Signs of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 41. (10/20/1909)

Signs of the Times

Oct 20, 1909

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 20, 1909

Prayer for His Coming

By Horatius Bonar

Rev. 22:20

The Church has waited long, Her absent Lord to see; And still in loneliness she waits, A friendless stranger she. Age after age has gone, Sun after sun has set, And still, in weeds of widowhood, She weeps, a mourner yet. Come, then, Lord Jesus, come!

Saint after saint on earth Has lived and loved and died; And, as they left us one by one, We laid them side by side. We laid them down to sleep, But not in hope forlorn; We laid them but to ripen there, Till the last glorious morn. Come, then, Lord Jesus, come!

The serpent’s brood increase, The powers of hell grow bold, The conflict thickens, faith is low, And love is waxing cold. How long, O Lord our God! Holy and true and good, Wilt Thou not judge Thy suffering Church, Her sighs and tears and blood? Come, then, Lord Jesus, come!

The whole creation groans, And waits to hear that voice That shall restore her comeliness, And make her wastes rejoice. Come, Lord, and wipe away The curse, the sin, the stain, And make this blighted world of ours Thine own fair world again. Come, then, Lord Jesus, come!

—Horatius Bonar.

Our Bible Band

Schedule for Week Ending October 30

		Morning	Evening
Su.	Oct. 24	Jer. 3, 4, 5	1 Tim. 4
Mo.	" 25	" 6, 7, 8	" 5
Tu.	" 26	" 9, 10, 11	" 6
We.	" 27	" 12, 13, 14	2 Tim. 1
Th.	" 28	" 15, 16, 17	" 2
Fr.	" 29	" 18, 19	" 3
Sa.	" 30	" 20, 21	" 4

Suggestive Notes

Jeremiah 3 is the beginning of our morning readings, which close with Jeremiah 21. Nothing that we can say will particularly add to these prophecies or greatly help our readers. The meaning of the prophet stands out very clearly indeed in the awful denunciations against sin, and in the sorrow of heart which came to him because of his people's transgression. Most touching appeals he makes to them to return to God, and painful and strange is the utter lack of response on the part of the mass of them regarding these messages.

Our New Testament lessons begin with the fourth chapter of the first epistle to Timothy, and close with the last chapter of 2 Timothy. Both of the letters to Timothy are precious instruction to the laborer of God; warnings against lightness, foolishness, covetousness, false philosophy; tremendous appeals to him to be true to God, true to His Word.

Chapter 3 contains a striking prophecy of the last days, and states the cause of the perils which would surround the faithful. The apostle, and through him every Christian minister, is assured that the Scriptures of truth are sufficient for the man of God, and completely furnish him unto every good work; and again the young minister is exhorted to preach the Word, and warned against the time when the apostasy would take place and teachers having itching ears would be multiplied. The apostle also tells of his own death, which was soon to come, and of the satisfaction he had in knowing that he had fought a good fight, had finished the course, and had kept the faith. And this joyful closing of the apostle was written under the most distressing circumstances in his imprisonment at Rome.

Question Corner

[To Our Inquirers.—(1) The name and address of all who ask questions must accompany questions, not necessarily for publication, in token of good faith, and that we may reply by letter if thought best. All communications will be considered confidential if so desired, and no name will be published unless requested. But we have no time to give to anonymous or unsigned epistles or articles. (2) Let the questions be to the point. Do not say, “Explain Josh. 7:1-8,” but state the thing upon which help is desired. (3) Questions can not be answered immediately in this department. Sometimes it will mean a month or more of waiting. We can not reply to the same question frequently. Read answers to other questions; you may find reply to yours. (4) Members of the Bible Band will kindly enclose stamp if answer is desired by letter. Others will please enclose ten cents. This does not begin to meet expenses oftentimes. (5) “Foolish . . . questions avoid.”]

2958.—Signs of His Coming

You speak of general increasing wickedness as a sign of the times. Has not the world always been wicked? Have there not been many earthquakes before, and destructive ones? and so with other so-called signs of His coming? READER.

