James White

“ I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom, Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned into fables. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Kings and great men, rich men, chief captains and mighty men, free and bond, all, yes, all unite in the general wail. As the Son of man in the glory of his Father, attended by all the holy angels, draws still nearer, consternation fills every breast. They hide in dens and in the rocks of the mountains. Their only hope is to be concealed from the glory of that scene. They know it is too late to pray for mercy, that probation for the human family has ended forever. ”

“ Prophecy throws its gleam into those dark regions, yet unexplored, and marks out the path of human history centuries and ages before it has echoed to the footsteps of mankind. When at last we pass along the pathway, we may, if we will, recognize the waymarks set up here and there, every one of which [pg 072] is a monument to the wisdom and knowledge of God, and the faithfulness of his word. Those who have no eyes to discern these things, no ears to hear, nor hearts to understand their significance, will pass on, and the final event will come upon them unawares. ”

“ This happy time is coming. When Jesus comes, he will take to himself his power and reign in righteousness. Then will the hills be brought low, the valleys exalted, the crooked be made straight, and the rough places smooth.
Those who are weary of strife, those who through misfortune or oppression have been made to feel their need of relief will find rest to their souls in looking for the coming of the Lord. It is vain to match evil with evil or to try to cure wrong with wrong. The gospel of Christ is the only remedy for these ills. ”

“ The times we live in are anomalous to any that have ever preceded us. For some years there have been universal and active preparations for war, and almost universal peace. To secure the greatest efficiency of armed forces for defensive and offensive purposes, has been the prime consideration of government, especially so, as far as the Old World nations are concerned. Europe echoes to the tread of vast hosts of war while the nations are driven to their wits' end to provide for their support. ”

“ No one can wait for Christ who is not prepared for his coming. Only the precious blood of Jesus that cleanses from sin can prepare us to receive him and fit us to dwell in his presence. Have you an interest in his forgiving love? Is your peace made with God? If so, his coming will have no terror to you, for he comes to save his waiting people. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Many sincere people will be led to expect the conversion of the world through a millennium of peace. Others will be persuaded that the coming of Christ means death. And even false prophets, showing great signs and wonders, will appear. All these form an atmosphere of deception, the miasma of which will stupefy, if it were possible, the elect of God.
In this fearful work will be engaged the notorious deceiver, the trained agents of Satan, the worldly philosopher, worldly preachers, popular ministers, critics of the Bible, and many whose eyes do not discern the signs of the times. ”

“ The gospel of Jesus Christ embraces all truth relating to salvation. The warnings, counsel, invitations, promises, precepts, prophecies, or whatever the Lord would have the people hear,—the gospel embraces them all. In the days of Noah, the gospel included repentance, faith, obedience, with the promises of grace and mercy; it also included the warning of the impending judgment. And the only way to escape that judgment was through the gospel. So here in Revelation we have the gospel with all it implies, including the message of Christ's second coming and kingdom and the judgment. ”

“ When the trees of the field begin to put forth their leaves, and the tender grass springs up, and the ground is being covered with its green velvet carpet, we know that summer is nigh. It is a certainty with us that summer is coming when we see these signs in nature. ”

“ The tribulation of the Christian church has been greater than it will ever be again. True, a time of trouble “such as never was,” spoken of in Dan. 12:1, is coming upon the wicked; but we find in the same verse this blessed promise, “And at that time thy people shall be delivered.” The tribulation of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem was not greater than the world will ever witness. The vials of Jehovah's unmingled wrath are yet to be poured out, not upon the people of one nation only, but upon the guilty people of all nations. ”

“ If we love Jesus, we shall love his appearing and if we love his appearing, we shall be eagerly watching and waiting for it. But if we knew the hour when he would come, we should not watch for his coming, nor could we with eagerness expect his coming if we had no knowledge of its approach. The course of time has been measured off in definite periods down to the beginning of the present generation. The time from the end of the prophetic periods to the coming of Christ is emphatically the waiting, watching time. Those who watch, as our Lord commands, will eventually know the time. ”

“ Almost, if not altogether alone as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind in nature's diversified range of events during the last century, stands the dark day of May 19, 1780, a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England, which brought intense alarm and distress to multitudes of minds, as well as dismay to the brute creation, the fowls fleeing, bewildered, to their roosts, and the birds to their nests, and the cattle returning to their stalls. ”

“ There are some who too fondly anticipate a millennium. There is a lack of information on the progress of Christianity. The facts are misstated daily in pulpits all over the country. Ministers hesitate to present the worst side for fear of causing discouragement, and they create hopes that are never realized. We are not at the dawn of a millennium. Compared with the work to be done, the past is nothing. Our children's children for ten generations to come must labor harder than we are doing, to accomplish the conversion of the world. ”

“ 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 ”

“ The world is now just starting out upon its career of knowledge and enjoyment. Where is the promise or indication of his coming? Some say, He may come to-night, he may not come in a million years, thus neutralizing the truth. Such men will be found criticising and discounting the Scriptures and subjecting them to the tests of human philosophy and science. The [pg 093] only safety for the people is to look beyond such watchmen. Let them take the Bible for themselves, and there discerning the truth, embrace it, and live according to it. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A solemn gloom of unusual darkness before ten o'clock,—a still darker cloud rolling under the sable curtain from the north and west before eleven o'clock,—excluded the light so that none could see to read or write in the House, even at either window, or distinguish persons at a small distance, or perceive any distinction of dress in the circle of attendants ”

“ As before noted, the word end, whenever used in this chapter, refers to the end of the age, and to nothing else. It is the end associated in the New Testament with the second appearing of Jesus Christ. If it be urged that the word “end” has reference to the close of mortal life, then we reply that the disciples did not ask their Lord (see verse 3) when they should die; but “what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Neither does the Lord speak of death, when he says (see verse 6) , “But the end is not yet.” ”

“ We may refer the expression, “the sea and the waves roaring,” to unusual disturbances of the natural elements, and we have the most abundant evidences of its fulfillment in the storms and convulsions of nature that are occurring by sea and land, filling the heart with dread at the sight of every dark cloud that arises. The tidal waves and volcanic upheavals at sea have, in the last two or three decades, been marked with extraordinary violence. On land, cyclones and earthquakes have carried on a fearful work of destruction. ”

“ Verse 13.
In very many scriptures it is plainly declared that when Christ comes, he comes not only to reward and save his people but also to punish his enemies. Looking upon the last days he exclaims, “Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8. The idea of a thousand years of peace and righteousness before Christ comes might be dismissed as utterly out of the question. ”

“ Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people; then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning ”

“ No truth of inspiration can be more clearly demonstrated than that God reveals his designs to his prophets, that men and nations may be prepared for their accomplishment. Before visiting with judgments, God has uniformly sent forth warnings sufficient to enable the believing to escape his wrath, and to condemn those who have not heeded the warning. ”

“ To the splendors of this celestial exhibition the most brilliant sky-rockets and fire-works of art bear less relation than the twinkling of the most tiny star to the broad glare of the sun. The whole heavens seemed in motion, and suggested to some the awful grandeur of the image employed in the Apocalypse, upon the opening of the sixth seal, when ‘the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even [pg 051] as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.’ ”—Burritt's “Geography of the Heavens,” p. ”

“ 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 ”