Again, this is a study filled with meat not milk, it's not for those who only want to take a quick read and not bother about the deep truths of God's word relative to the end of days.
The facts we are being shown reveal so much.
Our Savior WILL return.
There is NO doubting that fact at all!
Our Savior has given us many prophecies concerning His return, many!
Our Savior would never leave us UNWARNED, never!
None of those who have faced destruction have gone unwarned. All through the old testament we read about the people of God, the Israelis at that time, being warned over and over again about their transgressions, because God wanted them to REPENT! He calls us to repentance!
Before our Savior returns all will have been called to repentance! Only those who heed that call will be God's people.
God warns us, and we are to HEED the warnings, not ignore them, not turn a blind eye to them.
By the grace of our LORD, our SAVIOR, in His mercy may we read and understand His truths for OUR time.
In HIS LOVE!
CONTINUED…
Three Angels of Revelation 14:6-12
By J.N Andrews
The next inquiry relates to the past. Have not these messages met their fulfillment in the history of the church in past ages? - We think not. Our reasons for this conclusion are, in part, the following:-
1. No proclamation of the hour of God's Judgment come, has ever been made in any past age.
2. If such a proclamation had been made many centuries in the past, as some contend, it
would have been a false one.
3. The prophecies on which such a proclamation to men in a state of probation must be based, were closed up and sealed to the time of the end.
4. The scriptures plainly locate the message of warning respecting the Judgment in brief space immediately preceding the advent of our Lord, thus directly contradicting the view that locates these messages in past ages.
We now offer proof in support of the foregoing propositions. If they are sustained, they establish the fact that the present generation is that one to which the angels' messages are addressed. We earnestly invite all who wish to find the truth, to weigh this part of the argument with special care.
1. Has the proclamation of the hour of God's Judgment come, been made in any past age? If such a proclamation has never been made in past centuries, there is an end to controversy on this part of the subject. No person has ever been able to show any such proclamation in the past. The apostles did not make such a proclamation; on the contrary, they plainly informus that the day of the Lord was not then at hand. Martin Luther did not make this proclamation; for he thought the Judgment about three hundred years in the future. And finally, the history of the church presents no such proclamation in the past. Had the first angel preached to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, that the hour of God's Judgment had come, the publicity of such proclamation would be a sufficient guaranty that
the history of the world would contain some record of the fact. Its total silence respecting such a proclamation is ample proof that it was never made, and should put to silence those who make such an affirmation.
2. We are on firm ground, also, when we say that had such a proclamation been made to the
world in ages past, it would have been false. Four reasons sustain this statement:
(1. ) There is no part of the Bible on which such a message, centuries in the past, could have
been based; hence, had such a proclamation been made, it would have been without scripture foundation, and consequently not from Heaven;
(2. ) It would have been in direct opposition to those scriptures which locate the Judgment,
and the warning respecting its approach, in the period of the last generation. (The scriptures
which sustain these two reasons we shall presently cite. );
(3. ) The history of the world amply evinces that the hour of God's Judgment had not come
ages in the past;
(4. ) Nor would it be true of past ages, if limited to Babylon; for Rev. 18:8-10 clearly shows
that the hour of Babylon's Judgment is yet in the future.
(((Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. ))))
It is certain, therefore, that the angel with the proclamation respecting the hour of God's Judgment has not given it at a time when it would be not only destitute of scriptural support, but would absolutely contradict their plain testimony.
3. The prophecies which give us the time of the Judgment, and which present the succession
of events leading down to that great crisis, were closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
We refer particularly to the prophecies of Daniel. See Dan. 8:17, 26; 12:4, 9.
(((Dan 8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
Dan 8:26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
Dan 12:4 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 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. ))))
Hence it is evident that God preserves the warning for that generation which alone needs it. Noah's warning respecting the flood was alone applicable to those who should witness it; thus also the warning respecting the Judgment is alone applicable to that generation which lives in the last days.
4. The Bible locates these messages in the period which immediately precedes the second advent, and plainly warns us against the proclamation of the Judgment at hand prior to that time. Here we join issue with our opponents. Instead of finding that the apostles gave this proclamation, as some teach, we shall find indubitable evidence that they located it far in the future, and that they admonished the church to heed none that should precede a given time. If we recur to the book of Acts, we shall find Paul preaching before Felix of the Judgment to come; and before the Athenians, that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ. Acts 24:25; 17:31.