Yes, most of the experiences that we are passing through have been duplicated at one time or another in the world. In and of itself the prevailing wickedness is not a sign that the coming of the Lord is near. The Bible declares that “the whole world lieth in wickedness;” “lieth in the wicked one,” some versions give it. It is like a child lulled to sleep in the arms of its nurse. Satan is lulling to sleep the whole world in that way. The unregenerate heart has always been in rebellion against God and not subject to the will of God. Sometimes this wickedness has been unrestrained, the same as in the closing days of the Roman Empire, as in Sodom and Gomorrah, as in other ages of the world. Sometimes when God’s children were living as near to Him as they ought and His Spirit was resting upon them, their very presence has been a restraining influence in the world.

The sad fact at the present time is that all the sins that are mentioned by the apostle Paul in Romans 1 as being in the heathen world, are in the last days to be found in the Christian church, among those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. See 2 Tim. 3:1-5. So the perils of the last days are not because there is wickedness in the world, nor because wickedness in the world is increasing; but it is because wickedness has come into the church of Christ, and all the evil principles of the unregenerate heart are manifest among those who ought to be a restraining influence by their very presence. If the salt have lost its savor, how can it help to save that in which it is cast? When the professed church of Christ sets aside God’s standard, and has none other save the wishes of the natural heart, times are indeed perilous. And this is what the apostle points out.

There have been earthquakes before, great and terrible ones, destructive to life. These earthquakes have nearly always been confined to few localities. And of course we hear more of them now, that instruments have been perfected, than before; and yet the very best records show that there has been a tremendous increase in the number of destructive earthquakes during the last years of the preceding century and the first years of this. Our Lord tells us that when these earthquakes occur in divers places, they are the beginning of sorrows, or literally the beginning of the birth-pangs which shall issue in the destruction of things earthly and the coming of the Master. The great evidence at the present time is not that there is simply one sign or two signs of Christ’s coming, but a great aggregation of signs, a concentration of a score or more of signs all focusing right down in this time of the end, in which we are living; and it is the Master’s words which declare, “When ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors.”

2959.—This Generation

Can you tell us in the SIGNS the full meaning of Matt. 24:34? When does that generation begin and when does it end? F. W.

If our inquirer will read carefully Matthew 24, Mark 13, or Luke 21 he will find that they all together give the discourse of our Lord in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem and Christ’s coming in the end of the world. Much that is said concerning the destruction of Jerusalem is used as a type of the second coming of Christ. You will notice various signs are given of Christ’s coming. These signs begin with the darkening of the sun and the moon. Luke enlarges upon these and tells us there will be other signs. Christ our Lord, who saw clearly the various events which were to take place, must have seen among the signs which He predicted all the various signs which would precede His coming.

We are not told that His coming is near when the sun was darkened; that was only a beginning. Redemption was simply drawing nigh to the world at that time; but when all the various signs took place, then we would know that His coming was near, even at the doors. Then He tells us “this generation,” not the generation to which He was then speaking,—for of that generation He says, that no sign should be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet,—but the generation which saw “all these things,” should not pass till all be accomplished. This would not mean necessarily the generation that saw these things with their physical eyes, but that saw them fulfilled in the light of the prophecy. That necessarily includes the last message to the world, the great threefold message of Rev. 14:6-14. That message began in 1844. Since that time that message has been going to the world, and the generation that gives that message shall not pass till the Lord shall come. This, in brief, is our understanding of this text. There will be, seemingly to all human understanding, a failure in God’s program, but our Lord Himself guards us against that and assures us that the heaven and earth may pass away, His word shall not pass away. Read the evidences in this number.

2960.—The Incarnation of Christ

Where do Methodists and Seventh-day Adventists get their Scripture for the incarnation or that Christ was incarnated into the flesh? INQUIRER.

They and all other Bible believers get it from the Word. John very expressly tells us that Christ was with the Father in the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1, 2. In the 14th verse we read: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.” The apostle tells us in Gal. 4:4 that “when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” Through Jesus Christ those who believe in Him have that same Word incarnated in them, Christ in them the hope of glory, even as the Father was in the Son. Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20.

