SELECTED WRITINGS AND QUOTATIONS

MULTIPLE RAPTURE

By W. M. BEIRNES

THE unsound and unscriptural teaching that the Church must go through the tribulation comes as a result of a misunderstanding of the Scriptures dealing with the resurrection and translation of the saints. The generally accepted theory along this line of prophecy is that all the believers are translated to heaven at one time. This is incorrect. There will always be confusion on this line until the believers come to recognize the fact that the book of the Revelation definitely shows the rapture of the saints in different orders and at different times during the seventieth week of Daniel while the judgments of the Revelation are in progress. It is at the “time of trouble such as never was” that the angel said to Daniel, “thy people shall be delivered, EVERY ONE that shall be found written in the book.”

Only the Bride of Christ escapes the tribulation judgments as described in the book of Revelation. The reason I say this is that there are other tribulation judgments upon earth before those described in the Revelation. Matthew, in chapter 24: 7, 8, describes a world war followed by famines, pestilences and earthquakes as the indication that we have entered “the beginning of sorrows.” We are now in that period, and tribulation judgments are being visited on the earth in preparation for the revelation of the man of sin and the rapture of the saints in their “own order”. Matthew 24: 1-14 gives us a picture of world events and signs preceding the rapture of the Bride, while verses 15-31 picture events after the rapture of the Bride of Christ, during which time other saints are - [subsequently] - resurrected - [“out of dead ones” Greek]* - and translated to heaven, and the antichrist rules the world.

[* NOTE. Luke 20: 35; Philippians 3: 10 and Revelation 20: 5, are all Select Resurrections. None of these RESURRECTIONS will take place until our Lord Jesus RETURNS to this Earth at the END of the GREAT TRUBULATION. Therefore, REVELATION 3: 10, LUKE 21: 34-36 are texts of a Pre-Tribulation removal of “worthy” LIVING saints into Heaven BEFORE our Lord Jesus will RERURN to Earth and RESURRECT the ‘HOLY’ DEAD saints from ‘Sheol’ / ‘Hades’ (Psalm 16: 10, Luke 16: 19-31; Acts 2: 26-35.).

Scripture never speaks of any RESURRECTION (into IMORTALITY) of LIVING saints! It is always: “the resurrection of the DEAD”:- for ALL DEAD saints are PRESENTLY in a different location than those who are presently ALIVE!]

Paul says, “for as IN ADAM all die, even so IN CHRIST shall all be made alive, BUT every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming” (1 Cor. 15: 22-23). “EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER” reveals the facts verified in the book of Revelation. Until this truth so plainly stated in the Scriptures is understood there will always be great confusion among the people of God.

The first order of the first resurrection was Christ. He became the “firstfruits” of them that slept, the “first begotten of the dead,” and the PRINCE of all the redeemed regal saints. See Revelation 1: 4-6, 13-18.

The second order of the first resurrection took place a moment after Christ came out of the grave. Study the events in Matt. 27: 50-54. “MANY bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of their graves AFTER HIS RESURRECTION.” Here is a literal resurrection of many of the Old Testament saints. They are described in heaven as “Living Creatures,” and testify that they are redeemed from the earth, and that they shall reign on the earth. They say that they have been made unto God kings and priests. They are associated with the Lamb, the four and twenty elders and the 144,000 and all together are called “firstfruits.”

The third order of resurrection will be the New Testament Bridehood saints, and these will escape the great tribulation judgments visited upon the earth under the reign of the antichrist. This order is described in Rev. 4: 1-5. These verses give the rapture scene in detail. They are seated upon thrones and crowns are placed upon their heads. They also have harps and golden vials full of odours which are the prayers of saints. Together with the Living Creatures they testify that they are regal saints (Rev. 5: 8-10). They are translated to heaven before the opening of the seals for they are glorified, enthroned and crowned before the scaled book is brought forth. They cannot be angels as some affirm for it cannot be said that angels are redeemed from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation.

It is inconsistent to say that we are now living under any of the seals. If that were true then the [select] rapture of the Bride is over and we are left behind. When the Lamb of God takes the scaled book to open it the Living Creatures and Elders praise God in heaven and give their testimony as to their position in the first resurrection. When Christ takes the book these redeemed and glorified saints fall down before the throne of God and of the Lamb, and shout the praises of our Lord and Saviour.

This group of [chosen] saints escape the reign of the antichrist and the judgments that fall in the time of great tribulation. After prophesying of those times of tribulation, Jesus warned his followers, “Watch and pray that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21: 36). This admonition would be unnecessary if there was to be no escape. He has no reference here to tribulations that come to all Christians. “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” We cannot escape those tribulations, but we can, if we will take heed, escape THE tribulation under the reign of the antichrist.

Isaiah, the prophet, speaking with confidence of his own resurrection, and thinking of others, says, “Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee: HIDE thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation (tribulation) be overpast. For behold, the Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain” (Isa. 26: 19-21). Again, after Zephaniah vividly described the tribulation in the first chapter, He admonishes the people of God to seek righteousness and meekness, adding, “it may be ye shall be HID in the day of the Lord's anger.” He will hide the Bride of Christ from this dispensation in the heavens before any of the seals are opened. In God’s message to the Philadelphian Church, the promise is given, “I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, (tribulation) which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell on the earth” (Rev. 3: 10). The “perfect love” Christians will escape. These and associate Scriptures are too plain to be misunderstood by honest hearts who cherish the truth more than they do a theory. The wise virgins will be taken away from the trouble, but the foolish ones will be left here on the earth.

The fourth order of the rapture occurs sometime after the translation of the Bride of Christ and before the second revelation of the antichrist to the whole world at the beginning of the forty-two months of his reign over a federated world. They are described in Rev. 7: 9-17. The angel tells John this unnumbered company is translated to heaven “out of the great tribulation.” They do not have thrones nor are they crowned. This is the great harvest of the earth. They are raptured during the tribulation. This statement is so clear and emphatic that even a child should understand.

The fifth order of the rapture is seen in Rev. 12. Immediately before the opening of the second seal God seals 144,000 of the children of Israel, an exact number from each tribe. Since the establishment of the new State of Israel we are coming to think of the Jews as the twelve tribes of Israel. This is another sign of Jesus’ near coming. Revelation 12 is the scene of the rapture of the 144,000. They are seen in heaven on the heavenly Mount Zion in their glorified bodies. They are sealed on earth and are later seen in heaven, and the catching away of the man child is the only account of their rapture. The book of the Revelation describes the translation of each order and shows them in heaven in their resurrected state witnessing to the time of their translation. The rapture of the man child, the war between Michael and his angels, and the devil and his angels, the flight of the woman into the wilderness, the breaking of the covenant and the beginning of the forty-two months reign of the antichrist are events that mark the middle of the covenant week of Daniel, the last three and one-half years of the tribulation.

