While I don’t often note “the most surprising read of the year,” this little volume most certainly fits the bill for 2019. I found this book (as I have many others) in the dusty library of my parents’ small country church, and I am shocked that I’d never heard of the title or author before. With hints of Charles Sheldon, Thomas Hardy, and even H. Rider Haggard, author Sydney Watson delivers an engaging romantic adventure of rapturous delight (pun intended).
Like authors Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye of the Left Behind series published a full seven decades after him, Watson writes from a dispensational, pre-Tribulation, pre-Millennial standpoint about the coming return of our Lord for His Bride. This Rapture is to come “in the twinkling of an eye” and, according to the author, is alluded to in one verse out of every thirteen in the New Testament. (123)
Having grown up within similar doctrinal tributaries as Watson’s, I cannot immediately disagree with this outlook on the future of the Church, for it’s really all I’ve ever known and does appear to be what the Word teaches (though obviously, many disagree). Thankfully, Paul himself calls this teaching “a mystery” (1Corinthians 15:51) and describes it—not merely in one detached passage of the New Testament (1Thess 4), as some claim, but actually—throughout his letters. While Jenkins and LaHaye understandably have received guff for popularizing the lucky providence of the ignorant in their series (people like Buck Williams and Rayford Steele whose years of “luck” makes them appear like spiritual superheroes), their doctrine of the End Times appears to be grounded in a very literal interpretation of the Word (even the apocalyptic portions), just as Watson’s was back in 1921.
To be honest, I was shocked by the depths of biblical explanations in Watson’s book, specifically when compared side-by-side with the Left Behind series’ own teacher-character, Zion Ben Judah. Yes, both tales employ heavy doses of “preaching”, but such authorial taboos ought to be excused when considering the Truth that lies behind their messages. Neither Watson nor the Jenkins-LaHaye team shy away from the teachings of Scripture, and both seek to deal honestly with the terrors that await those who do not accept the truths of Christ’s sacrificial gift. Christ is coming again: no true child of God can deny this reality. That He will capture his Bride first before allowing the world to suffer great tribulations under Satan’s rule via the Antichrist seems clear from the teachings of Paul, to whom Christ finally revealed the “Mystery.”
Seven Reasons This Was Such a Surprising Read
First, I finished the book in a matter of hours. Century-old novels simply do not catch me this way, meaning that Watson’s engaging, fast-paced writing style was unique and decades before his time. His 30 chapters are never more than ten pages long, and each has a well-planned purpose for existing. In fact, his shortest chapter, “Foiled!” (25) was but two pages long, yet was also my absolute favorite in the book.
Second, his characters cross paths with each other in romantic ways (hence the Thomas-Hardy-like feel, as in Far from the Madding Crowd), yet their stories detach as quickly as they began. The situations appear contrived only to the point of a reader recognizing that an author put some thought into the story, yet they also peter off into their own unique corners by the end, being tied together merely by the sudden disappearance of those who’d given their lives to Christ. I really enjoyed the fact that Watson’s subplots never reunite in any meaningful way, other than in the shared disappearances.
Third, I enjoyed catching a glimpse of 1920s London via the parlance of the street-walker’s speech and the regular quotations of poems to strengthen one’s point of view, where we today might quote authors, movies, or the lyrics of a song. It’s unfamiliar territory, and a phrase like, “Hang it, old man, you must be going dotty!” would normally turn me off, but in this tale, it really livens the story.
Fourth, I found the numbers issue of biblical prophecy quite fascinating. While acknowledging that the timing of Christ’s return is unknown and that not too much stock can be placed into the numerology of Scripture, Watson allows his characters to speculate a few possibilities—without going to extremes like a Jonathan Cahn might. For example, while considering the fact that God worked for six days then rested on the seventh, and that a day to him is like a thousand years and vice versa, he suggests that perhaps humanity’s having been striving away from Him now for roughly six thousand years implies that our own fore-ordained rest is now near at hand (41). As another example, a preacher following the Rapture suggests that following Noah’s 120 years of preaching, God finally put him and His family in the ark but didn’t close the door for another seven days, thus implying that humanity has heard the truth for a long, long time, but even then would be given a final seven years to repent and accept the only means of salvation (240). I’m in no way one beholden to numerology—and in fact I believe God created the Earth far longer than the commonly accepted 6,000 years ago—but these implications certainly make for interesting food for thought.
Fifth, I love that one woman laments how preachers use “imminent death” as an incentive for people to accept Christ, when really Christ’s imminent return is a far stronger incentive! (58) Death might hit one person out of a thousand from any given Sunday sermon, but Christ’s return will affect us all. That preachers don’t speak enough about this truth in Scripture really is a sad reality. (123)
Sixth, I found it fascinating that as far back as 1894, Christians viewed Christ’s Rapture as imminent, due to the fact that no more Old Testament prophecies need be fulfilled before His return. (129) That the Lord still “tarries”, even after Jerusalem’s revival in 1948 and its survival in 1967, is shocking yet true. I can recall my parents and even my grandparents saying that they’d likely not see death before the coming of the Lord, and it surprises me that they had learned this sentiment from their own, long-since-dead parents and grandparents before them! That I’m still waiting (and now that I’m officially “over the hill”) makes me wonder if I’ll continue to be as adamant as they or less about the imminence of Christ’s return. Paul thought he’d witness it, but didn’t. Now two thousand years later we’re still thinking the same. I don’t think we’re fools to believe it could be today, but I do think we’re fools if we order our lives as if we’ll never see death before He comes. There’s obedience in anticipating His return, but there’s also wisdom in making plans besides. James’ “If the Lord will, we will do this or that” applies perfectly well here, I think.
Finally, I enjoyed the Jewish aspect to the story, that “Cohen, the Jew” would be actively preparing for the rebuilding of the temple, that the Passover would play such a massive part in the story, and that Watson’s messages are a call for the conversion of the “Jewish race” before it’s too late. That Watson used such racial epithets as “the Jew” and later the N-word isn’t surprising, given the time of publication. But thankfully he also sorrows over the plight of the Chinese midst the opium trade and shows Julie, “a coloured woman”, who’s taken with rest of Christ’s church. As fair as a white Christian in 1921 could be, Watson proves himself slightly more so.
Conclusion
Clearly, I enjoyed this book as an adventurous tale and a thought-provoking look at the coming of our Lord. It’s far shorter yet just as interesting as anything in the Left Behind series, and I am definitely interested in trying to find the next book in Watson’s series, apparently titled The Mark of the Beast.
©2019 E.T.