"One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed in the Bible is that of Christ's second coming, to complete the great work of redemption. To God's pilgrim people, so long left to sojourn in the “region and shadow of death,” a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in the promise of His appearing, who is “the resurrection and the life,” to “bring home again his banished.” The doctrine of the second advent is the very key-note of the sacred Scriptures. From the day when the first pair turned their sorrowing steps from Eden, the children of faith have waited the coming of the Promised One to break the destroyer's power and bring them again to the lost Paradise. Holy men of old looked forward to the advent of the Messiah in glory, as the consummation of their hope. Enoch, only the seventh in descent from them that dwelt in Eden, he who for three centuries on earth walked with his God, was permitted to behold from afar the coming of the Deliverer. “Behold,” he declared, “the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.” [Jude 14, 15.] The patriarch Job in the night of his affliction exclaimed with unshaken trust: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; . . . in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.” [Job 19:25-27.] {GC88 299.1}
The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of righteousness, has inspired the most sublime and impassioned utterances of the sacred writers. The poets and prophets of the
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Bible have dwelt upon it in words glowing with celestial fire. The psalmist sung of the power and majesty of Israel's King: “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. . . . He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.” [Psalm 50:2-4.] “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad” “before the Lord; for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.” [Psalm 96:11, 13.] {GC88 299.2}
Said the prophet Isaiah: “Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.” “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth; for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that 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.” [Isaiah 26:19; 25:8, 9.] {GC88 300.1}
And Habakkuk, rapt in holy vision, beheld His appearing. “God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. And his brightness was as the light.” “He stood, and measured the earth; he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow; his ways are everlasting.” “Thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation.” “The mountains saw thee, and they trembled. . . The deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.” “Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed.” [Habakkuk 3:3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13.] {GC88 300.2}
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When the Saviour was about to be separated from his disciples, he comforted them in their sorrow with the assurance that he would come again: “Let not your heart be troubled.” “In my Father's house are many mansions.” “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” [John 14:1-3.] “The Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations.” [Matthew 25:31, 32.] {GC88 301.1}
The angels who lingered upon Olivet after Christ's ascension, repeated to the disciples the promise of his return: “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” [Acts 1:11.] And the apostle Paul, speaking by the Spirit of inspiration, testified: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” [1 Thessalonians 4:16.] Says the prophet of Patmos: “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.” [Revelation 1:7.] {GC88 301.2}
About his coming cluster the glories of that “restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” [Acts 3:21.] Then the long-continued rule of evil shall be broken; “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever.” [Revelation 11:15.] “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” “The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.” He shall be “for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people.” [Isaiah 40:5; 61:11; 28:5.] {GC88 301.3}
It is then that the peaceful and long-desired kingdom of the Messiah shall be established under the whole heaven. “The Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste
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places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord.” “The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon.” “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called My Delight, and thy land Beulah.” “As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” [Isaiah 51:3; 35:2; 62:4, 5 (MARGIN).] {GC88 301.4}
The coming of the Lord has been in all ages the hope of his true followers. The Saviour's parting promise upon Olivet, that he would come again, lighted up the future for his disciples, filling their hearts with joy and hope, that sorrow could not quench, nor trials dim. Amid suffering and persecution, “the appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” was the “blessed hope.” When the Thessalonian Christians were filled with grief as they buried their loved ones, who had hoped to live to witness the coming of the Lord, Paul, their teacher, pointed them to the resurrection, to take place at the Saviour's advent. Then the dead in Christ should rise, and together with the living be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. “And so,” he said, “shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” [1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.] {GC88 302.1}
On rocky Patmos the beloved disciple hears the promise, “Surely, I come quickly,” and his longing response voices the prayer of the church in all her pilgrimage, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” [Revelation 22:20.] {GC88 302.2}