The sixth order of the rapture takes place just before the Armageddon battle. See Rev. 14: 14, 15. These saints are the final harvest of the earth. They are not numbered. They tell us in their testimony that they lived during the time the mark of the beast was forced upon the people of the world, but that they had gotten the victory over it (Rev. 15: 2-4). They are raptured just before the seven last vials of God’s wrath are poured upon the earth, and are strictly tribulation saints.

The seventh order of the resurrection consists only of those who are martyred during the entire tribulation. From the time of the rapture of the four-and-twenty elders, martyr’s blood will flow as rivers. Millions of the foolish virgins will be martyred during the first part of the tribulation and millions will refuse the mark of the beast and be martyred during the last three and one-half years, and together they are resurrected and go into the thousand years reign. See Rev. 6: 9-11, and 20: 4-6. In this last Scripture it is stated, “This is the first resurrection.” Literally it is the completion of the first resurrection. Our friends who believe the entire Church goes through the tribulation and are translated at the revelation of Christ as described in Rev. 19 quote this as proof, but it does not prove their point.

There are two precious Scriptures often quoted as proof that all believers the world over, living and dead, will be translated at the same moment, but if that is so there could be no translation of the saints until after the battle of Armageddon or at the time of the battle when the tribulation martyrs are raised. Paul in 1 Thess. 4: 14-18, and 1 Cor. 15: 51-53, is merely stating that the dead saints are first raised, and then the living ones changed and together caught up to be with Christ, but the book of Revelation gives us the scenes of the different orders of the rapture. It reveals the time when each order is raptured or resurrected.

Our good friends who do not believe in the millennial reign of Christ on earth base their theory on the Scripture which states the fact that both the wicked and the righteous are raised from the dead. They stick by their theory and ignore the plain statements of the Word regarding the thousand year reign. They conclude that since the righteous and the wicked are mentioned in the same verse or chapter there must be a general resurrection. In like manner multitudes of pre-millennialists are missing the mark by doing the same thing regarding the resurrection and translation of the saints at the coming of Jesus, and are being led into many grave errors. The purpose of Satan in this is to keep the multitudes of believers from making the necessary preparation for a place in the Bride of Christ. Let us face the facts; the hour is late, midnight is approaching, and with it comes the midnight cry waking every believer the world over, but then it will be too late to obtain the oil (the Holy Spirit). The new birth is not enough. Forget the wide differences of opinion as to what takes place in the heart of the believer who receives the Holy Spirit in His fulness, and seek Him at the point of full surrender until the witness comes.

- The Midnight Cry.

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THE KINGDOM A REWARD

THERE are passages of Scripture which plainly indicate that only those who are fully given up to the Lord, and are faithful to Him, will share the place of administration with Christ. We do not agree in every particular in what Mr. R. Govett has said upon this point, but the following quotation is of interest.

“Will all believers, then, reign with Christ? By no means. The Kingdom of the thousand years is never said to belong to those who only believe. There are not a few texts addressed to believers which declare that certain classes of them shall not enter the kingdom.

1. Those whose (active) righteousness shall not exceed that of the Pharisees (Matt. 5: 20).

2. Those who, while professors of Christ’s name, do not the will of His Father (Matt. 7: 21).

3. Those guilty of strife, envy, and contention. (Luke 9: 46-50; Mark 9: 33-50; Matt. 18: 1-3).

4. Rich disciples (Matt. 19: 23; Luke 6: 24; 18: 24).

5. Those who deny the Millennium (Luke 18: 17; Mark 10: 15).

6. The unbaptized (John 3: 5).

7. See also 1 Cor. 6: 9, 10; Gal. 5: 19-21; 6: 7, 8; Matt. 10: 32, 39; 16: 26; 18: 17, 18; Luke 9: 26.”

Those who sit on the throne are evidently crowned ones, for the throne-sitters are always those who are crowned. We know from many Scriptures that all the saints will not be crowned, and therefore all will not enjoy the high places of sitting on the throne. Christ’s injunction to the Church at Philadelphia is, “Let no man take thy crown” (Rev. 3: 11), which implies the crown may be lost or not gained. Again, when we listen to the Apostle Paul we hear him say that he “kept his body under” that he might obtain the incorruptible crown, and at the end of his earthly life, when he could say that he had kept the faith and finished the course, “henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness” (1 Cor. 9: 25; 2 Tim. 4: 8).

Yet again we listen to what our Lord said to the disciples, when some of them were desirous of sharing in Christ’s earthly kingdom, and when, also, Peter called attention to what he had given up for the sake of the Lord (Matt. 19: 28), “Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

What an urgent call this is to go in for all that the Lord has for us, for those who are willing to suffer with Him now will surely reign with Him in His coming glory.

Again, John says, “I saw,” and this time it was those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the Word of God. This body of martyrs is a special set of people. They are evidently a part of that company which John had previously seen, and who are described under the fifth seal as those who had been slain because of the Word of God, and because of the testimony which they held. “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” “And white robes were given unto them: and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled” (Rev. 6: 9-11). The whole company is now seen.

This special class is further described as those who had not worshipped the beast nor his image, nor received his mark on their foreheads or on their hand. We know there will be a terrible time of slaughter after the - [‘accounted worthy to escape’ members of the] Church is removed, and during the Great Tribulation, so much so that not a single believer of those days will escape death.

This martyred company will share a peculiar privilege in a distinct resurrection which is called the First. We must not confuse the First Resurrection with the pre-resurrection of 1 Thess. 4, when the dead in Christ are raised. Many will say that we thought the first resurrection included the redeemed of this dispensation, and they come to this conclusion because of the word “first.” Dr. Bullinger has gone into this matter of first and second in a very explicit way, and I cannot do better than quote in extenso what he says:-

“This is the first resurrection: or this completes the first resurrection. There is an ellipsis of the verb in this sentence; and we may supply ‘completes,’ having in mind the several resurrections which shall before then have taken place. It is also a fact that, when two ordinal numbers are used in such a connection as this, they are used relatively. The one is first in relation to the second, which follows: and not to what may have occurred before. In like manner, the second stands in relation to the first. Hence, in English we always say, in such cases, former and latter, where we have only two things thus related: and not first and second, unless there are more to follow in the series. It is the same in chapter 21: 1, where we read of the new heavens and the new earth: ‘for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.’

