FACTS OF FAITH By Christian Edwardson
Chapter 22
The Time of the End
(212) The book of
prophecy was to be closed up and sealed till "the time of the end."
"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." Daniel 12:4. The question was then asked: "How long shall
it be?" And the answer was given: "It shall be for a times, times,
and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the
holy people, all these things shall be finished." V. 6, 7.
We have seen (pp. 52-60) that the "time, times, and an
half," during which the papacy should scatter God's true followers, began
in 538 A.D., and ended in 1798 A.D. And as "the time of the end"
begins when this period "shall be finished," it is plain that
"the time of the end" began in 1798 A.D. And at that time "many
shall run to and fro, and knowledge
shall be increased." Daniel 12:4. And it is remarkable how knowledge has
been increased since 1798, not only in the prophecies, but also in general, as
we shall presently see. But we must answer one question first. Some ask why God
wanted to give important prophecies, and then keep them sealed up for so many
centuries. There is a reason.
The prophecies give solemn warnings against the papal power.
If these prophecies had been fully understood during the Dark Ages, when the
Roman Catholic Church burned all books she thought were damaging to her, those
prophecies would have suffered the same fate. Therefore God spoke in symbolic
language, and placed the keys to those symbols where they would not be found
till the Papacy lost its power, when God would impress the minds of His people
where to find the keys. No one who locks his house will leave the key in the
door, but he puts it where only members of his family know where to find it.
Just so the Lord did with His prophecies. (The keys to prophetic symbols are
given on page 34.)
(213) When these
prophecies were to be opened at "the time of the end," their message
would have to go quickly to earth's remotest bounds. (Rev. 14:6, 7; Romans
9:28.) And as this could never have been accomplished without the modern
printing press, and the more speedy means of travel and communication, the Lord
set in motion those spurs in the human breast that led to new discoveries.
During
the 1260 years of papal supremacy, people did not dare to think freely, or
independently of the lines of education established by the Church. (See p.
127.) Galileo's trial by the Inquisition in 1623 will serve as an example of
how advancement in science and invention was opposed by the church of Rome. But
when in 1798 the Papacy lost its power, its downfall broke the shackles, and
unloosed the world's genius, so that invention followed invention in quick
succession.
TABLE OF
INVENTIONS
1. Gas for lighting purposes. --1798
2. Cast-iron plows. --1800
3. Steel pens for writing. --1803
4. First locomotive. --1804
5. First steamboat --1808
6. Steam printing press. --1811
7. Passenger cars for trains. --1825
8. Kerosene for lighting purposes. --1825
9. Matches. --1829
10. Mowing machine, reaper. --1833
11. First electric motor. --1834
12. Telegraph. First message: "What hath God
wrought!"--1844
13. Photography. --1839
14. Submarine telegraph cable. --1851
15. Typewriter. --1868
16. Telephone. --1876
17. Phonograph. --1877
18. Electric railway. --1879
19. Linotype. --1885
20. Automobile. --1893
21. Wireless telegraphy. --1895
22. Aeroplane, first successful flight. --1903
23. Radio broadcasting. --1921
24. Television. --1926
25. Pushbutton elevator. --1934
26. Airplane bombsight. --1940
(214) Prophecy had
decreed that in the day of God's preparation for finishing His work on earth,
"knowledge shall be increased"; and when His hour struck for the
giving of His last warning message, nothing could stop it. We read: "The
chariots shall be with flaming torches in
the day of His preparation....The
chariots shall rage in the streets, they
shall justle one against another in the broad
ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the
lightnings." Nahum 2:3, 4.
How could any one give a better description of modern
railroads and automobiles? Even the coming of the Zeppelin and the airplane is
foretold in the Bible: "Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the
doves to their windows?" Isaiah 60:8. The simile is striking, for doves
and airplanes both need landing places. This prophecy speaks of a time when
"darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people,"
while God's glorious light is shining upon His faithful servants. (Verses 1,
2.) This was never more true than now. The book of prophecy, that had been
closed for centuries, is now opened to God's people. (Daniel 12:4, 10; Rev.
5:1-9; 10:1, 2, 8-11; 22:6, 7, 16.) Light is now shining from the throne of God
upon them, while evolution, infidelity,
spiritism, and Roman Catholic superstitions are enveloping the world in the
grossest of spiritual darkness, and crime is at its high tide. Thinking people
are everywhere scanning the horizon to detect some prophetic message from
heaven that will cast light on the present chaos.
William T. Ellis, in an article entitled, "Why Don't the
Churches Settle Things?" which appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, of February 12, 1921, points out this
fact in a striking manner. He says:
(215) "There never
before was a greater interest in religion in America than today - or a smaller
interest in the churches. This is the paradox of our times....
"Ever since the war began, the country has been
listening for a clear trumpet note from some prophet of the living God. In
vain." He then speaks of "the church's reproach of having failed in
her prophetic function." After relating the concern of two business men on
this point he says:
"That incident brings me squarely up against one of the
most uncomfortable, perplexing and tragic situations in connection with this
entire theme of the strange spiritual stirrings of the race today. Many
clergymen seem scarcely aware of what is going forward beneath the surface of
life. Many experts upon religion, who are the ministers of the gospel, have
seemingly failed to hear 'the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry
trees.' Otherwise we should find them gathering with agony of soul in
protracted sessions of prayer....
"Morbid minds could easily persuade themselves that
there is a present visitation of blindness upon the teachers of religion."
D. L. Moody says:
"If God did not mean to have us study the prophecies, He
would not have put them into the Bible....About one third of the Bible is
prophetical....
"The return of the Lord to this earth is taught in the
New Testament as clearly as any other doctrine in it....Whoever neglects this
has only a mutilated gospel....Yet I was in the church fifteen or sixteen years
before I ever heard a sermon on it....I can see a reason for this; the Devil does not want us to see this truth, for
nothing would wake up the church so much. The moment a man realizes that Jesus
Christ is coming back again to receive His followers to Himself, this world
loses its hold upon him." - "The
Second Coming of Christ," pp. 17, 18.
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