SHORTENED FOR THE ELECT’S SAKE

Verse 22: “And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” The papacy was clothed with civil power to punish heretics for 1260 years; and had not the period of tribulation of the elect in the providence of God been shortened, the martyrdom of the church would have continued to 1798, in which event, in all human probability, no flesh of the elect would have been saved. But the reformation under Martin Luther, and those associated with this great reformer, modified this tribulation, and continued to restrain the rage and consume the power of the papacy until 1700, since which time, according to all church history, there has been no general persecution against the church. In this was fulfilled the words of the prophets: “The earth helped the woman.” Revelation 12:16. “They shall be holpen with a little help.” Daniel 11:34. We are brought in this prophetic discourse of our Lord, down into the eighteenth century, very near the present time. We should naturally expect, then, that the instructions and warnings of the next verse would be applicable to this generation.SCOC 32.1

Verses 23, 24: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; in so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Here is a description of the spiritual deception of the present age. False Christs arose soon after the first advent of Christ, to deceive the Jews in regard to that event (see verse 5); likewise false Christs and false prophets have arisen at this day to deceive the people on the subject of the second advent. The Shakers say, “Lo, here is Christ. His second coming is in the person of Ann Lee.” “Lo, he is there,” say many of the popular ministers of these times. “His second coming is at the conversion of sinners, or at the death of saints.” So they have as many second comings of Christ as there are sinners converted, and saints die. Senseless theology this!” Lo, here,” exclaim a host of Spiritualists, and they “show great signs and wonders.” If possible, they would deceive the very elect. And we regard it as a safe conclusion, that they will yet deceive all others but the elect.SCOC 33.1

Verses 25, 26: “Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” Our Lord is here dwelling upon what he has just before told them. His subject is still the teachings of those who say, “Lo, here is Christ!” “Lo, he is there!” If the Mormons say, “Behold, he is in the desert,” at Salt Lake City, “go not forth;” yet many of their disciples have gone. Or if you hear proclaimed from the lips of the professed ministers of Jesus, “Behold, he is in the secret chamber,” Christ’s second coming is spiritual, at death, or at conversion, believe it not. And why not believe such mystical teachings? The reason is given in the next verse.SCOC 33.2

Verses 27, 28: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” We are very happy that our Lord has not only pointed out false Christs and false prophets, and has warned us against their mystical teachings, but he has in contrast set before us the manner of his second coming in the plainest terms. The vivid lightning flashing out of the distant east, and shining even to the west, lights up the whole heavens. What, then, when the Lord comes in flaming glory, and all the holy angels with him? The presence of only one holy angel at the new sepulcher where Christ lay in death, caused the Roman guard to shake, and become as dead men. The light and glory of one angel completely over-powered those strong sentinels. The Son of Man is coming in his own kingly glory, and in the glory of his Father, attended by all the holy angels. Then the whole heavens will blaze with glory, and the whole earth will tremble before him.SCOC 34.1

Verses 29-31: “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. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet; and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”SCOC 34.2

We have before seen that our Lord speaks in this chapter of the long period of tribulation upon his followers, and we have also seen how those days of tribulation were shortened for the elect’s sake. “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, shall the sun be darkened,” etc. We refer the reader to the noted dark day of May 19, 1780, as the fulfillment of this declaration. Mark this: It does not read, after those days, but “after the tribulation of those days.” The days (1260 years, Daniel 7:25) reached to 1798, eighteen years this side of the dark day in 1780. Mark 13:24, makes this point still plainer. “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened.” That is, before the 1260 years closed, but after the tribulation or martyrdom of the saints ceased, the sun was darkened. Those who would point to the future, or to the past, prior to the eighteenth century, for the darkening of the sun here mentioned, will do well to read again Mark 13:24: “But in those days, after that tribulation,SCOC 35.1