“Here again we have two things standing in related contrast, the ‘first’ and the ‘new’; i.e., the new and the one that immediately precedes it: the former, and not the ‘first’. For the present heavens and earth which are now (2 Peter 3: 7) are not the first. For Scripture tells us of three, of which the present is the second. In 2 Peter 3: 6, 7, 13, we read of the first - the world that ‘then was’ (Gen. 1: 1) of the second - ‘the heavens and the earth which are now’; and of the third - ‘a new heavens and a new earth,’ for which we now look. This (second of three) is what is called in Rev. 21: 1, the ‘first’ of the latter two.

“Hence this ‘first resurrection’ is the former of the two mentioned in this verse: and not the resurrection of the Church (the Body of Christ, revealed in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17. This special resurrection (1 Thess. 4: 16) must be carefully distinguished from that which is called the ‘first resurrection’ in Rev. 20: 6. The word ‘first’ in 1 Thess. 4 : 16, does not refer to ‘the first resurrection,’ so called in Rev. 20: 6, but merely records the order of events, and simply states that ‘the dead in Christ’ will ‘rise first’; i.e., before the taking up of either them or the living saints.”

This interpretation is confirmed by what Paul says in writing to the Church at Corinth, when speaking of the resurrection of the dead: “Christ the Firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming”: then cometh the end, or, as it should be, “then the last rank.” Christ the Firstfruits includes the Church, and it is in that sense that “the Christ” is used in 1 Cor. 12: 12; so, also, is Christ, taking in the Head and the members. It is not Christ the Firstfruit, that would make Him stand alone; but Christ the Firstfruits, which determines that others are [later to be] with Him, and those others are those who are sanctified in Him. “Afterward they that are His at His coming” denotes those who are the several companies that are slain during the Great Tribulation, whom He will raise when He comes to redeem them to Himself. We can see, therefore, how important it is to distinguish between the pre-resurrection of 1 Thess. 4, and the first resurrection which is identified with those who are mentioned in Rev. 6: 9-11, and with those alone.

All these who share in what the Spirit calls the First Resurrection are said to be “blessed and holy,” and shall reign with Christ for a thousand years. They are “blessed” because of the special honour that will be placed upon them, and they are “holy” because they shall share in this separated and consecrated place of holy dignity, and their special reward is that they shall not only be with Christ, but shall reign with Him in manifest glory during that time which we know as the Millennium. - Prophetic News.

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THE PRIZE

By MISS E. M. LEATHES

BEYOND the wondrous gift of Eternal Life in Christ Jesus, Paul unveils a marvellous secret of a prize to be won, and a priceless treasure to be secured by all who are willing to count the cost. We find him declaring with eager intensity, “I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus.” “Brethren,” he cries, “I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things that are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the Prize of the Upward Calling of God in Christ Jesus.” And what is the Goal towards which Paul is stretching every nerve and flinging away every hindrance that he may reach it? He then reveals his most thrilling secret. “Howbeit,” he declares, “what things were gain to me, those have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but refuse, that I may gain Christ” (or win) (Phil. 3: 12, 13, 14, 7, 8. Amer. R.V.)

And for those who are out to win this prize the Apostle gives another illustration. Paul had probably watched the runners who competed for the prize in the Greek Games, when the winner received a laurel crown. “Know ye not,” he asks, “that they that run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.” We know that the competitors in these races had to undergo a very arduous physical training beforehand. So Paul continues, “Every man that striveth in the games exerciseth self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, as not uncertainly so fight I, as not beating the air: but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected” (or disapproved from the prize) (1 Cor. 9: 24-27. Amer. R.V.) Note the Lord’s words to the lukewarm Church of Laodicea. “He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My Throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father in His Throne” (Rev. 3: 21. Amer. R.V.) If you have watched the runners in a race, you will have noted as I have done, that they all start together, but from various causes one after another falls out. I have watched such a race till finally only two remain, and even they are pressed beyond measure: then one suddenly with his last ounce of strength reaches frantically forward and touches the Goal.

I am certain there are many of God’s intrepid followers today, who are being tested beyond all their natural resources: it is at such a time when absolute reliance on God alone will avail. A free translation of 2 Cor. 12: 10, runs thus- “I take pleasure in being without strength, in being chased about, in being cooped up in a corner, for when I am without strength, I am dynamite.” And now comes to us ringing down the centuries from the depths of a Roman dungeon the triumphant shout of that old battered and wounded warrior, Paul. He exclaims, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of Righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous judge, shall give to me at that Day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved His Appearing” (2 Tim. 4: 7, 8. Amer. R.V.)

- The Midnight Cry.

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WHY I BELIEVE CHRIST IS COMING

By Wm. G. CHANNON.

FOR more than a score of years now the truth of the Lord’s Return has been with me something more than an article of creed; it has helped my life, and shaped my thinking. It was this particular truth perhaps more than any other, which induced me to commit my life to the work of the ministry.

In my early teens I had that revolutionary experience which is known by the old-fashioned term of “conversion.” It was by means of a very unlettered man, who knew more about grace than about grammar, that I became converted. He was the instrument which God chose to bring me to Himself, and build me up into the Christian faith.

I can never forget how one afternoon as I left the train to continue on my further journey to school, I saw outside an Anglican Church an announcement to the effect that in that Church certain days would be given to the contemplation of the truth of the Second Advent. The names listed on the notice-board were names which in the past were well-known. So I decided that for a few afternoons, instead of studying trigonometry, I would go and listen to the addresses that were to be given on the Second Advent. There I learned that one day “this same Jesus” would come again. I grant you there was a good deal said that was beyond me.

As I look back over the years I ask myself the question, “What has this truth of the Second Coining meant to me?” To begin with it gave me a new sense of awe at the wonder of redemption’s Plan. I had grasped the fact that in our Lord’s redemptive mission there were four great epochs; but I had yet to learn that these all awaited their consummation. As to His Incarnation I could worship the infant Redeemer at Bethlehem’s manger. As to His death on Calvary, I could “survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died.” As to His Resurrection I could stand at the open sepulchre, and hear the angels say, “He is not here; He is risen.” And touching His Ascension I could gaze, with the wondering disciples, into the heavens, which received back the Saviour after those thirty and three years of triumphant life. I could do all that; and then I learned that He was to come again the second time to receive the fruits of His Passion. Believe me, although I have had to submit to the discipline of study, and of theological examinations, I have never lost the thrill of that discovery.

This truth, further, gave me a better understanding of the Word of God. I would even go so far as to say that, in many respects, the truth for which we stand here is a key to the Scriptures. There are large tracts of the Bible which cannot be understood apart from it. Almost one-third of the word of God is devoted to it in one or other of its aspects; sixteen of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, part of the Psalms, a large section of the four Gospels; some part of almost all the Epistles, give to this truth a prominent place; whilst the last book in the Bible, the Book of the Revelation, is almost entirely given over to events associated with it. It is not too much to say that, in my experience, this truth made the Bible a new Book to me.