(((Act 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. ))))
But that book nowhere intimates that Christ was immediately coming to judgment. Peter points his hearers to the future, saying that the heavens which had then received Christ, must retain him until the times of restitution. Acts 3:21.
(((Act 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. ))))
The first Epistle to the Thessalonians may seem to teach that the apostles expected the coming of Christ to judgment in their day. Indeed, it is evident that such an idea was received from it by the Thessalonian church. Hence it was, that in his second Epistle to them, Paul found it necessary to speak explicitly on the point. He tells them that the coming of Christ to the Judgment could not take place until the great apostasy; and as the result of that apostasy, that the man of sin should be revealed, showing himself that he is God, and exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped. That this mystery of iniquity is the great Romish apostasy, none but a papist will deny.
Paul reminds the Thessalonians that he had told them of these things when he was yet with them. And where could Paul have learned this fact which he had thus stated to them?
Paul was accustomed to reason from the Scriptures, and not to deal in assertion. Hence it is very evident that he refers to the prophecy of Daniel, which in its seventh chapter has given the successive events which intervened between its time and the Judgment. In this series of events it has with wonderful precision described the power to which Paul has referred as the man of sin.
No Protestant will deny the identity of Daniel's little horn and Paul's man of sin. And as Daniel has brought it into a series of events which ends with the Judgment and the setting up of the everlasting kingdom, it is an easy matter for Paul to tell where in this series of events he stood, and whether the Judgment was the next event or not. The apostle, therefore, plainly tells them that that day was not at hand. For the man of sin, the little horn, must arise and perform his predicted work; and when that should be accomplished, the coming of Christ
should transpire, to consume "that Wicked" with its brightness.
((( I have to interject here for a moment. These words- 'No Protestant will deny the identity of Daniel's little horn and Paul's man of sin.' - Yet today many would, many, in fact even among the formerly spiritually chosen people who have apostatized, would deny that the Papacy is the man of sin. They handed the Pope himself a medallion… http://www.adventistalert.com/medallion/medallion.htm . This is something that would have been unheard of in 1877, unheard of! In fact, J.N. Andrews could make that above statement in all truthfulness. In 1877 no Protestant would deny the truth of the Papacy. We've become so BLINDED!))))
Now, when was the little horn to arise? Daniel was told that it should arise after the ten horns upon the fourth beast; or, in other words, after the fourth empire should be divided into ten kingdoms, which was accomplished about five hundred years after Christ. The Judgment, therefore, could not come prior to that time. But how long was this little horn to have power to wear out the saints? - Daniel informs us that it should be for "a time, and times, and the dividing of time. " How long is this period? - Rev. 12 shows that it is 1260 prophetic days, or years. Verses 6, 14.
(((Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. ))))
It follows, therefore, that the apostle carries the mind forward five hundred years, to the development of the man of sin, and thence 1260 years for his triumph, before the Judgment could be preached as an event immediately impending. Whoever will carefully read Dan. 7, will get the original of Paul's argument in 2 Thess. 2, and will not fail to see the force of his statement.
The papal supremacy began in 538, and ended in 1798 with the overthrow of the pope's temporal power. Therefore the warning of Paul against a false proclamation respecting the Judgment at hand, expires at that time, and not before; for we will then have reached the point of time when the last important event in Dan. 7, before the Judgment, has transpired.
An angel from heaven, preaching the hour of God's Judgment come many years in the past, would be giving a different gospel from that preached by Paul. Those who locate the angel of Rev. 14:6, 7, in past ages, virtually place upon his head the anathema of Paul in Gal. 1:8. And, what is of very deep interest, the point of time at which Paul's warning expires, is the commencement of the time of the end, - the very point to which the visions of Daniel were
closed up and sealed.
Compare Daniel 11:33, 35 and 7:25, and the fact that the 1260 years' persecution of the saints terminates with the commencement of the time of the end, will appear obvious.
(((Dan 11:33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. ))))
How gloriously does this view of the subject make the truth of God shine out! for the warning of the apostle against a false proclamation of the Judgment at hand, expires at the very point where the seal is taken from those prophecies which show when the Judgment sits. And it is respecting this period, the time of the end, that it is said, Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge (on the very subject which was before concealed) shall be increased. Then the time of the end is the period in which the Judgment-hour cry, and the subsequent messages,
are to be given. Dan. 8:17, 26; 12:4, 9.