2961.—The Four Living Creatures

Please explain in your Question Corner what the beasts of Rev. 4:8 refer to. Are they really beasts, or are they men? J. S. M.

“Beasts” is an unfortunate translation. The original word is not the word translated beasts elsewhere. It simply means “living ones,” or “living creatures.” There is a great difference of opinion among Bible scholars as to what they are. Here are some suggestions that may be helpful. When the tribes of Israel of old pitched around the sanctuary, they were arranged under four great standards, that of Judah, Ephraim, Reuben, and Dan. Those standards, tradition tells us, were that of a lion for Judah, a man for Reuben, an ox for Ephraim, and an eagle for Dan; the same creatures that are spoken of in Revelation 4 and Eze. 1:10. It would seem that they represent in that case the hosts of God on the earth, but the view in Revelation seems to give a broader idea than this, including not only the hosts of God on earth, but in heaven as well. For aught that we know, God’s angels may have been arranged in these very forms when the prophet saw them. When Elijah was taken up to heaven by the angels of God they came in the form of chariots and horses, not literal horses or literal chariots as we would understand them, but angels of God in the form of horses and chariots. So John saw them arranged, millions of them, in these forms, showing that the Lord’s plans in the heavens were in harmony with His plans in the earth, as exemplified in ancient Israel.

Then, too, this is suggested by these four living creatures: by the man, wisdom; the ox, patient endurance; the lion, strength; and the eagle, glory. All His living animal creation is suggested also in the four creatures, but it seems to us the view first named, that these represent the hosts of God in wisdom, strength, glory, and persevering patience, is the better view.

2962.—Zechariah 13

When will the 13th chapter of Zechariah be fulfilled? S. W. B.

This is one of those questions which cover a great deal of ground. The chapter is one of those great double prophecies which relate to God’s children in the past and through them are a prophecy of what is to occur in the future. This prophecy was in a measure fulfilled when the children of Israel returned from their Babylonian captivity. It will in larger measure and under different conditions be fulfilled in the great final restoration. Our inquirer will have to be more specific if he desires a more specific reply. If there are any particular parts of the chapter which he does not understand, and we can help him, we will be glad so to do.

Multiplied Evidences

This number does not give adequate explanation of the above diagram; but the diagram will help the student to see the cumulative evidence for this time. It certainly shows that we are living in “the time of the end,” and that His coming is near. Spaces or lines showing time are not proportional.

“The lion hath roared; who will not fear? the Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?” So reads the striking illustration of the prophet of God, who bore warnings for his own people and for generations to come. Amos 3:8.

The man of God was not giving a false message. Better that he should abide with his herds than that. Messages concerning Damascus and Gaza and Tyre and Edom and Ammon and his own Judah and Israel and the great world, the herdsman prophet bore. Better the night-watching with his flocks and herds forever than the giving of the awful messages of reproof and warning.

Yet he could not disobey; he must bear them to the people. When the lion roars, all the beasts of the forest tremble. When God speaks, who can but echo His words and prophesy? So he declares, and he presses home his message with the reasonable and consistent truth, “Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing [will bring no judgments], except He reveal His secret unto His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:1-8.

Nay, it is not only reasonable that God should forewarn; His very nature of love demands it. In every way by which the heart of man can be reached, there will be found the footprints of God’s messengers. Every means which will startle and stir souls to investigate and know the time, He is using. Shines brighter than ever the “more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, . . . until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19.

The great world is dying. Generation after generation have been laid in the dust of the ages, oblivion closes over them its gray mantle, and the present dying generation build their cities upon the ruins of the past and the graves of the dead.

All this passing show, this sad procession of the ages, the rise and fall of kingdoms and empires, of nations and cities, God has foretold, yet men heed it not. Great world conferences and congresses are held on various things important and unimportant temporally, but not one of note to consider God’s outline of the future. Even the great religious congresses and meetings for federation do not touch upon God’s plans for the coming ages.

Idolatrous and cruel Nineveh repented at the preaching of an obscure Jewish prophet, but in our day evidences are multiplied a thousandfold, yet men ignore them and smile or sneer or stifle conviction, and pass on to give heart and soul and life to the things which perish. Was ever sadder sight?

