For those of you who are interested in last day events, I thought I would share with you the result of many years of research. I invite the reader to think for himself which is what it means to "fear" God, and, like the Bereans, we are admonished "to prove all things and to hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess.5:21.
LAST DAY EVENTS
It was the late Sir Winston Churchill who said that the great secret of being a successful politician was to be able to predict accurately what would happen in a years time, and then to be able to explain why it didn't happen when the time came!
This is the predicament that the wisest men of the world together with all the lesser men and women find themselves in. The future is the great, dark, uncertain, fear inspiring unknown for them, but this is not so for the humble, God-fearing child of God who searches the Scriptures to know what is coming upon the earth. "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You are 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." 1 Thess.5:4-6.
NO MYSTERY
The prophecies are not difficult to understand. The Word of God describes them as being a light that shines in a dark place. Darkness is mysterious and uncertain but the light dispels all of that and makes that which was mysterious, clear and plain. The very wording of Scripture indicates that there is no mystery about these things. True, the prophecies are written in code language but the key to the code is also supplied together with the wonderful guidance of that great and marvelous Teacher, the Holy Spirit. 1 John 2:20,27. No one needs to be in the least doubt or uncertainty as to what these messages mean to them.
"The bible was designed to be a guide to all who wish to become acquainted with the will of their Maker. God gave to men the sure word of prophecy; angels and even Christ Himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things that must shortly come to pass. Those important matters that concern our salvation were not left involved in mystery. They were not revealed in such a way as to perplex and mislead the honest seeker after truth. Said the Lord by the prophet Habakkuk, 'Write the vision, and make it plain that he may run that readeth it.' Hab.2:2. The word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful heart. Every truly honest soul will come to the light of truth. 'Light is sown for the righteous.' And no church can advance in holiness unless its members are earnestly seeking for truth as for hid treasures." G.C.521,522.
In view of the fact that the Lord has made things so clear and so plain, then it is a wonder that so many of us are confused on just what is to take place in the last days of this earth's history. This should not be, and every effort must be made to so clarify in our minds the great teachings of the prophecies that we shall be truly the people of the light and not of darkness.
But there is one good reason as to why things are not yet clear to all and that is that light is progressive. Not all is given to be understood at the one time, but is understood according to the need of the time. "The path of the just is as a shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18. "Even the prophets who were favoured with the special illumination of the Spirit did not fully comprehend the import of the revelations committed to them. The meaning was to be unfolded from age to age as the people of God should need the instruction therein contained." G.C. 344; C.O.L.78.
One has but to study the history of prophetic interpretation to see that, as each generation of Christ's followers came upon the scene, that they understood the prophecies that were the guidelines for their own day while those that were to be fulfilled in a far-future generation were not opened to them fully by the Holy Spirit. They were opened to them to an extent but not in the fulness of the light with which they were revealed to the later generation.
Thus for instance it is clear that in the days of the early Christians the image of Daniel 2 and the four beasts of chapter seven were clearly understood to symbolize the four great world empires of Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece and Rome, but they did not understand the matter of the time, times and dividing of times. Daniel 7:25. But when we come to the Middle Ages, the times of the great Protestant awakening, then we find that Daniel 7 with its description of the Papacy was the great focal point of study and understanding while little or no attention was given to Daniel 8:14. And this situation continued right through till 1798. Then the interest shifted quite dramatically to the study of Daniel 8:14. And this shift of interest happened all over the world in different places quite independently of any influence from other areas.
DILIGENT STUDY NEEDED
Note the words of counsel in this quotation: "Yet while it was not given to the prophets to understand fully the things revealed to them, they earnestly sought to obtain all the light which God had been pleased to make manifest. They 'inquired and searched diligently...' What a lesson to the people of God in the Christian age, for whose benefits these prophecies were given to His servants! 'Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister,' 1 Peter 1:10-12. Witness those holy men of God as they 'inquired and searched diligently' concerning generations that were yet unborn. Contrast their holy zeal with the listless unconcern with which the favored ones of later ages treat this gift of Heaven. What a rebuke to the ease-loving, world-loving indifference which is content to declare that the prophecies cannot be understood." G.C.344.
Now the time has surely come when we are facing the last events in this world's history. We can see the steady trend of advancing events in the earth that warn us of the coming crisis. It is thus to be expected that the time has most surely come for the Lord to open more clearly before us the details of the prophecies that reveal what He will do in this final and finishing conflict. We have before us the sure promise that "Increased light will shine upon all the grand truths of prophecy, and they will be seen in freshness and brilliancy, because the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness will illuminate the whole." Evangelism, p.343.
As we turn now to our study of last day events, let us remember that, "In the last great conflict... That which has been will be..." for "The work of God in the earth presents, from age to age, a striking similarity in every great reformation or religious movement. The important movements of the present have their parallel in those of the past, and the experience of the church in former ages has lessons of great value for our own time." G.C.343.
Advent Believer
[This message has been edited by adventbeliever (edited February 10, 2001).]