From the dungeon, the stake, the scaffold, where saints and martyrs witnessed for the truth, comes down the centuries the utterance of their faith and hope. “Being assured of Christ's personal resurrection, and consequently of their own at his coming, for this cause,” says one of these Christians, “they despised death, and were found to be above it.” They were willing to go down to the grave, that they “might rise free.” They looked for the “Lord to come from Heaven in the clouds with the glory of his Father,” “bringing to the
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just the times of the kingdom.” The Waldenses cherished the same faith. Wycliffe looked forward to the Redeemer's appearing as the hope of the church. {GC88 302.3}
Luther declared: “I persuade myself verily, that the day of Judgment will not be absent full three hundred years. God will not, cannot, suffer this wicked world much longer.” “The great day is drawing near in which the kingdom of abominations shall be overthrown.” {GC88 303.1}
“This aged world is not far from its end,” said Melancthon. Calvin bids Christians “not to hesitate, ardently desiring the day of Christ's coming as of all events most auspicious;” and declares that “the whole family of the faithful will keep in view that day.” “We must hunger after Christ, we must seek, contemplate,” he says, “till the dawning of that great day, when our Lord will fully manifest the glory of his kingdom.” {GC88 303.2}
“Has not our Lord Jesus carried up our flesh into Heaven?” said Knox, the Scotch reformer, “and shall he not return? We know that he shall return, and that with expedition.” Ridley and Latimer, who laid down their lives for the truth, looked in faith for the Lord's coming. Ridley wrote: “The world without doubt—this I do believe, and therefore I say it—draws to an end. Let us with John, the servant of God, cry in our hearts unto our Saviour Christ, Come, Lord Jesus, come.” {GC88 303.3}
“The thoughts of the coming of the Lord,” said Baxter, “are most sweet and joyful to me.” “It is the work of faith and the character of his saints to love his appearing and to look for that blessed hope.” “If death be the last enemy to be destroyed at the resurrection, we may learn how earnestly believers should long and pray for the second coming of Christ, when this full and final conquest shall be made.” “This is the day that all believers should long, and hope, and wait for, as being the accomplishment of all the work of their redemption, and all the desires and endeavors of their souls.” “Hasten, O Lord, this blessed day!” Such was
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the hope of the apostolic church, of the “church in the wilderness,” and of the reformers. {GC88 303.4}
Prophecy not only foretells the manner and object of Christ's coming, but presents tokens by which men are to know when it is near. Said Jesus: “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars.” [Luke 21:25.] “The sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.” [Mark 13:24-26.] The Revelator thus describes the first of the signs to precede the second advent: “There was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon become as blood.” [Revelation 6:12.] {GC88 304.1}
These signs were witnessed before the opening of the present century. In fulfillment of this prophecy there occurred, in the year 1755, the most terrible earthquake that has ever been recorded. Though commonly known as the earthquake of Lisbon, it extended to the greater part of Europe, Africa, and America. It was felt in Greenland, in the West Indies, in the island of Madeira, in Norway and Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland. It pervaded an extent of not less than four million square miles. In Africa the shock was almost as severe as in Europe. A great part of Algiers was destroyed; and a short distance from Morocco, a village containing eight or ten thousand inhabitants was swallowed up. A vast wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa, engulfing cities, and causing great destruction. {GC88 304.2}
It was in Spain and Portugal that the shock manifested its extreme violence. At Cadiz the inflowing wave was said to be sixty feet high. Mountains—some of the largest in Portugal—“were impetuously shaken, as it were from the very foundation; and some of them opened at their summits, which were split and rent in a wonderful manner, huge masses of them being thrown down into the subjacent
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valleys. Flames are related to have issued from these mountains.” {GC88 304.3}
At Lisbon “a sound of thunder was heard underground, and immediately afterward a violent shock threw down the greater part of that city. In the course of about six minutes sixty thousand persons perished. The sea first retired, and laid the bar dry, it then rolled in, rising fifty feet above its ordinary level.” “The most extraordinary circumstance which occurred at Lisbon during the catastrophe, was the subsidence of the new quay, built entirely of marble, at an immense expense. A great concourse of people had collected there for safety, as a spot where they might be beyond the reach of falling ruins; but suddenly the quay sunk down with all the people on it, and not one of the dead bodies ever floated to the surface.” {GC88 305.1}
