Avenging of the Elect by Buck

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 23, 1862

Avenging of the Elect.

By Buck

(Continued.)

THE GREAT QUESTION.

Now comes the great inquiry, "When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?" As he will have shown his faith with his elect, shall he find a corresponding faith in them? Will they continue to look for him, notwithstanding his long delay? Shall the faith that animated the ancient believers, and in which they joyfully died, be found in lively exercise among their spiritual descendants, when the covenant-keeping Redeemer appears to vindicate his elect? Or, on the other hand, shall the evil servant be found saying in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming," and be suddenly overtaken in the midst of his drunken revelry and unbelief?

Will the simple, original faith be preserved in the earth until that time? Or shall it be theorized and allegorized away until, in the interpretation of the Old-Testament predictions, the second coming of the Lord to judge, to triumph, and to reign, shall be explained to mean merely his present mediatorial reign in heaven, and the general triumph of his grace in the earth? Or, if these predictions of his coming be too manifestly judicial to mean a work of grace, shall the time finally come when they shall be interpreted to mean only, or, at least, primarily, the temporal judgments which divine Providence inflicted upon Jerusalem and the Jews?

Will the later teachers of the Christian church be generally misimpressed, in relation to the second advent of the Lord Jesus, as were the later teachers of the Jewish church in relation to the first advent, and thereby, as the Jewish teachers did, unintentionally, and yet fatally, mislead their followers? Is this the reason why that day shall come upon men unawares, "as a snare upon them that dwell upon the face of the whole earth?" And from this are we not obliged to infer, however unpleasant the inference, that at the time of his coming the true faith, in respect to that event, will not be the general faith? There will be faith in the earth; but it will be the exception, and not the general state. So, in consequence of this general misimpression—notwithstanding all the admonitions of apostles, prophets, and of our Lord himself—as the predicted deluge dashed over the antediluvian world, while they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; as the threatened fire-storm fell upon the Pentapolis, while they were reveling in their beastly lusts; as the midnight thief breaks into the unguarded house while the unfaithful watchmen are sleeping; as the master returns unexpectedly from the festival, and surprises his undutiful servants in a drunken brawl; so the coming of the Lord Jesus will overtake men unawares." "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." This is the usual Scripture representation.

Now, this unpreparedness for this expected event appears very surprising, when we consider several material and indisputable facts: 1. That the second, personal, visible advent of the Lord Jesus is a frequent and prominent topic of the Old and New Testament prophecy; and is likewise a cardinal doctrine in every orthodox creed. 2. That it would be at the close of a definite series of temporal events, which authentic testimony shows to have been filling up the history of the last two thousand years. 3. That in no place in the Scriptures is there ever, in any manner or measure, directly or indirectly, either by word, figure, or symbol, any indication—much less any declaration—that a long period of time shall elapse between the termination of the present passing series of events and times, and the second advent of Christ. That, so far from there being any indication of such an interval to separate present events from that event, the coming of Christ is uniformly represented as suddenly arresting and terminating the formerly predicted but now historical series of events, and bringing upon the wicked world its ultimate catastrophe. 4. And this unexpectedness of the expected event (excuse the paradox) appears still more surprising when we consider how frequently and how distinctly the wide-apart beginning, and yet rapidly converging lines of serial prophecy have been drawn in the Scriptures, so as to meet at the only vanishing point, where the Son of man is seen coming in the clouds of heaven, to terminate the present dispensation and to introduce the new. To instance only a few of the many examples of this kind, we notice how the great symbolic image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream descends historically from the golden head to the silver breast and arms; thence to the belly and sides of brass; thence to the legs of iron; and finally to the toes of iron and clay. And there is the vanishing point—then and there—not previously, nor anywhere else; not on the head of gold; not on the silver breast; not on the body of brass; not on the iron legs; not on the feet of iron previously to their tenfold division, and the development of the toes of iron and clay; but specifically and most indisputably upon the feet with their toes of iron and clay.

When the historic image has descended to its last extremities, and there is nothing more to be added, and nothing of the same kind beyond, then and there—not anywhere else, neither afterward nor before—but then and there the stone that is cut out of the mountain without hands must come into contact with the image and grind it to powder, so that it shall fly as chaff before the wind, and never have any further development, while the stone becomes a mountain and fills the world.

And this must prove irresistibly, to all who are not warped in judgment by a previous and opposite theory, that the prediction does not relate to the beginning of the mediatorial dominion of the Lord Jesus, or to the introduction of the gospel dispensation, which came into contact with the symbolic image, without destroying it, and without preventing its further development, before united Rome was divided into its eastern and western empires, and several centuries before the development of the feet and toes of iron and clay.

