Your ShelfYour Projects

THE SECOND ADVENT

4%

Seventh-Day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · March 18, 1880

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 55, No. 12

Read the full edition

THE SECOND ADVENT.

By James White

Sermon delivered at the Tabernacle, Sabbath, Feb. 7, 1880.
BY ELD. JAMES WHITE.
The custom of reading sermons is popular in our day. Such sermons are sometimes written by those who read them; sometimes they are bought, and sometimes borrowed. Some are theoretical, some practical. I will read a portion of a sermon from an eminent minister,—one who excelled in his day. As a practical reasoner, he probably excels all. His Christian experience has been regarded as very remarkable by Christians for eighteen hundred years.
I will begin my extract from 1 Thess. 4:13.
“But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. “For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first: “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. “Wherefore comfort one another with these words. “But of the times and the seasons, brethren ye have no need that I write unto you. “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. “For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. “For they that sleep, sleep in the night; and they that be drunken, are drunken in the night. “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. “Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. “And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; “And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves. “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. “Rejoice evermore. “Pray without ceasing. “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. “Quench not the Spirit. “Despise not prophesyings. “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. “Abstain from all appearance of evil. “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. “Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.” 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 5:1-24.
The subjects introduced by the apostle are the second coming of the Lord, and the practical duties necessary to a preparation for that glorious event. I think I hear the congregation say, That sermon of Paul’s is splendid. I might now sit down, for we already have more gospel truth than we usually find in the lean sermons read from the popular pulpits of our time.
There is something wonderful in the epistles, especially those of Paul, Peter, and John. Paul was a profound scholar and reasoner, and as he enters into the great truths of God, there may be some things difficult to understand. Peter expresses it when he says that in the writings of his beloved brother Paul, “there are some things hard to be understood.” And at the same time, Paul comes down to our wants. In expressing divine truth in his sermons, he has the preference. Peter, full of zeal and life, urges the church to faithfulness; and the beloved John announces, again and again, that “God is love.”
What these men have said about the coming of the Lord is of thrilling interest to us, and should be studied with care.
The position is taken by some, who reject our special message and work, that the apostles looked for the coming of Christ; that the martyrs and reformers looked for that event in their day; that it is right for us to look for the coming of the Lord as they did; and that there is no special message to be given upon the subject. These persons have not studied the subject. They arrive at their conclusions because they take a surface view of the matter.
We do not deny that the early Christians looked for the return of the Lord in their day. They did not understand the prophecies, and from the very nature of the case they could not understand them as we now may. Prophecy is history in advance, and nothing but the lapse of time can unfold it. The prophetic pen gives a sketch of the future rise and fall of kingdoms. Time rolls on; the student of prophecy now has two histories covering the same ground, that which was given in advance, and the secular history. He may compare the two, and learn where in the history of the world he stands. But the clear light of prophecy, and the great object to which it points, can never be comprehended and fully understood until we reach the last generation, where all the specifications of the prophecy are fulfilled but one, and that is the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection of the dead.
That some of the early church looked for the coming of Christ in their day, appears evident from Paul’s second epistle to the church at Thessalonica. “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work; only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thess. 2:1-8.
Some were looking for the second advent in Paul’s day, and they were writing letters about it, which made it necessary for the apostle to warn the church at Thessalonica against their influence. In his epistle he represents such as deceivers. There must come a falling away first. The great apostasy of the second, third, and fourth centuries, resulted in the establishment of the Papacy. The spirit of the Papacy was working in Paul’s day. Paganism, which hindered the full development of the papal power, was taken away, and the man of sin had the supremacy in A. D. 538. This blasphemous and persecuting power was to extend over a period of 1260 years, reaching down to 1798, when Berthier, a French general, entered Rome and took the pope prisoner, who died in exile in 1799. “That Wicked” is the power which is to exist until the coming of Christ. It was established in 538, and then it must continue 1260 years before Christ could come. Any man that would preach the coming of the Lord in the apostle’s day, or in succeeding centuries, prior to 1798, is branded by Paul as a deceiver.
The Saviour takes up the signs in the sun, moon, and stars, the last of which was fulfilled in A. D. 1833, and then illustrates the subject by the parable of the fig tree. “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; 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 things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:32-35.
We have reached the very period when the great prophecies of Daniel and John have all been fulfilled, excepting the last specification. Now many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Daniel exclaimed, “O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” The angel replied, “Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” The prophecy was sealed to the time of the end, not to the end itself. Daniel could not understand the things shown him; they related to the future, and therefore they were closed up and sealed.
