Friend, do you believe it, that the same Jesus who was here once, whose feet trod the land of the Jews for thirty-three years, is about to return to this earth ?
By His first coming, 1900 years ago, was to His I second coming, for which we are looking day by day, what-the foundation of a building is to the building itself. It was made up of suffering, culminating in His atoning death on the cross, by which He obtained an eternal redemption for us (Heb. 9:12).
By His patient endurance of all the wrongs heaped upon Him and His loving continuance of doing good to men, He did another thing :He made God known as He truly is, and showed the kind of human life which God delights in. No man therefore who reads the life of Jesus believingly, as told in the four Gospels, can be ignorant of the true nature of God, and no one who reads believingly of His death on the cross can fail to see that it was for the putting away of our sins and the opening of heaven's door to us.
So the first coming of Christ prepares all who believe on Him for His second coming. It will be a coming in glory, and all who believe on Him while He is away will share that glory when He comes. Those who have remained in their pride, ) and refused Him as their Saviour, will be in a sad, sad case then! My heart's desire is that none who read these lines may be in that case. There is no more need for a man to be lost than for one to be thirsty with a river running at his feet. A full, free, present and eternal salvation is offered in divine sincerity to every soul of man. Every one who repents of his sins and receives the Lord Jesus as his Saviour is accepted of God (Eph. i:6); has eternal life (Jno. 6 :47) ; has the forgiveness of sins (Col. i :14) ; and can never perish (Jno. 10:27-29). This is what prepares one for the second coming of Christ-which, indeed, makes it an event much desired, because love for Christ has sprung up in the heart; and if we love anyone, we long to see and be with such an one.
The first coming of Christ is the fulfilment of one half of the Old Testament; His second coming will fulfil the other half, as well as all the prophecies of the New Testament.
There has been much confusion in the minds of many about the second coming of the Lord, both through false teaching about it, and through want of simple, child-like faith in the statements of the word of God about it.
The Fact of Christ's Coming Again
is told by the Lord Himself in John 14:3. He was soon to return to heaven, whence He had come, to prepare a place there for His people. So He says, for the comfort of their sorrowing hearts, "I will come again, and receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye may be also." Plain enough words, surely. When, He does not say; but He gave His promise:" I will come again." Later on He actually leaves them. He takes them with Him to the Mount of Olives, and as He is giving them a few parting words in blessing, a cloud takes Him from them and carries Him heavenward. Of course
they all looked up, gazing to catch the last glimpse of Him. As they did so, " Behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven" (Acts i:10, 11).
Could anyone possibly misunderstand or misconstrue such a statement as this ? If there are passages in Scripture which need interpretation, surely this does not. It is "this same Jesus," who was born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, who "went about doing good," who suffered, who died, who was buried and rose from the dead, who ascended up to heaven carrying humanity there with Him. It is "this same Jesus" who is to "come in like manner " as He went away. And that event is now evidently near at hand. Blessed event for those who are ready; dreadful for those who are not!
The Events Connected with It.
A number of events crowd around it, all of which are full of interest. The first one I will mention, The Translation, is of thrilling interest, at least to those who will have part in it ; it is described in i Thess. 4:16, 17:"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God :and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Is it any wonder that this extraordinary statement is followed by, "Wherefore comfort one another with these words ?" Are they not full of comfort ? Instead of death separating families and friends, this will bring them into happy reunion round about their precious Saviour whose presence will forever gladden every heart, and bind them all together in perfect love. Every grave containing the body of a child of God will have to give up its occupant, from that of Abel to the last one buried. It will be the grand victory of Christ and His people; when all who have fallen during the long "good fight" will rise to their feet, to share with the living, who are then changed, in triumphant joy and bliss. No more a suffering Christ and a suffering people, but a triumphant Christ and an exulting people.
The Transformation.-But to be thus translated from earth to heaven, we need to be transformed from an earthly condition, such as we are in now in spite of our being redeemed, to a heavenly condition, which will be like that of the angels, i Cor. 15 :51-53 describes that transformation in very plain words. It says:"Behold, I show you a mystery:We shall not all sleep (be dead), but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we (the living) shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." In that condition there will, of course, be no more sinful nature left in us, no more earthly needs and longings as now; no more liability to sickness and suffering as now. We shall be perfectly fitted for heaven, as we are now for earth.
The Judgment of Nations.
After the people of God have been transformed and translated to heaven, the earth will be a sad, sad place. It will be the time of God's dealings with the nations, to bring them to account for their national sins; for as nations and corporations, as such, pass away with time, their judgment for evil is also in time. That of individuals is for eternity, inasmuch as they abide forever.
The present conflict in Europe, if not already the beginning of that sad time, is at least a premonition of it. God is amazingly patient, but He administers justice in the end. He does not lay hold of the sword at once, for "judgment is His strange work," and He waits as long as His patience and grace can avail; but when they avail no more, and grace could be but encouragement to sin, then He takes up the sword and executes justice in as full measure as He exercised patience before. Not a single feature of the sin of long ago is forgotten or passed over. The coming severity of God's justice on all sin unrepented of is as fearful as His present goodness is wonderful. Do you suppose, for instance, that God will always bear with the present insult offered Him by these United States of America in shutting His Word out of the public schools ? The very blessing and superiority of the nation lies in the fact that it started with an open Bible ; otherwise, it would be no different from South or Central America, where darkness reigns supreme, and Romish greed makes merchandise of the very souls of men while dragging them into the deepest degradation and corruption. To now
shut out His word from the tender age of the nation is an ungrateful and insulting act which He will remember when He calls the nations to account. And what nation in Europe has not shed the blood of the faithful witnesses of Jesus? That blood cries out for justice, and will surely be avenged when the reckoning time comes, unless it has been sincerely repented of.
