p. 12 | The Signs of the Times by James White

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 9, 1879

The Signs of the Times.

By James White

THE title, or heading of this Journal, conveys the idea to the mind of the reader that it is designed to be largely devoted to expositions of those portions of the prophetic word the fulfilment of which constitute the signs of our times. It becomes our pleasant task to present this great subject in the several numbers for 1879. In this issue, however, we give a brief

INTRODUCTION.

The signs of the times, in the broadest sense of the phrase, signifies tokens of the presence, or the soon advent of some great crisis. In the more limited sense of the sacred Scriptures, evidences of the end near, or that the second coming of Christ is nigh at hand, even at the doors is meant.

We are living in an age of wonders. No sooner does the excitement of the public mind subside as one marvel passes into history, than something new and still more marvelous, is brought before the people. The record of new things in science, of startling events in the political and religious world, are entering into the daily history of our time. But in order for any new manifestation or remarkable event to constitute a sign of the end near, it must be a matter of prophecy.

Many become excited at some startling event which is not a matter of prophecy, and regard it as a sure token of the second advent near. In this they are mistaken. The prophetic word is the only means of information on this subject which we possess. God, who alone knows the end from the beginning, can only reveal such an event of the future. However startling may be the events which are transpiring, they are signs of the second advent near only as they stand connected with the fulfillment of the "sure word of prophecy."

"Can ye not discern the signs of the times?" Matt. 16:3. Our Lord asked the Pharisees and Sadducees the question contained in the text at a time when they came to him tempting him for a sign from heaven. It was a reproof to them for their unbelief in the signs mentioned by the Old-Testament writers, which they professed to believe, and which were actually fulfilling before their eyes, yet disregarded by them. They could tell the weather for the morrow, but had no skill in those prophecies that pointed to that time. We will here name some of the signs which the Jews had as evidence of Jesus' being the true Messiah.

SIGNS OF THE FIRST ADVENT.

1. Christ was born of a virgin, Matt. 1:18–25; spoken of in Isa. 7:14.

2. Bethlehem was his birthplace, Matt. 2:1; mentioned in Micah 5:2.

3. Herod's slaying all the children in Bethlehem, from two years old and under, Matt. 2:16, 18, prophesied of in Jer. 31:15.

4. His forerunner, John. "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Isa. 40:3. All Judea and Jerusalem saw this sign when they went out to be baptized of John. Matt. 3:1–6.

5. The gospel preached. When Jesus stood up in the synagogue to read, he opened the book and read where it is written, Isa. 61:1, "The Spirit of God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings," &c. The eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened upon him. And he said unto them, "This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Luke 4:16–21.

6. His humility when on trial. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted; yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." Isa. 53:7.

7. The manner and circumstances of his death. "They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. . . . . They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture." Ps. 22:13–18. This prophecy had an exact and literal accomplishment at the crucifixion of Christ, and the Jews saw it. Read Matt. 27:35.

8. The fulfillment of the seventy weeks of Dan. 9:24–27. The Jews understood this, or might have understood it. Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself; but being high priest that year, he prophesied [or taught the prophecies] that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad." John 11:49–52. We might add to these signs the miracles of Christ, his resurrection, the pouring out of the Holy Ghost on the day of pentecost, and still others which were distinctly spoken of by the prophets.

But notwithstanding all this Scripture was fulfilling before the faces of the rulers of the Jews, and all these signs were actually accomplished in a little more than thirty years, and they themselves had to acknowledge that notable miracles had been done, yet they believed not. Well may it be said by this generation that the Jews deserved wrath, and God was just in destroying their nation and place. But how is it with the professed people of God at this day? Do they believe in that word which they blame the Jews for rejecting? The Jews were looking for a temporal kingdom, and overlooked the signs of Christ's first advent. The nominal church, as a body, is looking for a temporal millennium, and overlook the signs of his second advent, which are more numerous and forcible than those of his first advent. Then if the signs of Christ's second coming are doubted and rejected by the professed people of God of this generation, the sin of unbelief will rest upon them heavier than it did upon the Jews, in proportion as they reject greater light.

J. W.