Furthermore, it gives me a better understanding of the true function of the Church. You know the popular fallacy, that it is the business of the Church to Christianise society, to convert the world. What a hope! If the Church is to be so enlarged as eventually to embrace all nations, then I submit to you on any showing, she is fighting a losing battle. If I really believed that it was the business of the Church to convert humanity, I should forthwith quit the ministry. I search the Bible in vain for any commission to convert the world. We are to evangelise it, but we are never led to believe that men everywhere will accept our message; on the contrary, we are assured that they will reject it; but it is still obligatory on our part to bear witness to it. This truth taught me that these are the days when God is calling out a people from the world, a people for Himself, and that when that work is complete, Christ will return for, and reign with, them. Many a time that thought has helped me to keep my sanity in the face of great odds. That is what God is doing.

Then also this truth gave to me an added incentive to holiness of life. “Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure” (1 John 3: 3). Here was the thought which came to me in the glow of my early enthusiasm. This truth was to influence my conduct, I must do nothing, say nothing, go nowhere, which would, in any way, be inconsistent with the thought that at any time Christ might come. Let me be found in all things doing His will, that I be not ashamed before Him at His Coming. That, I know, has been, and I trust, is your experience. If His death affords the means, then His Coming supplies the inspiration for a holy life. And, of course, when I use the word “holy” I do not mean anything squeamish. When I talk about holiness I mean something very practical, and very beautiful, too.

Then I found that this truth gave me a quickened zeal for service. There are those who say that the Second Advent cuts the nerve of Evangelism. That is utter nonsense! I could prove it to be such on many grounds. Some of our greatest and most successful missionaries have been Second Adventists. When Moody discovered the truth that Christ would return he affirmed that he put two days’ work into every one. I know what it did for me; I was filled with a zeal to make Him known; it gave me a desire to go out into the open-air and to speak simply, and yet faithfully, for Him. Did not the same desire possess the Apostle Paul? “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?”

This truth gave me a keener appreciation of the Holy Communion service. To the vast majority who observe this Service it is simply one of remembrance. But I discovered that the Communion Table was, in effect, a bridge; and I could never convey in words the thrill that was mine when next I broke bread and poured out the wine; for it was not only a service that was retrospect, but one which gave me a glorious prospect “Till He come.” Every time we come to the Lord’s Table we pass another milestone. The thought is not only that of remembrance, but hope. Incidentally, how do those who reject this truth explain the words which they use at the Communion Table, “Till He come”? Thank God in Churches where the pulpit has been silent on this truth, the Table has always been eloquent.

Furthermore, this truth gives me the power to comfort the bereaved. Paul used this truth for the self‑same purpose. “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” This truth is a healing balm to the heart that has been crushed and broken by bereavement.

This truth also gives me the solution as to the goal of history. It did a great thing for me when it did that. Every thoughtful person must have a philosophy of history. Surely we all ask ourselves at times, “What is the meaning, and purpose, and aim of human existence?” How often we hear it said, “What is it all going to lead to? What are we here for? Do men just live and die, and is this process to go on indefinitely? Is this dismal process never to be arrested?” Yes, every thoughtful person must have some view as to the manner in which the chapter will wind up. This Book tells me that man, unaided by God, has always failed, and that he always will. It tells me that there will be wars and rumours of wars. I learn from its pages that men’s hearts will fail them for fear for what is coming on the earth. God knows that is true. Someone said recently that the atomic power is here to stay. “Yes”, was the retort, “but are we?” I learn from the Word of God that human standards of government will give way to His righteous reign, when “the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” I do not know when the Saviour will return, but I know He is coming. I am not confused as to what the issue of it all will be. Let the world go down in darkness, and it surely will, we know that there is coming the dawn of a new day. We live in a world of delusions, Man can never fulfil the promises that he makes. We know what is to be the goal of all human history. It lies in the Return of Christ to reign.

Let me conclude with this. In my 18^th year I went to a great meeting in the Royal Albert Hall; the Chairman was Dr. F. B. Meyer, and Miss Pankhurst was one of the speakers; and the Rev. Walter Young led the choir. At the close of that meeting Dr. Meyer asked everyone present to stand. And after he had repeated the words “Surely I come quickly,” I shall never forget how the cry rang out from that great multitude gathered there, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.” The years have sped by since then. Tonight our faces are towards the sunrise, and we say with renewed intensity: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” And He will.

- The Advent Witness.

* * *

LAWLESSNESS IN THE CHURCH

No contributing cause of anarchy has been more potent and virulent than the dissolvent of destructive criticism disintegrating the Word of God, and it is remarkable how this was foreseen even in the nineteenth century. Dean Stanley, in his farewell sermon at Christ Church, Oxford (December, 1863), said:- “It is possible, no doubt, to see in the advance of critical knowledge a dreary winter of unbelief, which is to be the beginning of the end of the world, and to shrivel up every particle of spiritual life.” A discredited Bible spells a lawless world. Professor Delitzsch said before the German Emperor that there can be no greater error of the human mind than to regard the Bible as a personal revelation of God:- “With my hand on my heart, I declare that we require no revelation other than that which every man carries in his own conscience” (Daily Chronicle, Jan. 14, 1903). In quarters less virulent, yet no less dangerous, it is the correct thing to hunt Divine inspiration off the field. “It should be a part of the obligation to truth,” says Dr. R. F. Horton, in his Yale Lectures, “which every living preacher feels laid upon him, to deliver the Church from the confusion, and the mischief, and the error which have been incurred by this one baseless notion that a book written by human pens and handed down by human methods, transcribed, translated, compiled by fallible human minds is, or can be, as such, the Word of God.” The tragedy is that men of apparent spirituality and devotion, and with a regenerate love of Christ, can so blindly lay the obvious foundations of apostasy. Canon Liddon is said to have died of a broken heart when Bishop Gore and the Lux Mundi school accepted destructive criticism: he saw the end. “This fight is killing me,” exclaimed Mr. Spurgeon of the downgrade controversy, two months before he died. The last battle between the Church and the world will be on the Inspiration of the Scriptures; and it is the defection of the Church, passing over to the world’s view in a great betrayal, which will force the last crisis. Even as far back as 1863, Bishop Wilberforce wrote, in his triennial charge:- “It may be that what we hear around us now are the echoes of the coming footfall of the great Antichrist.”

* * *

EPITOME OF EUROPE’S

SPIRITUAL HISTORY

Gospel spread far and wide through much persecution.

[1] 3 Centuries of Persecution.

[2] 12 Centuries of Corruption.

[3] 1 Century of Reformation.

[4] 3 Centuries of Stagnation.

