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June 30

From: Daily Sacrifice

By: Henry Allan Ironside

Mark 13:7‑8

“And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows” —Mark 13:7, 8⁷And when ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. ⁸For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. (Mark 13:7‑8).

IT is always a mistake to base the expectation of the Second Advent upon troubled conditions among the nations. God has said, “I will overturn, overturn it... until He come whose right it is” (Ezek. 21:27²⁷I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him. (Ezekiel 21:27)). This refers to the overturning of governmental authority. Wars will continue in this sin-maddened world until Christ returns as Prince of Peace.

Throughout all the waiting period, before the final hour of tribulation comes, there will be upheavals among the nations and great calamities in the earth. But these do not in themselves declare the end is upon us. They are but the precursors of the day of the wrath of the Lamb (Rev. 6:12-17¹²And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; ¹³And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. ¹⁴And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. ¹⁵And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; ¹⁶And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: ¹⁷For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:12‑17)) which ushers in the Great Tribulation in all its intensity. They are the inevitable results of sinful man’s rejection of earth’s rightful Ruler.

“‘Our God shall come,’ according to His promise.

To dry the tears, and bind each bleeding heart:

To bring about the saints eternal meeting.

Where sin and death shall never, never part,

‘Our God shall come,’ the sands are surely dropping,

‘A little while’—He will not tarry long;

Sin’s shadows then from His bright path receding.

The right will then have triumphed over wrong.

‘Our God shall come,’ the Father of the orphaned.

The widow’s Friend—the Saviour of the lost;

The Rock of Ages for the tried and tempted,

The Lifeboat and the Shelter for the tossed?”

—H. Bunn.

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