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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 4
And while wholly unconscious of their condition and their peril,
the church and the world were rapidly approaching the most solemn
and momentous period of earth’s history,—the period of the revela-
tion of the Son of man. Already had the signs which Christ himself
had promised,—the sun clothed in darkness by day and the moon by
night,—declared his coming near. When Jesus pointed his followers
to these signs, he foretold also the existing state of worldliness and
backsliding, and gave warning of the result to those who refused
to arouse from their careless security: “Thou hast a name that thou
livest, and art dead.” “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.” [
Revelation 3:1, 3
.]
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He who knows the end from the beginning, and who inspired
prophets and apostles to write the future history of churches and
of nations, was about to accomplish another reform similar to that
of the days of Luther. The Lord raised up men to investigate his
word, to examine the foundation upon which the Christian world
were building, and to raise the solemn inquiry, What is truth? Are
we building upon the rock, or upon shifting sand?
God saw that many of his professed people were not building for
eternity; and in his care and love he was about to send a message of
warning to arouse them from their stupor, and prepare them for the
coming of their Lord. The warning was not to be intrusted to learned
doctors of divinity or popular ministers of the gospel. Had these
been faithful watchmen, diligently and prayerfully searching the
Scriptures, they would have known the time of night; the prophecies
of Daniel and John would have revealed to them the great events
about to take place. If they had faithfully followed the light already
given, some star of heavenly radiance would have been sent to guide
them into all truth.
At the time of Christ’s first advent, the priests and scribes of the
holy city, to whom were intrusted the oracles of God, should have
discerned the signs of the times, and proclaimed the coming of the
Promised One. The prophecy of Micah designated his birthplace;
[
Micah 5:2
.] Daniel specified the time of his advent. [
Daniel 9:25
.]
God had committed these prophecies to the Jewish leaders; therefore
they were without excuse if they did not know and declare to the
people that the Messiah’s coming was at hand. Their ignorance was
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