December, 1933
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
421
o f PROPHECY
cCJreseni-CDay
S S C Û I O D . . . B y L o u is S. JB a u m a n OUR LORD’S OWN CRYSTALLINE PROPHECY OF THE IMMINENCY OF HIS RETURN Luke 21:24-33. e sometimes wonder whether writers on “ the signs < lO V Y \ T * 3 'S -
Mark it well ! When the Gentile heel is lifted off Jeru salem, the sun o f Gentile dominion will set. For forty hoary centuries, the question o f the Jew and his right to a home land in Palestine has been a most disturbing world problem. Again and again it has been “ permanently settled.” Again and again the inevitable “ Jonah” came to the surface. And today, in the one-thousand-nine-hundred-and-thirty-third year o f our Lord, “ Jonah” is the world’s leading, most dis tressing, and most difficult problem. But what do we see? During the great war, Britain, through the Lord Balfour Declaration, promised the Jew that his age-old quest for the old homeland would soon end. Today Britain holds Palestine under a mandate given her by the League o f Nations’ Council, July 24, 1922. Under this mandate, the Gentile heel which trod down has become a Gentile hand which lifts up. And the nation which never has and cannot cease to be (Jer. 31:36), awakes once more from her long, long slumber. “ On to Jerusalem!” is a cry heard rising from the lips of hundreds o f thousands o f the world’s greatest, oldest, and weariest wanderers. The Jew-hating Gentiles, by their bitter persecutions, know not that they only help the sons o f Jacob to realize their dreams. The sons o f Ishmael and Esau protest in vain against the return o f their “ brethren.” Jacob treks home. Israel again occupies the place of chief interest in the international coun cils o f earth. The mighty Gentile nations seem to have no objective, and in confusion have lost the way. Israel, on the other hand, wanderer though he still is, has a clear-cut objective, and is surely on the way! O Israel ! Despised and rejected of men, though the footprints o f thy trek be red with blood, trek on ! Soon, weary “ Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isa. 6 0 :3). The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars “ And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the starsi” (v. 25). From time to time, in recent months, astronomers have been taking note o f strange antics in the heavens— sun spots, sun pillars, and sun fringes, as well as new “ stars” and changes in positional relationships. I f our Lord’s prophecies refer to such disturbances in the heavens, as they doubtless do, such disturbances will come, as they have not yet come, and come on time. However, even as we write, a query arises : Is it pos sible that the sun, the moon, and the stars o f this proph ecy may be even the same sun, and moon, and stars which made obeisance to Joseph? In the great Revelation to John on Patmos, there ap peared “ a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown o f twelve stars : And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. . . . and behold a great red dragon . . . . stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born” (Rev. 12: 1-4). Expositors find no difficulty in seeing Israel in this light-possessing woman, “ sun,” “ moon,” and “ stars” as suredly assisting in the woman’s identification. Israel, at this very hour, is in travail. She calls loudly for her Mes siah. And even now, as it has ever been and as it shall be again, “ a great red dragon” which would “ devour her child” is not hard to find. In verse 24, the Lord had the
o f the times” (as the “ signs” touch upon our Lord’s re turn), in the intensity o f their desire for His return, are not a bit prone to see things which do not exist.' When I was a boy, we were acquainted with some old “ Pennsyl vania Dutch” tellers o f ghost tales. As a result, when alone and passing a country graveyard, we had a strong propen sity toward seeing things which really were not there. They who, walking in the night, constantly peer about in intense expectancy, should bear in mind that they are liable to hallucinations. Then again, we have known writers and teachers o f the prophetic Word, who possessed an itch to be a step ahead o f any one else in discovering things; and in their anxiety to tell some new thing, they were in clined to go far beyond the revealed Word. Little wonder it is, then, that expounders o f the prophetic Word are fre quently accused o f trying to manufacture “ signs” out o f every happening related in the morning paper. While recognizing this fact that some, in their overanxiety to see, may “ see” things which are not, we must confess we would rather be sometimes the victim o f such an hallucina tion, and think we see what is not there, than to shut our eyes and refuse in our willful blindness to see the. things which are there— emphatically there! In the former case, we at least would be less likely to knock ourselves senseless against the abutments o f realities. Moreover, this attitude, as touching the coming of our Lord, would be some evidence o f a real heart’s devotion to the One who promised to come and take us up out o f the night. One Prophecy Which Compels Belief It may be that in these strange days through which the whole world is passing, tokens o f the end time are often of the manufactured sort, yet there are signs o f the nightfall which are beyond question— signs so clear that none but those who reject the right o f Jesus Christ Himself to speak authoritatively on the subject of His own return can refuse to acknowledge. From time to time on these pages, we have referred to the great prophecy o f our Lord recorded by Luke (21:24-33). Laying aside all other prophecies, if we are to believe that the Scripture cannot be broken, and that the promises o f a covenant-keeping God will be kept on time, this one passage absolutely demands and compels us to believe that “ the kingdom o f God is nigh at hand” (v. 31). The One who is Himself to fulfill, leaving it to none other, said: “ When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your re demption draweth nigh” (v. 28 ). Is it possible that our Lord commanded us to “ look up” when certain “ things begin to come to pass,” if we are not to clearly know those “ things” when we see them? And the very fact that the devout children of God everywhere do see “ these things,” recognizing them as a certain fulfillment o f their Lord’s great prophecy, is sufficient evidence that “ the gross dark ness” (Isa. 60 :2 ), which now covers the earth, must soon flee before the glorious light o f “ the Sun o f righteousness” which shall “ arise with healing in his wings” (Mai. 4 :2 ). The Homeward Trek o f the Sons o f Jacob “ Jerusalem shall be trodden down o f the Gentiles, until the times o f the Gentiles be fulfilled” (v. 24 ).
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