(((Dan 8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
Dan 8:26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
Dan 12:4 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 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. ))))
Another important argument on this point is found in what our Lord has said relative to the signs of his second advent. The church were to understand when his coming was at hand, by the fulfillment of certain promised tokens. Until these should be seen, they were not authorized to look for the immediate advent of the Lord. But when the signs which our Lord promised began to appear, the church might then know that his coming to judge the quick and dead was at hand.
It is an interesting fact, that Christ has marked the time in which these signs were to begin to appear. Consequently, the messages in question could not be delivered prior to that time. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. " Matt. 24:29. "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. " Mark 13:24, 25.
We think there can be no mistake that in these scriptures our Lord refers to the papal tribulation of Daniel the prophet. The signs of his second coming were to commence "in those days, " but after that tribulation. " In other words, the 1260 prophetic days would not be quite over, but their tribulation would be ended, when the sun should be darkened. The sun was darkened in 1780, and the tribulation of those days was then past, but the days did not expire till 1798. Thus we have the signs of our Lord's immediate advent just opening upon us, as we come down to the time of the end, the period when the vision should be unsealed, and many run to and fro with the word of warning to a perishing world.
The parable recorded in Matt. 22:1-14 and Luke 14:16-24, furnishes an important testimony
on this subject.
(((Mat 22:1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
Mat 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
Luk 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
Luk 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
Luk 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
Luk 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
Luk 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luk 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. ))))
Matthew gives a particular account of the first part of this parable, but merely states in a word the final calls to the guests. Luke, on the contrary, omits the first part of the parable, but gives its concluding features with peculiar distinctness. We think the identity of the parables in Matt. 22 and Luke 14 will be seen by every one who will compare those scriptures. It is evident that Matthew, by the calls to dinner, represents the calls which were
made to the Jews at the first advent. It is to be observed that the general work of inviting the guests had preceded these calls; for these are a special announcement to those that had been bidden, that the dinner is ready. These we understand to refer to the work of John the Baptist and others at the time of the first advent. And we understand that the destruction of the city and people in the parable refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and the rejection of the Jews. The call to the dinner proving of no effect, the king turns to another people. We understand this as we do the text in which our Lord tells the Jews that the kingdom should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Matt. 21:43. This part of the parable Matthew has given in a word, that the servants in obedience to the command of their Lord were enabled to furnish the wedding with guests. But Luke has taken up this portion with minute accuracy. The dinner indeed was past and the people to whom it was offered were unworthy of sharing it as guests; but the purpose of the king was not to be made void. At supper time, says Luke, a message was sent forth to announce to those that had been bidden, that supper was ready. We understand that this call to the supper is made to the Gentiles, and that it is in immediate connection with the second advent. For we think that none will deny that the supper of Luke 14:16 (((Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: )))) and that of Rev. 19:9 (((Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. )))) are the same. Thus we see that there was to the Jews the general work of bidding the guests, and the special call at dinner time; and that to the Gentiles there is the general work of the gospel in bidding, and then at supper time the special call to the marriage supper.
These three calls to the marriage supper (Luke 14:16-24) we understand to be the same as the three messages of Rev. 14:6-12. The first call to the supper is "at supper time, " and the first angel announces that "the hour of His judgment is come. " None will dispute the fact that the judgment and the marriage supper are in immediate connection with each other. Rev. 19:20. The three calls are not the general work of the gospel in bidding; they are made at supper time, that is, at the close of the day. And the three proclamations in Rev. 14, in like manner, are not the general work of the gospel, but special warnings addressed to the world as the great work of our High Priest is closing up.
The book of Nahum furnishes a very striking testimony on this subject. The chariots are to seem like torches, and to run like the lightnings, in the day of God's preparation. Chap. 2. We may learn the event for which this day of preparation is appointed, by reading the first chapter of this prophet. That the sublime scenes of the second advent and the day of God are there portrayed, we think few will be disposed to deny. The day of God's preparation is, therefore, for this very event. Now, it is evident that the hour of God's Judgment cannot precede the day of his preparation for the Judgment
Hence the day of God's preparation is the time for the warning respecting the Judgment, and the associated proclamations to the inhabitants of the earth. And how strikingly have we seen the sign which marks the day of God's preparation fulfilled before our eyes! Since the time of the end commenced, in which the prophecies relative to the Judgment were to be unsealed, and many were to run to and fro, and knowledge to be increased, chariots running like the lightnings have made their appearance in every part of the civilized worlds. We think this a demonstration that we are now in the day of God's preparation, and that, consequently, this is the period of time in which the three proclamations of Rev. 14 are to be made; for the day of God's preparation for the second advent must be the time for the world to be warned respecting that event.
