p. 5 | Christ’s Second Coming by L. A. S.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 30, 1902

Christ’s Second Coming

By L. A. S.

“Christ is coming again, not quietly, but in the clouds, with pomp and glory. He will then be welcomed by a mighty host of saints, both the living and the sleeping. His church has from the beginning looked and is still looking forward to it as the consummation of all its hopes.” Thus writes the Rev. Walter H. Clark in the New York Observer. The truths he thus states are so clearly set forth in the Scripture that no one can fail to acknowledge them without taking the position that the Word of God does not mean what it says. In the various churches there are many who, in view of the plain statements of inspiration upon this subject, believe that the second coming of Christ will be literal and visible, as was his ascent into heaven from the Mount of Olives.

But Mr. Clark feels called upon to defend the popular view that there is a coming of Christ at death. He says:—

But is there not another coming of the Lord Jesus, a personal coming to each of his redeemed ones to take them home to himself? Is not this doctrine found in the unwritten creed of the church? When the little ones of many generations, kneeling each at the mother’s side, have said, “I pray thee, Lord, my soul to take,” into what arms did the mother expect the little darling, if called away, to be taken except those which on earth tenderly received the little ones?

This doctrine is indeed found in the creed of the church, and in the hymn book. But its existence there constitutes no proof of its truth. This seems to be realized by Mr. Clark, for he proceeds with further evidence:—

Are the many cases where the half-freed, saintly spirit, losing its physical and gaining its spiritual vision before the power of speech had failed, has recognized and welcomed the coming Saviour, to be set down as hallucinations of a wandering mind, or creations of the imagination?

Are they? or do they constitute proof of Christ’s coming at death? Mr. Clark answers his own question by his next statement:—

But these human answers cannot settle the question. What saith the Scripture?

Here is the only reliable source of information on this momentous subject. What saith the Scripture? Mr. Clark proceeds to quote from this source:—

To comfort his disciples, “the Lord Jesus said to them, “I go to prepare a place for you, . . . I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” Paul said that he had a desire to depart, that he might be with Christ. Evidently he did not expect to lapse into a state of unconsciousness.

Only a few days after Christ spoke the words here quoted, an angel said to these same disciples, “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 1:11. Evidently it was this coming of which Christ spoke to them. As regards Paul’s desire to depart and to be with Christ, there is nothing in his statement to show that Christ would come to him at the moment of his departure. The same apostle afterward said, when he was a prisoner at Rome: “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. From this it appears that at the time when Paul was about to depart, his crown of righteousness was not to be bestowed upon him, but “henceforth”—from that time until some future event—it was “laid up” for him; and the ensuing words make it plain that this future event is the appearing of Christ in glory, to gather to himself his elect.

A long time, as we count time, might elapse between Paul’s “departure”—his death—and his being with Christ, during which time he would be “asleep” in the grave; but this would not count in the purposes of the Eternal One. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” Christ proved before the Sadducees the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, by referring to the fact that God was the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, all of whom were dead; yet God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Luke 20:37, 38. The fact that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had been sleeping in death some centuries, and were to sleep some centuries longer, was not taken into account at all. God was then, as he was before and has been ever since, the God of the living, just as though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were then living. They were not living, but they were to be raised from the dead, and before the eternal purpose of God for them, the fact that death for a time held them in his power will fade into insignificance and not be worthy of consideration. It was as though these three worthies were already living. God’s children all “live unto him,” while the living who are not of his family are as though they were already dead. Paul was to “depart,” and to “be with Christ,” and the fact that some centuries of sleep in the grave would elapse between the two events was not one that needed to be considered in his statement.

Mr. Clark makes this further argument:—

If there be not a personal coming of Christ to each individual, what to the many generations of Christians who have finished their earthly work, was the force and point of the many injunctions to be prepared for—to watch for—the Lord’s coming? How piteous must have been and must still be the disappointment of the “beloved disciple,” who, in response to the Master’s message, “Surely I come quickly,” said, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

There are many things written aforetime which were intended “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10:11. The Word of God is for us who live in these last days, as much as for any people who have lived before us. Its admonitions to watch for our Lord’s return are for us who shall see him come. Sad would it have been for us if these admonitions had been left out. But they did not signify that Christ was to return in the days of the apostles. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, who had received the idea that the day of God was at hand, that they should not be deceived on this point, for it was not at hand. “That day shall not come,” he wrote, “except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God,” etc. 2 Thess. 2:2-4. Definite signs were foretold and described by the Lord in order that the generation which should witness their fulfillment might know that then the great event was “near, even at the door.” No one could expect the coming of Christ before these predictions had been fulfilled.

“Behold, I come quickly,” was the testimony of Jesus to his beloved disciple, whose response was, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus;” but this was not a mere personal matter between Jesus and John. Christ spoke through John to all his people; to one and all he said, “I come quickly;” any other view would belittle his language until it would be ridiculous. Some say he has already tarried too long in view of the promise here recorded; but it is not for us to say just what period of time his word “quickly” may cover. It is “quickly” with him, and it will be all too quickly for those whom he shall find “sleeping” when he comes.

“There is no conflict between this private coming of our Lord to each individual of the church when his work is done, and his public and official coming to the church as a whole, at the set time,” says Mr. Clark. But there is a conflict. The

“private coming” doctrine nullifies to a great extent the doctrine of his public coming; for why should Christ come twice to the same individual, and indeed how could he come to an individual whom he had already received to himself? This tinges the whole subject with absurdity. But the view that Christ will come the second time in power and glory to gather his elect, who have been, for the most part, not with him in heaven, but asleep in their graves, is one which partakes of the grandeur of divine truth and of the work of God, and is in harmony with the statements of God’s Word.

Death is an enemy, and not a friend who brings us to Christ. There is no partnership between Christ and death.

L. A. S.