Heathen rites, legends, and tradition supplanted by the Word of God.

The greater part of Europe unreached by the Reformation.

Missionary work in unreached parts of Europe almost nil on the part of those countries influenced by the Reformation.

-------

Even a cursory glance at the foregoing outline of Europe’s spiritual history must convince any child of God of Europe’s need for the gospel. But let us look in a little more detail at the four periods set forth in our outline.

[1]

Three centuries of Persecution

For the first three centuries after Christ’s ascension, the gospel made rapid progress throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, though the believers of that period suffered sore persecution.

Parts of Europe and parts of Africa which were within the bounds of the Roman Empire heard in those early days the gospel in its purity. In fact, the Word of God took such hold upon northern Africa that the first training centre for Christian missionaries was in Alexandria. From Alexandria the gospel went far afield, even to India and Ceylon. Why, then, do we find that Europe and Africa are both mission fields to-day? What happened to extinguish the light of those early centuries?

In North Africa the church was early weakened by inside schisms, later harassed by pagan Vandals, and finally well-nigh obliterated by the onrush of Mohammedanism. And Europe, likewise, is a mission field today in spite of the early light once shining there. The events which happened to put out that light we shall now briefly trace.

[2]

Twelve centuries of corruption

When Constantine, in 325 A.D., virtually made Christianity the state religion, the event was not the blessing that some suppose; for Constantine was head of the Christian church and simultaneous head of the pagans too.

From that time on, the heathen and Christian religions began to blend into one. The early purity of the church was gone, and heathen rites were incorporated, with a Christian veneer, into the elaborate ritual of the church which was patterned after the highly organized government of the empire.

For twelve long, dark centuries Europe’s millions knew no other religion than Roman Catholicism. Millions of souls have been lost for ever while clinging blindly to this corrupt religion.

[3]

One century of reformation

Into this spiritual blackness broke a long-delayed shaft of new light. The sixteenth century saw the Reformation. But while we thank God for all that this new awakening accomplished, we must not view this period out of perspective. The Reformation, blessed as it was to many, left millions of other Europeans still unreached. The Reformation did not evangelize Europe; it served but to change some of the north western countries.

[4]

Three centuries of stagnation

Yet Europe could have been fully evangelized in the ensuing three hundred years if those lands which had felt the touch of the Reformation had done their best to reach the lands which had not. One weakness of the Reformation period was its conspicuous lack of missionary zeal. To correct the abuses of the existing Church (Roman Catholic), the reformers were both zealous and untiring; but they did not inspire missionaries to flood Europe with the gospel.* Southern and eastern Europe still lay chained in Romanism and in eastern Orthodoxy, uncared for spiritually by the Protestant north.

[* That is, with the Gospel of God’s grace; very little of Christian accountability, or of Reward in the coming Millennial Kingdom of our Lord Jesus! See Eph. 2: 8-10; cf. Eph. 5: 1-6, R.V.)]

Europe to-day is a mission field second to none in its vast importance. May God give us grace to alter the situation without delay for Europe’s Millions.

* * *

PREPARATION FOR THE

COMING KINGDOM

By MAJOR W. F. BATT

We Christians “shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ”* and give account of ourselves to God. That is the “day”* in which He will reward every man according to his works. It is the time when our Lord takes account of how we have used the gifts and talents He has given us. One will say, “Lord, Thy pound hath gained ten pounds,” and his Lord will say, “Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.”*

* Romans 14: 10, 12. Cf. Luke 19: 16-27. * 2 Peter 3: 8. * Luke 19: 17, A.V.

Likewise some had gained five talents. This is the time when the Lord shall cause His good and faithful servants to sit down to meat and will gird Himself and will come forth and serve them.*

* Luke 12: 37.

Today we rejoice in Christian fellowship; we gather in faith round the Lord’s Table: but what a glorious prospect we have to look forward to when we shall sit down with all those who throughout the ages have been faithful, and when the Lord Himself shall minister to us, when we shall see Him as He is.

But this is not for all Christians. There was a servant with one talent who kept his talent in a napkin: the standard was too high. “I feared Thee, because Thou art an austere Man”: he had preserved his talent instead of trading with it. “Thou wicked* and slothful servant,” the Lord will say, “Take therefore the talent from him ... and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”*

[* Compare this word “wicked” in Numbers 16: 26, with 1 Corinthians 5: 11- 13:- “... but now I write unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat. [12] For what have I to do with judging them that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within, [13] whereas them that are without God judgeth? Put away the wicked man from among yourselves.” R.V.]

* Matthew 25: 26, 28, 30; Luke 19, 24.

Now is the time the Lord chooses the team with which He will rule the world. Our position on that day will depend on the faithfulness of our Christian life in this Day. The Christian who has willingly given his life to hard-working and faithful Christian work will be chosen for a place of honour on that Day. Likewise the escapist Christian, the lazy Christian, the backward and useless Christian in this life will be useless to Him in that Day. Our position in the Kingdom depends entirely on the quality of our Christian life today. Today God is training us for that Day. If He has put us into a task where we need courage, resource, endurance, sound judgment, where we must take responsibility, it is because He is training us for that great Day. On our performance in this age will depend our place and duties in the Kingdom [‘age’].*

[* See Revelation 2: 26, 27. Also Luke 20: 35, N.I.V. and 2 Timothy 4: 10, in a Greek Interlinear.]

It shall be said in that [millennial] day, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”* What joy and vindication of God’s glory!* What glory! What a prospect we have if we are faithful, if only we are holy.

[* See Psalm 2: 8; Isaiah 9: 6, 7, R.V.]

* Isaiah 25: 9.

“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”*

[* Luke 21: 36, A.V.]

* * *

THE ADVENT

By DR. R. A. TORREY

ACCORDING to Luke 21: 36, there is only one way in which we can be prepared for the coming of the Lord when He appears; that is, through much prayer. The coming again of Jesus Christ is a subject that is awakening great interest and much discussion in our day. But it is one thing to be interested in the Lord’s return and to talk about it, and quite another thing to be prepared for it. We live in an atmosphere that has a constant tendency to unfit us for Christ's coming. The world tends to draw us down by its gratifications, and by its cares. There is only one way by which we can rise triumphant above these things - by constant watching unto prayer, that is, by sleeplessness unto prayer. “Watch” in this passage is the same strong word used in Ephesians 6: 18, and “always” the same strong phrase “in every season.” The man who spends little time in prayer, who is not steadfast and constant in prayer, will not be ready for the Lord when He comes. But we may be ready. How? Pray, Pray, Pray.

* * *

PSALM FIFTY-ONE

JUST before his death, with his left hand mutilated by torture, Savonarola wrote a commentary on the Fifty-First Psalm.

