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"What's New?"
Query #1
Why?
If the second coming is
to be the greatest event in history .....
If Jesus is to stand out
in space waiting for His saints to join Him .........
If we are to know the
day and the hour of His appearance beforehand ...........
then
WHY?
the statements which say
.........
"you know not what
hour your Lord does come"
"the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night".
The first statements:
1 Thessalonians 4:17
"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord".
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In the time of trouble we all fled from the cities and
villages, but were pursued by the wicked, who entered the
houses of the saints with a sword. They raised the sword to
kill us, but it broke, and fell as powerless as a straw. Then
we all cried day and night for deliverance, and the cry came
up before God. The sun came up, and the moon stood still. The
streams ceased to flow. Dark, heavy clouds came up and
clashed against each other. But there was one clear place of
settled glory, whence came the voice of God like many waters,
which shook the heavens and the earth. The sky opened and
shut and was in commotion. The mountains shook like a reed in
the wind, and cast out ragged rocks all around. The sea
boiled like a pot and cast out stones upon the land. And as God spoke the day and the hour of
Jesus' coming and delivered the
everlasting covenant [the Ten Commandments] to His people, He spoke one sentence, and then
paused, while the words were rolling through the earth. The
Israel of God stood with their eyes fixed upward, listening
to the words as they came from the mouth of Jehovah, and
rolled through the earth like peals of loudest thunder. It
was awfully solemn. And at the end of every sentence the
saints shouted, "Glory! Alleluia!" Their
countenances were lighted up with the glory of God; and they
shone with the glory, as did the face of Moses when he came
down from Sinai. The wicked could not look on them for the
glory. And when the never-ending blessing was pronounced on
those who had honored God in keeping His Sabbath holy, there
was a mighty shout of victory over the beast and over his
image.
This is hardly something we or the
rest of the world could miss!!! Yet it is written ...
Matthew 24:42
"Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your
Lord does come".
Matthew 24:50
"The lord of that servant shall come in a day
when he looks not for Him, and in an hour that he is
not aware of..."
1 Thessalonians 5:1-2
"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no
need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly
that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the
night".
2 Peter 3:10
"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in
the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned
up".
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The world is no more ready to credit the message for this
time than were the Jews to receive the Saviour's warning
concerning Jerusalem. Come when it may, the day of God
will come unawares to the ungodly. When life is going on
in its unvarying round; when men are absorbed in pleasure, in
business, in traffic, in money-making; when religious leaders
are magnifying the world's progress and enlightenment, and
the people are lulled in a false security -- then, as the
midnight thief steals within the unguarded dwelling, so shall
sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly,
"and they shall not escape." Verse 3. [1 Thessalonians 5:3].
WHY? WHY? WHY?
Because
they are NOT speaking of the same thing!
The "day and
the hour" refers to the physical second coming of Jesus to this earth, and the
time of the "little black cloud" which will be seen in
space.
The "day of
God" refers to that point in TIME when He will cease His daily work in the
sanctuary in heaven, change His clothes, and commence the last
part of the final atonement, the judgment of the living. We call
that time, the "close of probation". This TIME will pass unnoticed by the majority of
the people living on the earth (like the experience of October
22, 1844), but not necessarily by those who know the ways and
times of God. [Comment]. After all, Noah knew that the door was shut,
after it was shut! In like manner, the living Christians will not
know before it happens, although they will know that the
death decree has been passed but not yet executed.
After the close of
probation the saints of God will not hear from Him or the Spirit
until the Father announces the fact that Jesus will be here soon
(the day and the hour - i.e. tomorrow at 3pm).
Notice that not at any time will anyone know the YEAR of the
advent.
There is a reason
and a purpose for the delay from the time of the close of
probation till the announcement of His coming.
Luke 18:1-8
"And He spoke a parable to them to this end, that
men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying,
"There
was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded
man.
"And
there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him,
saying, 'Avenge me of my adversary'. And he would not for a
while: but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I fear
not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubles me,
I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary
me'.
