Ellet J. Waggoner
The Present Truth : May 2, 1895
In the days of Noah God looked upon the earth in its wickedness and said, “My Spirit shall not always strive with man for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years” (Gen. 6.3). Noah preached a final message to the antediluvians. The flood came, and “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3.6); and those who heeded not the message perished with it.
What of the present world? Can we now expect that God’s Spirit will always strive with man? His Word tells us. “The heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Peter 3.7). A final message will therefore precede the coming of that day, —a message of warning, as in the days before the flood.
God has not left the world to speculate upon this subject. That men do speculate and indulge in fanciful conjectures concerning things to come, is not the fault of the Lord, but is due to the fact that men are more ready to trust in their own wisdom than in His. The Word of God has much to say about “the last days.” It tells us what the nature of those days will be, what signs will appear in them, and what final efforts will be made by the great enemy of mankind to secure the homage of all men to himself. It is our fault if we do not read it, and be made wise thereby.
The end of human probation will be signalized by the terrible visitation of the “seven last plagues,” in which is filled up the wrath of God. (Rev. 15.1). But there is a message sent to save men from the fate of being made to drink “the wine of the wrath of God.” In the fourteenth chapter of Revelation we read: “And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name” (Rev. 14:9-11).
These are words of most solemn and awful import. Noah’s message proclaimed a coming flood, which would engulf the unbelievers; but here is threatened the wrath of God “without mixture,” “filled up” in the seven last plague. To whom are such words spoken? If they concern us, it is time that we knew the fact and understood by what means we may avoid being worshippers of “the beast and his image,” and escape so awful a fate.