Sir Thomas More repeated it on the scaffold, and Lady Jane Grey recited it at her execution. Roland Taylor shouted it amid the flames of martyrdom, and was struck in the mouth for not saying it in Latin. When Arnold of Rugby understood that he was dying and they asked him what they should read to him, instantly, he selected the Fifty-First Psalm.

* * *

A SIXTEENTH CENTURY MARTYR

By ERNEST GORDON

FOR many years, in fact, forty-three, Isaac Homel served as a preacher and shepherd of Protestant flocks in the South of France - a zealous teacher of God’s truth. Then he was caught in the net of the fowler. Homel. was cast into the castle dungeon at Tournon with others and sentenced to the wheel.

Do you know what that meant? It meant being tied with cords to a cart wheel, with arms and legs spread as in a St. Andrew's cross.

* * *

HADES

By

HERBERT BEIBER, D.D.

THE Word of God teaches us that man is a tri-unity. He consists of a material part called the body, and immaterial parts called spirit and soul. With the spirit man has God-consciousness. By death is meant the separation of these component parts. In the Word of God life is always union, and death is always separation. In death the spirit and soul are separated from the body. We know where the body goes. It is placed in the ground awaiting* - [immortality at the time of its redemption, in] - the resurrection.**

[* See Romans 8: 23-25, N.I.V. : “We wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the REDEMPTION OF OUR BODIES. [24] For in this hope we are saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? [25] But if we hope for what we do not have, we WAIT for it patiently.”

[** Luke 24: 37-40, N.I.V.]

Where do the spirit and soul go? In the Old Testament we are told they go to Sheol. This word is used sixty-five times. It is translated - [in the A.V. - the King James Version.] “hell” thirty-one times, the “grave” thirty-one times, and the “pit” three times. In the New Testament the spirit and soul go to Hades,* which is the same place as Sheol. Hades is used eleven times and is translated “hell” ten times and “grave” once. Proper nouns should never be translated in going from one language to another. So in the American Revised Version you will find Sheol, sixty-five times in the Old Testament and Hades eleven times in the New Testament. Seventy-six times we are told where the spirit and soul go at death. They go to Sheol or Hades, the place of disembodied spirits.

[* NOTE: Our Lord’s animating spirit returned to His Father in Heaven at the time of His death:- “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. When he had said this, he breathed his last.” “And having said thus, he gave up the ghost, A.V. “Father into thy hands I commend my spirit” R.V.

I believe there are evil spirits now in Sheol / Hades, but they are not humans!]

But where is Sheol or Hades? Death and Sheol are linked together thirty-three times. Death - [and the grave or ‘tomb’, (as in our Lord’s case),]* gets the body. Sheol or Hades gets ... the [disembodied] soul.** But where is Sheol or Hades? “But those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth” (Psalm 63: 9). Here we are told that Sheol or Hades is in the lower parts of the earth. We know where the earth is, for we are living on it. When folks died in Old Testament times, they did not go up; they went down. In the Old Testament we are told twenty-two times that when folks died they went down into Sheol. Psalm 55: 1.*

* Matthew 27: 60.

** Psalm 16: 10 & Acts. 2: 27, R.V.

“Let death seize upon them and let them go down quick into Sheol.” Now we want to know - do the godly and ungodly mingle with each other in Sheol as they mingle on earth? Jesus answers this question when He unveils the unseen for us in Luke 16: 19-31. This is not a parable. It is an unveiling. A rich man dies and goes to Sheol. A poor man, Lazarus by name, dies and also goes to Sheol, but Jesus tells us that Lazarus was in a place called Abraham’s bosom and that he was in conscious bliss. The rich man was in torment. Between Abraham’s bosom where Lazarus was - [and still is! (See Acts 7: 5ff. cf. John 3: 13; 14: 3; 2 Tim. 2: 16-18, R.V. etc.] - and the place of torments where the rich man was, a gulf was fixed. The Greek calls this gulf a chasm.

Two ungodly men were crucified with Jesus. The one became penitent and prayed the Lord to remember him when he came into his kingdom. Jesus replied, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Now we have two names for the compartment in Sheol where Lazarus was, Abraham’s bosom and the Old Testament paradise. When Jesus and the penitent thief died, where did they go? They went to Sheol, to Abraham’s bosom, to the Old Testament paradise. Jesus was there three days [and three nights]. - Tabernacle Bulletin.

* * *

HOW GOOD A CHRISTIAN ARE YOU?

Answer these questions and grade yourself

Eight questions that have to do with vital things of life:

1. Attitude to God. As to your attitude toward God -

(a) Is He outside your personal life, like the king of your country?

(b) Do you feel a compulsion to respect and obey Him?

(c) Do you love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind?

2. Relationship to Christ. Do you consider yourself to be a Christian separated from the world, and entirely consecrated to Christ, because:-

(a) You avoid doing anything questionable?

(b) You have received the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour?

(c) You believe that you really belong to Christ having

‘Sanctified Him in your heart as Lord’ (See 1 Peter 3: 15)?

3. Bible Study. As to reading and study of the Bible, do you think:-

(a) That God will not require you to keep commands you do not know?

(b) That a few favourite passages are all you really need?

The conviction (shared by Dr. Beiber) that all Paradise has now been emptied, and the saved taken to Heaven, is upset by the fact that both saved and unsaved come up out of the tombs (none from Heaven) in a resurrection yet to come: “they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of judgment” (John 5: 29). The ‘Paradise of God’ (Rev. 2: 7), where our Lord is now seated at His Father’s right hand, is not the ‘Paradise’ in which our Lord met the Thief (Luke 23: 43), but must have been in the underworld [of the dead], for our Lord never ascended into Heaven before His Ascension.

* * *

TRANSLATION

THE truth stated by Scripture - that the translation of Enoch was a reward - is obvious to commentators, and is undeniable.

John Angel James, a leading Nonconformist of the nineteenth century, says:- “Enoch’s translation was a testimony to the whole world of God’s approval of his conduct.” Dr. Gouge says:- “To be translated from earth to heaven is a great reward. Enoch did that which moved God to translate him: work must be done before reward can be expected.” Gilfillan says:- “One reason why this honour was conferred on him was to show his transcendent excellence.” Calvin says:- “The Scripture shows that this translation was a proof of the Divine love towards Enoch by connecting it immediately with his pious and upright life.” John Gill, Spurgeon’s predecessor by a hundred years, says:- “He was a walker with God, and the course of his conversation was holy and upright; which was the reason of his translation, a high honour which was bestowed upon him.” “God translated him; FOR before his translation he hath had witness borne to him that he had been well-pleasing unto God” (Heb. 11: 5).

