“Others have said that the verb rendered _knoweth_ means sometimes
to _make_ known, or to reveal, and that the passage means, ‘that
day and hour none maketh known, neither the angels, nor the Son,
but the Father.’ It is true the word has sometimes that meaning,
as 1 Cor. 2:2.”
When the patriarch’s work of warning and building was finished, God said
to him, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark.” “For yet seven days
and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”
So when the waiting, watching, weeping, toiling time shall be finished,
and the saints shall all be sealed, and shut in with God, then, we
conclude, will the voice of the Father from heaven make known the definite
time. See Rev. 16:17; Joel 3:16; Jer. 25:30.
The present is emphatically the waiting, watching time. It is the especial
period of the patience of the saints. The Lord appeals to us thus:—
“Watch ye, therefore; for ye know not when the Master of the house
cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the
morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say
unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:35‐37.
One of the fatal consequences of not watching is distinctly stated in Rev.
3:3:—
“If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a
thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
In consequence of not watching, the people will remain in ignorance of the
approach of that hour. And the unavoidable inference is that by watching
they will be aware of and prepared for its coming. In answer to the
agonizing prayer of the Son of God, “Father, glorify thy name,” there came
a voice from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify
it again.” The disciples understood these words from heaven, while the
people that stood by said it thundered. John 12:27‐29. So will the waiting
disciples of Christ understand the voice of God when he shall speak from
on high. But the unbelieving world will not understand it. In comparing
Noah’s days and ours, the Lord continues:—
Noah’s Time And Ours.
VERSES 38, 39: “For as in the days that were before the flood,
they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,
until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until
the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming
of the Son of man be.”
A picture of the present condition of the mass of mankind is here drawn.
The people of the last generation will be like those before the flood,
while the ark was preparing. While Noah preached, and warned them of the
coming flood, they mocked. He built the ark; and they scoffed and jeered.
He was a preacher of righteousness. His works were calculated to give edge
to, and send home to the heart, what he preached. Every righteous sermon,
and every blow struck in building the ark, condemned a careless, scoffing
world. As the time drew nearer, the people grew more careless, more
hardened, more bold and impudent, and their condemnation surer. Noah and
his family stood alone. And could one family know more than all the world?
The ark was a matter of ridicule, and Noah was regarded as a willful
bigot.
But the Lord calls Noah into the ark. And by the hand of Providence the
beasts are led into the ark; and the Lord shuts Noah in. This is regarded
at first by the scoffing multitude as something wonderful; but it is soon
explained away by the wiser ones, so as to calm their fears, and they
breathe easier.
The day of expectation finally arrives. The sun rises as usual, and the
heavens are clear. “Now where is old Noah’s flood?” is heard from a
thousand impious lips. The farmer is caring for his herds and lands, and
the mechanic is pursuing his work of building. On this very day, some are
being joined in marriage. With many it is a day of unusual feasting and
sports. And while all are looking to long years of future prosperity and
happiness, suddenly the heavens gather blackness. Fear fills every heart.
The windows of heaven open, and the rain descends in torrents. “The
fountains of the great deep are broken up,” and here and there come
gushing up rivers of water. The valleys are fast filling up, and thousands
are swept away in death. Awful death! made still more horrible by being in
consequence of slighted mercy! But where is Noah? Ah! safe in the ark,
borne upon the billows. Safe from the flood, for God “shut him in.”
By some people, the evidences of the soon coming of Christ are considered
insufficient to base faith upon. But the testimony and acts of one man in
the case of Noah, condemned the people destroyed by the flood. The
evidences then were sufficient, otherwise the world would not have been
condemned. But a hundred times more convincing evidences come pouring in
upon us that the day of the Lord is near, and hasteth greatly. We follow
down the several prophetic chains of Daniel and of the Revelation, and we
find ourselves in every instance standing just before the day of wrath. We
see the signs spoken of by prophets, by Christ, and by the apostles,
fulfilling or fulfilled. And at the right time, and in the right manner,
to fulfill certain prophecies, a solemn message arises in different parts
of the world: “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the
Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” Joel 2:1. Wherever we look, we see
prophecy fulfilling. While the knowledge of God and the spirit of holiness
are departing, spiritual wickedness, like a flood, covers the land.