Again, the little horn of Daniel's vision continues to persecute and wear out the saints, until the Son of man comes in the clouds of heaven, and the judgment begins.

Paul's man of sin continues until he is consumed by the judgment flames, at that very coming of Christ, of which he is treating when he associated with that event the resurrection of the saints and their final gathering unto Christ.

There are many, very many, other prophecies which like the foregoing, have their perspective lines drawn to this common vanishing point, at the second advent of the Son of man. Many of our Lord's parables illustrate the whole period of time from the beginning of the gospel dispensation until its termination by the judgment, which forever separates the opposite characters, and admits the righteous into the everlasting kingdom; and this judgment is uniformly represented as taking place when the Son of man comes the second time. In reading the parables, we cannot fail to discover that the state of things which they represent, in describing the intermixture of the evil and the good, continues so to the end. There is no indication, and, indeed, there is no possible place, for an interval between the general prevalence of evil and the second advent that introduces the new dispensation.

The distinct impression that the parables make upon the unperverted mind, if not in every case, yet in such a vast majority as to leave no doubt of the original intention of the parables—the distinct impression made is, that the state of things illustrated as now passing will continue without essential change [except for the worse] to the end of the world. Take, for example, the parable of the tares and the wheat, as it is recorded in Matt xiii:

"Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?"

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." Vs. 24–30.

Then follows the explanation by our Lord himself, and we should remember that he never gave one parable to explain another. The explanation is an explanation, and is intended for that specific purpose:

"Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house; and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that soweth them is the Devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." Id., vs. 36–43.

Must it not be admitted by all, 1. That this parable was intended to illustrate the state of things from the time that the Son of man began to sow the good seed in his field? Must it not also be admitted by all, 2. That the state of things here represented has continued until now, without any essential alteration, so far as the mixture of the wheat and the tares is concerned? Must not all admit as indisputable, 3. That our Lord has in the plainest and most unequivocal manner, affirmed that the same state of things will continue "until the harvest?" And has he not directly declared that the "harvest is the end of the world?" Is there any possible excuse for not understanding this explicit affirmation of the Lord Jesus? Or can any one show any indication, however indistinct, of an interval elapsing between the state of things thus represented and the end? Would not the parable indeed lose its entire point and force as an illustration, by the supposition of such an interval of universal holiness in the world, previously to the end? Is it not absolutely indispensable that the parable, and especially the explicit and minute interpretation and application of it by our Lord himself, was intended to produce the impression that the world would continue wicked without intermission until the end?

The parable of the nobleman who "went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return," shows the same state of things, and the same ultimate result, in a little different form, and unmistakably illustrates the fact that the evil servants will continue, without any essential change, until the Master, "having received the kingdom," returns to judge them all. See Luke xix.

The parable of the servants and their talents, Matt. xxv, teaches the same truth, so far as it respects the continuance of the present condition of things, until the return of Christ to sit in judgment upon the world. And it is hazarding nothing to affirm that there is not in one of these parables, which our Lord gave for the express purpose of showing the present state of things, and their final result, the least intimation that a millennium of holiness should intervene between the state of things thus represented, and the coming of the Judge to introduce a new order of things.

Now, taking into consideration all these things, and many others equally illustrative, it seems surprising that the second advent of Christ should be represented as coming [to the many] unexpectedly. After all the admonitions to be looking for it, and preparing for it, as an event that would transpire while the present state of things should continue, so that that great event would interpose to terminate what is now exhibited, and has been from the beginning, it would seem as if the many, and not the few, would be found awake, and watching for the coming of the Lord; whereas, that day will come "as a snare upon all them that dwell upon the face of the whole earth." And does not this irrefragably prove, that a radical

error in theory and exegesis will be generally prevalent previous to the second coming of Christ? Otherwise how can we account for the predicted and certain fact that that day will take the world by surprise? Let us anticipate a little, by supposing that just previous to the termination of the present dispensation by the coming of Christ, the notion obtains that there must be an interval of a thousand years between the present prevalence of wickedness and the coming of the Lord, so that people—whatever they may try to do or profess to do—do not in fact expect the Lord while the present state of things continues, because that would be contrary to their theory; and let us suppose, furthermore, that the Lord will come—not as that theory teaches, but just as he himself teaches—while the present state of wickedness continues, and that he comes for the purpose of terminating the present state of things; would not this be a sufficient explanation of the predicted facts in the case? Would not this, indeed, be the only explanation? In this treatise we assume that this is the true rationale of this momentous question. Our reasons for arriving at this conclusion will be given in subsequent chapters.—Buck.

(To be Continued.)