are nearing the time of the destruction of all earthly kingdoms. Christ is soon to take to Himself His great power and reign.

Home of Admiral Simpson, Vina del Mar, Chile, after the earthquake of Aug. 16, 1906.

VIII. Increase of Crime

in the most highly civilized lands, in lands most enlightened by Christianity, is so awful that pen can not record it. The world is satiated with its news. A few years ago the revelation of Boss Tweed’s corruption in New York, unearthed by Samuel J. Tilden, astounded and horrified the world. Since that time what city of any size has not seen and known in its own municipal government such records of crime as would put to shame Tweed and his confederates? Senators, congressmen, legislators, governors, great insurance directors, trustees of all kinds, engaged in all sorts of business, from standard oil to walking delegate of a labor union, have been convicted of graft, robbery, fraud, arson, perjury, and in some cases assassination, to further their schemes. Something must be worse than ever before known, or come close home to a community to even stir men

into soberness over the awful revelations. It is so great, so wide-spread, it touches so many, that a relation or a friend of almost every person in the country is touched and tarnished; and public sentiment can not be rightly aroused, as reformers like Lawson are learning. The money-mad greed of the human heart is at the bottom of it all. All this the Bible declares is characteristic of the last time, the closing years of the reign of man, as set forth by so many scriptures. Isa. 5: 8-25; 59: 13-20; Matt. 24: 12; 2 Tim. 4: 13. Awful calamities arouse for a little time, and then the money-mad, pleasure-crazed world turns to its wickedness as seen in San Francisco to-day, seemingly a hundred times worse than a year ago.

IX. The Spiritual Declension

among God's professed people is sadder than all else, because in the ruin of the church is involved the ruin of the nations and of the world. "If the salt has lost its savor," where is the hope of preserving the carcass? By the power of the united preaching of the pure Gospel there would be before the world a true standard of morals. God's law would be lifted up as the great sin detector, the great conscience regulator. The coming of Christ, with all of its dread and blessed events would be placed before the world so that men would believe it. The certain coming judgment, from which there is no appeal, would have taken hold of men's hearts and brought wholesome restraint into their lives. And to save all from sin and its ill consequences, Jesus Christ would have been set forth the personal Saviour of men. But greatly wanting in most or all of these aspects has been the present-day preaching. And because of it, both church and world are becoming fearfully corrupt. Ethical standards are gone, the atonement is a dead thing, and the Bible a book of tropes and parables not wholly up-to-date. All this is foretold in Matt. 24: 12; 2 Tim. 3: 15, and many other scriptures. Paul tells us that we may know that a list of eighteen different sins will in the last days be visible among those who have a form of godliness but deny its power.

What has been the consequence?—Having lost the power and unity of God which comes through faith, the church is endeavoring to supplement that unity by federation, that power by union with the state. And the last year has witnessed the greatest demands in this direction on the part of the professed church, in the Protestant Federation of New York a year ago, and the American Federation of Catholic Societies, held four months ago in Buffalo. To these demands the state will bend and yield. But the church will fail in both her objects. The vital truths of Christianity will be ignored in the federation, and the civil power, like that of Egypt of old, will break and pierce fatally the one who leans upon it for support. Moreover, together state and church will form the beast and false prophet, the recrudescence of the Dark Ages, foretold in Revelation 12 to 18. What do they say?—The end is near. The Deliverer is soon to come.

X. Last-Day Scoffers. 2 Peter 3: 3, 4.

But as the church is warned of these things, as Christ's coming is pointed out, how often do we hear the sneering cry, "Where is the promise of His coming?" Even so were we foretold; and the man who scoffs at Christ's coming is himself a sign that it is near.

XI. The Aged Earth.

In God's plan it is not old. The years of eternity are His, and to all of His do they belong. Moses was not old at one hundred twenty, yet some men are old at twenty, because of sin. The world is old because of sin. It has become broken and decrepit. All along the way disease has racked its frame, ever since the blood-poisoning of sin entered its system. It tried to throw it off at the flood. Hydrotherapy could not cure it. Only the purifying fires of the last day can extirpate the fatal virus, and then it must be touched by the life of God ere it blooms again in pristine Eden beauty.

What a year it has been. In January, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador were shaken by earthquake. Much damage reported, and 2,500 persons killed.

In February, Vesuvius belched forth her fiery torrent, lasting all through March, burying towns, killing hundreds of people; Society Islands swept by cyclone and tidal wave; repeated earthquakes in West Indies; coast towns of Colombia destroyed by tidal wave; towns, ships, and other property destroyed, and many lives lost.

In March, repeated earthquakes in Formosa, eight thousand killed,—loss $45,000,000; volcanic eruption in Samoan Islands, destroying three villages, besides other great disasters in other parts of the world.

In April, Formosa again visited by earthquake; the awful calamity in Central California and San Francisco, from 500 to 5,000 killed. Loss probably one billion dollars.

In May, awful earthquake in China, great loss of life; minor earthquakes elsewhere, fearful floods in China, Washington, and Oregon.

In June, terrific cyclones and cloudbursts in Oklahoma and Ohio.

In July, a tornado in Texas, earthquake in New Mexico, just to remind the world of its insecurity.

In August came the awful earthquake in Western South America, destroying the city of Valparaiso and many other towns, resulting in the loss of 2,500 lives.

September reports earthquakes in China, the West Indies; a typhoon in China which destroyed $20,000,000 worth of property, wrecking 600 ships and fishing junks, and 10,000 lives lost.

October records that mighty convulsions have taken place underneath the ocean waters; that the Gulf Stream has changed; and islands have appeared and disappeared. Besides these, there have been fires and accident without number.

We have noted only the greater occurrences of each month's record. Men are startled when these things occur at home. But in a little time they are forgotten, and saddest of all, sometimes by God's own people. Yet they are voices of God telling us that earth's latest pangs will soon be over. They are the breakers just outside the harbor bar.

XII. The Last Great Threefold Message

of Rev. 14: 6-14 has for sixty-two years been going to the world, weak and feeble at first, but now it has compassed the earth. It is going with a loud voice. It includes God's sovereign remedy for earth's awful disease of sin, the everlasting Gospel. It points out the confused condition of religion, and its results of not heeding God's remedy, "Babylon is fallen." It warns against all union of church and state, the worship of the beast or his image, and all that leads to it. It lifts once more the divine standard of the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. It is filled with, or should be, nay more, it is, the everlasting good tidings of God to a lost world. It is ours to believe. It is ours to give. It is now ours to demonstrate our love to God for His goodness in

giving us this message.

In a little while it will be over. Far beyond us God is leading. Far beyond us His voice is speaking in myriad forms calling men to Him. Join the great chorus which declares,

"The Lord is coming, sound it forth From east to west, from south to north."

Every evidence that Christ ever came buttresses the truth that He is coming again. Every demonstrated failure in human government is an appeal to Christ to come and end earth's misrule forever. Every funeral cortege wending its way to the silent city, every gravestone pointing heavenward, every victim of fever and famine, of lust and crime, all oppression and suffering, all the myriad voices of misery and want and wo unheeded or unheard

by man, who is powerless to heal or help, are cries for the Healer, the Deliverer, the Redeemer, the King, to come. What then is duty?

“When ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors.”

In the light of all these God-given evidences, the wise man will make it the first business of his life to prepare to meet his King, to prepare to work for God, to do all in his power to save as many as he can from the world’s wrecks of sin. The Master declares:

“Behold, I come quickly.” Let every heart respond, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”