"When Ye Shall See These Things, Know"
WHEN the Master was presenting to His disciples the evidence that was to appear in the world, showing when His second coming was drawing near, He made the following statement: "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." Matt. 24:32, 33. We may not know the exact day or date for the second coming of Christ, but we are commanded to know when He is near. The statement is made advisedly and deliberately that we are commanded to "know" when the time of His coming is near. "When ye see all these things, know ye that He is nigh, even at the doors." We do not guess and conjecture about things that we definitely know. Definite knowledge rests on facts that are familiar to us. Everything that is actual knowledge to us we know, and we know that we know it. And it is just this definite knowledge in regard to His coming that the Master desires to impart to us. There are certain things that He tells us to see, and when we have seen "all" these things, then we are to know that He is near. We are not to speculate or guess. We are to know. In presenting the things that we are to look for as the sure evidences of His coming, the Master refers us to the prophecy of Daniel. We are to study that prophecy, among other things, to make us intelligent in regard to His second coming. It is the prophecy of Daniel that reveals the fact that the old Roman Empire, as it stood in Christ's time, was to be split up into the various nations of Western Europe. When Christ foretold the signs that were to mark His coming, as recorded in the chapter from which the above text is quoted, there was just one nation in all the world, and that was Rome. Speaking of that period of the world's history, the skeptical historian Gibbon said that "the Roman Empire filled the world." One can imagine that the caviler of Christ's time would have had a great deal to say about His ignorance in saying that "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom," before the end of time. But more than 600 years before the time of His earthly ministry, He had inspired the prophet Daniel to foretell that the old Roman Empire would fill the world, and finally be divided into ten lesser kingdoms. Hence it is with the precision of confidence that He proceeds to tell His disciples that "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom," as one of the "all things" that were to be seen, and when they are "all" seen they are to cause us to "know" that He is even at the door. In the latter part of the fourth chapter of his first letter to the Thessalonians the apostle Paul comforts them by telling of the sure truth of the resurrection of them that have died in the faith of Christ. He tells them that "the Lord Himself" shall descend to raise the dead. He will not trust this work to another, but will come in person to attend to it. And having assured them of this very comforting doctrine, he continues to say: "But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in nowise escape.
"But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief: for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep, as do the rest, but let us watch and be sober." 1 Thess. 5: 1-6. Those whom the apostle addresses as his "brethren" know something, so he tells us. And furthermore he says they know it "perfectly." These "brethren" of the apostle Paul have been in the school of Christ until they have learned their lesson; they have not learned so that they can just barely pass, but they have learned it "perfectly." That which is perfectly learned brings definite knowledge. This perfect knowledge enables the "brethren" to know that "the day of the Lord" comes as a "thief in the night," upon those only who are traveling the road to sure destruction. It is only those who are to be visited with "sudden destruction" that are surprised by the day of the Lord as those caught by a thief in the night. "Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." He styles the "brethren" as "sons of light, and sons of the day." The "brethren," then, must be students of prophecy, for it is only by the study of the prophecies of the Bible that any one can be led into the light of a clear knowledge concerning the second coming of Christ, or the "day of the Lord" in which the second coming of the Master occurs. Of the prophecies of the Bible, another apostle says: "And we have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the daystar arise in your hearts: knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." 2 Peter 1: 19-21. Then we have the word of God for it that "prophecy" is the "lamp" that shines in the dark future of this world to light it up and to cause us to know of the things that are to come upon the earth. It is prophecy that shines "until the day dawn, and the daystar arise" in our hearts. Then it is prophecy that enables the "brethren" to become "sons of light, and sons of the day," so that the great day of the Lord that visits destruction on so many will not come to them as a thief in the night. As we study the works of God in nature, we are charmed by the precision with which He acts. Everything moves with an infinite exactness. And it is just as true of His prophecies as of His works in nature; every prophetic utterance will be fulfilled to the ultimate of perfection. "No prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit." The imperfection of the human is not in the prophetic word; only the attributes of divine perfection are there. Such being the character of prophecy, and it being true of all the great lines of prophecy that they have their focal point in the second coming of Christ, how full of meaning is the command of the Master to "know" when His coming is near. He who knows the prophecies of the Bible is not wandering in some vague, mythical, or superstitious notions concerning the coming of that great day of the Lord. He has perfectly definite knowledge, because he is looking in the place where the hand of God is holding out the great lamp whose rays7of light grow stronger and stronger until they are blended in the still greater glory that surrounds the Lord at His second coming.