Coming in Glory

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 14, 1902

Editorial

Coming in Glory

THE divine Son of God came to this earth that as humanity and for humanity he might bear the consequences of man’s transgression. “He was manifested to bear sins.” “In all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” He was the manifestation of the glory of God to this world, but this glory was veiled in the flesh in order that it might be revealed for salvation, and not for destruction. Those whose eyes were anointed were able to see this glory, even though it did not shine out in a way to dazzle the natural eyes. “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth.” Simeon, “just and devout, . . . came by the Spirit into the temple,” and recognized the child Jesus as “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” But many of the people saw him only as a man like themselves, and they said, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.” Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” But his second manifestation upon this earth will be in marked contrast with this experience. “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” “He shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels.” “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire . . . when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.” We are now in the time of trial and test, preparing for the revelation of this glory. “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.”

“Echo it, hilltops, proclaim it, ye plains; Jesus is coming again! Coming in glory, the Lamb that was slain; Jesus is coming again!”

A New Creation

IN the beginning “God created man in his own image.” Man was a part of that complete work which God looked upon, and “behold, it was very good.” Through sin the image of God was marred in man. The gospel is the provision which God has made to restore his own image in man, and the restoring process is a creative process. David recognized this in his prayer for forgiveness and cleansing. “Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” The fact that redemption is a creative process, a work which can be done by God alone, is made the basis of the statement that salvation must be wholly of God, and not by our own works: “For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, that no man should glory. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.” The experience of salvation is the experience of a new creation: “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.” Neither the performance of a ceremony nor the omission of a ceremony will take the place of the creative process: “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” And the fact that all things were created in Christ is set before us in the Scripture as the sure foundation upon which we may rest our hope of a new creation. “In whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins: . . . for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth.” It is thus evident that redemption is simply the accomplishment of the original plan to create man in the image of God, and that the Creator and the Redeemer are the same. “Thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee.”

The Sign of Creation

THE Lord gave to his people the Sabbath as a sign between him and them, based upon the fact that he created all things in six days and rested upon the seventh day. “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. . . . It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Through the observance of this sign they were to know the Lord as their God. “And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” Through this sign they were to know the Lord as the one who sanctified them. “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I the Lord do sanctify them.” Christ was the one through whom the creative work was wrought. “All things were made through him; and without him was not anything made that hath been made.” It is plain therefore that the Sabbath is a sign, through the observance of which we may know Christ as the Creator and Redeemer. The Sabbath is the sign of the original creation, and also of the new creation. The gospel of salvation is not an emergency plan devised after sin had entered into the world. The preservation of what he had created was involved in the original creation, and redemption is simply the carrying out, in spite of the fact of sin, of the original purpose. In the very act of being the agent in creation the Son of God pledged himself to become the agent in preserving and restoring that creation, and all the power of the original creation is pledged for the new creation. This creative power for salvation is experienced only by those who believe. The gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” It therefore follows that “the Sabbath of the Lord is the sign of what Jesus Christ is to those who believe in him. The observance of it by faith—the true observance of it—brings into the life of the believer in Jesus, as nothing else can, the living presence and power of Jesus Christ.”

This is the reason why the Sabbath reform must have a large place in this final message which is to reveal the fullness of the gospel of “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”