Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

ment."paper."Discerningthe Signs of the Times Matthew 16:1-3(A sermon preached in our Orlando Church, by Alvin W. Smith, D.D., November 14, 1954).From your memory of Old Testament history,you recall that David was first made king in Hebron.After the death of Saul, the various tribes assembledto make the kingdom strong under the leadership ofDavid. These things are described in I Chronicles12:23ff. What caught my special interest and attention is the content of verse 32."And of the tribe if Issachar, which were menthat had understanding of the times, to know whatIsrael ought to do. The heads of them were two hundred ; and all their brethren were at their commandDavid was very fortunate to have had such acompany of wise counselors along with many mightymen of valor. It is this very kind of leadership thatis sorely needed today in our country,both as pertains to the church and to our government, leadershipthat has "understanding of the times, to know whatIsrael ought to do."Jesus, in the days of His earthly ministry, foundthe spiritual leaders incapable of discerning theirtimes. They were expert at discerning the signs ofthe weather. But when they came to Jesus, tempting Him, and desiring that He would show them asign from heaven, (a voice, or some wonder in thesun or the moon), Jesus branded them as hypocrites. He had already given them signs on earth, aplenty. They would not believe them.The Lord warned the disciples immediately afterthis of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees, which was unbelief and hypocrisy. (Lu. 12:1).Jesus called attention to His signs of feeding thefive thousand and of the four thousand, with fiveloaves in the one case and with seven loaves in theother and each time there was much left over. Hadthe Pharisees and the Sadducees been as careful anddiligent to interpret the Scriptures as they were tostudy weather signs, they might have understoodthe signs of Messiah's coming and the signs validating His claims.I have been led to ponder these things in connection with the significance of November 11, justthree days past. Until this year it has been knownas Armistice Day, but from now on it will be keptas Veterans' Day.With many of you, I myself, recall that firstArmistice Day in 1918, when at 11 o'clock in themorning, by previous agreement and announcement,all firing on the battlefields was to cease and didcease ; and people all over America stopped whereverthey were, for one minute, at 11 o'clock. Then therest of the day was given over to joyous celebration.That was thirtv-six years ago. It came at the end ofa war, World War I that had lasted four wearyyearsof slaughter, the war to make the world safe fordemocracy.Going back of that just a few years more, anarms race was on, between Germany and Englanddespite the fact of the Hague Tribunal and the peace388treaty signed by all the leading nations. Kaiser Wilhelm,animated by the spirit of Bismarck was infatuated with his dreams of expansion, as expressedin the idea of the Berlin-to-Bagdad railway. TheKaiser expected the Moslem World, under the leadership of Turkey to rise in a holy war against thewestern nations and revolt on the side of Germany.The Kaiser found his excuse to begin this war,in the shooting of the Crown Prince of Austria ; and,with the invasion of Belgium in his attempted driveto Paris, he voiced his famous words of contempt toward treaties which he violated, the treaty withBelgium was "just a scrap ofThose things all seem remote now. They are.Children and youth of today, not then born, haveto learn of those events in the history books. Andthat isn't the half of it. School children and studentshave other events of which to learn, closer to hand.World War II led up to byJapan's invasion ofManchuria,Mussolini's invasion and capture of Ethiopia.By such action Japan and Italy flouted the authorityof the League of Nations set up without praver, anddemonstrated its impotence. Soon followed the practice war in Spain, in which the great bombs weredropped on cities for the first time. Then came Hitler's invasion of Sudentenland in Czechoslovakia in1939 and World War II was on. The Pearl Harbortragedy broke in 1941 and soon the USA was involved in two wars at once. Four more years ofmobilization, war production, battle, loss, hopes andfears. Eventually peace settlements were made withJapan and withGermany on terms of absolute surrender.Once more the world hoped for peace, only to bedis-illusioned. Germany and Japan as a menace tothe world, were replaced by Russia and Red China. In1951 came the Korean Affair, called a police action,this time involving the United Nations. Again camegrim mobilization and slaughter and imprisonment.Eventually a truce settlement, now two years old.Where are we? What have we learned? Whathopes for tomorrow? What will occur in the next36 years? What will be the state of affairs in theyear 1990 ? These are times for thinking and heartsearching.Are we able to discern the signs of thetimes? Rev. Robert McMillan, chairman of the committee of Synod which prepared the report read atour meeting last July at Grinnell, calls attentionto the fact that "since the year 1863, the preparationof an annual signs of the times report for presentation to Synod has evidenced the thought of ourChurch that the signs of the times should be a substudy."ject for carefulIn accord with that idea, I desire to call your attention to some of the things that have happenedand other things which prevail in our day, hopingthat in the light of scripture, we may have understanding and know what we should do. Starting fromwhere we are, we must confess that, humanlyspeaking:COVENANTER WITNESS