* * *

THE LORD’S WARNING

By R. H. BOLL

“But watch ye at every season, making supplication that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21: 36).

This sentence concludes our Lord’s prophetic discourse as recorded by Luke. It is very evident from this:- (1) that certain things shall come to pass; these are in part mentioned in the preceding part of the discourse (v. 25ff); (2) that by watchfulness and supplication we may prevail to escape all those things; (3) that those who so escape shall stand before the Son of man.

First let us examine some of the peculiar and meaningful words the Saviour used in this sentence.

Agrupneite - watch ye; not the usual word gregoreo, but a term implying sleeplessness, as of a burdened heart. It is the word used in Mark 13: 33; also, significantly, in Eph. 6: 18.

Deomenoi - making supplication; meaning to make urgent request; stronger word than proseuchomai, to pray.

Katischuste - prevail; ischuo means to prevail; katischuo, to prevail against or over something or somebody; to overcome, to get the upper hand. The mob cried out till their voices prevailed; (Luke 23: 23) and they got their wish.

Ekphugein - to escape; the simple word “phugo” means to flee when strengthened with “ek” it means to flee out of some danger or evil situation, to escape.

Stathanai- to stand; but to be exact it means “to be stationed,” for it is a passive form of “histemi,” to stand.

Emprosthen - before; more literally “in front of.”

These are remarkable words. That the heavenly wisdom of the Lord Jesus used them with purpose and determination needs not to be said. Let us then, having examined these outstanding words, try to take in the meaning of the verse. It forms the final word of the conclusion. To get its force we must look at the two verses preceding:- “But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly ... as a snare; for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth” (Luke 21: 34, 35).

It is worthy of particular notice how the Lord distinguishes between His own, the disciples He [warns and] addresses, and [the remainder left with] “them that dwell on the face of all the earth.” These latter are “earth-dwellers,” in the bad sense; people who have settled down here below, “men of the world whose portion is in this life” (Ps. 17: 14) as contrasted with those who are “sojourners and pilgrims” (1 Pet. 2: 11). Upon such “that day” will come “suddenly, as a snare” - which obviously, in the Lord’s warning, must be considered as a dreadful calamity, by all means to be avoided.

He solemnly cautions His disciples not to let their hearts be taken up with self-indulgence, drunkenness or the cares of this life which choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful (Mark 4: 19); for in that case would “that day” come upon them “suddenly, as a snare,” precisely as it will upon the earth-dwellers (Comp. Rev. 3: [1-] 3).

Now to our verse. Here the Lord Jesus marks out the course necessary for His own who are [sanctified] - to escape the terrible things that shall come to pass and who shall be permitted to stand before the Son of Man. It is for them:- To watch at every season. Though He points out certain signs, at the inception of which they should look up and lift up their heads, for the time of their redemption - [or escape / removal] - draweth nigh (Luke 21: 28) - there is never a time when they should not watch - signs or no signs. For the signs may go unnoticed, and we may easily misjudge our times. The only safety lies in watching always. (See here Mark 13: 35-37).

Making supplication. This, being a participle, shows that the supplication is to go on during the constant watching. If they are to watch at every season, so must they be making supplication at every season, constantly.

And for what this constant, urgent prayer? That they may “prevail to escape all the things that are to come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man”. Both the escape, on the one hand, from the calamities and judgment of that day and the privilege of being placed “in front of” the Son of man are here made contingent on watchfulness and prevailing prayer.

If anyone asks how this harmonizes with the widely-held tenet of “the eternal security of the believer” and the doctrine of salvation by grace - I would be far from detracting one whit from the plain face value of any of God’s precious promises. But let me say this - that if your faith in those promises sets your soul on fire to serve God, to work and watch and pray, and to do all His good will gladly, then there is no doubt that you have truly understood [His words of warning], and your faith in His gracious promise is having its intended result and manifestation. But if yours is a sort of pleasant fatalism that tends to make you careless and easy going, you have surely misunderstood something somewhere. And you surely need - [to repent and obey] - the Lord’s warning.

Let us watch and make supplication always and be accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God, unto which we labour and strive and suffer. that we may - [be judged worthy to] - escape the things that shall come upon the world - Herald of His Coming.

* * *

THE KINGDOM

By W. F. BEIRNES.

THE Lord is now selecting and training the kings and rulers for the coming new age in His great plan of redemption. “Unto him that hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father” (Rev. 1: 5, 6). “And we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5: 10). A warless world to last 1,000 years will some day be a reality, but only those who have parted company with sin and the world will ever have any place in that greatly to be desired “New Order.”

“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

* * *

SANCTITY THROUGH

SUFFERING

By HUDSON TAYLOR

I WAS painfully conscious that I was not living all that I was trying to teach the Chinese. Some months later I passed through a time of great trial and sorrow: the death of a beloved child, the sending home of three others, and the most trying time in China through which our beloved Mission had ever passed, bringing innumerable difficulties and perplexities. But it was also a time of deepened spiritual joy and rest, and of experience that my Saviour is sufficient for every emergency. In Tientsin the Sisters of Mercy, the French priests and the Consul had been massacred, and in all our inland stations there had been excitement and peril. Almost daily I had letters from some group of workers asking for guidance, and wondering whether they should remain at their stations or leave, as work for the time being was impossible. I knew not what to advise, but in each case, like Hezekiah, I spread the letters before the Lord, and trusted Him to teach me how to reply to them. There was no conscious revelation, but in every instance I was guided to reply in the way that led to the best results, and I sent each letter off in the joyful peace of knowing that I had asked and He had granted the wisdom that is profitable to direct.

Just at this crisis my dear wife had an attack of cholera from which she rallied with difficulty; and a little one was born and lived only a fortnight. But again the Living Water proved sufficient for her and for me. The very evening after the funeral of the babe, my precious wife had an attack of syncope, from which she did not fully recover, and early the next morning she, too, was taken. Then I understood why the Lord had made this passage so real to me.

An illness of some weeks followed, and oh! how lonesome were the weary hours when confined to my bed; how I missed my dear wife and the little pattering footsteps of the children, far away in England now! Perhaps twenty times in the day, as I felt the heart-thirst coming back again, I cried to the Lord: “Thou hast promised me that I should never thirst” - and at once the Lord came and satisfied my heart, so that I wondered whether it was possible that my loved one who had been taken could be enjoying a fuller revelation of His presence - [in the underworld of Hades] - than I in the loneliness of my chamber. He had literally fulfilled the prayer:-

Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me

A living, bright reality;

More present to faith’s vision keen

Than any earthly object seen;

More dear, more intimately nigh

Than e’en the sweetest human tie.