When the Jews were demanding of Pilate that he crucify Christ, and Pilate objected, they cried, " His blood be on us, and on our children " (Matt. 27 :25). Has it not been upon them ever since, and yet they have not repented of their crime. After our translation to heaven, therefore, and God withdraws His hand from holding back the powers of evil, the Jewish nation, now gathered again in their own land, will there, in their land, pass through "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matt. 24:21). This will bring them to repentance by bringing to their minds their merciless and heartless ways toward their gentle and patient Messiah. It will melt them to profound grief. (See Zech. 12:10-14.) There was a feast or set-time in Israel to describe this time (Lev. 23:26-32), for it will be the turning-point of their national history, and is therefore very important, even as the most important moment in any individual's history is when he repents of his sins and turns to the Saviour.
Another great event of that time will be the wonderful activity of the grace of God in the midst of the miseries of men everywhere. This is told in Rom. ii :12, 15, and in the seventh chapter of Revelation. As in Luke 15, the father, upon receiving again his prodigal son, makes in his joy a feast to all his house, so also when God receives again the Jewish nation, so long estranged from Him, He will make a feast of grace to all the world, except those who in the present day of grace "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved" (2 Thess. 2 :10-12). These will have no further opportunity, but will be given up to "strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." The great work of God's grace then will be, first of all, in the Jewish nation, but also among "all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues," only passing over those who have heard the gospel of the grace of God, but have loved sin too well to come under its beneficent power.
Thus while men depopulate the earth by their cruel warring with each other, God peoples heaven with all such as turn to Him in sincerity in the midst of their sorrows.
During this time, when all the corporations of men are brought to account with God, there is the judgment of one great and special corporation which Scripture calls "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth " (Rev. 17:5). It is the false church, whose history began soon after that of the true Church, just as the history of counterfeit money begins soon after the making of good, sound money. This false church loudly shouts that she is "the only true church," and that nobody is right except within her confines; as soon as any dissent from her she
calls them " heretics," excommunicates them, and, if the government allows her, persecutes and torments them all she can. She is in league with all the rulers in the world who are willing to carry out her will. The true Church is a blessing in the world; this false church is a curse, a corruptness; under pretense of worshiping God, she causes her devotees to bow down to idols of gold, and silver, and wood, and wax; for money she deals in souls of men as merchants deal in merchandise; under pretense of superior sanctity she hides the most hideous crimes imaginable; because of those in her who still live sincerely and in true piety, God has borne most patiently with her, but now He bids them, "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works:in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her:for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire:for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her" (Rev. 18:4-8). All shams get their dues in proper time with God, and His balances administer exact justice in everything. Faith, knowing this, waits with God in suffering patience. It can even pity the evil-doer at the thought of his sad end.
The Appearing.-But suddenly and unexpectedly -even while the Pacificist cry, Peace, peace, and vainly urge their theories to end all wars and bring about universal peace-the Lord Jesus descends from heaven in power and glory, accompanied by His redeemed people, whom, as we have seen, He had before translated to heaven. At that time they had no doubt been missed from among men where they lived, possibly with jesting and laughing at their absence, to quiet the unrest and secret dread of many hearts; for many who have no part in this "blessed hope" have known what the Bible says about it.
But the great secret is made fully manifest now. These very same people who had been missed by their fellows upon earth, when the shout of their Lord had called them to Himself above, and taken them into His Father's house out of sight, now appear with Him, when the world shall "see the Son of Man (the same Jesus) coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matt. 24:30).
The nineteenth chapter of Revelation describes this event very graphically in verses 11-16 :"And I saw heaven opened, and, behold, a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood :and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations:and He shall rule them with a rod of iron:and He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, king of kings, and lord of lords."
What a vindication of the rights which men denied Him when He was here, and ever since! And what a vindication too of His people who have suffered in patience, for " if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him" (2 Tim. 2:12) ; and the time to reign is when He Himself comes to reign, as seen in the above passage. But to establish His reign He must first make a clean sweep of all who are still opposed to Him on the face of the earth. It is no longer pleading with them in grace-that time is over. His reign is being set up now, and woe be to all who refuse to bow to Him. It was the evil condition of heart in the Jews, when our Lord was here, which made Him refuse to be made King when they were ready to attempt it. He will not reign over a people who do not yield their heart and their will to Him; and now that the time for Him to reign has come, they must yield or be cut off.
This preliminary judgment of all opposition clears the way for His millennial reign of peace and righteousness. Jerusalem is rebuilt, with its temple, and becomes the imperial city, with the converted Jewish nation as His special, royal nation. Under His perfect government the whole earth lives in peace, prosperity, and godly happiness:no more oppression, no more rebellion, for the hearts of men have been changed. In all the attempts of men to produce a state of abiding peace among nations there could only be failure, for they have no power to change the nature or heart of man. The new birth is necessary for that, and only God can produce it in a repenting man. New birth having been wrought in those who enter the kingdom, new conditions are produced; and instead of destroying one another, they then love one another. Until those new conditions are produced, all the best efforts of men to bring stable peace on earth are utterly futile and vain. It required the almighty power of Christ to transform and translate His people from earth to heaven, and only the same power can fit men for His kingdom on earth.
My reader, if the next thing heard were the Lord's shout calling His redeemed people to Himself above, would you be of those who would respond to it ?