Coming Again
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the hour of His second appearing. But He mentioned certain events by
which they might know when His coming was near.
“There shall be signs,” He said, “in the sun, and in the moon, and
in the stars.”
Luke 21:25
. And He speaks still more plainly: “The sun
shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
shall fall from heaven.”
Matthew 24:29
.
Upon the earth, He said, there shall be “distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them
for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the
earth.”
Luke 21:25, 26
.
“And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory. And He shall send His angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
Matthew 24:30, 31
.
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The Saviour adds: “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his
branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is
nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is
near, even at the doors.”
Matthew 24:32, 33
.
Christ has given signs of His coming. He says that we may know
when He is near, even at the doors. When the trees put forth their
leaves in the spring, we know that summer is near. Just so surely, when
the signs appear in the sun and the moon and the stars, we are to know
that Christ’s coming is near.
These signs have appeared. On May 19, 1780, the sun was dark-
ened. That day is known in history as “the dark day.” In the eastern
part of North America, so great was the darkness that in many places
the people had to light candles at noonday. And until after midnight
the moon, though at its full, gave no light. Many believed that the
day of judgment had come. No satisfactory reason for the unnatural
darkness has ever been given, except the reason found in the words
of Christ. The darkening of the sun and the moon was a sign of His
coming.
November 13, 1833, there was the most wonderful display of
falling stars ever beheld by men. Again thousands believed that the
day of judgment had come.
Since that time earthquakes, tempests, tidal waves, pestilence,
famine, and destructions by fire and flood, have multiplied. All these,