Evening journal., 1907-04-22
COMING IS
NEAR AT HAND
But Pastor PettingiII Says he
Does Not Pretend TO
Set Time For II

Mr.. Pettingill last evening began |
series of Sunday night sermons ON the /
general theme Of The Second Gaming |
Of Christ and Related Events as Re /
vealed in the Word Of Prophecy" 1t |
is his purpose to make the teaching |
OF the scriptures on the subject as clear |
and simple as possible, in order that
beginners in Bible study may be help |
ed and encouraged to persevere in their |
search Of the scriptures to find Tor
themselves whether these things are
so"
n answer TO the reporters question,
Fasbo1 Rettingll said: 81 have long
been convinced that the truth about
the return Of our Lord was far too
much neglected. and that no Christian
could know the fulness OF the blessing
OF The Gospel Of Christ who is not
looking for that great event The nor
mad attitude Of the Christian. as shown
by the New Testament is to be 'serv-
ing the living and true Goa. and wait
ing for His Son from Heaven
The Old Testament scriptures de-
mand His return to earth. and they
can never be completely fulfilled other
wise. His own oft-reiterated promises
to come again demand His return. The
testimony OF the messengers from
heaven at the time OF HIS ascension
demand His return. They said, ''Ye
men OF Galilee why stand ye gazing
up into heaven? This same Jesus.
which is taken up fromy0u into heaven
shall so come in like manner as ye have
seen HIM go into Heaven" (Acts f:1L)
The New Testament epistles ace
filed with promises Of His return
which is held up as the blessed Hope.
the Purifying Hope, the Anchor Of the
Soul both sure and steadfast. the grea.
incentive to godliness and holiness OF
life. And the very last word we had
from the Lord Jesus was that which
| He gave to the Apostle John for us an
the twentieth verse of the POD chapter
Of The Revelation. where &c is written:
He which testifeth these things saith,
Surely come quickly" our an
swer to that word is voiced in Johns
reply: Amenl Even so! Come, Lord
Jesusr
Il am far from pretending to set the
time OF our Lords return. I do not set
a time for His coming. nor do l be-
/ lieve that anyone can set the time.
| Furthermore. am not looking for
! signs OF His approaching advent We
are not told IN the scriptures to be
looking for signs, but rather to be
/ waiting for Jesus. look Tor His COM
ing every day.
However. I believe there are indi-
cations Of, the nearness OF the end OF
the present age. which ought to be
clear to every Bible student. For eX-
ample, the Word Of God very plainly
sets forth that IN connection with the
second coming of Christ there viii DC
wonderful doing among the Jews. Thes,
| do not need to preecde the rapture. Oh
'catching-up' OF the church, but they
must come to pass before the coming
of Messiah to judge the earth. Among
the events predicted is a regatherina
Of at least a small remnant Of the peo-
pie Of Israel into their own land, Pal
estine. In belief. AS already observed,
this must not necessarily ne before or
Lords coming for His church. but Il
must be almost directly afterwards,
and II the movement towards the Holy
Land has already begun. II is a strong
indication that His coming is, as 1 stat
ed in my announcement, near at hand
Until very recently, THAI s. durins
the past few years. there vas no indi-
| cation Of such a thing as the repatria-
ton Of the Jews There were two
strong reasons against looking for 1t.
| First. the Sultan of Turkey persistently
refused to allow the Jews to settle IN
Palestine; and. secondly, the Jews man.
ifested no desire to RETURN to the land
which God gave to them through theiI
fathers But now an tndt is changed
The past few years have witnessed
such activity among the people of Is
rael as to convince lovers Of the Word
of God that He was about to bare HIS
arm in their behalf. The Zionist move
ment is yet young. but VI has stirred
the nation of Israel all ovei the world
in a most wonderfUl manner The mos
intense longing is now manifest fol
the peoples return 10 The promised
land. and negotiations have9been II
progress with the Const3 ntinople gov
ernment for permission for he Jews e
locate in Palestine ana acquire prop
enty there. These negotiations have
failed untu now. Just when almost
everybody had given up hoping for II
the Sultan of Turkey has given permits
sioi for jewish repatriation. This ac-
ton of the Porte is haalei as the mos
nomentous event affecting the people
Of Isr1sl for centuries. In consequence
of the lowering Of the barriers, a
stream Of Jewish immigration into Pal
estine from Russia has row set IN
which is assuming large proportions
'yrhat the nation Of Russia figures
largely in Old Testament prophecy M
wen-informed Bible student doubts
And the fact that at ttis moment al
least half of all the Jews in the wort
are located in Russia seems entirely
in keeping with the divine program Of
the worlds history, as outlined in ,h'
Jewish scriptures. In the book of Jere-
niah. for example, in chopler 2S verses
s to s, Russia IS doubtless seen az
dhe north country
behold, the days come. saith Je-
hovah, that 1 will raise unto David
a righteous branch, and Hs shall reigr
as King. and deal wisely, and shal
execute justice and righteousness II
the land. In His days Judah shall d
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely
and this is His name whereby He shal
be called: Jehovah -our- Righteous
ness" Therefore, behold, the day
come. saith jehovah that they shal
a no more say. "As Jehovah liveth, VIII
brought up the children Of Israel on
of the land of Egypt" but, AS Jeho
vah liveth. Who brought up and VIII
led the seed of the House of Israel on
of the Month country, and from all tn
] .aar. I 4.