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Our Blessed Hope

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 10, 1913

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 90, No. 28.

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Our Blessed Hope

By W. A. HENNIG

W. A. HENNIG
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13.
To those whose sins are put away by the blood of Christ, his second advent without sin unto salvation must constitute an object of longing expectation. Then it is that the Christian’s perfection and happiness are to be complete, for at that time he will behold his Redeemer face to face, to be with him forever; his body will be changed to a glorious body; he will be reunited with those who have fallen asleep in Christ, and together they will enter into their glorious inheritance, which has been provided for them through an infinite sacrifice. There certainly can be no more engrossing theme to those who love the Lord, their kindred, and their future.
The thought that impresses itself upon the minds of many who study the Bible is that the doctrine of the second advent is an essential part of the gospel. By essential I mean a doctrine to which the Holy Spirit has given a very conspicuous place throughout the whole Bible, and made clear that its omission or neglect would render the proclamation of the plan of redemption most incomplete.
The Old Testament patriarchs and prophets often dwelt upon this event in connection with their discourses on the first advent. Their minds were engrossed with this glorious theme. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of this coming. The psalmist looked to that day of days when all wrongs would be settled and all difficulties cleared away. Isaiah clearly portrayed Christ’s first mission to this earth, and never wearied in describing the events connected with his second coming. Jeremiah and Ezekiel longed for that event, while Daniel saw that crowning day in all his interpretations and dreams.
It is a doctrine upon which the Lord himself frequently discoursed during his earthly ministry, and which the apostles often emphasized in sermons and epistles. The Lord said but little about his sufferings and death, but spoke at great length and with minuteness concerning his second advent. Many of his parables,—as the burning of the tares, gathering and casting out bad fish that were in the net, the talents and the reckoning day, the widow praying for redress, the sheep and the goats, the wise and the foolish virgins,—as well as many of his longest discourses, related to this subject. Our Lord saw fit to go into all the minutiae of this great theme,—the state of the world preceding his advent; the character of the times; the signs and the manner; the consequences to all the world. Nor was the recording of all this overlooked, for it is fully given by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Neither did he content himself with the clear enunciation of this matter to his faithful followers, but when “great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore,” he told them about the sowing, the harvest, the end of the world, the burning of the tares, and the righteous to shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matthew 13.
This doctrine was taught alike to the simple multitude and the proud Pharisees. He told them that as it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so it would be at his second advent. This was his last theme before the tragic end of his personal ministry among men. When he was before his unrighteous judges and his blood was demanded by frenzied religionists, he declared: “I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” This advent doctrine so prominently advocated by the Lord himself and so minutely and forcefully taught before friend and foe, on almost all occasions, private and public, is beyond all doubt an essential doctrine of the gospel.
The last commission that Christ gave to the apostles was, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Even the most casual readers of the labors and writings of these followers of the Lord will be impressed with the prominence they gave to the second advent. Immediately after the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as recorded in the second chapter of Acts, Peter declared that to David, who was a prophet, “God had sworn with an oath . . . that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.” This, with the context, clearly indicates Peter’s teaching on this great subject; but even more to the point is his discourse, in the next chapter, when he urged the people to “repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things.” In his epistles the second advent, the end of the world, and the reward of the faithful are clearly set forth.
John, the beloved disciple, constantly extolled his Master. He spoke of him as one with the Father before the world was; of his part in the creation; how he became a man that he might bear the sins and penalties of mankind; how he returned to the Father after he came forth from the grave; but nothing seemed quite so dear to him as the factthat this Saviour would come back to receive his followers unto himself, that they might be with him in the mansions at his Father’s home. His last statements as we have them recorded in the closing words of the Bible, are the soul-filled prayer, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
The apostle Paul makes more than thirty direct references to the doctrine of the second advent, and in two of his epistles reference is made to it in every chapter. But still more certain is the fulfilment of their commission, in this particular, from the manner in which the doctrine is applied.
If these disciples wished to comfort the church under trial, they said: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him.” If they wished to encourage the weak to steadfastness: “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” If the apostles wished to comfort the broken-hearted in the presence of the spoil that death had won: “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.” If necessity impelled them to repress a censorious and judging spirit, the coming of Christ was their plea: “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” If they wished to encourage the necessity of victory over unlawful lusts and passions: “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” Or if they wished to encourage patience under great monetary provocation: “Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. . . . Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.”
