The Day of the Lord

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 7, 1865

The Day of the Lord.

THE Scripture says expressly; that before the end of the present dispensation, there will be a time of trial and tribulation, such as the world has never yet seen,—a time when the rulers of darkness shall exercise unwonted influence, and stir up wrath, even to the uttermost, when the infidel and ungodly nations shall follow the leadings of one who is mighty to deceive by miracles and lying wonders, and engage in a vast confederacy against God and his Christ. And that time also will be signalized by the manifestation of the irresistible power of the Almighty. For then will the Lord descend to save his people, and to take vengeance on their adversaries. Then shall be the lighting down of his arm, with fury and devouring flame. Then shall be heard the voice of the Lord above the waters, and the trees of the forest shall be bowed, and the powers of heaven shall be shaken. It is a time truly of perplexity and distress of nations, which the prophets have especially characterized in their most sublime predictions as "the day of the Lord."

That day of the Lord has not yet come. True it is, that since the predictions of the inspired prophets, since our Saviour delivered his discourse concerning the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the world, there have been many fearful convulsions, many awful catastrophes, which might well cause men to look for the speedy advent of the Messiah. True it is, that already nation has risen against nation, and the great ones of the earth have been bowed down, and the haughty made low. There was the destruction of Jerusalem with its unequalled horrors; the overthrow of the vast empire of Rome. There were the religious wars consequent on the Reformation; and, lastly, there was the fearful convulsion of the French Revolution, whose troubled waves are not yet at rest, by which the whole political and social fabric was agitated. And there have been dire catastrophes in the material creation, tempests devastating the surface, the upheaval of ocean and bursting forth of subterranean fires and earthquakes, sweeping whole cities, with their inhabitants into the abyss.

The pestilence has held its mysterious course throughout the world, like the destroying angel, who smote the first-born of the Egyptians, silently, yet sorely, doing the work of death. And more, there has been, as our Lord predicted, false prophets crying peace, when there was no peace; and false Christs, arrogating to themselves a worship and honor which no created being, no, not even the angels, dare to claim, and calling on the people to trust to other mediators than Christ, and to seek salvation by other means than through his atoning blood. Such things have been, and such things are. Evil still predominates, Satan reigns in the hearts of men, spiritual wickedness is enthroned in the high places. And this corruption of sin, this taint of infidelity, this rebellious spirit against God and his laws will increase and be more fully, more openly manifested as the time of the end draws nigh. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man returns to judge the world. Mankind had then corrupted their ways, and become wicked exceedingly. The sons of God had yielded to temptation, and been carried away in the general defection, and none remained to bear witness for the Lord, save Noah, the preacher of righteousness. But he could not stay the ruin; he only delivered his own family, the little church, whom God shut in the ark. And so "many are called, but few chosen."

Our Lord himself expressly says, speaking of the latter days, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many will wax cold;" and "when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?" And what is the prevailing spirit of our age? Is it not strangely accordant with these solemn words of our Saviour? There is doubtless a great increase of knowledge, a great development of intellectual power. But is that knowledge sanctified by the Spirit of God? is the aspiring intellect subordinate to the higher teachings of God's revealed word? We fear not. The schoolmaster is indeed abroad, but seldom is the fire on the altar hallowed. There is a doubting and mistrust, a tampering with sacred things, a prying into sacred mysteries; not with feelings of awe and reverence, and of conscious weakness, but with the proud spirit of the rebel archangel, daring the Almighty to prove the truth of his word, seeking to climb heights inaccessible to human power, and, as it were, to snatch fire from Heaven. Thus reason usurps the place of faith, and the world consecrates its idol, and bows down before it with strange incense, as the infatuated multitude did of old on the plains of Dura. Are these mere ungrounded assertions? What does the prevailing literature of the day teach us? Read Carlyle, read Emerson, the mystic writings of the German school, the sophistry of our Tractarians, the open infidelity of Colenso. Do they not all proclaim their homage to a power? And to what power do they bow down? It is to genius, reason, the human mind, the comprehensive intellect, which dares to soar into regions far beyond human ken. These be thy gods, O Israel!

Therefore, since these things are so, since our boasted improvements and advance in art and learning and science tend not to the real saving advantage, but rather to the moral deterioration of the ways of mankind; since infidelity is rife, and the strongholds of heathenism and superstition are rising like the cities of the Anakim, high and fenced up to heaven; since earnest and persevering Christian men can do little to stem the tide of general corruption, and wicked men wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived; there remains but one resource, one refuge for suffering humanity,—the Lord must come. He alone can solve the problem of six thousand years. He alone can overcome the adversary, can rebuke the storm, and say to the troubled waters, "Peace, be still!" But not as it was before, so shall the second coming of our Saviour be. For then he came as the despised and rejected of men, as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Now he will come as a monarch, as conqueror, surrounded by the hosts of Heaven. Then he endured humiliation and an ignominious death. Now he comes to take vengeance on his enemies, to rule the nations with a rod of iron, to overcome Satan and his powers. Now death shall be swallowed up in victory. This is the time which the earnest expectation of the creature has long waited for, when the promise given to Adam at the gates of Paradise shall be realized, and the seed of the woman shall finally crush the serpent's head.

That day of the Lord will come upon a careless and unthinking world like a thief in the night. They will be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. How characteristic is this description of a godless unbelieving age, of a generation devoted to sensual enjoyment and material cares! But far different is the case with the servants of God, with those who, believing in his revealed word, look with joyful hope for his coming. They will mark the budding of the fig-tree, and lift up their heads, for their redemption draweth nigh.

It is our consolation to know, in these times of trouble and blasphemy, when infidel principles abound, and the powers of Antichrist are mustering for the battle, that the Lord, who sitteth in the Heavens, shall laugh them to scorn, for their day, the day of retribution, is at hand. The tribulation shall be but for a short time; soon the wicked shall cease from troubling, soon the weary shall be at rest. The clouds are gathering fast; already we hear the thunder peals; the earth heaves with the coming earthquakes; the fountains of the great deep are breaking up; nation is rising against nation, and the tocsin of war has sounded. What may be the course of events, we know not; but this we do know, that the triumph of evil will be short. We know that God reigns, and no harm can come to those, whether they be individuals or nations, who trust in him. Beyond the clouds and darkness, beyond the surging foaming waters, far in the calm, serene on the horizon, bathed in the hues of heaven, rides the ark of God, bearing his church safe, unharmed, shut in, and the powers of hell never can prevail against them; for to them God has given the victory through Him who has redeemed them out of great tribulation, and made them white in His blood. To him be glory forever.