The Signs of the Times
November 21, 1906
The Result of Forgetting God
A great crisis is just before us. Men boast of the wonderful progress and enlightenment of the age, but God sees the guilt and depravity of the world. The heavenly Watcher sees the earth filled with violence and crime. Wealth is obtained by every species of iniquity. By robbery of God and of their fellows, men are amassing fortunes. Everything that they can grasp is made to minister to their greed. Avarice and sensuality bear sway. Men revenge themselves on those who, they suppose, have hindered the success of their ambitious projects. They have accepted the enemy of all good as their leader, and have become imbued with his spirit. ST November 21, 1906, par. 1
The world is a theater, and the actors, its inhabitants, are preparing to act their part in the last great drama. God is lost sight of. With the great masses of humanity, there is no unity, except as men confederate to accomplish their selfish purposes. God is looking on. His purposes in regard to His rebellious subjects will be fulfilled. The world has not been given into the hands of men, tho God is permitting the elements of confusion and disorder to bear sway for a season. A power from beneath is working to bring about the last scenes in the drama,—Satan coming as Christ, and working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in those who are binding themselves together in secret societies. Those who are yielding to the passion for confederation are working out the plans of the enemy. Cause will be followed by effect. ST November 21, 1906, par. 2
Transgression has almost reached its limit. Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings. The end is very near. God's people should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise. ST November 21, 1906, par. 3
A Call to Christians
The people of each age will be judged by the light they have received. The church of today has been favored with great light and many opportunities—favored even as Chorazin and Bethsaida were favored. How Christ longed to see some fruit from the labor He expended on these cities. And how greatly He longs to see His church of today standing in freedom from sin. O that those for whom He has wrought so mightily would strive to be like Him in character! How it would cheer His heart to see them partaking of His nature, their works testifying to their faith in God, and to their realization of the obligation resting upon them to work for Him. ST November 21, 1906, par. 4
Many wonder at the blindness of the Jews in rejecting Christ. Had we lived in His day, they declare, we would gladly have received His teaching. We should never have been partakers of the guilt of those who rejected the Saviour. But too often, when obedience to God requires self-denial and sacrifice, these very ones stifle their convictions and refuse to obey. ST November 21, 1906, par. 5
God expects us to gain every day a clearer understanding of His will. He asks for the consecration to His service of all that we have and are. If you have caught a glimpse of Heaven's truth, turn not away. Be not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Walk in the light you have received, and your pathway will grow brighter and brighter. In the light shining from Calvary, you will see the sinfulness of sin, and you will see also God's willingness and power to save from sin. The Lord holds out to you the offer of partnership with Himself. Uniting with Christ, you can work the works of God. ST November 21, 1906, par. 6
Christ's Coronation Day
On His coronation day, Christ will not acknowledge as His any who bear spot or wrinkle. But to His faithful ones He will give crowns of immortal glory. Those who would not that He should reign over them will see Him surrounded by the army of the redeemed. They will see the head once crowned with thorns crowned with a diadem of glory. ST November 21, 1906, par. 7
In that day the redeemed will shine forth in the glory of the Father and the Son. The angels of heaven, touching their golden harps, will welcome the King and His trophies of victory—those who have been washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb. A song of triumph will peal forth, filling all heaven. Christ has conquered. He enters the heavenly courts accompanied by His redeemed ones—the witnesses that His mission of suffering and sacrifice has not been in vain. ST November 21, 1906, par. 8