The shock of the earthquake “was instantly followed by the fall of every church and convent, almost all the large and public buildings, and one-fourth of the houses. In about two hours afterward, fires broke out in different quarters, and raged with such violence for the space of nearly three days that the city was completely desolated. The earthquake happened on a holy day, when the churches and convents were full of people, very few of whom escaped.” “The terror of the people was beyond description. Nobody wept; it was beyond tears. They ran hither and thither, delirious with horror and astonishment, beating their faces and breasts, crying, 'Misericordia! the world's at an end!' Mothers forgot their children, and ran loaded with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; but in vain was the sacrament exposed; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars; images, priests, and people were buried in one common ruin.” “Ninety thousand persons are supposed to have been lost on that fatal day.” {GC88 305.2}
Twenty-five years later appeared the next sign mentioned in the prophecy,—the darkening of the sun and moon. What rendered this more striking was the fact that the
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time of its fulfillment had been definitely pointed out. In the Saviour's conversation with his disciples upon Olivet, after describing the long period of trial for the church—the 1260 years of papal persecution, concerning which he had promised that the tribulation should be shortened—he thus mentioned certain events to precede his coming, and fixed the time when the first of these should be witnessed: “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.” [Mark 13:24.] The 1260 days, or years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution had almost wholly ceased. Between these two dates, according to the words of Christ, the sun was to be darkened. On the 19th of May, 1780, this prophecy was fulfilled. {GC88 305.3}
“Almost if not altogether alone as the most mysterious and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind, . . . stands the dark day of May 19, 1780,—a most unaccountable darkening of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England.” That the darkness was not due to an eclipse is evident from the fact that the moon was then nearly full. It was not caused by clouds, or the thickness of the atmosphere, for in some localities where the darkness extended, the sky was so clear that the stars could be seen. Concerning the inability of science to assign a satisfactory cause for this manifestation, Herschel the astronomer declares: “The dark day in North America was one of those wonderful phenomena of nature which philosophy is at a loss to explain.” {GC88 306.1}
“The extent of the darkness was also very remarkable. It was observed at the most easterly regions of New England; westward, to the farthest part of Connecticut, and at Albany, N. Y.; to the southward, it was observed all along the sea coast; and to the north, as far as the American settlements extended. It probably far exceeded those boundaries, but the exact limits were never positively known. With regard to its duration, it continued in the neighborhood of Boston for at least fourteen or fifteen hours.” {GC88 306.2}
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“The morning was clear and pleasant, but about eight o'clock there was observed an uncommon appearance in the sun. There were no clouds, but the air was thick, having a smoky appearance, and the sun shone with a pale, yellowish hue, but kept growing darker and darker, until it was hid from sight.” There was “midnight darkness at noonday.” {GC88 307.1}
“The occurrence brought intense alarm and distress to multitudes of minds, as well as dismay to the whole brute creation, the fowls fleeing bewildered to their roosts, and the birds to their nests, and the cattle returning to their stalls.” Frogs and night hawks began their notes. The cocks crew as at daybreak. Farmers were forced to leave their work in the fields. Business was generally suspended, and candles were lighted in the dwellings. “The Legislature of Connecticut was in session at Hartford, but being unable to transact business adjourned. Everything bore the appearance and gloom of night.” {GC88 307.2}
The intense darkness of the day was succeeded, an hour or two before evening, by a partially clear sky, and the sun appeared, though it was still obscured by the black, heavy mist. But “this interval was followed by a return of the obscuration with greater density, that rendered the first half of the night hideously dark beyond all former experience of the probable million of people who saw it. From soon after sunset until midnight, no ray of light from moon or star penetrated the vault above. It was pronounced ‘the blackness of darkness!’” Said an eye-witness of the scene: “I could not help conceiving, at the time, that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete.” Though the moon that night rose to the full, “it had not the least effect to dispel the death-like shadows.” After midnight the darkness disappeared, and the moon, when first visible, had the appearance of blood. {GC88 307.3}
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The poet Whittier thus speaks of this memorable day:—
“‘Twas on a May-day of the far old year
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring,
Over the fresh earth, and the heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness.”
“Men prayed, and women wept; all ears grew sharp
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter
The black sky.” {GC88 308.1}
May 19, 1780, stands in history as “The Dark Day.” Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal density, extent, and duration has ever been recorded. The description of this event, as given by the poet and the historian, is but an echo of the words of the Lord, recorded by the prophet Joel, twenty-five hundred years previous to their fulfillment: “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.” [Joel 2:31.] {GC88 308.2}
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