The Second Advent by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 8, 1909

The Second Advent

By Editor

The leading editorial article in the Christian Advocate (Methodist), New York, of March 25, is devoted to the Seventh-day Adventists and their teaching concerning the nearness of the coming of Christ. From this article, whose title, “Indefatigable Proselyters,” reveals the Methodist estimate of this whole movement, we quote:—

The Seventh-day Adventists maintain that “the end of all things is at hand,” and believe that the world should be warned of that event. . . . They do not now fix a day, but they feel certain that his [Christ’s] coming is near at hand. Through the whole career of Christianity, people have been teaching that same thing. Believing, as we do, in the Gospels, and that the words and passages in the Bible which relate to the coming of Christ must be compatible with the lapse of nineteen hundred years, though they seem in their letter to imply his speedy coming, we infer that what is compatible with nineteen hundred years may be compatible with ten times that number. We trust that the Seventh-day Adventists, whom we respect for their energy and adherence to an unpopular doctrine, will not think us inclined to scoff when we show that Saint Peter meets the case in a way which convinces us of the entire uncertainty of the time of Christ’s coming, and that he may not come for thousands of years; and further, that the reason he is delaying is that more souls may be saved.

In the third chapter of the Second Epistle of Peter it is written that, “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” He then draws a parallel between the people who did not believe the flood was coming but were mistaken, and proceeds: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing; that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” In stating that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day, the apostle overturns the view that undertakes to determine whether he is coming soon or will long delay.

We hope that our energy and our adherence to an unpopular doctrine may never lead us to do anything which would justly forfeit the respect of our fellow Christians, among whom we reckon the Methodists, but we must speak plainly when a vital truth of the gospel is at stake.

We understand the position of the Christian Advocate as herein set forth to be, briefly stated, this: since things have continued for nineteen hundred years since the first advent, we are warranted in concluding that they may continue nineteen thousand years; although there are passages in the Bible which “seem in their letter to imply his [Christ’s] speedy coming,” yet the apostle Peter establishes clearly “the entire uncertainty of the time of Christ’s coming.”

As to the first assertion, it seems fortunate or unfortunate, according to the standpoint from which the matter is viewed, that the Advocate in its own article quoted the scripture which so clearly applies to its own position. It is in reply to a certain class of persons, from whose company the Advocate desires to be excluded, who in the last days would argue against the doctrine of the second advent, saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,” that the apostle Peter cites the deluge as a positive contradiction of the claim “that all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation,” and then declares that the long-continued delay in the final destruction of the world by fire is not due to any slackness on the Lord’s part, but to his long-suffering. His statement, however, that “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” furnishes no warrant for declaring that the same is true of man, and that therefore it is impossible to apply with any certainty the definite time periods mentioned in the Scriptures. To make such a claim as this is to array one portion of the Scriptures against another, and to lay upon God the responsibility of deceiving and misleading his people through the utterances of his prophets.

In view of the position taken by the Advocate, it seems proper to call attention to a few of the time prophecies which have been clearly fulfilled. To Abram it was revealed that his seed should be afflicted in the land of Egypt four hundred years, and at the close of that period, “even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.”

To Ahaz, king of Judah, the prophet Isaiah made known the word of the Lord that “within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people.” This prophecy was literally

fulfilled; for “when the predicted sixty-five years had fully run out, in the year B. C. 676, . . . Esarhaddon, son of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded the land of Ephraim, carried captive another detachment of Israelites, and thus finally destroyed the national existence of the ten tribes.”

In the time of Nebuchadnezzar, the prophet Jeremiah bore this message concerning the land of Judah: “This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” When this period was fulfilled, “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,” bringing to an end the Babylonian captivity, and permitting the Jews to return to their own land.

To the prophet Daniel, the heavenly messenger made this remarkable announcement: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.” That these sixty-nine weeks were weeks of years, and that they extended to the public appearance of Christ as the Messiah, is shown by his own words as recorded in Mark 1:14, 15: “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Because the time was fulfilled, there was a general spirit of expectation among the Jewish people, insomuch that it is declared that “the people were in suspense,” while some, like Simeon and Anna, who were “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” recognized by the Spirit the child Jesus as the promised Messiah.

In the time of Abram, or of Ahaz, or of Nebuchadnezzar, or of Daniel, it was just as true as it was when the apostle Peter wrote it, “that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day,” and yet literal time prophecies were given and fulfilled according to the finite method of measuring time usually employed among men. It is certain therefore that there is nothing in this statement made by the apostle Peter which militates against positive knowledge concerning the definite fulfilment of the prophetic word.

The prophecies relating to events of olden time and culminating in the first advent are no more definite than those relating to the Christian era and culminating in the period of the second advent. The ten days (years) of tribulation (A. D. 303-313), the thousand two hundred and threescore days (years) during which the church was in the wilderness (A. D. 538-1798) in the time of the papal supremacy, and the two thousand and three hundred days (years) which covered the period until the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary (B. C. 457 to A. D. 1844), not to mention other prophetic periods, have all been fulfilled with the utmost definiteness, and yet the Advocate throws all these facts to the winds, covers the whole field of prophetic study with a fog of uncertainty, and perverts the statement of the apostle Peter into a testimony which “overturns the view that undertakes to determine whether he [Christ] is coming soon or will long delay.”

Furthermore, the view urged by the Advocate is tantamount to the charge that when our Lord replied to the inquiry of the disciples, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” he merely tantalized them with glittering generalities, or else raised false hopes in their minds by statements apparently clear and definite, but which in reality could not be positively interpreted by any one; and yet after giving a list of latter-day signs,—signs which would be hung out in the heavens to attract the attention of all,—our Lord said, “When ye shall see all these things, know that he is near, even at the doors. Verily, I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” The “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars,” have appeared according to our Saviour’s prediction, and we therefore believe that we are living in the generation which “shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” while on the other hand, the Advocate believes “that he may not come for thousands of years.” If this latter view is correct, then our Lord’s great prophecy was mere words—an answer which was no answer at all.

It is plain from the Scriptures, that just as John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus, and by his teaching prepared the way for his first advent, so there will be a message of preparation proclaimed to the world in the generation just before the second advent; but according to the teaching of the Advocate it will be impossible to give such a message with any certainty, as no one would know when the prophecies had been fulfilled, and when the warning of the nearness of the advent should be given. An interpretation which practically renders valueless no inconsiderable portion of the Scriptures, and which leaves the people of God entirely in the dark concerning the great consummation which has been their hope in all ages, is a travesty on exegesis, and makes the word of God of none effect through tradition. In marked contrast with this teaching of uncertainty is the view, more Scriptural and more satisfying, which has been well expressed in these words:—

The God of providence and Author of inspiration has seen fit to assign chronological limits to historical episodes, as much as to day and night, cycle and season; he who adjusts the axial and orbital revolutions of the globe to harmonize with the physical requirements of nature and of man, has in his wisdom and goodness adjusted also the revolutions and changes of history, the duration of empires and of kingdoms, the birth of new eras and the dates of closing revolutions, with a view to the moral and spiritual good of the human race, and the manifestation of his own glory. Further, he has been pleased to reveal his chronological purposes as well as his moral purposes, and to make plain to his people in these days the fact that in those eternal counsels “the mystery of God” is well-nigh finished, and the manifestation of his kingdom at hand.