Think of the evidences! In the Book of Daniel the prophet there are given at least four great prophetic dramas of the rise and fall of empire. In the second chapter, in the seventh chapter, in the eighth and ninth chapters, in the tenth and eleventh chapters, the same great drama of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Grecia, Rome, is enacted in various phases, all showing us the transitory nature of earthly dominion, the evanescence of earthly glory, and all bringing God’s children through all earthly troubles to the glorious consummation—His eternal, unchangeable, ever glorious and supremely happy kingdom of righteousness.

Even more evidences are given in the Book of the Revelation, of which it is by Inspiration declared:

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein.”

In the Revelation the great controversy between the church and her foes is set forth in all its various phases from the first advent of Christ to the glorious consummation of earth’s travail. In the second chapter, under the seven churches; in the fifth to the eighth chapters, under the seven seals; in the eighth and ninth and eleventh chapters, under the seven trumpets; in the eleventh chapter, under the two witnesses; in the twelfth chapter, under the figure of a seven-headed dragon; in the thirteenth chapter, under the symbols of a seven-headed and ten-horned beast and a two-horned beast; in the seventeenth chapter, under the representation of a seven-headed, ten-horned, scarlet beast, bearing a woman, are set forth the internal condition of the church through the ages, God’s means of arousing mankind, the breaking up of the nations, His mighty witnesses, and the great foes of the Christ and His church to the end. Seven great time dramas are depicted to the end; and the last scene closes with the downfall of the false and the everlasting triumph of the true.

In Matthew, chapter twenty-four; in Mark, chapter thirteen; in Luke, chapter twenty-one, is given a great time-table of events to mark progress in the Christian era toward the coming of our Lord.

Here are twelve great lines of prophecy focusing in this our day, mighty in evidence and clear in demonstration to the devout believer and investigator. In different and often wide-spread periods in the great past they begin, but their terminals gather here, at the great metropolis of the ages, “the time of the end” and the second coming of Jesus the Messiah.

“There Shall Be Signs”

But not great lines of prophecy alone mark the progress of the ages, not those great prophetic time-tables alone that tell us that the old ship Zion is nearing port. More than this has God done for humanity. As the old ship nears port, passes treacherous bar and boisterous breaker, as she rounds promontory and rock, and feels her way through fog and night, on the last league or two for anchorage and safe harbor, many voices call, “Nearing home,” “Harbor just ahead,” “Voyage almost over,” “Welcome forever,” and harbor-lights gleam intelligent, glad good-fellowship.

In five of these great time-tables “the time of the end” is noted, but not “the end of time.” The former is a period of time unlimited as to definiteness, yet short,—the closing hours of human probation. The latter refers to a point of time when Christ our Lord shall have finished His priestly work, and characters are forever fixed. “The time of the end” begins when the prophetic periods

begin their ending, and closes with the Christian age. The first of those prophetic periods to end is the 1,260 years—prophetic days—which terminated in 1798. This period is noted in five or perhaps seven of these lines of prophecy. In 1798 began “the time of the end” to be emphasized by still other expiring prophetic periods.

Within that time of the end has God by His predictions set a score or more of voices and pharos declaring that the end is near, that the ship is swinging into the harbor, and that her very dock signal-light can almost be discerned. Will there be such home-nearing signals? What and where are these signs, these lights, these voices predicted? These are important questions, but we must answer them briefly. The conditions we all recognize. What we wish our readers also to recognize is that all these conditions have been pointed out by Inspiration hundreds and even thousands of years ago.

That there will be signs, the Master Himself explicitly declares. In response to a question of His disciples, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming,” He said:

“And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows; men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens 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.

From this scripture it will be seen that these signals are to be hung out where they will be visible to all, their fulfilment unrevised by Higher Critics. They are seen and heard in the sidereal heavens, in the earth, in its physical turmoil, and in the troubles of the nations. Other scriptures predict voices from the religious, the social, the political worlds. Everywhere, in every land, will the observing student of prophecy hear and see the evidences of the Master’s coming. Let us note, of the many signs, fourteen.

