Nearer Than When We First Believed

Now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.— Romans 13:11, 12

David Rice

The introduction of a new year always reminds us of the advancing nearness of our goal. We who live near the threshold of the third Christian millennium have every reason to take up even more fervently the sentiments of our text written so long ago.

Jesus himself said of us, who are living near the climax of our hopes, "When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:28). The saints during the age were admonished to "watch" for the end of the age and the return of our Master (Matt. 24:42; 25:13). All the more should we, who have lived into that blessed time, be alert to the unfolding developments which mark the swift advance of the kingdom. Thus we rouse ourselves, trim our lamps, and look expectantly for our entering in with the Master (Matt. 25:7-10).

What Have we Seen?

We have seen a great deal—though all has taken more years than we collectively supposed. In Israel seventy years passed from the original settlement of Petach Tikvah until the nation of Israel was established. Through successive conflicts Israel has enlarged her territory. Jerusalem was retaken in 1967, and it became the capital of Israel again in 1980. In the 1973 Yom Kippur war Israel successfully defended her territory and retook the Golan Heights. For the last two decades Israel has gradually moved to peace with one or another of her neighbors, and recently she reached accords with the Arab populations of Gaza and Jericho, and with Jordan.

The recent stunning news of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin showed how sensitive still is the volatile situation. It is unlikely that the alternating gyrations of tension and tranquility will ease soon. But most who observe the prophecies agree that, as circumstances unfold, the progress of events will take us to a time of greater peace before the climax breaks, which will introduce Christ’s rule following the last, and severest, convulsion (Ezek. 38:8-23).

It is not altogether surprising that this process, following the declaration of the Jewish state in 1947, should also consume something on the order of seventy years or more.

In the Church

The momentous preparation of the church for the Lord’s return and the harvest of the age had its beginning with the resurgence of the Scriptures following Papacy’s 1260 years of dominion. This is alluded to in Revelation (10:11; 12:11, 12), and is shown by the great rain ending the three and a half year drought in the days of Ahab.

This was a precursor to, and stimulus of, the Adventist movement, which gripped the Christian world in the early 1800’s. In America this movement was most markedly demonstrated in the Miller movement; and the time prophecies therein embraced though reformed and adjusted, still form the core of the time prophecies used today. But as the shepherds and wise men of the First Advent looked for our Lord thirty years before Messiah began his ministry, so those pastors and wise students of prophecy (Dan. 12:10) expected our Lord about thirty years before he appeared as earth’s anointed King (Rev. 11:15).

Since then the blessed testimony of God’s plan of the ages has nourished and strengthened the saints and been the chief tool of the great harvest work—the sickle in the hand of the Lord of the harvest. The message spread far and wide through Christendom, especially in the early twentieth century, through the humble and earnest labors of those who took up the cause.

Shall we now abandon this cause, ease our labors, and slack our hand? Paul’s counsel is just to the contrary. All the more should we put our hand to the plow, put our force into it, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ"—his mind of persistent devotion to the work of the Lord—and "make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof" (Rom. 13:14), which is the great detour and siphon which draws away the labors and interests devoted to the Lord.

Similarly, the closing days of Elijah were not the most momentous or spectacular, save for his final departure. Elijah had learned at Mt. Horeb that the work of spreading the still small voice of the Lord’s influence was not chiefly through the flame and spectacle he had recently experienced in his confrontation with the priests of Baal. It was rather through the patient teaching of godliness. Evidently he learned the lesson and devoted himself to nurturing faith through the school of the prophets in his closing years. That is still our privilege today.

In Christendom

The spirit of ecumenism continues. It was not until 1947, seventy years from the call to "come out of her my people," that the World Council of Churches began to function. In the years since, the influence of Papacy has both declined and surged. But one experience common to all the large churches of Christendom is a realization that the forces against them make strength through union an attractive expedient. This is neither inherently evil nor inherently good—but the claims that they either independently or united represent the cause of Christ is misplaced, and the endeavor to bolster any such claim through a united front is doomed. Christ’s kingdom will be manifest in Israel at the hands of their restored prophets of old, not through Christendom with their false hopes, false views, and false ambitions.

Many brethren, this writer included, hold that the climax of ecumenism has not been reached. The weakness of the Christian churches drives the cause forward as they grasp for greater stability and wider influence. It is implied in Revelation 16:13, 14 that a crescendo will just precede Armageddon, and the process could continue many years before maturing.

Sanctification Still our Chief Work

If we knew that tomorrow or next week or next month would bring the consummation of our hopes, would we not redouble our efforts to be more kind, more helpful, more honest, more pure? Therefore the approach of our hopes does impact our mental and spiritual fortification to do better. Paul includes all these points in the passage of our theme text. He reminds us that love is the brief comprehension of God’s law (vs. 9, 10), He counsels us to "walk honestly, as in the day," keeping pure from the world and its affinity for the impure (vs. 12, 13). The wisdom from above is still first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easily entreated, merciful, and fruit-bearing, without wrangling or hypocrisy (James 3:17).

Each of these pleasant graces should be our pursuit. And each fresh evidence we are nearing our goal should intensify our longing for these. As a bride is consumed with final preparations, seeking to the last moment to increase her beauty and appeal, let it be so with us in our final opportunities to prepare for our loved one beyond the veil.