What does it mean? In the living and written testimony of God's people at this time is frequently heard the above words: and for the satisfaction of such as have not had the means of knowing the import of the same, we give this brief explanation.

The gospel era, or the present dispensation of the Holy Spirit, is spoken of as a day. John 8:45. 2 Corinthians 6:2. This being the case the first part of this dispensational day would naturally be its morning, and the time of its approaching end, the evening.

The words, ‘Morning Light,’ express the purity, power and glory of the primitive church; while the expression, ‘Evening Light,’ points to the holiness of the church in the ‘time of the end.’ The morning and evening of God's church on earth are spoken of in the Scriptures.

‘The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come.’ Isaiah 21:11, 12. The time from which this inquiry is represented as going forth is expressed by the ‘burden of Dumah.’ The word means silence, and leads our minds to the time just prior to the coming of Christ, when no prophetic voice was heard on earth, and all the world sat musing in the dark. To understand the lesson, place yourself back in Bible times. People carried no watches, nor did city clocks and electric lights reveal the time of the night. But the watchman upon the walls knew the watch or hour of the night. To him therefore the lone traveler in the silent hours of the night called out, ‘Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman saith, The morning cometh and also the night.’ When we consider that the night of the apostasy so soon followed the morning of Christianity, we see the propriety of the watchman's announcement, that the morning was nigh, but alas! a dark dismal night was soon to shut out the light of the new day.

The Morning Did Come

The silence of Dumah was broken by ‘the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ A few months later the Messiah appeared; and the people that sat in darkness saw a great light, as it had been foretold, ‘For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.’ Isaiah 60:2, 3.

‘Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ John 8:12. So the first advent of Christ was the dawning of a ‘clear day.’ And in that morning of the new dispensation the church of God shone out with the following glorious attributes: She was wholly a divine institution: founded, built, owned and governed by God; and the same God worked all things in all the members. I Corinthians 12:6. She was ‘built up a spiritual house,’ ‘an holy nation.’ I Peter 2:5, 9. She was ‘one body,’ and her members one as Christ and the Father are one. John 17. She had “one Spirit,’ ‘one God,’ ‘one Faith.’ Christ was her only door, and salvation the only manner of entrance. John 10:9. She had also the various spiritual gifts. I Corinthians 12. And bore the name given by the mouth of the Lord, ‘Church of God.’ But

The Night of Her Apostasy

soon stripped her of nearly all these divine attributes, and substituted a confusion of human organizations. This was a premature night. ‘And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.’ Amos 8:9. The clear day was the Holy Spirit dispensation ushered in by the Savior. But its light did not shine throughout the dispensational day. Her sun went down at noon. And by reading verses 11 and 12 we learn how the light was obscured. ‘Behold, the days come saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.’ The word of God was taken from the people, and though the priests had access to the Bible, being corrupt hirelings, darkness covered them as well as the people.

‘Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you; that ye shall not divine, and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.’ Micah 3:5–7. Over both prophets and people the sun went down.

This awful night of ignorance, superstition and papal supremacy continued for the long space of 1260 years. It had been foretold by Isaiah 63:18, 1:21–23; by Daniel 8:21, 25; 8:11; by Christ, Matthew 24:11, 12, 29; by Paul, 2 Thessalonians 2:3–10; by Peter, in his second epistle 2:1–2; also by John, I John 2:18; Revelation 13 and elsewhere.

A Cloudy Day

By reference to Revelation 13 it will be seen that the counterfeit ecclesiastical power was to arise in two successive forms, symbolized by two beasts. The first is generally confessed to be the Romish sect. Her reign was the very darkness of night. But what was denoted by the second beast? Truth compels us to say it is the babel of sectism that came forth from the mother of all sects. A second form of the apostasy, not utter night, like the former, but a mixture of darkness and light. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor dark. But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day nor night; but it shall come to pass that AT EVENING TIME IT SHALL BE LIGHT. Zechariah 14:6, 7.

Observe the time that was neither day nor night, ‘shall be one day, which shall be known to the Lord.’ Namely, it was to constitute a distance epoch not included in the long night that preceded it. It was neither day nor night, but a mixture of both. We have said it relates to Protestantism. Let us prove it. Open your Bibles and read Ezekiel 34. Here we have a very striking rebuke upon all false shepherds, the hireling ministry of this time, who look well to their salaries, but feed not the people.

‘For thus saith the Lord God; Behold I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them out.

As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.’ Ezekiel 34:11, 12.

You see, dear reader, the cloudy day that has followed the Romish night, is a time when God's people were in a scattered condition, divided by human creeds, and organized apart into Protestant schisms. But turning back to Zechariah 14:6, 7. We find after the night had passed away, the cloudy day which followed it was also to clear up near the close of time, and so it is written, ‘But it shall come to pass that

At Evening Time It Shall be Light.’

This time has arrived. And this is what we mean by the ‘Evening Light;’ namely, God has brought forth his own church to view again, which was long hid under the rubbish of human creeds and inventions.

After Two Days

We have seen that the entire dispensation of Christ is called a day, but any period of time marked by historic events may also be called a day. Now we will show that the two successive forms of the apostasy which we have found called ‘night’—Romanism—and ‘cloudy and dark day’—Protestantism—are denominated two days.

‘Come and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten and he will bind us up.

After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.

Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.’ Hosea 6:1–3.

During the two days—distinct epochs—the church was to be in a torn and wounded condition, trodden under foot by the beast power of ecclesiastical lords. But in the third day, she was to be revived, raised up to live in his sight. This third day is what Daniel calls, ‘the time of the end.’ It is the evening of time, the evening of the present and last dispensation. ‘Many,’ says Daniel, ‘shall run to and fro.’ (Namely, to preach the pure gospel;) and as a result, ‘many shall be purified, made white and tried.’ See Daniel 12. This third day has arrived: the reviving and raising up of God's church to walk perfect in his sight, is now in progress. The apostolic plane is reached in Bible holiness, and the discerning of the body of Christ, which, to the exclusion of all other bodies, is the church. This reformation is pre-eminently the work of God. And

‘His Going Forth Is Prepared As The Morning,’

from which it is justly inferred that the light of the evening shall be as the morning. The same is proved in Isaiah 58:8–12.

‘Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.

Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday. And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.’ ‘Then shall thy light break forth as the morning.’ And this event is identified with, and conditioned upon the very work being achieved in the present reformation. The yoke of sectism, of sin, pride, popular sentiment, in fact every yoke of Satan is being consumed by the fires of this reformation. See Isaiah 10:17–23 and 27. ‘That ye break every yoke.’ Isaiah 58:6.

Let all who would stand in the evening light, carefully read, attain unto, and exemplify the above description of holy character that shall be ‘as the morning.’ It requires the same holiness, unity, power and gifts that shone out in the divine church in the morning of her dispensation on earth. All this is promised by many scriptures, and must be manifest. ‘At evening time it shall be light.’ ‘Then shall the Sanctuary—God’s church—be cleansed.’ Daniel 8:14.

Not A Sect Name

We simply add that while the evening light expresses a great truth, a present truth in prophecy, which God's people appreciate, it is neither given for, now used by the saints as a denominational title. We utterly repudiate any and all names except such as the inspired Word uses to designate God's children; such as Christians, saints, etc. And the body of Christ is only properly denominated the Church of God, as named by the Lord himself. Isaiah 62:2. John 17:11, 12. Acts 20:28 … Amen.
—D. S. Warner

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