A doctrine that was so often and so forcefully declared by our Lord, so strongly advocated by the early apostles, and of such manifold use for exhortation, for reproof, for consolation, and for encouragement, is most certainly an essential part of the gospel. There is another sense in which the doctrine of the second advent is an essential, for it cannot be omitted without rendering the proclamation of the gospel incomplete, unfinished. As regards the Lord, the apostle calls it “the glorious appearing,” and as regards us, he declares it to be “that blessed hope.” To omit the one would rob the Saviour of his glory, and to omit the other would take from the church its object of hope. To hide the first advent would be to conceal the incomprehensible condescension of God,—the mystery of divinity clothed with humanity, and the cancellation of man’s debt on the cross. To omit the second advent would equally veil the marvels of redemption, for it exhibits man in the glory of God.
At the first advent God appeared as man. At the second advent man will appear in the very image and glory of God. Mortal clay with which the great God shrouded his divinity was exhibited to the astonished universe at the first advent. At the second our poor fallen race, whom sin has debased and would utterly ruin, shall be seen not only redeemed, but exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high, and forever united to the Creator through him who is not ashamed, even now, to call us his brethren. At the second advent he shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. This is truly the gospel, the glad tidings of great joy to both the Redeemer and the redeemed,—lost man not merely saved, dying man not only made undying, sinful men not only made pure, but manhood accepted into everlasting union with God. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” Truly, then, without the doctrine of the second advent the preaching of the gospel would be incomplete and the Saviour himself robbed of a chief glory.
In teaching the first advent we recount many glorious achievements of our blessed Saviour. We speak of the shedding of his blood in our behalf; how he overcame death; how he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men; how he sent down the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth; how he forgave sins and filled our hearts with peace; how he inspired men with a hope that scattered the mists and made the future bright. This advent was the means, the second is the end. The sufferings of Christ were the means; the glory and crown, the end. He was manifested that all wicked works and ravages of sin might be destroyed, but much of this is a matter of faith, and will so remain until the second advent. The warfare with sin, with ourselves, and with the world never ceases. The sorrows incident to mortality are unavoidable. The great apostle Paul was led to exclaim, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” But the second advent, “that blessed hope,” “the glorious appearing,” enabled this same apostle to rise above every infirmity and sorrow, and to triumphantly declare: “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.”
Let us contemplate “the hope” that is laid up for us in heaven, and then instead of being of all men most miserable, we shall say with Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” It is certain that the doctrine of the second advent is as essential to the gospel in reference to our personal and complete redemption as it is to the glory of Christ.
Looking, waiting, for the second advent is another vital statement in the text, and is essential to the full enjoyment of the gospel. Jesus said, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.” “What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Seventeen times the command to watch and wait for the second coming of Christ is repeated in the New Testament. The instruction to wait for the coming of the Lord was prominent in all the labors and writings of the apostles. Paul gave as a testimony of his work: “They themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for his Son from heaven.” Peter fully recognized the importance of this attitude on the part of the Christian, and in his first letter speaks to the believers as those “begotten again unto a lively hope” of salvation “ready to be revealed in the last time,” and admonishes “to gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” John wrote: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”
But even more specific is the teaching of Christ in Matt. 24: 42-51. A blessing is pronounced upon those who are watching and waiting for his return, while a curse rests upon those who declare he has delayed his coming and begin to eat and drink with the drunken and to smite their fellow servants. A promise of rulership over all his goods is given to those who wait, but the reward of the hypocrite is the sad fate of those who scoff at his coming.
To talk of faith, love, hope, or any other Christian grace without obedience is vain. The wise man builds in strict conformity to the commands of his master, and his structure will stand alike incalm and storm. Just as sure as the foolish man knowingly disregards some of the commands, so certainly will he go down to utter ruin with his work of a lifetime. To obey is better than sacrifice, and is, in fact, the only infallible test of true discipleship.
Obedience in the matter of looking and waiting for the return of the Bridegroom is no careless, distasteful task to the true bride. He has ransomed her from bandit captivity, and saved her again from death. To her, he is “the chiefest among ten thousand,” the one “altogether lovely.” For her he left his Father and throne, and forsook the glories of paradise. For her he took the form of a servant and endured countless wrongs and indescribable hardships. Her heart swells with reciprocal love, and she often repeats the sweet promise that he will, in person, come back to her. She seeks him whom her soul loves, she counts the days until “the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; . . . the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs,” for that is a promised sign of his return. She will not sit down and idly wait for his return, but will stand as a watchman in the highways and byways. All her work will be done in the spirit of the One for whom she is waiting, and she will shout, when he does appear, “Lo, this is our God; 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.”
“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the seas, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.”