Page 35 - Watchman- What of the Night

laborious attempt to make it mean Israel and the return of the Jew to the land, is

another part of the fictitious fabric of dispensationalism devoid of any foundation in
the text.
Since then the eyes of disciples are directed to signs as harbingers of the coming,
the coming cannot be imminent until all the signs are unmistakably present. This is

exactly in accord with the words of the apostle Paul to the Thessalonians as before
quoted: ―That day shall not come, except there come a falling away first…‖ While the
day of His coming was not regarded as imminent by the early church, we believe that
it could be, and was regarded as impending.

Webster‘s New American Dictionary gives us an excellent contrast in the meaning
of the two words ―imminent‖ and ―impending,‖ as follows: ―Imminent means about to
happen immediately. Impending excludes the idea of the instant; it means hanging
over indefinitely or accumulating. One may be in imminent danger of death; financial

ruin may be impending for months.‖
*From the beginning of the church age, in every generation world conditions have
been such, that to those who were willing to ―watch,‖ there was always the possibility
that within their own lifetime, all the signs could be fulfilled and the advent occur.

*Let it be noted that in this study we are drawing a distinction between the words
imminent and impending, on the basis of the present popular usage of the word
imminent. This distinction is set forth in Webster‘s New American Dictionary, as
quoted. Some of the older and more comprehensive dictionaries show that earlier

usage of the word made it practically synonymous with impending, and referring to
events to occur in the relatively near future, but possible to be preceded by other
events. It cannot be denied, however, that the present popular use of the word carries
the any-moment connotation. Especially is this true of its use by the Darbyists in

connection with the coming of Christ, in the sense of ―threatening to happen
immediately‖, and that nothing need intervene before the anticipated event comes to
pass.
For instance in the awful marriage of the church and the world under Constantine,

there must have been the wise and watchful few who saw the iniquity of it all and
reckoned that antichrist was at hand and the coming of Christ in the offing. So also in
the days of Charlemagne, or in the days of the mightiest and most tyrannical of the
popes, Luther was convinced that the prophecies of antichrist were fulfilled in the

Roman Pontiff and that the end of the age was at hand. It was impending with him,
though not imminent. Likewise in the days of the conquests of the mighty Corsican,
Napoleon Bonaparte, the humble but discerning saints of God must have felt sure that
this was the beast and that the judgments would shortly be outpoured and Christ

would appear. To them the coming was impending, but, if they knew the scripture, not

35