THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST.
By Uriah Smith
HOW WILL IT AFFECT THE CASES OF THE WICKED?
TAKE heed, said Christ, that no man deceive you. And it was in reference to this very subject of his second coming that he uttered these words. Was it because he knew that, on this, the most momentous of all subjects, men would court deception? Be that as it may, it is a fact which challenges observation, that here people seem willing to be misled. By this event, understood as the Bible describes it, an issue is presented of such a nature that to meet it a preparation is required which cuts across all worldly desires, all carnal propensities, all earth-born purposes and pursuits. And rather than turn from these, and endure the crucifixion of the carnal mind, and walk the humble path of self-sacrifice, they shut their eyes to the event itself, or listen with complacency and pleasure to the deceiver's words, while he falsifies God's revelation in reference to the nature of Christ's second coming, and the effects that will follow. 1. The effort is first made to deny the event itself. No such thing is literally to take place, it is claimed, as the second coming of Christ. This is all figurative. It has already taken place, or is daily taking place, or is to take place in the future, in some secret or hidden manner. 2. The plain word of God beating into the dust these false assumptions, the next effort made is to make it appear that, though such an event as the appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven is really to take place, it is not of such a nature as to excite any alarm; for probation will still continue, and the sinner can still find salvation. We lay it down therefore as the first proposition that in connection with the coming of Christ probation ends. This will appear evident when we consider the change it involves in Christ's position. He is revealed to us in the characters of prophet, priest, and king. His prophetic office he fulfilled while here upon the earth. His priestly office he maintains so long as he continues to occupy the position he assumed when he ascended up on high as intercessor for us before the Father. The whole work of salvation is summed up in the priesthood of Christ. Outside of this, including the types and symbols pointing to it, no salvation is offered to the guilty. But when Christ comes he does not come as a priest, but a king. When John in vision saw him coming in his glory, his attention was attracted by a peculiar inscription upon his vesture and upon his thigh. His vesture was dipped in blood, but it did not obscure the majestic title inscribed thereon. He looked, and behold it was written, "King of kings and Lord of lords!" Therefore when Christ comes, his priestly work has ended, and salvation is no longer offered to the impenitent. There is another scripture which is explicit upon this point: Rev. 22:11: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still." This language certainly brings to view that moment into which is concentrated all the solemnity of the work of salvation for a lost world; when the character of every one is unalterably fixed, and his case irrevocably decided for an endless eternity. And when is this? Just before the Lord appears; for the next sentence in the chapter reads, "And, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me, to give every man according to his work shall be." Hence by what his works have been up to that time, and not by what they may be afterward, is every man's eternal destiny decided. The second coming of Christ draws the line of final separation between the righteous and wicked. He shall separate them as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. Matt. 25:32. Hence it is certain that there is no probation beyond. The announcement of Christ's second coming is therefore the announcement of that solemn fact in human history, the end of probation for all that are living upon the earth at that time. Sinner, your only hope is to seek Christ and his salvation before that fearful hour; for then his work will be to judge and execute, and not, as now, to plead and pardon. The coming of Christ will put an end to all enterprises, and overturn every position, and abolish all situations, that are not founded upon his saving work. Kings then forget their kingly power; for one appears who is king over them. The rich men forget their wealth, or only remember it to throw it to the moles and bats in wild despair at the fact so suddenly revealed that their gold and silver cannot save them. The chief captains and mighty men change suddenly their lordly tones, and leave their haughty orders half unsaid, lost in anxiety for their own safety. And all, high and low, rich and poor, honorable and debased, business workers and pleasure seekers, flee from the face of a terror unknown to earth before; for they know that the Lamb's great day of wrath is come. Conscious that they have willfully and wantonly despised his mercy, and insulted his power, they now plunge into the caves of the mountains, and the fissures of the convulsed and reeling earth, and implore the rocks to crush them, and the mountains to bury them from his incensed presence. Rev. 6:14-17. The coming of Christ destroys all the wicked living at that time. Paul in 2 Thess. 1:7-10, describes the revelation of the Lord Jesus in flaming fire, and says that it is to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that they shall be punished with everlasting destruction from (or by) his presence and the glory of his power. In the parable, Luke 19:12-27, which illustrates the ascension of Christ to receive his kingdom, and his second coming after having received his kingdom, the fate of the wicked is set forth in verse 27: "But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me." Again in the vision of Rev. 19, where the second coming of Christ is represented by the figure of a conqueror riding forth upon a white horse. After the battle between the kings of the earth and him that sat upon the horse, we read: "And the remnant (all that were left) were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse." Finally at the coming of Christ, universal destruction is brought upon the face of nature, and the earth is reduced to its original condition of disorder and chaos. The prophet Isaiah describes it in forcible language (chapter 24) as made empty and waste and turned upside down; as mourning and languishing and fading away; as devoured by the curse and becoming desolate; as utterly broken down and dissolved, and reeling to and fro like a drunkard, and removed like a cottage. And John says that when the great day of wrath comes, the heavens depart as a scroll, and every mountain and island are moved out of their places. Rev. 6:14. And again he testifies that when the great voice from the throne in the heavenly temple declares that all is finished, the islands flee away, the mountains are not found. Rev. 16:20. The earth is shaken by the voice of God; and that shaking, says Paul, Heb. 12:27, signifies its removal. The imagination cannot grasp the reality of that mighty convulsion which shall level every mountain, and unmoor every island. Jeremiah had a view of it when all this had transpired, and he says the heavens had no light, and lo! the earth was without form and void. Jer. 4:23. Such are some of the scenes attending the coming of the Son of man. Shall we say that they are of no consequence, and bid the sinner dream on his pleasing dream of peace and safety? No! but rather with all our power we warn him to flee, while yet he may, from the wrath that surely is to come.