If we read the message of the second angel with care, and the more full reference to the subject in Rev. 18, we may also gather some important ideas relative to the chronology of these messages. The people of God are called out of Babylon, that the plagues which God is about to inflict upon her may not fall upon them also. These plagues are enumerated as death, mourning, and famine, and utter destruction by fire. And it is said that these shall come upon her in one day. It is evident that these plagues have not yet come upon her. The hour of Babylon's judgment, when the kings shall mourn over her for fear of her torment, is yet future. The warning, therefore, respecting Babylon, must of necessity relate to that generation which shall live when her plagues shall come upon her. The warning respecting the flood, or the destruction of Sodom, belonged to that time which witnessed those events. And the warning respecting the judgments on Babylon must relate to that generation which shall be alive when these judgments are to be inflicted.
The third angel presents a fearful warning against the worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark. It must be evident to every person that this warning must relate to the time when men shall be required to worship the image on pain of death. That this work of the two-horned beast, as recorded in Chap. 13, has as yet been accomplished but in part, is certain. See verses 13-15. Hence it is a great error to locate this proclamation in any past age. Such are the reasons, in brief, which establish the fact that these proclamations are addressed to the last generation of men.
These messages are addressed to men in a state of probation. But it is contrary to the economy of grace that angels should visibly engage in the preaching of the gospel; therefore these angels must symbolize a body of men proclaiming the messages in question; or we may understand that literal angels have the oversight of this work, and that it is carried out through the agency of men.
The facts we are being shown reveal so much.
Our Savior WILL return.
There is NO doubting that fact at all!
Our Savior has given us many prophecies concerning His return, many!
Our Savior would never leave us UNWARNED, never!
None of those who have faced destruction have gone unwarned. All through the old testament we read about the people of God, the Israelis at that time, being warned over and over again about their transgressions, because God wanted them to REPENT! He calls us to repentance!
Before our Savior returns all will have been called to repentance! Only those who heed that call will be God's people.
God warns us, and we are to HEED the warnings, not ignore them, not turn a blind eye to them.
By the grace of our LORD, our SAVIOR, in His mercy may we read and understand His truths for OUR time.
In HIS LOVE!
CONTINUED…
Three Angels of Revelation 14:6-12
By J.N Andrews
The next inquiry relates to the past. Have not these messages met their fulfillment in the history of the church in past ages? - We think not. Our reasons for this conclusion are, in part, the following:-
1. No proclamation of the hour of God's Judgment come, has ever been made in any past age.
2. If such a proclamation had been made many centuries in the past, as some contend, it
would have been a false one.
3. The prophecies on which such a proclamation to men in a state of probation must be based, were closed up and sealed to the time of the end.
4. The scriptures plainly locate the message of warning respecting the Judgment in brief space immediately preceding the advent of our Lord, thus directly contradicting the view that locates these messages in past ages.
We now offer proof in support of the foregoing propositions. If they are sustained, they establish the fact that the present generation is that one to which the angels' messages are addressed. We earnestly invite all who wish to find the truth, to weigh this part of the argument with special care.
1. Has the proclamation of the hour of God's Judgment come, been made in any past age? If such a proclamation has never been made in past centuries, there is an end to controversy on this part of the subject. No person has ever been able to show any such proclamation in the past. The apostles did not make such a proclamation; on the contrary, they plainly informus that the day of the Lord was not then at hand. Martin Luther did not make this proclamation; for he thought the Judgment about three hundred years in the future. And finally, the history of the church presents no such proclamation in the past. Had the first angel preached to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, that the hour of God's Judgment had come, the publicity of such proclamation would be a sufficient guaranty that
the history of the world would contain some record of the fact. Its total silence respecting such a proclamation is ample proof that it was never made, and should put to silence those who make such an affirmation.
