The Signs of the Times, vol. 17

March 16, 1891

“‘My Lord Delayeth His Coming’” The Signs of the Times, 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

“True, our Lord delayeth his coming, but as a thief suddenly he is coming to many every day, and to all he will finally come at such an hour as we think not.” This quotation isn’t from the Bible, but from a denominational newspaper. As we read it, we could not help thinking how blind so many professed Christians are upon the simple subject of the coming of the Lord. It will be noticed that the writer of the above takes it for granted that the Lord is coming. How did he learn that truth? Evidently from the Bible. But how could he learn from the Bible that the Lord is coming, without learning some of the particulars concerning his coming? That is a mystery. SITI March 16, 1891, page 74.3

Is the Lord “coming to many every day”? The Scriptures are silent about the many comings. Christ said, “I will come again,” which means only once more; and Paul plainly declares that he will come the “second time.” Since Christ is to come only the second time, it is evident that he is not coming to many every day. SITI March 16, 1891, page 74.4

Another evidence that the Lord is not coming to many every day, is that when he comes, everybody will know it. Said Jesus, “For us the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Matthew 24:27. “A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.” Psalm 50:3. When he comes, he will possess the throne of his glory, and will come in all the glory of the Father.” Matthew 25:31; 16:27. So great will be the glory that it cannot be hid from the eyes of any; so the apostle John says: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.” Revelation 1:7. SITI March 16, 1891, page 74.5

The extract which we quoted to begin with, implies that Christ comes at the death of individuals. This idea is overthrown by the scriptures which we have quoted, but we have direct testimony as to how Jesus will come for his saints. Paul said to the Thessalonians that he would not have them in ignorance concerning their dead friends, and gave them some words of comfort. Did he say, “Christ has come and taken your friends to be with him”? No; he said: “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him [that is, from the dead].... 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.” 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. Thus we find that when the Lord comes, he will take all his saints at once, and not simply one at a time, and there will be a sound that will not only be heard by all who are upon the earth, but which will penetrate the graves and awake the dead. SITI March 16, 1891, page 74.6

It has been eighteeen hundred years since our Saviour’s first advent, but that is no evidence that his second coming is delayed. If a man tells us that he will come to see us at a certain time some distance in the future, we cannot accuse him of delaying his coming until the set time has passed. Christ did not set any time for his coming, but he gave certain signs, as the darkening of the sun and moon, and the falling of the stars, which should show it to be near. After rehearsing these signs, he said of his coming, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matthew 24:33. And then he added: “Verily I say unto you, This generation [i.e., the generation which should witness these signs] shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.” So long as any are alive who witnessed these things, there is no reason to say that the Lord delayeth his coming; and Christ’s promise that he will come before the generation passes away, cannot fail. SITI March 16, 1891, page 74.7

It is true that the signs which the Saviour gave to mark the nearness of his coming, are long in the past. But we are not therefore justified in saying, “My Lord delayeth his coming.” None but the evil servant says that, even in his heart. Matthew 24:48-51. True it is that to that servant the Lord will come “in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder.” Surely this should serve as a warning against any servant saying that our Lord does delay his coming. SITI March 16, 1891, page 82.1

The fact that the signs of Christ’s coming have been fulfilled should lead us to say, not that our Lord delays his coming, but that it must be very near. If we take this position, and watch, we need not be taken unawares. Said Christ: “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.” Luke 21:34. Paul said: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” 1 Thessalonians 5:4. “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” E. J. W. SITI March 16, 1891, page 82.2

“Intellect Not Sufficient” The Signs of the Times, 17, 11.

E. J. Waggoner

As to the truthfulness of Paul’s description of the heathen in the first chapter of Romans, there can be no question. The testimony of ancient heathen writers themselves confirms it. Licentiousness of every description was not only permitted by the law, but was practiced alike by the common people and philosophers, and was even enjoined upon the people as a religious duty. The temples of the heathen were houses of debauchery. The gods which they manufactured for their worship, as Jupiter and Venus, were simply the reflection of their own evil natures; and since they thus deified the lusts of their own hearts, it was inevitable that they should sink into deeper sin. SITI March 16, 1891, page 82.3

We often hear it said that the scenes of cruelty and vice that were enacted by the heathen in their worship and in their social life are not possible in this enlightened age; but such persons forget that the civilization of Greece and Rome was fully equal to that of Europe and America, if not superior; yet the people were heathen, and most abominable was their idolatry. But like causes produce like effects. If their unthankful, vain imaginations, because of their great inventions, lifted them up so that they entirely separated themselves from God, and were left to work out the evils that were in their own natures, the same thing will occur now under the same circumstances. The possession of intellectual activity is no safeguard against immorality, when the Giver of that intellect is forgotten. The only guard against the grossest immorality is a humble acknowledgment of God. E. J. W. SITI March 16, 1891, page 82.4