October 6, 1898

A Lesson For Our Time

EGW

Christ knew that the disciples could not take in the representation He had given them in answer to their question, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Christ knew the terrible future of the once chosen people of God, but He knew also that His disciples could not fully understand His description of the fearful scenes to be enacted at the destruction of Jerusalem. In His answer, the two events,—the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world,—are merged into one. It was in mercy to his disciples that Christ thus blended these two events, leaving them to study out the meaning for themselves.ST October 6, 1898, par. 1

Christ had made every effort to keep His disciples informed in regard to the truth. He had given them every opportunity to know the truth. He had invited them to place their confidence in Him as their Messiah, and in His mission and work. But they had not yet a proper understanding of the nature of His Kingdom. They were thrilled with distress as they listened to His lamentation over Jerusalem; but they did not realize the true meaning of His words. Had Christ opened to them future events as He saw them, they would have been unable to endure it. To the last they looked for a temporal kingdom, which was to be established at Jerusalem.ST October 6, 1898, par. 2

Christ's declaration of the scenes to be acted at the destruction of Jerusalem, they associated with His personal coming, when He Himself would punish the Jews, but would also free them from the Roman bondage. He had told them definitely that He would come a second time, and probably His judgments would then fall upon those who rejected His love. He would then, they thought, lay low every stone in the building; for they believed that no earthly power could do this.ST October 6, 1898, par. 3

But retribution was to fall before this on the apostate nation, which was still further to show its malignity to Christ by its treatment of His followers.ST October 6, 1898, par. 4

From the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ passed on to a much greater event, the last link in the chain of his earth's history,—the coming of the Son of God in majesty and glory. “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 heaven 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.”ST October 6, 1898, par. 5

Christ gave special directions with regard to this event. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree,” He said: “When His branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these thing, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation [the generation that sees the signs] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My father only.” Christ stated plainly to His disciples that He Himself could not make known the day and hour of His second appearing. Had he been at liberty to make this time known, what need would there have been for Him to extort them to maintain an attitude of constant expectancy, living and working and waiting as tho each day was, not their own, but the Lord's, cultivating fidelity, faith, and love, and purifying the soul through the truth?ST October 6, 1898, par. 6

Christ tells His disciples that the time of His appearing is involved in secrecy. There will be those who claim to know the time of that great event. Very earnest are they in mapping out the future, which the Lord has placed in a thick cloud, that the day, the month, and even the year may not be known. Notwithstanding the continued failures of these time-setters, they still continue their work. But their reasoning is false, and the Lord has warned them off the ground they occupy; for the coming of the Son of man is God's mystery. “Secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever.”ST October 6, 1898, par. 7

“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” God does not here bring to view a temporal millennium, a thousand years in which all are to prepare for eternity. He tells us that as it was in Noah's day, so will it be when the Son of man comes again.ST October 6, 1898, par. 8

How was it in Noah's day?—“God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Had man co-operated with God, there would have been no Cain-worshippers. Abel's example of obedience would have been followed. Men might have worked out the expressed will of God. They might have obeyed His law, and in obedience they would have found their safety and salvation. God and the heavenly universe would have helped them to retain the divine likeness. Longevity would have been preserved; and God would have delighted in the work of his hands. But the inhabitants of the antediluvian world turned from Jehovah, refusing to do His holy will. They followed their unholy imagination and perverted ideas. “And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The earth is field with violence.... Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.... And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and everything that is in the earth shall die.”ST October 6, 1898, par. 9

Remember the warning, “As the days of Noe were, so also shall the coming of the Son of man be.” It was because of the wickedness of the inhabitants of the old world that they were destroyed; and today the world is following in the same way. It presents no flattering signs of millennial glory. Human lawmakers open their law books, and pronounce sentence against those who do not keep their laws. But those who frame and enforce these laws are themselves transgressors of God's law, and their transgressing is filling the earth with wickedness and moral pollution. Their betting, their horse-racing, their gambling, their dissipation, their lustful practices, their untamable passions, are fast filling the world with violence. Bank failures ruin thousands of families. Widows and orphans are left to starve. And yet those in authority are making and enforcing laws to uphold the first day of the week, which God has given us as a common working day.ST October 6, 1898, par. 10

These lawmakers speak to those under their supervision, saying, Verily, the first day of the week ye shall keep, because it is the world's Sabbath. The churches keep this day as holy, and those under our supervision shall keep it also, because it is so enforced on our statute-books. We have chosen Sunday as the Sabbath, and therefore every one must keep it.ST October 6, 1898, par. 11

What is this day that is so universally exalted?—It is a spurious Sabbath, a common working day. It is accepted in the place of the seventh day, which the Lord has sanctified and blessed, and the sure consequence of this course may be seen in the punishment of which fell upon Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. As priests of God, they had been commanded to offer always the fire of God's own kindling, which was kept burning before God day and night. This law was ever to be observed. But Nadab and Abihu had used wine too freely. Their minds were not keen, but confused; and they were unable to distinguish between the sacred and common. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”ST October 6, 1898, par. 12

The Lord has given directions regarding His Sabbath: “The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.”ST October 6, 1898, par. 13

The statutes of the Lord are to be reverenced and obeyed. But those who strive to make His law a dead letter, He will certainly punish. God is supreme authority in all His requirements, and when His law is set aside as a matter of no consequence, the transgressor must surely bear the consequences of his own sin, though God bears long with him.ST October 6, 1898, par. 14

“Therefore be ye also ready; for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, who his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”ST October 6, 1898, par. 15

Mrs. E. G. White