1. What does our Lord say of the signs in the sun, moon, and stars?

“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in clouds, with great power and glory.” Mark 13:24-26.

NOTE.—See also Matt. 24:29, 30; Rev. 6:12-14. This series of signs was ushered in by the darkening of the sun, May 19, 1780. The darkening of the moon immediately followed. The falling of the stars, or meteors, occurred in 1833. Other signs will follow. Joel 2:30.

2. How has the remarkable increase of knowledge manifest in our days been foretold by the prophet?

“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” Dan. 12:4.

3. What has Inspiration told us of the vast heaping up of earthly treasure in these last days?

“Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure [heaped treasure together, A.V.] in the last days.” James 5:1-3.

4. What is said of the increase of oppression and crime which is everywhere manifest?

“Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.” James 5:4-7.

“But evil men and impostors shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” 2 Tim. 3:13. “And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter.” And this at a time when Christ shall “put on the garments of vengeance . . . and the Redeemer shall come to Zion.” Isa. 59:14-20.

5. What is clearly indicated in the Word concerning the increase of calamities—earthquake, storm, famine, pestilence, notwithstanding all that intelligent men and methods can do to prevent?

“All of them [that is, the earth and the atmospheric heavens] shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed.” Ps. 102:26; Heb. 1:11.

“And there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows [of the birth-pangs of the age].” Matt. 24:7, 8. See also Joel 1:4, 10-12; 2:11, 25, 31.

6. How is Mormonism foretold by our Lord as a false movement which would precede His second coming?

“Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert; go not forth.” Matt. 24:25, 26.

NOTE.—Mormonism proclaimed Christ in the desert where they built their temple, to which place they still proclaim that He is coming. Their leading paper is called The Deseret News, or the News of the Desert. Thousands have been deceived by listening to the voice, “Behold, He is in the desert.” Jesus warns, “Go not forth.” Christ will not so come, but will come in a supernal glory which will set ablaze the very heavens. Verse 27.

7. In what words is Spiritualism, or Modern Spiritism as it is sometimes called, predicted?

“If they shall say unto you, . . . Behold, He is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” Matt. 24:26.

“The working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.” 2 Thess. 2:9, 10. See also Isa. 8:20; Rev. 16:13, 14.

8. Many among the devout children of God recognize a great spiritual declension in the professed church of Christ. How is this spiritual declension foretold?

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” 2 Tim. 3:1-5. Read Matt. 24:12, and also the article in another column by Professor Rine.

9. Infidelity, lack of faith, is another latter-day characteristic. What is said by Inspiration concerning this?

“Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.

“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” 2 Peter 2:1, 2.

10. Confederacies of all sorts are a characteristic of our age. These do not indicate life-union, but political agreement to stave off or protect from looked-for calamities. Are these predicted?

In reply note the double prophecy in Isa. 8:9-17, and the last-day ten-kingdom confederacy of Revelation 17 which supports great Babylon of Revelation 18. All these are forming before our very eyes.

11. Everywhere we hear the cry of peace. What has the Lord said regarding this cry?

First in Isa. 2:3-6, and in Micah 4:2-6 He declares that in the last days many people and many nations shall raise such a cry and declare that war shall be no more. Referring to this false cry of peace the apostle Paul declares, “When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them; . . . and they shall not escape.” 1 Thess. 5:3. Read the context.

12. Never before in all the ages was there such a preparation for war as there is among the nations now. Has God predicted this?

“Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat [Jehovah judgeth]: for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest [Matt. 13:39] is ripe: come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3:9-14.

“For they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.” Rev. 16:14. See also Jer. 4:19-26.

13. A message for the time. Will not God send a message concerning the decaying of earthly kingdoms and the coming of His kingdom, to prepare His children for the mighty changes and the coming judgment?

“And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all

nations; and then shall the end come.” Matt. 24:14. Read also the great Threefold Message of Rev. 14:6-14 beginning with the Gospel proclamation of an impending judgment, closing with the second coming of Christ.

