“The night Is Far Spent.”
Looking into the future is important as well as interesting. The future for some is a vain curiosity. Some rely on the signs of the Zodiac, and some even read the farmer’s almanac. Even our weather reports go wrong because of bad information, so our spiritual welfare must be based on sound words and substantial authority.
Before the Ephesians believed the gospel “they were without hope, without God in the world.” If our hope of a future life is based on that fantasy of flying to heaven at death then ignore the scriptures that state “no man hath ascended into heaven except Christ”.
Looking into the future requires the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. These events will usher in a new day when Christ shall reign from pole to pole. Abraham’s faith was based on the future life of the redeemed on earth, he saw the day of Christ, “when Thy will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Our Master looked to the future when he said “for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross”. After the crucifixion he said, I am he that was dead and behold I am alive for ever, and because I live ye shall live also”.
Near the end of Paul’s life he looked to the future and said “there is laid up for me a crown, not for me only but all that love his appearing.”
The 12 apostles were anxious and concerned when he would return (Mark 13: 35) and he said no man knoweth the day or hour, not even the angels, only the Father.
Here we must recognize the foreknowledge of the Deity. He knows the end from the beginning, He removeth kings and setteth up kings.
There is a definite plan in the mind of the Deity, there is a definite era, a set time for our Lord’s return, depending on conditions He has ordained. The long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared. The compassion of the Deity was seen at the destruction of Sodom, it would have been delayed if there were 10 righteous in the city
Some servants today complain “my Lord delayeth his coming “It is our duty to wait patiently for his return No one can pin-point the day or the hour But there is a set time in the plan of God
In Matt 13 35 the apostles were curious about this event and the Lord said it might be “at evening, midnight, cockcrowing or in the morning” His words apply to any night or any hour of the night, and his words can have a deeper meaning when we review the history of Christianity
The evening period is seen at Ephesus when Paul warned the believers that after his departure “wolves would enter in among them, also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things’
Later he stated that all they of Asia have turned away from me Paul warned Timothy 1, 4 1 “The Spirit speaketh expressly that some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils “
John’s message to the seven churches of Asia lists the deterioration that had set in, they had lost their first love and now were tolerating the doctrines of the Nicolatians and that woman Jezebel
Speaking of the time of our Lord’s return, Paul states 2 Thes 2 3 “that day shall not come except there come a falling away first”
The midnight hour began in the 2nd century and lasted for many generations The doctrine of the Trinity was established (325 A D ) by the Roman emperor Constantine to settle a controversy by two Egyptian bishops He decided in favor of the theory of three gods in one, “coequal, co-eternal ‘
In the first century Christians never heard of such an idea They relied on the ten commandments so a scribe asked Christ what was the first commandment He replied “the Lord our God is one Lord,” (Mark 12 28), the scribe said “Master thou hath said the truth for there is one God, there is none other but He” During the 5th and 6th century of that dark night another serious error replaced the Christian hope (we now have to rely on secular history) a prominent Roman Catholic (Augustine) admits having once believed in the literal second advent of Christ to establish the kingdom, but as he saw the rapid growth of the church he concluded the church was the kingdom and we need look for none other ‘ (from Mosheims History)
Surely these were the dark ages when men loved darkness rather than light, the days had come when “darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people’ Amos 8 11 states “God shall send a famine on the land, not of bread or thirst for water but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord
The period of cock-crowing indicates the night is far spent, the day is at hand
We today know where we are and how long it will be till the Son of God shall appear a second time When the roosters start crowing the entire flock enter a new day, in which we see civilization enjoying freedom of speech, freedom of the press, religious liberty all over Europe which eventually developed the Protestant Reformation and rejection of Papal power and authority This era also saw the rise of many religious sects whose preachers proclaimed various dogmas & rituals
This age also saw the printing of the King James Bible and the awakening of religious thought and awakening of knowledge in many ways
As Daniel predicted ‘knowledge shall increase and many shall run to and fro “
Even among the Jewish race there was a vast awakening when Zionism woke up their hope of having a home land in Palestine as the Bible taught
Seeing these things we today “know it is time to awake for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed’
“The former things have passed away, they shall not be remembered nor come into mind”
The morning brings the dawn of a new day when ‘Thy will shall be done on earth’ and the kingdoms of this world shall be kingdoms of our Lord”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One