Introductory.
“Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7.
No truth of inspiration can be more clearly demonstrated than that God reveals his designs to his prophets, that men and nations may be prepared for their accomplishment. 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. The wickedness of the world had become very great. Every imagination of the thoughts of the hearts of men was only evil. It would seem that they had forfeited all claims for consideration. Violence and corruption filled the earth, and the only way to eradicate evil was to destroy it with its workers. But before doing so, the world must be warned of the impending doom; and there was found one man who would engage in the work. Noah had faith in God, and preached for one hundred and twenty years the message of [pg 006] warning and salvation. His work also testified with his words.
“By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world.” Heb. 11:7.
At a later period, when the nations had again become sunken in idolatry and crime, and the destruction of wicked Sodom and Gomorrah 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.” 2 Peter 2:7, 8. His righteous life had been a rebuke to them; and we have every reason to believe that the holy example of Abraham in his worship of the true God was known to them. He had at one time been their saviour, and rescued their captives and spoil from the victorious enemy who was carrying them away. But when Lot warned his friends of the approaching doom, “he seemed as one that mocked.” Gen. 19:14. They, like the antediluvians, persisted in sin, and drank of the wrath of God.
At a subsequent time the sins of Nineveh rose to heaven, and Jonah was sent to bear to that proud capital the startling message, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be destroyed.” The consciences of those sinners told them the message was true; and from the least of them to the greatest they humbled themselves, and the overhanging judgment was averted.
Before Christ commenced his earthly mission, John the Baptist was sent as the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” By this means the expectation of the people was raised, and doubtless many were through it led to accept of salvation, while the generation at large was condemned for rejecting the light.
Our Saviour in his time saw the destruction of Jerusalem just in the future of that generation, and faithfully warned the people, foretelling signs by which it might be known when the desolation thereof was nigh. Luke 21:21. Such is the testimony of inspiration respecting the dealings of God with his people in past ages.
All who accept the Bible as the inspired word of God acknowledge that he has been very faithful in warning people in past ages of impending judgments and other events which affected their eternal welfare. Such having been the divine plan in relation to past events, we would certainly be justified in anticipating such warnings of Christ's second coming as would comport with the importance of the event. But when we come to regard the future, and especially our own immediate future, the incredulity of very many is at once aroused.
But what are the facts in the case? Can anything be learned from the Bible relative to the time of the second advent? 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 many, under the influence of popular prejudice, have decided that the period of the second advent is a secret, hidden with the Lord. While these can scarcely be reached with this subject, as long as they remain under the influence of those who denounce all investigation of it as prying into the [pg 009] secrets of the Almighty, there is still, we believe, a larger class who wait for evidence before deciding.
Christ Weeping Over Jerusalem
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, in a most clear and harmonious manner, point out the signs of the approach of that great event, and if there is evidence that “it is near, even at the doors,” the subject at once assumes great importance.
When the disciples inquired, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus did not reprove them for inquiring into this matter, nor tell them that it was purposely hidden from all men; but he answered their question in the most definite manner.
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 his injunctions to watchfulness, and the blessings which he pronounces upon those who are awake and watching at his coming, and it becomes a certainty that he would not leave his people ignorant of the proximity of that event. Paul also says that “unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. 9:28. And that a crown of righteousness will be given “unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Tim. 4:8.
With these assurances we may look for plain and emphatic tokens of the Saviour's second coming.