The Second Coming of Christ

WHEN SHALL THESE THINGS BE?

OUR Lord having passed over the important events in the Christian age down to the end, in verses 5-14, goes back and introduces the destruction of Jerusalem, at verse 15, in answer to the inquiry, “When shall these things be?” SCOC 27.4

Verses 15-20: “When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whose readeth, let him understand); then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains; let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day. SCOC 27.5

The “abomination of desolation” is called “armies” in Luke 21:20, and refers to the Roman army. “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” This desolating power is spoken of by Daniel as follows: “And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.... And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Margin, “desolator.” Daniel 9:26, 27. Here is a clear prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. Our Lord referred to the book of Daniel, and taught his disciples to read and understand it; and when they should see what was there predicted take place, they must make their escape. SCOC 28.1

The flight of the Christians of Judea to the mountains would be attended with difficulties. And their subsequent condition would be that of hardship and suffering. The Lord knew this, and gave them the instructions and warnings necessary. The statement of verse 19 was given to save them from the sorrows of unnecessary woe. That was a time of trouble. But one, “such as never was,” is just before the people of God. SCOC 28.2

Jesus recognizes the existence of the Sabbath in verse 20, as late as the destruction of Jerusalem, as verily as he does the seasons of the year. The Sabbath, is the uniform term of both Testaments to designate the very day on which Jehovah rested after the creation, the day upon which he put his blessing, and which he set apart for man. Jesus does not speak of the Sabbath as being only a seventh part of time, or one day in seven, and no day in particular. The Sabbath, is the term used, referring to the last day of the first week of time, and to the last day of each subsequent week. But if the term, the Sabbath, means only a seventh part of time, or one day in seven, and no day in particular, then we may read this definition into the text as follows: But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a seventh part of time! or on one day in seven. If such a prayer could be answered, pray tell us when the disciples could take their flight. SCOC 29.1

Verse 21: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world in this time, no, nor ever shall be.” The “great tribulation” here mentioned is that of the church of Jesus Christ, and not the tribulation of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem. We offer the following reasons:— SCOC 29.2

1. It is a fact that the tribulation of the Christian church, especially under the reign of the papacy, was greater than God’s people had suffered before “since the beginning of the world.” But it is not true that the tribulation of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem was the greatest tribulation of the world ever witnessed. The tribulation of the inhabitants of the cities of the plain when God rained on them fire and brimstone, or, the tribulation when God destroyed all men from the face of the earth, save eight souls, by the flood, was certainly greater than that at the destruction of Jerusalem. SCOC 29.3

2. The tribulation of the Christian church has been greater than it will ever be again. True, a time of trouble, “such as never was,” spoken of in Daniel 12:1, is coming upon the world; but we find in the same verse this blessed promise, “And at that time thy people shall be delivered.” The tribulation of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem was not greater than the world will ever witness. The vials of Jehovah’s unmingled wrath are yet to be poured out, not upon the people of one nation only, but upon the guilty thousands of all nations. “The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried.” Jeremiah 25:33. SCOC 30.1

3. If this tribulation be applied to the Jews, nor any other class of unbelieving men, it cannot be harmonized with Daniel 12:1, which speaks of the time of trouble such as never was, when Michael shall stand up. Certainly there cannot be two times of trouble, at different periods, greater than ever was, or ever would be. Therefore, we apply the “tribulation” spoken of in Matthew 24:21, 29, to the church of Christ, extending down through the 1260 years of papal persecution; and the “trouble” mentioned in Daniel 12:1, to the unbelieving world, to be experienced by them in the future. SCOC 30.2

4. The period of tribulation was shortened for the elect’s sake. Who are the elect here mentioned? The Jews? No; their house had been pronounced desolate. They were left of God in their hardness of heart and blindness of mind. Says Paul, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” The elect were the followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. And where were they when tribulation was upon the Jews? They had fled to the mountains. How absurd, then, to say that the days of the tribulation of the Jews, in the city of Jerusalem, were shortened for the sake of the elect, who had fled from the place of tribulation. SCOC 30.3

5. The connection between verses 20 and 21 shows that the tribulation was to commence with those Christians who were to flee out of the city. SCOC 31.1

“But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath-day; for then shall be great tribulation.” Our Lord here speaks of the tribulation which his people would suffer from the time of their flight onward. We follow them in their flight to the mountains, and then pass along down through the noted persecutions of the church of God under pagan Rome, and we see, indeed, tribulation. And when we come to the period of papal persecution, we see them suffering the most cruel tortures, and dying the most dreadful deaths, that wicked men and demons could inflict. This last period is especially noted in prophecy. The prophet Daniel saw the papacy, its blasphemy, its arrogance, its work of death on the saints, and its duration as a persecuting power, under the symbol of the little horn. “And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. Chap. 7:25. It is generally admitted that “a time and times and the dividing of time” is 1260 years. Commencing the 1260 years A.D. 538, they reach to A.D. 1798, when Berthier, a French general, entered Rome, and took it. The pope was taken prisoner and shut up in the Vatican. The papacy was stripped of its civil power. Here ended the period of tribulation spoken of by our Lord, which was SCOC 31.2