68. The Lisbon Earthquake and Signs in the Heavens

Ford maintains that Ellen White’s explanation of Revelation 6:12, 13 and Luke 21:25 by “allusions to the Lisbon earthquake, the Dark Day, and the falling of the stars, is an application suitable for the people first addressed Adventists of the nineteenth-century. That application is passé in the twentieth century” (Ford, Page 546). Do those events still have significance for our day?QSEW 62.2

Ellen White did not believe that her references to the events of 1755, 1780, and 1833 were passé in the twentieth century. In 1911 she made some changes in the text of The Great Controversy, but did not change her interpretation of these three signs. The 1833 star shower may seem like ancient history to some people, but in terms of the total history of the earth, it is quite a recent event and assures us that the Lord’s coming really is near.QSEW 62.3

We should also remember that the Lord was prepared to come back to this earth many years ago and that His return has been delayed because of human failure. (See Evangelism, 694-697.)QSEW 62.4