But these evidences are considered insufficient to rest faith upon. Well,
what kind of evidence would the unbelieving have? “When the signs of the
end,” says the skeptic, “are fulfilled, they will be so plain that no one
can doubt.” But if the signs are of such a nature, and are fulfilled in
such a manner, as to compel all to believe in the coming of Christ, how
can it be as it was in the days of Noah? Men were not then compelled to
believe. But eight believing souls were saved, while all the world besides
sank in their unbelief beneath the waters of the flood. God has never
revealed his truth to man in a manner to compel him to believe. Those who
have wished to doubt his word, have found a wide field in which to doubt,
and a broad road to perdition; while those who have wished to believe,
have ever found an everlasting rock upon which to rest their faith.
Just before the end, the world will be hardened in sin, and indifferent to
the claims of God. Men will be careless in regard to the warnings of
danger, and blinded by cares, pleasures, and riches. An unbelieving
generation will be eating, drinking, marrying, building, planting, and
sowing. It is right to eat and drink to sustain nature, but the sin is in
excess and gluttony. The marriage covenant is holy, but God’s glory is
seldom thought of. Building, planting, and sowing, necessary for
convenient shelter, food, and clothing, are right; but the world has gone
wholly after these things, so that men have no time nor disposition to
think of God, heaven, Christ’s coming, and the Judgment. This world is
their god, and all their energies of body and mind are made to serve it.
And the evil day is put far away.
The faithful watchman who sounds the alarm as he sees destruction coming,
is held up before the people from the pulpits of our land, and by the
religious press, as a fanatic, a teacher of dangerous heresies; while in
contrast is set forth a long period of peace and prosperity to the church.
So the churches are quieted to sleep. The scoffer continues to scoff, and
the mocker mocks on. But that day is coming. Thus saith the prophet of
God:—
“Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a
destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint,
and every man’s heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid; pangs
and sorrows shall take hold of them.... Behold, the day of the
Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the
land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of
it.” Isa. 13:6‐9.
[Illustration]
The Day of Wrath.
Most dreadful day! and is it near?—Yes; it hasteth! It hasteth greatly!
What a description given by the prophet! Read it; and as you read, try to
realize how dreadful will be that day:—
“The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth
greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man
shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of
trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of
darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day
of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against
the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they
shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the
Lord; and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh
as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to
deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land
shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make
even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Zeph.
1:14‐18.
Peace And Safety.
The attitude of the religious world toward this most important subject is
worthy of more than passing notice both because of its effect upon the
cause of truth and also because it of itself is a sign of the times. While
it is true that many individuals in the different Christian denominations
recognize with more or less distinctness the fact that we are living in
the last days, with many of these it does not become a practical truth.
Outside of these there are many who ridicule the idea as preposterous and
outlandish; and in opposition to the message that Christ is soon coming,
raise the cry of, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” Such teaching is
alluded to by the prophet in Eze. 13:10, 11.
The groundwork of the peace and safety cry is the doctrine of the temporal
millennium. This teaches that the world is now entering, or about to enter
upon a period of universal peace and good will, that the moral tone of the
world is improving, men and nations are learning righteousness; and the
gospel of Christ is about to become the controlling principle in public
and private life. And, further, this happy state will continue for one
thousand years, which period of time the word millennium literally
signifies. At the end of that time, perhaps, the Lord will come. However,
if this doctrine be true, it will make but little difference to this
generation or to the one living at the close of the period whether he does
or not. The verses we have just considered which liken the last days to
those of Noah wholly disprove this position. In addition to what Matthew
states, Luke gives a still more forcible version of our Saviour’s words:—
“And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days
of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives,
they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into
the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also
as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day
that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from
heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day
when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:26‐30.