"And Seen" (Phil. 4 :9).

In this passage the apostle outlines the character of the true ministry of Christ very fully. He does not stop at what the Philippians had "learned, and received, and heard " from him in his discourses and instructions among them, but includes also what they had seen in him. His deportment had been in keeping with the precious things he taught.

We may rest assured that while God is sovereign, and can, and often does, use His word in power independently of the ways of His professed servants, yet the full blessing of the truth ministered will not be generally found apart from the truth being "seen" in the character and ways of those who confess and bear it. The beloved apostle was as jealous over himself as over his message, that he might thus appeal to what had been seen in him as well as heard from him. This, of course, called for abundance of self-denial; but that is the test of the true servant. How full of interest the path of Christ's servant becomes day by day when so much is attached to it! And as Christ's people realize this themselves, they realize the need of applying to the Lord of the harvest Himself for the sending of laborers into His harvest. He alone can supply and equip them – whatever His people may do, and should do, in furthering their way.

Armageddon

That the hearts of men are moved with fear when more than what is usual appears, is shown by the oft-asked question of late if the present European war is Armageddon. They know that Armageddon is a complete defeat of the forces assembled there, and that it is the end of the world's history. Not being at peace with God, they naturally dread the end:therefore the anxious inquiry.

The calamities announced as connected with the Lord's second coming, belong not to the Christian, or present dispensation, but to the Jewish, which is revived as soon as the present dispensation is over. Very likely, however, the end of the Christian dispensation may witness a beginning of the sorrows of the Jewish, and this may be the case with the present war, so full already with harrowing scenes and distress of multitudes through the heartless treachery and wickedness of a ruler who makes claim to piety. It is not Armageddon, however, which will take place in the Holy Land, where the nations will be summoned by three unclean spirits-that of the dragon, the Beast, and the false prophet-the two last of which are not yet manifested, and, according to 2 Thess. 2, cannot be manifested until the Holy Spirit, and therefore the Church, which He indwells, are taken from the earth. These two arch-enemies of Christ get the ears of the peoples who have closed them to Christ, and will seek to destroy the remnant of the Jews among whom the testimony of Christ shall be found -a testimony, not of grace and love as ours is, but of the royal claims and glory of Him who is "the King of kings and Lord of lords" as well as "the King of the Jews."

As determined to forbid His reigning in glory as they had been to let Him reign in grace, they are
given over to a spirit of " strong delusion, that they should believe a lie "-the lie of the dragon, the Beast and the false prophet. Armageddon is a compound Hebrew word, which means the "mount of slaughter," or "mounds of dead men; " it describes, therefore, the awful judgment that will come upon Christ's and His people's enemies rather than the place of their judgment. The description of the last plagues upon the world, and of Armageddon, is found in Rev. 16. Note a touching thing in verse 15 of that chapter-though late for men, yet God in His love and grace still warns them. He desires not the death of the sinner but his salvation.

The Day of the Lord

The second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ embodies various events or phases which must not be confounded; though forming together His coming again, they are so distinct from each other that careless persons have spoken of them as different comings of our Lord.

Of course, the event of chief interest to us, Christians, is that described in i Thess. 4, by which we are to "comfort one another." That, and the first chapter of the same epistle, as also John 14:1-4, is where we learn of our "blessed hope." We could not but smile therefore when we saw in a religious magazine, not long ago, an article in which an opposer of this blessed hope spoke of its origin as coming from some old woman's wandering mind. Nor have all the arguments against the "any moment theory" of this hope moved us anymore than the arguments against the grace of God, plausible as they may seem to the unestablished in the truth. Both come from the same source, to rob God's people both of peace and joy.

Another event is the restoration of the then repentant Jewish nation, to all the blessings and privileges which God had promised to their fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to the royal house of David! This introduces the millennium, and the deliverance of creation from its groans. Who that weeps with those who weep is not filled with joy at this prospect ? But between the translation of the heavenly people and this coming bright day for Israel and the groaning creation, there comes "the day of the Lord," a season detailed in Revelation in several series of sore judgments which come upon the earth, whose climax for Israel is the " affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, neither shall be " (Mark 13:19). It is not merely in bodily suffering, but the national anguish which the Christ-persecuting Saul must, as an individual, have passed through after his vision on the way to Damascus, and which would not cease till, deeply subdued at the feet of Christ, he confessed Him in baptism. For the Gentile nations, the judgments end in Armageddon.

The day of the Lord is thus a time of judgments such as the world has never yet experienced. The Thessalonians, who were suffering great persecutions because of their conversion, were in danger of being led into the idea that the day of Christ had come, and that they were suffering its judgments. This would be practically the same doctrine as of those who teach now that the Church will pass
through the tribulation, destroying thus the peace of soul of the people of God. The apostle warns them (2 Thess. 2) not to allow any such teaching to disturb them. His plea is on the ground of the coming of the Lord and the saints being gathered up to Him above, outside all the turmoils and sorrows on earth. He tells them the day of Christ cannot come until the events he mentions have taken place. " Our gathering together unto Him," mentioned in i Thess. 4, waits for no events, but may take place at any moment.

If we thus carefully distinguish between the various parts which cluster about this second coming of our Lord, we will not be moved by the many theories abounding in our times. There is perhaps no subject, unless it be the person and atoning work of our Lord, which has engaged the activities of Satan more than His coming again.