"And
the Lord said, Hear what the unjust [or worldly] judge says. And shall not God avenge His
own elect, which cry day and night to Him, though He bear [or have to wait] long with them? I tell you that
He will avenge them speedily.
"Nevertheless
when the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?"
Thus it is
written:-
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Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud,
about half the size of a man's hand. It is the cloud which
surrounds the Saviour and which seems in the distance to be
shrouded in darkness. The people of God know this to be
the sign of the Son of man. [Matthew
24:30]. In solemn silence they gaze
upon it as it draws
nearer the earth, becoming lighter and
more glorious, until it is a great white cloud [a
period of time], its base a glory like
consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant.
Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror.
Not now a "Man of
Sorrows," to drink the bitter cup of shame and woe, He
comes, victor in heaven and earth, to judge the living and
the dead. "Faithful and True," "in
righteousness He doth judge and make war." And "the
armies which were in heaven" (Revelation 19:11, 14)
follow Him. With anthems of celestial melody the holy angels,
a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him on His way. The
firmament seems filled with radiant forms--"ten thousand
times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." No
human pen can portray the scene; no mortal mind is adequate
to conceive its splendor.
"His glory covered the
heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. And His
brightness was as the light." Habakkuk 3:3,4. As the
living cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince
of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head; but a
diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance
outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun.
"And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name
written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." Revelation
19:16.
This experience will be similar to
one that the prophet Elijah went through. (He is a type of the
last day Christians, the 144,000).
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He [Elijah] does not become impatient and faithless because the
Lord does not immediately give the token that his prayer is
heard. He continues in earnest prayer, sending his servant
seven times to see if God has granted any signal. His servant
returns the sixth time from his outlook toward the sea with
the discouraging report that there is no sign of clouds
forming in the brassy heavens. The seventh time he informs
Elijah that there is a small cloud to be seen, about the
size of a man's hand. This is enough to satisfy the faith of Elijah. He does not wait for the heavens to gather
blackness, to make the matter sure. In that small, rising
cloud his faith hears the sound of abundance of rain. His
works are in accordance with his faith. He sends a message to
Ahab by his servant: "Prepare thy chariot, and get thee
down, that the rain stop thee not."
We will need that faith if
we are to wait through the quiet time of the judgment. [If you haven't
already, see "The Quiet Judgment"].
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Could men see with heavenly vision, they would behold
companies of angels that excel in strength stationed about
those who have kept the word of Christ's patience. With
sympathizing tenderness, angels have witnessed their distress
and have heard their prayers. They are waiting the word of
their Commander to snatch them from their peril. But they
must wait yet a little longer. The people of God must drink
of the cup and be baptized with the baptism. The very
delay, so painful to them, is the best answer to their
petitions. As they endeavor to wait trustingly for the
Lord to work they are led to exercise faith, hope, and
patience, which have
been too little exercised during their religious experience. Yet for the elect's sake the time of trouble will
be shortened. "Shall not God avenge His own elect, which
cry day and night unto Him? . . . I tell you that He will
avenge them speedily." Luke 18:7, 8. The end will come
more quickly than men expect. The wheat will be gathered and
bound in sheaves for the garner of God; the tares will be
bound as fagots for the fires of destruction.
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"What's New?"
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In like manner the types which relate to the second advent
must be fulfilled at
the time pointed out in the symbolic service. Under the Mosaic system the cleansing of the
sanctuary, or the great Day of Atonement, occurred on the
tenth day of the seventh Jewish month (Leviticus 16:29-34),
when the high priest, having made an atonement for all
Israel, and thus removed their sins from the sanctuary, came
forth and blessed the people. So it was believed that Christ,
our great High Priest, would appear to purify the earth by
the destruction of sin and sinners, and to bless His waiting
people with immortality. The tenth day of the seventh month,
the great Day of Atonement, the time of the cleansing of the
sanctuary, which in the year 1844 fell upon the twenty-second
of October, was regarded as the time of the Lord's coming.
This was in harmony with the proofs already presented that
the 2300 days would terminate in the autumn, and the
conclusion seemed irresistible.
[Back to thought].
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