2. We are on firm ground, also, when we say that had such a proclamation been made to the
world in ages past, it would have been false. Four reasons sustain this statement:
(1. ) There is no part of the Bible on which such a message, centuries in the past, could have
been based; hence, had such a proclamation been made, it would have been without scripture foundation, and consequently not from Heaven;
(2. ) It would have been in direct opposition to those scriptures which locate the Judgment,
and the warning respecting its approach, in the period of the last generation. (The scriptures
which sustain these two reasons we shall presently cite. );
(3. ) The history of the world amply evinces that the hour of God's Judgment had not come
ages in the past;
(4. ) Nor would it be true of past ages, if limited to Babylon; for Rev. 18:8-10 clearly shows
that the hour of Babylon's Judgment is yet in the future.
(((Rev 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.
Rev 18:9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. ))))
It is certain, therefore, that the angel with the proclamation respecting the hour of God's Judgment has not given it at a time when it would be not only destitute of scriptural support, but would absolutely contradict their plain testimony.
3. The prophecies which give us the time of the Judgment, and which present the succession
of events leading down to that great crisis, were closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
We refer particularly to the prophecies of Daniel. See Dan. 8:17, 26; 12:4, 9.
(((Dan 8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
Dan 8:26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
Dan 12:4 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 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. ))))
Hence it is evident that God preserves the warning for that generation which alone needs it. Noah's warning respecting the flood was alone applicable to those who should witness it; thus also the warning respecting the Judgment is alone applicable to that generation which lives in the last days.
4. The Bible locates these messages in the period which immediately precedes the second advent, and plainly warns us against the proclamation of the Judgment at hand prior to that time. Here we join issue with our opponents. Instead of finding that the apostles gave this proclamation, as some teach, we shall find indubitable evidence that they located it far in the future, and that they admonished the church to heed none that should precede a given time. If we recur to the book of Acts, we shall find Paul preaching before Felix of the Judgment to come; and before the Athenians, that God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ. Acts 24:25; 17:31.
(((Act 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. ))))
But that book nowhere intimates that Christ was immediately coming to judgment. Peter points his hearers to the future, saying that the heavens which had then received Christ, must retain him until the times of restitution. Acts 3:21.
(((Act 3:21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. ))))
The first Epistle to the Thessalonians may seem to teach that the apostles expected the coming of Christ to judgment in their day. Indeed, it is evident that such an idea was received from it by the Thessalonian church. Hence it was, that in his second Epistle to them, Paul found it necessary to speak explicitly on the point. He tells them that the coming of Christ to the Judgment could not take place until the great apostasy; and as the result of that apostasy, that the man of sin should be revealed, showing himself that he is God, and exalting himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped. That this mystery of iniquity is the great Romish apostasy, none but a papist will deny.
Paul reminds the Thessalonians that he had told them of these things when he was yet with them. And where could Paul have learned this fact which he had thus stated to them?
Paul was accustomed to reason from the Scriptures, and not to deal in assertion. Hence it is very evident that he refers to the prophecy of Daniel, which in its seventh chapter has given the successive events which intervened between its time and the Judgment. In this series of events it has with wonderful precision described the power to which Paul has referred as the man of sin.
No Protestant will deny the identity of Daniel's little horn and Paul's man of sin. And as Daniel has brought it into a series of events which ends with the Judgment and the setting up of the everlasting kingdom, it is an easy matter for Paul to tell where in this series of events he stood, and whether the Judgment was the next event or not. The apostle, therefore, plainly tells them that that day was not at hand. For the man of sin, the little horn, must arise and perform his predicted work; and when that should be accomplished, the coming of Christ
should transpire, to consume "that Wicked" with its brightness.
((( I have to interject here for a moment. These words- 'No Protestant will deny the identity of Daniel's little horn and Paul's man of sin.' - Yet today many would, many, in fact even among the formerly spiritually chosen people who have apostatized, would deny that the Papacy is the man of sin. They handed the Pope himself a medallion… http://www.adventistalert.com/medallion/medallion.htm . This is something that would have been unheard of in 1877, unheard of! In fact, J.N. Andrews could make that above statement in all truthfulness. In 1877 no Protestant would deny the truth of the Papacy. We've become so BLINDED!))))