The apostle introduces the state of the dead in words of condolence to those who had been bereaved of their Christian friends. He would dispel their grief by expelling their ignorance on the subject. “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.” 1 Thess. 4:13. These impressive words of the apostle do not refer to natural sleep. When our friends retire for the night, and enjoy sweet rest, we do not sorrow, but rejoice. “Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death; but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.” John 11:11-14.
Paul proposes to instruct the Thessalonians relative to the condition of the dead. Does he tell them that at death the immortal soul, or real man, is separated from the body, and goes up to God’s right hand for the purpose of enjoying sleep? Paul is about to give some information that will give comfort to the church. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.” The living saints are not to receive the touch of immortality and ascend to meet their Lord in advance of the resurrection of those who sleep in their graves. “For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
The apostle has now told the story without once intimating that at death the immortal spirit separates from the body, and goes up to God. He declares that the Lord himself is coming. But some say that the second coming of Christ took place at the destruction of Jerusalem; others place the event at death, or at conversion; and still others point to Spiritualism, or Shakerism, or Mormonism, as the second advent. Still others say the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost was the beginning of Christ’s spiritual reign. Hence the fulfillment of the words of our Lord relative to those who should say, Lo, here is Christ; and, Lo, he is there.
Angels thus addressed the men of Galilee as they took the last view of their departing Lord: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven.” Paul continues: “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.” He would seem to say to us, You have the books of Daniel and John, and have no need that I write to you as to the period of the second advent. The burden of this epistle is the practical duties necessary to a preparation for the coming of Christ. Paul continues: “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”
That is what I thought, says one, that the Lord would come as a thief in the night, and the church would be in darkness on the subject until the event bursts upon them unexpectedly. Hear Paul again: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” The church of Christ are not in darkness upon the subject. The event will not come upon them unexpectedly. Mark the difference between “ye” and “they.” Ye, the true church, are not in darkness; they who say, Peace and safety, will be suddenly surprised when the Lord comes, and will not escape the destruction that will come upon them in that great day.
This epistle is prophetic, and evidently applies to our time, when the subject of the second advent is agitated. By no system of interpretation whatever can Paul’s words apply to the first centuries. The subject of the times and seasons was not to be agitated then. It is to be agitated now. There was no light then shining from the prophetic word upon the subject, as the words relative to the end were closed up and sealed to the time of the end. These prophecies are now unsealed; and, in the language of the apostle, “Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.”
Although this epistle might have a general application to the Christian church during the entire Christian dispensation, yet it is evident that the apostle comes down over the centuries, and places himself in this generation, and speaks in behalf of those who are waiting for the coming of the Son of man. When Paul says we shall be changed, he means, literally, you. He is writing with his eye on our time. But did they say, Peace and safety, relative to the day of God? Not in Paul’s day. It is the generation that is to witness the coming of Christ, that hears this serene lullaby.
In writing to the church at Corinth, he says: “Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Cor. 15: 51, 52. When Paul says we shall not all sleep, die, and we shall be changed, made immortal, he does not mean that he and his Corinthian brethren were not to see death, but were to live to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Stern facts in the case positively forbid the application of these words to Paul and his brethren.
Paul died a martyr for his Master. He and the Corinthian brethren long centuries since returned to dust, from which the first man was made. They will not be alive at Christ’s second coming to receive the touch of immortality, without seeing death. This, however, will be the case with those whom Paul addresses in the prophetic portions of his epistles, which can have an application to no other period than the last generation, and to no other people than those who are actually looking for the coming of the Son of man. Many of these will be alive when Christ comes, and will be changed to immortality without seeing death. But if it be urged that the words, “We shall not all sleep,” embrace the great apostle as one that should not die, we would simply remark that in this case he must be a very aged gentleman, outliving Methuselah nearly twice over.
The view taken of the subject of the second coming of Christ by his first disciples, is good evidence in the case. Did they regard death, conversion, or the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, as the second coming of Christ? Peter, ardent Peter, whose active mind and good heart were ever awake to the interests of his Master and his fellow-disciples, makes an inquiry relative to the duty of John in these words: “Lord, and what shall this man do?” “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” So far from regarding death as the second coming of Christ, the early Christians were impressed with the fact that those who should be living at the time of the second advent, would not die at all. Hence, at the least intimation that John would tarry till the coming of his Master, away flew the saying, as upon the wings of the wind, that that disciple should not die.
(Concluded next week.)