Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Although we are thankful for rain here in northern California, the clouds last night and early this morning obscured the predicted "strong showing" of the annual Leonid meteor shower. On November 13, 1833 it was wildly spectacular, so much so that many observers thought the Day of Judgment had come. They knew what Jesus had said in Matthew 24:29: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days [the horrid persecutions of the Dark Ages, fresh in memory] shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven." Revelation also tells of the same thing: "And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; ... and 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" (6:12, 13).
Christian people of different churches saw the fulfillment of these prophecies: the worst earthquake of known history took place in Europe on November 1, 1755; people still living witnessed in New England the [to them] mysterious "Dark Day" of May 19, 1780; and people still living after that saw this "falling of the stars" in 1833--all in one generation. And, on top of all that excitement, a simultaneous interest aroused all over the world in the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation.
Science and history now debunk those miraculous events: there have been other great earthquakes; the "dark day" was caused by forest fires; and the falling of the stars was merely the cosmic debris of a comet that whacks us every 33 years. Those people were naive, says science. But wait a moment: those events were spectacular. The seven seals of Revelation did make sense; to those people in their context those events did fulfill the prophecies in a remarkable way; the result was not fanaticism, but sober, disciplined study of the Bible and reformation of life, and a phenomenal worldwide interest in the second coming of Christ. God used an almost incredible succession of natural events to arouse multitudes to serious spiritual revival.
Now today, we don't need a meteor shower or an earthquake to wake us up. Any sober person can realize that the end of the world must be near. But the history of those "signs" laid the foundation for faith in the second coming of Christ. It makes sense.
Copyright © 2009 by Robert J. Wieland.
Be sure to check your e-mail for "Dial Daily Bread" again tomorrow.
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