Now, when was the little horn to arise? Daniel was told that it should arise after the ten horns upon the fourth beast; or, in other words, after the fourth empire should be divided into ten kingdoms, which was accomplished about five hundred years after Christ. The Judgment, therefore, could not come prior to that time. But how long was this little horn to have power to wear out the saints? - Daniel informs us that it should be for "a time, and times, and the dividing of time. " How long is this period? - Rev. 12 shows that it is 1260 prophetic days, or years. Verses 6, 14.
(((Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. ))))
It follows, therefore, that the apostle carries the mind forward five hundred years, to the development of the man of sin, and thence 1260 years for his triumph, before the Judgment could be preached as an event immediately impending. Whoever will carefully read Dan. 7, will get the original of Paul's argument in 2 Thess. 2, and will not fail to see the force of his statement.
The papal supremacy began in 538, and ended in 1798 with the overthrow of the pope's temporal power. Therefore the warning of Paul against a false proclamation respecting the Judgment at hand, expires at that time, and not before; for we will then have reached the point of time when the last important event in Dan. 7, before the Judgment, has transpired.
An angel from heaven, preaching the hour of God's Judgment come many years in the past, would be giving a different gospel from that preached by Paul. Those who locate the angel of Rev. 14:6, 7, in past ages, virtually place upon his head the anathema of Paul in Gal. 1:8. And, what is of very deep interest, the point of time at which Paul's warning expires, is the commencement of the time of the end, - the very point to which the visions of Daniel were
closed up and sealed.
Compare Daniel 11:33, 35 and 7:25, and the fact that the 1260 years' persecution of the saints terminates with the commencement of the time of the end, will appear obvious.
(((Dan 11:33 And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days.
Dan 11:35 And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.
Dan 7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. ))))
How gloriously does this view of the subject make the truth of God shine out! for the warning of the apostle against a false proclamation of the Judgment at hand, expires at the very point where the seal is taken from those prophecies which show when the Judgment sits. And it is respecting this period, the time of the end, that it is said, Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge (on the very subject which was before concealed) shall be increased. Then the time of the end is the period in which the Judgment-hour cry, and the subsequent messages,
are to be given. Dan. 8:17, 26; 12:4, 9.
(((Dan 8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.
Dan 8:26 And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.
Dan 12:4 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 12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. ))))
Another important argument on this point is found in what our Lord has said relative to the signs of his second advent. The church were to understand when his coming was at hand, by the fulfillment of certain promised tokens. Until these should be seen, they were not authorized to look for the immediate advent of the Lord. But when the signs which our Lord promised began to appear, the church might then know that his coming to judge the quick and dead was at hand.
It is an interesting fact, that Christ has marked the time in which these signs were to begin to appear. Consequently, the messages in question could not be delivered prior to that time. "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. " Matt. 24:29. "But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. " Mark 13:24, 25.
We think there can be no mistake that in these scriptures our Lord refers to the papal tribulation of Daniel the prophet. The signs of his second coming were to commence "in those days, " but after that tribulation. " In other words, the 1260 prophetic days would not be quite over, but their tribulation would be ended, when the sun should be darkened. The sun was darkened in 1780, and the tribulation of those days was then past, but the days did not expire till 1798. Thus we have the signs of our Lord's immediate advent just opening upon us, as we come down to the time of the end, the period when the vision should be unsealed, and many run to and fro with the word of warning to a perishing world.
The parable recorded in Matt. 22:1-14 and Luke 14:16-24, furnishes an important testimony
on this subject.
(((Mat 22:1 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said,
Mat 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
Mat 22:3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.
Mat 22:4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.
Mat 22:5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:
Mat 22:6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them.
Mat 22:7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
Mat 22:8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.
Mat 22:9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.
Mat 22:10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.
Mat 22:11 And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
Mat 22:12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Mat 22:13 Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.
Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
Luk 14:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
Luk 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
Luk 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
Luk 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
Luk 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
Luk 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luk 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. ))))
Matthew gives a particular account of the first part of this parable, but merely states in a word the final calls to the guests. Luke, on the contrary, omits the first part of the parable, but gives its concluding features with peculiar distinctness. We think the identity of the parables in Matt. 22 and Luke 14 will be seen by every one who will compare those scriptures. It is evident that Matthew, by the calls to dinner, represents the calls which were
made to the Jews at the first advent. It is to be observed that the general work of inviting the guests had preceded these calls; for these are a special announcement to those that had been bidden, that the dinner is ready. These we understand to refer to the work of John the Baptist and others at the time of the first advent. And we understand that the destruction of the city and people in the parable refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and the rejection of the Jews. The call to the dinner proving of no effect, the king turns to another people. We understand this as we do the text in which our Lord tells the Jews that the kingdom should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Matt. 21:43. This part of the parable Matthew has given in a word, that the servants in obedience to the command of their Lord were enabled to furnish the wedding with guests. But Luke has taken up this portion with minute accuracy. The dinner indeed was past and the people to whom it was offered were unworthy of sharing it as guests; but the purpose of the king was not to be made void. At supper time, says Luke, a message was sent forth to announce to those that had been bidden, that supper was ready. We understand that this call to the supper is made to the Gentiles, and that it is in immediate connection with the second advent. For we think that none will deny that the supper of Luke 14:16 (((Luk 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: )))) and that of Rev. 19:9 (((Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. )))) are the same. Thus we see that there was to the Jews the general work of bidding the guests, and the special call at dinner time; and that to the Gentiles there is the general work of the gospel in bidding, and then at supper time the special call to the marriage supper.
These three calls to the marriage supper (Luke 14:16-24) we understand to be the same as the three messages of Rev. 14:6-12. The first call to the supper is "at supper time, " and the first angel announces that "the hour of His judgment is come. " None will dispute the fact that the judgment and the marriage supper are in immediate connection with each other. Rev. 19:20. The three calls are not the general work of the gospel in bidding; they are made at supper time, that is, at the close of the day. And the three proclamations in Rev. 14, in like manner, are not the general work of the gospel, but special warnings addressed to the world as the great work of our High Priest is closing up.
The book of Nahum furnishes a very striking testimony on this subject. The chariots are to seem like torches, and to run like the lightnings, in the day of God's preparation. Chap. 2. We may learn the event for which this day of preparation is appointed, by reading the first chapter of this prophet. That the sublime scenes of the second advent and the day of God are there portrayed, we think few will be disposed to deny. The day of God's preparation is, therefore, for this very event. Now, it is evident that the hour of God's Judgment cannot precede the day of his preparation for the Judgment
Hence the day of God's preparation is the time for the warning respecting the Judgment, and the associated proclamations to the inhabitants of the earth. And how strikingly have we seen the sign which marks the day of God's preparation fulfilled before our eyes! Since the time of the end commenced, in which the prophecies relative to the Judgment were to be unsealed, and many were to run to and fro, and knowledge to be increased, chariots running like the lightnings have made their appearance in every part of the civilized worlds. We think this a demonstration that we are now in the day of God's preparation, and that, consequently, this is the period of time in which the three proclamations of Rev. 14 are to be made; for the day of God's preparation for the second advent must be the time for the world to be warned respecting that event.
If we read the message of the second angel with care, and the more full reference to the subject in Rev. 18, we may also gather some important ideas relative to the chronology of these messages. The people of God are called out of Babylon, that the plagues which God is about to inflict upon her may not fall upon them also. These plagues are enumerated as death, mourning, and famine, and utter destruction by fire. And it is said that these shall come upon her in one day. It is evident that these plagues have not yet come upon her. The hour of Babylon's judgment, when the kings shall mourn over her for fear of her torment, is yet future. The warning, therefore, respecting Babylon, must of necessity relate to that generation which shall live when her plagues shall come upon her. The warning respecting the flood, or the destruction of Sodom, belonged to that time which witnessed those events. And the warning respecting the judgments on Babylon must relate to that generation which shall be alive when these judgments are to be inflicted.
The third angel presents a fearful warning against the worship of the beast and his image, and the reception of his mark. It must be evident to every person that this warning must relate to the time when men shall be required to worship the image on pain of death. That this work of the two-horned beast, as recorded in Chap. 13, has as yet been accomplished but in part, is certain. See verses 13-15. Hence it is a great error to locate this proclamation in any past age. Such are the reasons, in brief, which establish the fact that these proclamations are addressed to the last generation of men.
These messages are addressed to men in a state of probation. But it is contrary to the economy of grace that angels should visibly engage in the preaching of the gospel; therefore these angels must symbolize a body of men proclaiming the messages in question; or we may understand that literal angels have the oversight of this work, and that it is carried out through the agency of men.
