How often do we hear it said that the coming of the Lord must be near, and present world conditions are cited in support of this statement. It would be worse than folly to minimize the gravity of the present hour in the world's history. Indeed, it cannot be matter of surprise to the student of the word of God that the world should be in the welter in which it finds itself today. When it was put to its election at the Cross of Calvary, it chose a murderer instead of Jesus. Without a dissenting voice the rabble crowd which surrounded the Cross cried:"Away with Him, away with Him; Crucify Him;" "Not this man but Barabbas." And Barabbas was a robber! In stoning to death Stephen, Christ's messenger, the nation of Israel said, "We will not have this man to reign over us."Blindness in part has happened to Israel in consequence (Rom. 11:25).Further, in crucifying the Lord of glory, the princes of this world showed that they did not know wisdom and the whole world system was judged. "Now," says the Lord Jesus, "is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out" (John 12:31).

Though the death of Christ is, by common consent, forgotten, God will hold this world to strict accountability for it. The execution of the judgment has been suspended until the accomplishment of the purposes of God during this present interval of grace.

God is now visiting the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name (Acts 15:14). The Church is a distinctively heavenly company with a no less distinctly heavenly hope, namely, the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to take His people to be with Himself for ever. Since that event is spoken of in every book of the New Testament with the exception, perhaps, of the epistles to the Ephesians and Philemon, it will at once be seen how important it is, and the place it should have in the hearts of all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth.

I might note, in passing, that, in the epistle to the Ephesians the believer is seen as seated in the heavenly places in Christ, while the theme of the short letter to Philemon is practical righteousness. We would, therefore, hardly expect to find the coming of the Lord treated of in either epistle.

The Old Testament deals largely with "the day of the Lord," and the establishment of His kingdom in this world. The truth as to the Church was hidden in God from before the ages of time, and never brought to light till it was revealed to the Apostle Paul (Rom. 16:25, 26; Eph. 3:1-7; 5:30-32), so that the doctrine as to the coming of the Lord, so far as revealed in the Old Testament, has no direct relation to the Church. I do not say that the saints of this present period are not interested in all that the Old Testament has to say on this important subject. The fact that "the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow" are the theme of the Old Testament prophets (1 Pet. 1:11), and that which "Moses and all the prophets" wrote was "the things concerning Himself" (Luke 24:27) makes all the Old Testament revelation of deepest interest to the believer. But I fear the distinctive character of this present period, and the believer's heavenly origin and destiny, has been very feebly apprehended.

In view of what I have already said as to the prominent place which the coming of the Lord occupies in the New Testament, it is not at all surprising to find that the saints in Apostolic days were looking for the Lord to come, and that during their lifetime. And, despite the fact that He has been absent well nigh 1900 years, the saints were not mistaken in so looking for Him. Why did the servant "begin to beat the mem-servants and maidens, and to eat and drink with the drunken?" (Luke 12:45). Was it not because he said in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming?" Observe, he did not say that his lord was not coming, but that he was delaying his coming. And he said it in his heart. His attitude was the very opposite of waiting for his lord. He could not have beaten the men-servants and maidens and eaten and drunk with the drunken if he had been waiting for his lord.

Before He left His disciples the Lord Jesus said to them:-

"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3).

If He had to go and prepare a place for them He must of necessity go to the Cross and accomplish redemption's work. But, in the words just quoted, He also intimates, I judge, that His presence in His Father's house would prepare the place for them. He has gone back there where He ever was, but He has gone there in a new character-as man-not only showing us that redemption's work is accomplished (wondrous thought!), but also the place which the counsels of God destined for those many sons He is bringing to glory. His presence there, as man, is the earnest or pledge that they will be there also.

I may refer to 1 Cor. 15:51-54; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; Phil. 3:20,21; Heb.9:28 and 1 John 3:1-3 as clearly indicating that the coming of the Lord was the immediate hope of the Church.

I turn now to Acts 1:-

"When they, therefore, were come together, they asked of Him saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power… And when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight, and, while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, 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" (verses 6:7,9-11).

Note the expression, "The times or the seasons." It occurs again in 1 Thess. 5:-

"But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night" (verses 1,2).

In Acts 1 "the times or the seasons" clearly apply to the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, and in 1 Thess. 5 "the times and the seasons" refer to "the day of the Lord." In neither case is it connected with the Christian's immediate hope. The early Christians were waiting for Christ because their hearts were set upon Him.

I do not say that the "times and seasons" are not instructive and suggestive for the believer. Scripture has much to say as to them. Suppose, however, the world was not suffering as it is to day, but, on the contrary, was in the midst of abounding prosperity, and that the nations were apparently living in amity one with the other, would the coming of the Lord, therefore, not be so near?

The Thessalonians had "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God," and were waiting for His Son from heaven. They were expecting Him to come in their lifetime. As the result of this hope, the gospel sounded out from them in Macedonia and Achaia, and their faith toward God was spread abroad, so that the Apostle did not need to say anything as to them. All who knew them were aware they were waiting for God's Son from heaven (1 Thess. 1). But they were soon plunged into sorrow because, in the meantime, some of their number had been put to sleep by Jesus, and they thought that these would miss the blessing which would accompany the return of Jesus. In his first letter to them the Apostle says:-

"But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For, if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words" (chap. 4:13-18).

Here, and here only, do we get what is commonly called the truth of the rapture or the catching away of the saints to be with Christ, though of course it is involved in other scriptures. From his second letter to them we see the Thessalonians were again in trouble. They were passing through "persecutions and tribulations," and Satan, acting through his emissaries, had circulated among them a letter, as if it were from the Apostle Paul himself, to the effect that "the day of the Lord was at hand" (lit., "was present"), the persecutions and tribulations being witness. How does the Apostle meet that error? In the second chapter (vers. 1, 2) he says:-

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind; or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ (the Lord) is at hand (were present)."

He proceeds to show them what must happen before that day can come; but note,-that by which the Apostle exhorts these troubled Thessalonians was, "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto Him."

"Times and Seasons" will be of great significance to saints of the coming dispensation. For example, in Matthew's gospel, we read:-

"When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand), then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains" (chap. 24, vers. 15,16).
Then will be the period of "the great tribulation," or "the time of Jacob's trouble," and the godly remnant of Israel will be suffering under awful tyranny of the Antichrist. It will be a period such as was not since the beginning of the world to that time, no, nor ever shall be (Matt. 24:21). At the Cross the nation said, "We have no king, but Caesar" (John 19:15), and "His blood be on us and on our children" (Matt. 27:25); and in chapter 24 of this gospel we have a prophetic and most graphic picture of the experiences the nation of Israel will pass through in that day as the result of its having rejected its Messiah when He came in grace and by wicked hands crucified and slew Him.

The setting up by the Antichrist of "the abomination of desolation" in the holy place will be a sign, and a most portentous one, to the elect of Israel, and what comfort and encouragement will the Olivet discourse in Matt. 24 be to them in that day.

But we of this dispensation have the faithful promise of our Lord Jesus Christ that He is coming for us and that He will keep us from (out of) the hour of temptation (trial) which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev. 3:10). He Himself is our hope (1 Tim. 1:1). We do not need "times" or "seasons" to tell us that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is near:His heart yearns for the moment when He will have His own with Him. When the last stone has been added to that "building, fitly framed together, which groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:21) our blessed Lord Jesus Christ will rapture His saints to glory, and then, and not till then, will His heart be satisfied. His love could not rest until His own are with Him, and like Him, fully blest.

May we covet more earnestly the blessedness of communion with Himself so that we may be found here to His praise and satisfaction, and be like unto men who wait for their Lord.

"Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus." James R. Elliott