"Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all." Jude 14, 15.
The promise of Christ"s coming was the "blessed hope" in the patriarchal age. In Job"s dark hour of trial his heart clung to the promise, and he was kept from despair:
"I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: ... whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." Job 19:25-27.
The psalmist sang of it:
"Our G.o.d shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." Ps. 50:3.
And the prophets of later times were unceasingly moved upon to talk of the glory of that coming, of events preceding it, and of the preparation for it.
"I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence." "Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him." Isa. 62:6, 11.
The message of His coming is to be heralded to the ends of the earth; for it is "good tidings of great joy" to every one who will receive it.
On that last night with His disciples before the crucifixion, when His heart was sorrowful even unto death, as the burden of all our iniquities was about to be laid upon Him, Christ"s love for His own made precious to Him the thought of His second coming to gather them home at last, safe from all sin and trouble; and He said:
"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in G.o.d, 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.
In that a.s.surance the heart finds rest. O the preciousness of the promise, "I will come again"! "I am coming for you," is the cheering message. "Yes, Lord," we reply, "we will wait, and watch, and be ready, by Thy grace."
The Manner of His Coming
Christ"s second coming is to be visible to all the world. There is to be nothing secret or mystical about it. The revelator says:
"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Rev. 1:7.
Christ Himself described the scene to His disciples as it will appear to the eyes of all:
"As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:27. "Then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory." Mark 13:26.
The day of the Lord--the close of probation, the initial outpouring of the judgments of G.o.d--will come "as a thief in the night," but Christ"s personal appearing will be visible to all. The heavens will open, the earth quake, the trump of G.o.d resound, and such glory as mortal eye has never seen will burst upon the world when He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords.
"He comes not an infant in Bethlehem born, He comes not to lie in a manger; He comes not again to be treated with scorn, He comes not a shelterless stranger; He comes not to Gethsemane, To weep and sweat blood in the garden; He comes not to die on the tree, To purchase for rebels a pardon.
Oh, no; glory, bright glory, Environs Him now."
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TRANSFIGURATION A TYPE OF HIS COMING
"Behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him."
Matt. 17:3.]
"This Same Jesus"
The Lord would have His children understand that this One who comes in power and glory is the same Saviour of men who once walked by blue Galilee. As the disciples were watching their Saviour, and ours, ascending bodily into heaven from Olivet, until "a cloud received Him out of their sight," suddenly two angels stood by them, who 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 1:9, 11.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHRIST SET AT NAUGHT BY THE ROMANS
"Behold your King!" John 19:14.]
"This same Jesus"! It was the loving Friend and Elder Brother, Son of man as well as Son of G.o.d, who was pa.s.sing from their sight. He will come back the "same Jesus," though in glory indescribable, having "all the holy angels with Him."
The prophet Habakkuk thus described Christ"s glorious appearing, as it was represented to him in vision:
"His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of His praise.
And His brightness was as the light; He had rays coming forth from His hand; And there was the hiding of His power."
Hab. 3:3, 4, A.R.V.
Surely it is the "same Jesus," and the mark of the cruel nails is the shining badge of His power to save.
"I shall know Him By the print of the nails in His hands."
As the redeemed see Him who was crucified for them coming in glory, they will cry, "Lo, this is our G.o.d; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. 25:9.
But that day will be a day of darkness as well as of light. The unready, the unrepentant, will realize too late that in rejecting Christ"s pardon and love and sacrifice, they have rejected the only means by which they might have been prepared to meet the coming King, before whose face no sin can endure. "Every eye shall see Him," the apostle says, and he describes the terror of that day to the unprepared:
"The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
Rev. 6:15-17.
The scenes of that great day are so beyond human comprehension that it is difficult to realize that such a time is actually before us.
"Then, O my Lord, prepare My soul for that great day."
The Purpose of His Coming
The Scriptures make very clear the purpose of Christ"s second coming and the events of that great day. It has been the hope of the children of G.o.d through all the ages. The apostle Paul calls it the "blessed hope."
"The grace of G.o.d that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying unG.o.dliness and worldly l.u.s.ts, we should live soberly, righteously, and G.o.dly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great G.o.d and our Saviour Jesus Christ." t.i.tus 2:11-13.
The saints of G.o.d have fallen asleep in death with their faith reaching forward to Christ"s glorious appearing. So the veteran apostle fell, with eyes upon "that day."
"I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." 2 Tim.
4:6-8.
Christ"s second coming is the grand climax of the plan of salvation. Not till then are the children of G.o.d ushered into the eternal kingdom. Then the crowns of life are bestowed, and the saved all go together through the gates into the city--patriarch and prophet, apostle and reformer, and the child of G.o.d of this last generation. Of the ancient worthies it is written:
"These all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: G.o.d having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40.
What a glorious day it will be when the ransomed of all the ages, march in together through the gates into the city!
It is to take His children to their eternal home that Christ comes the second time. This was His promise to the disciples: