The More Important Question
By C. M. S.
MANY are asking the question, “How soon will our Lord return?” The disciples, in the days when our Saviour was on earth, were anxious to know the time of his return. They said: “Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Matt. 24: 3. The Saviour indicated to them that there was danger in dwelling upon the time. Their safety lay in knowing him and in being ready whatever the time might be. So he prefaced his answer with this admonition: “Take heed that no man deceive you.” But the time he could not reveal. Again he said: “Be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Matt. 24: 44. Which, then, is the more important question, “When will he come?” or, “Am I ready now to meet him?” We know that he will come soon. Are we just as certain that we are ready to meet him as we are that he will come soon? If we are not, then the chief business of our lives should be to get ready. It will do us no good to know that he will come soon, and for him to come soon, and we be unready for the event. Some say it makes no difference when he comes if only we are ready; but it does make a difference, else our Saviour would not have given us the signs by which we are to know when his coming is near. The signs were given for a purpose—to indicate the nearness of that great event; and God would never have given them if it were of no consequence that we should know when his coming is near at hand. The Saviour cautioned his disciples and cautions us upon the point of being ready. These are his words:— “Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. It is as when a man, sojourning in another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, to each one his work, commanded also the porter to watch. Watch therefore: for ye know not when the lord of the house cometh, whether at even, or at midnight, or at cockcrowing, or in the morning; lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13: 33-37.
The “lord of the house” did not demand of his servants that they should know when he would return, but he did demand that they be ready to receive him when he should return. He made no provision for their knowing the exact time; but he did make provision for their7not being found unready, no matter when he should return. And the Saviour, in his earnest admonitions to us, is seeking to guard us against the awful calamity of being unready to meet him when he shall return for his own. He has gone to the far country. He has gone to receive for himself a kingdom and to return for the subjects of his kingdom. To those who are not ready, his coming is sudden. To those who are ready and waiting, his coming does not seem sudden. They have been praying for it, hoping for it, looking for it, expecting it, and have been crying, “How long, O Lord, how long?” To those to whom it comes suddenly it brings disaster and death. That is intimated in our Saviour’s words of warning, “Lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping.” Paul was writing of our Lord’s return when he penned these words:— “But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall in no wise escape.” 1 Thess. 5: 1-3.
It is to those who are dwelling in a “fool’s paradise” of peace and safety that the coming of our Lord is sudden and brings destruction with it. They have arranged a program which they hope is to go on forever, or at least for centuries; and their minds and their thoughts have been taken up with the working out of that program. Universal peace is essential to the complete fulfillment of their projects. So they work for world-wide peace, and are absorbed in plans for bringing it about. And when they think they have accomplished it, and the world is declaring itself at peace, the crash comes, the light of the glory of the Almighty bursts through the sky, the mighty voice of the Archangel rolls through the world, and the trumpet of God awakes the sleeping saints. What brings joy inexpressible to the faithful, vigilant watchers, brings consternation and destruction to those who were not expecting the event and were unready for it. But there is no reason why we should be unready. God has made every provision necessary for our preparation. He has told us what is necessary, and he has opened a way whereby we can obtain it. “Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2 Cor. 7: 1. Again: “We are a temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 2 Cor. 6: 16. He who is seeking daily and hourly to have the purpose of God the ruling function of his life will not be taken unawares and overwhelmed in the ruin of this world when the Redeemer returns to this earth. That attitude of mind, that consecrated determination of purpose, keeps the one who has it in constant touch with the opening providence of God. That is the key to the triumph of every overcomer, and it is exemplified in the life of Jesus. Of that exemplification the apostle speaks in these words:— “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name.” Phil. 2: 5-9.
As he was slain for our transgressions, “to whom the stroke was due;” as he was punished, “the just for the unjust,” he demonstrated to the universe that he not only was not seeking his own exaltation, but that he was seeking to exalt those who had debased themselves and forfeited all right to exaltation. That is the spirit which wins the approbation of God, the spirit of sinking self to elevate others. Now we are admonished to “have this mind” in us “which was also in Christ Jesus.” That “mind,” or purpose, made him a victor over the world, the flesh, and the devil. It will do the same for us. But how shall we obtain it? The Lord has answered that question:— “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” Eze. 36: 26.
The new heart is given by God himself; but it is not given contrary to the desire of the individual. It comes in answer to earnest prayer. If the fountain of all our desires is right, we shall not be wrong. If we have in us the heart, the purpose, that was in Christ Jesus, it will lead us, as it led him, to walk in harmony with the will of the Father, and always be ready for whatever the Father may have for us. But we are mortal, fallible; we may purpose and may not always carry out that purpose. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” 1 John 2: 1. We are not complete in ourselves, but we are “complete in him.” Col. 2: 10. “In none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.” Acts 4: 12. To be a victorious Christian, it is necessary that we do more than merely give assent to the fact of salvation through Christ and try to figure out just when he will come. There will be something positive and progressive about the triumphant Christian. There is something to be done. The Spirit, speaking through Paul, gives us this view of Christian activity:— “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds); casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Cor. 10: 3-5.
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Phil. 4: 8, 9.
“One thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. . . . For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.” Phil. 3: 13-21.
“Because thou didst keep the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial, that hour which is to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.” Rev. 3: 10-12.
The great question which every Christian should ask himself is this: Am I ready to meet my Saviour now?