A farthing will be paid off; the time of imprisonment expire. “The age to come” is to be the time of forgiveness, of some things, as well as the present age (Matt. 12: 32).

“But this is Purgatory. Is it SCRIPTURE?”

Do not, Christian brother, seek to set aside a truth because it is unpleasant, by raising a storm of prejudice. If this be not spoken - [by our Lord Jesus] - to disciples, prove it! Put it down by force of Scripture! Hew it in pieces with that two-edged sword! But if it be the word of Christ, bow to it!

This is not, in its chief features, like the Romish doctrine of purgatory.

1. Purgatory is supposed by Romanists to begin at death; to end at Christ’s appearing. The sentence here begins only with the Saviour’s Judgment-seat.

2. The parties detained in purgatory, it is asserted, may be delivered by prayers, masses, indulgences, etc.

This last is the especial feature, which has rendered the Romish doctrine so justly odious. They have no place here.

But the one great question is, What saith Scripture? - to that I bend; do you also, beloved!

* * *

WORLD CONDITIONS AT THE

TIME OF THE RAPTURE

By Wm. F. BEIRNES

No sooner will the United States of Europe be formed with its president at the head and the covenant with the Jews confirmed than every true believer the world over will recognize exactly where we are prophetically, for these events will strike the hour of midnight with no uncertain tones. After the covenant, the Jews will flock back to Palestine in great numbers on every means of convenience that can be pressed into service. The parts of the Temple already crated for shipment to Palestine will be hurriedly started toward the Temple site. The Temple will be among the first buildings to be erected.

In the beginning it will not have the appearance of a threat to world peace. The people will see only the nations of Europe united for the cause of peace. “Federation for world peace,” will be the cry. Paul has given a warning to all true believers living at that time saying, “When they shall say peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape” (1 Thess. 5: 3).

Coming directly to the point in question, the Psalmist (Ps. 2: 2) says that the kings and rulers of the earth will “take counsel together.” This will necessitate international conferences. It is a little difficult at this stage of the end time drama to visualize a time in the near future when the true born‑again Christians will become such a problem that kings and rulers will call United Nations Conferences to discuss the matter and determine what to do about it, but that time is coming. It is on the prophetic agenda.

Bills will be brought before legislative assemblies in all nations for quick passage against the Lord’s anointed ones. Lawmakers convened in Government sessions will make impassioned speeches in favour of bills providing drastic measures for dealing with the offenders. The maximum sentence will make the death penalty mandatory. The great cry in the council chambers will be, “Let us break their cords from us.” The bills will be passed quickly and signed into law. Machinery will be set up in all nations to enforce every provision.

The ten virgins, described in Matt. 25: 1-13, have time to inquire about obtaining the necessary oil to be ready when the Bridegroom comes. It is evident from this parable that every believer both foolish and wise will know definitely before the - [Pre-tribulation] - rapture that he is ready or is in danger of being left behind. The events of each passing day will make the imminence of the rapture more certain and increase the excitement among the wise and foolish virgins.

The awakened virgins, knowing the antichrist is come, will preach that this great president of the United States of Europe is the prophesied “man of sin.” The vile person “son of perdition,” etc. they will denounce the United States of Europe as the “beast kingdom.” They will endeavour to persuade the Jews that they are accepting a false messiah as their deliverer. They will preach that the [Pre-Tribulation] - rapture is due and that this will be followed by the great tribulation judgments described in the book of Revelation - the opening of the seals under which wars, revolutions, famines and pestilences will sweep the world.

Seeing the federated nations of Europe, the presidency of the greatest peace leader the world has ever produced, the Jewish and Arab question settled, many other national disputes arbitrated, and war an apparent impossibility, they will revive the - [Anti and] - post-millennial theory, and preach it with a vengeance to counteract as far as possible the cry of the awakened virgins. The modernist pulpits will no doubt announce that we are going into the millennium on a programme of peace and that the World Council of Churches is the great united religious body that is bringing it in. There will be a strong move to unite into closer bonds all religions of the world for the coming millennium (the mock millennium of the antichrist). Deceived, they will throw their efforts back of the Federation of Nations and its leader, the man of sin. The foundation for Mystic Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth will be seen in the tie between the Church of Rome and the World Council which will be gradually tightened until amalgamation will be the outcome.

The awakened Christians will come in for great persecution from the rulers of the nations. Their powerful preaching of the coming of Christ will bring them into direct conflict. National leaders, realizing that if this were to continue, the programme for world federation and peace will be jeopardized and the ratification of treaties by popular vote so necessary, may be lost, take drastic steps to silence those who are giving out the midnight cry. All who persist in preaching Second Coming Truth will be arrested and imprisoned. Trial for sedition or for treason will make newspaper headlines. The prisons of the country will be filled with saints of God. Even in England and America the Christians will be tried for treason.

It is only reasonable to suppose that there will be a day set for the mass execution of many thousands of the leaders. The motive will be to silence, through fear, the rest of the virgins. Plans may be made for public executions to be carried out in every large centre over the world in thousands of places at the same moment. What a day that will be! Let us visualise people gathered by the thousands and tens of thousands in every centre of public execution. Bands are playing and flags flying. Radio - [and Television] - announcers are giving a word picture of all that is happening. Soldiers are lined up with fixed bayonets in the line of the death march to great scaffolds or before firing squads. The hour finally arrives and the officers deputized for the purpose go to the prisons from which the saints are to be brought forth. The officers open the doors of the prisons and soldiers rush in for their victims ... BUT to their amazement there is nothing but old clothes lying around where the saints - [who were judged as being accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass (see Luke 21: 34-36; cf. Rev. 3: 10)] - suddenly put off the old and were clothed in immortality and caught up to be with their Lord. Then, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision.” After consultation the officers in confusion and consternation are forced to bring the news to the throngs waiting in expectation for the scene of the death march that something very strange has taken place over which they have no control. They are saying as in the case of the apostles, “the prisons truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors.” But before they are through making the disappointing announcements messages will come from various parts of the country - [and throughout the world] - of other strange happenings and of missing ones. Every cemetery will be molested, for graves will be found opened and the monuments toppled over and broken. A world-wide earthquake at the moment of the rapture will add to the confusion. The leaders who planned this mass execution are in derision. The whole world knows the rapture of the Bride of Christ has taken place. They will not see the saints go, but they will know they are gone. It will be the greatest world-shaking event of all time. The rage of the national leaders will rise again, and the foolish virgins left behind will bewail their conditions and declare the tribulation is now present. Wholesale executions of the foolish virgins will follow as indicated in the Fifth Seal.

Immediately following the [select] rapture “God will speak unto them (the nations) in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure.” Tribulation judgments will begin to fall.

- The Midnight Cry.

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