The Coming Heat Wave by L. E. F.

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Aug 22, 1916

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 43, No. 33.

The Coming Heat Wave

By L. E. F.

ALL the world knows of the terrific heat wave that recently held the East in its relentless grip. Chicago suffered most. For nineteen long, weary days and nights—the longest duration of unbroken heat in the city's history—the populace suffered. There were 325 deaths in that city alone, directly attributable to the heat. In addition, there was a heavy toll of deaths from heat exhaustion, suicide, and drowning. The number of prostrations from heat was over 2,600. Eighty-seven persons were bitten by rabid dogs during the heat siege, while 890 horses dropped dead in the streets within five days.

Great mobs stormed the beaches. So great was the demand for bathing suits at some of the resorts, that the crowds of men and women fighting for admission created riots that necessitated the calling of the police. Fifty thousand applicants for bathing suits were turned away during one day at the Municipal Beach. And it is stated that Lake Michigan had a temperature of eighty degrees at a depth of five feet.

The heat wave was almost without precedent. It extended from the Alleghenys to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Ohio River to Hudson Bay. As one newspaper, through its editorial, expressed it:

"Seventy people dead from heat in one Chicago day— New York stewing— Boston frying— Philadelphia boiling— St. Louis roasting."

Such were the conditions. But severe and distressing as they were, yet, according to the unfailing Word of prophecy, they will be utterly forgotten in a terrible heat wave that will before long envelop the earth, when the sun will literally scorch men with fire. The prediction is recorded in Rev. 16: 8, 9. We quote it:

"And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory."

The most dreadful judgments ever sent on the earth will be the seven last plagues. Mercy will then have been withdrawn from the earth. Human probation will have closed, and every case will be decided for eternity. The cup of human guilt will be filled up. The last honest soul will have availed himself of salvation. The final period will be placed upon the last page of earth's history. The wine of God's wrath will be poured upon a corrupt generation.

The seven last plagues will be literal. One by one they will be poured out upon the elements, until the very course of nature is changed. Upon the earth, the sea, the fountains of water, they fall. The sun, which has shone alike upon the just and the unjust, then scorches unrepentant men with fire. Bitter night settles upon the earth. The very air itself is poisoned. Great hailstones descend. The voice that shakes heaven and earth will cry, "It is done." All this, as recorded in Revelation 16, will immediately precede the return of Christ.

How consoling to the Christian is this promise, backed by all the power of the living God: "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Ps. 91: 1. But those who, before the close of probation's last hour, seek not this shadow, will be prostrated under the pitiless glare of a sun that will "scorch men with fire." Shall we not choose the better part? Let us do the wise thing. L. E. F.