This study is on an
article written 147 years ago. So much
has happened in our world since then. Some of the things in here will sound
strange to us, and some may not seem relevant now. Time and place truly are
necessary in all things. May God forever and always guide us ONLY to HIS truth
in all we read, in all we study, all through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!
*******
The Second Coming of
Christ
BY ELD. JAMES WHITE.
"What shall be
the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the world?" - DISCIPLES.
"When ye shall
see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." - JESUS.
STEAM PRESS of the Seventh-day Adventist Publishing
Association, Battle Creek, Mich.
1871.
MATTHEW TWENTY-FOUR
What shall be the
sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" - DISCIPLES.
"When ye shall
see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors." - JESUS.
Matt.24:3, 33.
CAN anything be
learned from the Bible relative to the period of the second advent? is a
question unsettled in many minds. This is a grave inquiry; and, from the very
nature of the subject, is worthy of close investigation, and a candid answer.
It is a matter of painful regret that not a few, under the influence of popular
prejudice, have decided that the period of the second advent is a secret,
hidden with the Lord. While these may scarcely be reached with this subject, as
long as they remain under the influence of those religious teachers who
denounce all investigation of it as prying into the secrets of the Almighty,
there is still a larger class who wait for evidence before deciding. It is with
ardent hope of benefiting these, that we write.
We accept the Bible
as a revelation from Heaven. What God has revealed in that book, let no man
call a mystery, or a secret of the Almighty, "The secret things belong
unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and
to our children forever." Deut.29:29. If the sacred Scriptures do not
designate any period in particular for the second appearing of Christ, then men
should at once abandon the vain search for proofs of his
4 soon
coming. But if prophecy, in a most clear and harmonious manner, does point to
the period of that great event, and if there is evidence that "it is near,
even at the doors," the subject at once assumes vast importance.
When the disciples
inquire, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the
world?" Jesus does not reprove them for inquiring into that which was
purposely hidden from all men; but he answers that question in the most
definite manner. He even states that there should be signs of that event in the
sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and adds, "When ye shall see all these
things, know that it is near, even at the doors." The simple fact that the
Lord mentions signs of his second advent, is the best proof possible that his
people were not to remain ignorant of the relative nearness of the event. Add
to this evidence his declaration that when these signs should be seen, his
people should know that it was near, even at the doors, and the case becomes an
exceedingly strong one.
No truth of
inspiration can be more clearly stated than that God reveals his designs to his
prophets, that men and nations may be warned before their accomplishment.
"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his
servants the prophets." Amos 3:7. Before visiting with judgments, God has
uniformly sent forth warnings sufficient to enable the believing to escape his
wrath, and to condemn those who have not heeded the warning. This was the case
before the flood. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen
as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving
5 of
his house, by the which he condemned the world." Heb.11:7.
At a later period,
when the nations had become sunken in idolatry and crime, and the destruction
of wicked Sodom was determined, the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham
that thing which I do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty
nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?"
Gen.18:17,18. And due notice was given to righteous Lot, who, with his
daughters, was preserved; and none, even in that guilty city, perished without
due warning. Lot evidently warned the people; and, in thus communing with them,
was "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." 2Pet.2:7,8.
When he warned his sons-in-law, "he seemed as one that mocked."
Gen.19:14. And when "the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed
the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter."
Lot warned them, and entreated them to desist from their wickedness. And they
at once did that which all sinners, since the days of righteous Lot, have been
disposed to do to those who faithfully warn them of their sins; namely, they
charged him with being a judge.
Before the
destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a forerunner was sent to prepare the way
before the Lord. Those who did not receive Christ, were rejected,
"because," as he said to Jerusalem, when warning the people of the
destruction of their city and temple, "thou knewest not the time of thy
visitation." Luke 19:44. We have on record the Lord's prediction of the
destruction of Jerusalem during the time of the generation that rejected him,
which was fulfilled in less than forty years from the time of his crucifixion.
And,
6 that
the Christians in Judea might escape its impending doom, they were told that
when they should "see Jerusalem compassed with armies," or, as
recorded by Matthew, "the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel
the prophet, stand in the holy place," they were to "flee to the
mountains." Luke 21:20; Matt. 24:15. They heeded the admonition, and
escaped in safety to Pella. Such is the testimony of inspiration respecting the
dealings of God with his people in past ages. And it cannot be supposed that
God will change his course relative to the future, when that future is to
realize the crowning consummation of all prophetic declarations. Probably no
one chapter of the Bible speaks more fully, and more definitely, upon the
subject of the second coming of Christ, than Matt.24. We invite the attention
of the candid reader to a brief explanation of the entire chapter.
TO BE CONTINUED….
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