A FEW months ago the reappearance of Halley’s Comet was the subject of much comment and no little speculation. Man has been able to investigate the phenomena of much that happens in the world of nature, but he has not been able to control them. What this comet may do some day in the future has been the cause of disquietude. Man stands powerless in the presence of such forces. With all his skill and cunning he is but a powerless dwarf—a speck of dust-an atom, and not mighty at that.
Sir Isaac Newton was walking in his garden with his nephew. The latter was full of questions, whilst the former, who had passed his eightieth year, was full of thought.
“What are these comets, uncle?”
“Comets are compact, solid, fixed, and durable; in one word a kind of planet,” Newton answered, “which move in very oblique orbits every way with the greatest freedom, persevering in their motions even against the course and direction of the planets; and their tail is a very thin, slender vapor, emitted by the nucleus, or head ignited or heated by the sun.”
Unpleasant ideas suggested themselves to the old scientist. He was thinking of the great comet of 1680, which had passed so near to the sun that the nucleus was computed to have been distant no more than 144,000 miles from its surface, and he reasoned that at each successive revolution it would be brought still nearer.
Mentioning this fear to his nephew, he was asked― “When will this comet fall into the sun?”
Sir Isaac’s answer came: “I cannot say when the comet of 1680 will fall into the sun. Perhaps it will make five or six more revolutions, but whatever will be the instant at which this will occur, the comet will increase the solar heat to such an extent that our globe will be burned, and all animal life perish.”
The comet has appeared three times since Sir Isaac Newton’s day. Whether his prophecy will ever come true or not we cannot say, but this we can say on the authority of God’s Holy Word that―
One thing is certain. Not only do men and women leave this world one by one by the narrow gate of death, but this world is going to be burned up. The ordinary man of the world will not sneer at Sir Isaac Newton’s opinion. Alas! how many sneer at the prophecies of the Bible. But so many prophecies of the Bible have come true that it ought to make people careful as to paying no heed to those that are as yet unfulfilled.
King Frederic the Great of Prussia, the friend of Voltaire, the dissolute infidel, ―King Frederic, who was accustomed to go into battle with one waistcoat pocket full of bad poetry, the other with a phial of poison ready for use if he should be hopelessly defeated―once asked one of his generals, known to be an earnest Christian, to defend his Christianity in one word. “The Jews, sire,” replied the aged soldier, and his testimony was unanswerable.
To mention no other prophecy than this, that the Jews were to be scattered abroad over the face of the earth, unabsorbed by the nations, distinct in character and features, is to bear very striking testimony to the truth of the Bible. I have met colored Jews in Jamaica, Portuguese Jews in Portugal, Spanish Jews in Gibraltar, Moorish Jews in Morocco―indeed, wherever you go you will find them scattered over the whole earth.
And further, Scripture prophesies that the Jews will return in unbelief to their own land. This is being fulfilled under our very eyes. Fifty years ago a Jew was not allowed to dwell inside the walls of Jerusalem. There were less than fifty thousand Jews living in all Palestine. At the moment of writing there are more than fifty thousand Jews living in Jerusalem alone, and it is estimated that over 150,000 Jews are in the country. Every week steamer loads of Jews are being landed. So great is the influx that fresh ports are being made to cope with the immigration.
All this affords strong presumptive ground that other Bible prophecies, as yet unfulfilled, will be fulfilled. If a man is known as having uniformly spoken the truth in the past, it affords a strong likelihood that he will speak it in the future. In a far stronger way if prophecies, uttered hundreds of years before their fulfillment, have come true, it is very strong presumptive proof that prophecies yet unfulfilled will be fulfilled. It is easy for a man to speak the truth. He has simply to confine himself to the exact assertion of facts. But prophecy is different. It requires prescience, foreknowledge, divine inspiration. The Bible is the only book that can stand this test. It is absolutely unique and unrivaled.
Lawyers will tell you that indirect testimony, circumstantial evidence, is stronger and affords more reliable ground on which to build a case than direct testimony. Indirect testimony is far removed from any chance of collusion. This is what renders it so valuable.
Psalms 22:1616For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. (Psalm 22:16) affords a very convincing instance of this. The whole Psalm is a prophecy of the death of the Messiah, beginning with the words uttered by Christ on the cross, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” But in verse 16 we get the expression, “They pierced My hands and My feet.” The writer of the Psalm could not have understood what his words implied. They referred to crucifixion, and that form of death was not known till the time of the Romans. What a flood of light such a simple remark throws upon the Word of God as to its foreknowledge and inspiration.
But to come to our point. The Bible plainly warns the sinner that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek. 18:44Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. (Ezekiel 18:4)). Here is a prophecy. And just because the prophecy has come true in every one of the millions of bygone generations, and is being fulfilled every day before our eyes, the stoutest infidel will not deny but that the prophecy is sure to come true in his own case. So much is this so that the expression, “There is nothing so sure as death,” has passed into a proverb.
Now when this prophecy comes true in your case, reader, if you die in your sins, you will discover another prophecy will come equally true― “After this [death] the judgment” (Heb. 9:2727And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: (Hebrews 9:27)). And further, whether you live to behold it or not, you will discover this further prophecy will also come true, viz.: that the world is to be burned up, and all its unbelieving inhabitants summoned to God’s judgment-seat to be judged for their sins.
Whether Sir Isaac Newton’s prophecy will ever come true or not is a small question beside this sure and certain fulfillment of the prophecies of Scripture concerning YOU. Will you accept the warning? Will von be wise in time?
For the Gospel brings its own glorious, blessed good news, that through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus forgiveness of sins, and full and free salvation, are to be had through faith in His name. For a believer there is no death in the full sense of the word. The Saviour said, “Whosoever liveth, and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:2626And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? (John 11:26)). The believer, if called to pass through death, “falls asleep in Jesus.”
For a believer there is no judgment. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation [judgment]: but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
For a believer there is no great white throne. There the wicked dead will stand. The believer will have been associated with the Lord Jesus in His glorious millennial reign. They form part of the first resurrection prior to the millennium, a resurrection of blessedness only. The resurrection for judgment will take place at the end of the world’s history (see Revelation 20:5,6,5But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:5‑6) and 11-15).
Your only hope lies in the Gospel. Get acquainted with it. It is God’s power unto salvation. It is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. In Him alone is your hope. There is no Gospel to be beard the other side of the grave—no hope for those who die without Christ. Here and now lies your opportunity, seize it, as you have a care for your soul.
A.J. P.