“The harvest is past the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” Jeremiah 8:20 The full and final fall of the worldwide confederacy of “Babylon the great” of Revelation 18 is near at hand. The intensifying signs of the times declare this in clarion tones. The reasons for the weeping prophet’s mournful prophecy, pegged on seasons (of age, accumulated light of truth and opportunities from generations past to ours), are given in the previous verses: “Why have they provoked Me with to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities?” verse 19. “For everyone from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of My people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.” verses 10, 11. Thus: “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! verse 15. Instead of leading out in the work of true revival and reformation, the spiritual guardians of the worldly churches and the wise and great men of the earth are lulling themselves and their credulous followers into more covetousness and idolatry with ear-pleasing assurances of false hopes, peace, security, and prosperity. Where are they? The opening verses of this chapter is part of the final awakening call to all: “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are these. For if ye thoroughly amend your ways, and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt, Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, forever and ever. [But] Behold, ye trust in lying words that cannot profit.” Verses 1-8. (see rest of chapter). “And Jesus spake to them a parable. Behold the fig tree; and all the trees; when they now shoot forth [their leaves], ye see and know of your ownselves that summer is now near at hand. So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is near at hand . . . and take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21: 29, 30 34-36, K.J.V. Why do seasons change? The Old Farmer’s Almanac says: “The four seasons are determined by the shifting sunlight (not heat!)—which is determined by how our planet orbits the Sun and the tilt of its axis.” A certain Ted Alsop commented: “The reference to the ‘longest day’ and the ‘shortest day’ is in error. Each day of the year is consists of 24 hours—it’s the length of the daylight hours that varies. I recommend you change the word day to daylight in order to be accurate.” The Almanac Staff replied: “Ted, we made some revisions to make it clear that we are referencing the amount of daylight in a calendar day. Thanks.” They also added: “Yes, the definition of when a season begins can vary between countries, cultures, organizations, and individuals. For example, the ancient Celts considered equinoxes and solstices (called quarter days) as the midway points of the seasons. Their cross-quarter days (halfway between quarter days) were the beginning of the seasons. Astronomically speaking, however, the seasons begin at the equinoxes and solstices, which define four unique points along the Earth’s orbit, in which the Northern and Southern hemispheres tilt toward the Sun (summer), and away from the Sun (spring, autumn).” The first mention of seasons in the Bible is in Genesis 1: 14-19, referring to the events of the fourth day of creation week: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: . . to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made . . . the greater light [our sun] to rule the day, and the lesser light [our moon] to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven . . .to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” After the waters of the Flood had fully subsided and Noah had built an altar and offered burnt sacrifices of each only of the clean beasts and fowls, the sacred record says, confirming the uninterrupted continuity of the same days since creation: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” Gen. 8: 20: 22. Ah! the earth “remaineth” still! Thank God for His living Word! Hebrews 4: 11, 12. Even if Satan and his whole host of evil angels, in desperate alliance with the wicked who hate God’s Law, continue trying to confuse man about his origin and that of the earth, the giant luminaries of our solar system---the sun and moon---silently yet eloquently declare, day unto day, night after night, “from one new moon to another,” year after year, century after century since the first week of creation, the most basic truth that God created the earth, with man as the crowning act of creation in six 24-hour days and rested, blessed, and sanctified (set apart, hallowed] the seventh and last day of the first week, naming it the Sabbath, His memorial of creation, the origin of man and the earth, and His creative power. He declared of Himself, “the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark 2: 27, 28. “Before the flood, God sent Noah to warn the world, that the people might be led to repentance, and thus escape the threatened destruction. As the time of Christ’ second appearing draws near, the Lord sends His servants with a warning to the world to prepare for that great event. Multitudes have been living in transgression of God’s law, and now He in mercy calls them to obey its sacred precepts. All who will put away their sins by repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ, are offered pardon [justification]. But many feel that it requires too great a sacrifice to put away sin. Because their life does not harmonize with the pure principles of God’s moral government, they reject His warnings, and deny the authority of His law. . . . “Paul warns us that we may look for wickedness to increase as the end draws near: [1 Tim. 4: 1 quoted]. The apostle says that ‘in the last days perilous times shall come.’ 2 Tim. 3: 1. And he gives a startling list of sins that will be found among those who have a form of godliness. [Read it!]. “As the time of their probation was closing, the antediluvians gave themselves up to exciting amusements and festivities. Those who possessed influence and power were bent on keeping the minds of the people engrossed with mirth and pleasure, lest any should be impressed by the last solemn warning. Do we not see the same repeated in our day? While God’s servants are giving the message that the end of all things is at hand, the world is absorbed in amusements and pleasure-seeking. There is a constant round of excitement that causes indifference to God, and prevents the people from being impressed by the truths which alone can save them from the coming destruction. “In Noah’s day, philosophers declared that it was impossible for the world to be destroyed by water; so now there are men of science who endeavor to show that the world cannot be destroyed by fire,--that this would be inconsistent with the laws of nature. But the God of nature, the maker and controller of her laws, can use the works of His hands to serve His own purpose. “When great and wise men had proved to their satisfaction that it was impossible for the world to be destroyed by water, when the fears of the people were quieted, when all regarded Noah’s prophecy as a delusion, and looked upon him as a fanatic, --then it was that God’s time had come. ‘The fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,’ [Gen. 7: 11], and the scoffers were overwhelmed in the waters of the flood. With all their boasted philosophy, men found too late that their wisdom was foolishness [1 Cor. 3: 19, 20; 2: 14; 1: 25] that the Lawgiver is greater than the laws of nature, and that Omnipotence is at no loss for means to accomplish His purposes. [2 Pet. 3: 10 quoted]. When the reasoning of philosophy has banished the fear of God’s judgments; when religious teachers are pointing forward to long ages of peace and prosperity, and the world are absorbed in their rounds of business and pleasure, planting and building, feasting and merry-making, rejecting God’s warnings and mocking His messengers, ---then it is that ‘sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape.’ 1 Thess. 5: 3.’’ – E. G. White, Patriarchs & Prophets, 1903, pp. 102, 103. Youth is the planting season of life. “In the laws of God in nature, effect follows cause with unerring certainty. . . Every seed sown produces a harvest of its kind.” “The harvest is the end of probationary time,” “the end of the world”- COL 84, 85, 72, 75.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 10:25:49 +0000
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