14. There are those who scoff at Christ’s coming, from pulpit to gin-shop. Is this also foretold?

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” 2 Peter 3:3, 4.

To meet this awful infidelity, the false Christs and false prophets which shall arise, the false isms and wicked delusions of the last days, God has promised His Holy Spirit. This is set forth in Joel 2:28-31. It received its part fulfilment in the beginning of the Christian dispensation. It will receive its plenary fulfilment in the outpouring of the latter rain. Zech. 10:1. This also is declared in Isaiah 59. The prophet predicts the awful corruptions which will exist in the last days, and then assures us that “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” Verse 19. Then the church of God will “come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 1:7, 8.

So will His church be fitted for His coming. Weigh all these evidences, reader, in the light of His Word. Jesus, looking down the long vistas of the ages, referring to these signs of His coming, declared: “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matt. 24:33.

We see all these things, and while we know neither the day nor the hour, we know that His coming is near. Get ready to receive Him.

An Assurance

“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. Verily I say unto you, THIS generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.” Matt. 24:32–36.

A Peculiar People, Zealous of Good Works

“Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:14.

Nearness of the End

By Ellen G. White

By Mrs. E. G. White

TROUBLOUS times are right upon us. The fulfilling of the signs of the times gives evidence that the day of the Lord is near at hand. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible conflict in the future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence. Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand. Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men and women and little children. All these things testify that the coming of Christ is near at hand.

The doctrine that men are released from obedience to God’s requirements, has weakened the force of moral obligation, and opened the flood-gates of iniquity upon the world. Lawlessness and dissipation and corruption are sweeping upon us like an overwhelming tide. In the family Satan is at work. His banner waves, even in professedly Christian households. There is envy, evil surmising, hypocrisy, strife, betrayal of sacred trusts, indulgence of lust. The whole system of religious principles and doctrines, which should form the foundation and framework of social life, seems to be a tottering mass, ready to fall to ruin.

Courts of justice are corrupt. Rulers are actuated by desire for gain, and love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance has beclouded the faculties of many, so that Satan has almost complete control of them. Jurists are perverted, bribed, deluded. Drunkenness and revelry, passion, envy, dishonesty of every sort, are represented among those who administer the laws. “Justice standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and equity can not enter.” Men are rushing on in the mad race for gain and selfish indulgence, as if there were no God, no heaven, and no hereafter.

The Scriptures describe the condition of the world just before Christ’s second coming. James the apostle pictures the greed and oppression that will prevail. He says: “Go to now, ye rich men. . . . Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton. Ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.” This is a picture of what exists to-day. By every species of oppression and extortion, men are piling up colossal fortunes, while the cries of starving humanity are coming up before God.

In accidents and calamities by land and by sea, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hail-storms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves, and earthquakes,—in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. The visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous. Destruction will be upon both man and beast. “The earth mourneth and fadeth away,” “the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”

The crisis is stealing gradually upon us. The sun shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round, and the heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying and giving in marriage. Merchants are still buying and selling. Men are jostling against one another, contending for the highest place. Pleasure-lovers are still crowding to the theaters, horse-races, gambling-hells. The highest excitement prevails; yet probation’s hour is fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided. Satan sees that his time is short. He has set all his agents at work, that men may be deceived, deluded, occupied, and entranced, until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door of mercy be forever shut. The time is right upon us when there will be sorrow—

That No Human Balm Can Heal

Sentinel angels are now restraining the four winds, that they shall not blow till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads; but when God shall bid His angels loose the winds, there will be a scene of strife such as no pen can picture.

The “time of trouble such as never was” is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which many are too indolent to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality, but this is not true of the crisis before us. The most vivid presentation can not reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that trial, every man must stand for himself before God. Tho Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land, “as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.”

Now, while our great High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Saviour be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds in human hearts some point where he can gain a foothold; some sinful desire is cherished, by means of which his temptations assert their power. But Christ declared of Himself, “The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” Satan could find nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain the victory. He had kept His Father’s commandments, and there was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition in which those must be found who shall stand in the time of trouble.

“Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people. Gather My saints together unto Me; those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness; for God is Judge Himself.”

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