Christ's Second Coming by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 26, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 13.

Christ's Second Coming.

By Editor

THE following is a brief editorial which appeared in the Christian Cynosure of Jan. 8, 1885:—

"Christ's second coming is not a Scriptural phrase. The Bible is full of his 'comings.' In Eden, to Abraham, to Solomon, to Moses, when he 'came down to deliver' the Israelites, at Bethlehem as a babe, etc., etc., and in the last chapter of the Bible he says, 'Behold I come quickly;' and in the reckoning of eternity 'quickly' may mean a million years.

"Doubtless every one of his predicted comings will be fulfilled, and we shall know when they are so. And our proper posture is to be 'looking for and hastening to' his coming which may not be five minutes ahead; and it will seem so when he gets here. One would like to know how long to Moses and Elias in the mount the 1,500 years seemed since they had toiled and suffered here. But we must not conjure with his advent or make a sect out of it."

The Cynosure should be the last paper in the world to speak against making a sect of any one Bible doctrine, for it is most intensely sectarian, and its sectarian creed is the narrowest of all of which we have any knowledge. Opposition to secret societies is its only "stock in trade;" without this hobby it would have no calling. We have not a word to say in behalf of secret societies; we believe they often injure a good cause by appealing to people's curiosity, or to their love of the marvelous, instead of their love of principle. We have no high regard for the tinsel and trappings of show. But most of all we object to them when they are made, as they sometimes are, substitutes for the Christian religion. But whether it is better to "conjure" with, or to "make a sect" out of that opposition, than to put forward and earnestly preach the Bible doctrine which Paul calls "that blessed hope," is a question which it does not take us long to determine.

But the Cynosure is quite technical in its criticism. It takes pains to impress the supposed fact that "Christ's second coming is not a Scriptural phrase." "Human probation" is not found in the Scriptures. "Free moral agency" is an expression never found in the Scriptures. "Antimasonry" is not found in the Scriptures, yet the Cynosure does not abate one jot of its antimasonic zeal on that account. We hardly think that it would take its stand on the declaration that nothing is of importance which we cannot find in the exact language of the Scriptures.

But we have a charge to press more closely against the Cynosure. Its theology is erroneous; it misrepresents the Scriptures. The Bible is not "full of his comings." The language of the Bible forbids that the manifestations of God's grace and power in Eden, to Abraham, to Moses, etc., may be called "comings of Christ." They are not, and never have been, so considered by the Christian world. When writers on Bible doctrines and Bible facts speak of Christ's first advent, or first coming, do they ever refer that first coming to Eden, to Abraham, to Moses, or to any kindred time or event? Never; the Cynosure cannot point to one instance in the literature of the Christian church where the phrase is so applied. If there is an instance it has escaped our notice or our memory. It is always referred to the advent of Christ at his birth "in the days of Herod the king."

When Jesus told his disciples that he was going to leave them and return unto his Father, they were filled with sorrow; but he comforted them with the words, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." To suit the theory of the Cynosure he should have promised to come again and again, until he had gradually taken them all unto himself. But no such idea is contained in his promise, or elsewhere found in the Bible. In 2 Thess. 2, Paul teaches that at the coming of Christ, the saints will be gathered together unto him. In 1 Cor. 15 he says that "the trumpet

shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Verse 52. In his first letter to the Thessalonians he tells exactly when the trumpet shall sound, and the dead awake to immortality, and the living be changed or translated. "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent [phthasomen, anticipate, precede] them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 1 Thess. 4:15-18.

Every reader must note the parallel between this text and John 14:1-3. Both were given to comfort and console the disciples of Christ; both say that the Lord—the Lord himself—shall come again; both say that the object of his coming is to gather or take his people unto himself. And this the Lord Jesus calls his coming "again." We think the Cynosure, notwithstanding its looseness of statement on this subject, will hardly affirm that the Bible is full of such comings as this. And it is noteworthy that in its enumeration of the many "comings" of the Lord it did not refer to this one! Yet this is the only event to which the Scriptures refer when they speak of the coming of Christ.

The disciples asked the Saviour, "What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. 24:3. They did not say, "of one of thy comings." And Jesus proceeded to lead their minds down to the same event spoken of in 1 Cor. 15, and 1 Thess. 4. Also, in John 21:22 the Lord said, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" The brethren thought he meant that he should tarry till he comes, and therefore a saying went abroad among them that that disciple should not die. Why did this saying arise? Because the disciples understood, as Paul afterward wrote, that the followers of Christ will not all sleep; some will be alive and remain unto his coming, and they will be translated—not die. This shows that they had no such loose ideas of the coming of Christ as the Cynosure expresses.

But most decisive of all is Paul's testimony in Heb. 9:28. Taking the enumeration of the Cynosure, and let each "etc." cover but one coming, and add his appearing to Paul, at his conversion, and we have eight comings. Of course we could swell the list to scores, if each particular interposition of Providence is the coming of Christ. But providing for these eight alone, then the apostle should have said that unto them that look for him he shall appear the ninth time. But he did not. He said that "unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." This shows the statement of the Cynosure to be a positive contradiction of the Scriptures. None of the events of which it speaks are presented in the Bible as the coming of Christ, except that of his birth at Bethlehem, which was his first appearing. The second is now near to come.

The scriptures which we have already noticed sufficiently show the importance of the subject. And many others are in accord with these. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." Col. 3:4. "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." 1 Peter 5:4. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Titus 2:13. Literally—appearing of the glory of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. This is exactly parallel to the Saviour's own statement in Matt. 16:27: "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his holy angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works." And again: "Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12. And the apostle further says, "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty angels." 2 Thess. 1:6, 7.

All these scriptures point to that one time and one event, when Christ shall appear the second time, unto them that look for him, without sin unto salvation. We might extend the proofs by quoting many other texts, but we will close by noticing one point. It is unto "them that look for him" that his second appearing will be unto salvation. This is easy of solution, if any query be raised. The Saviour gave "signs" whereby we are to know, yes, commanded to know, that his coming is near, even at the doors. And he says it will be as fatal not to know as it was to turn away from the warning of the coming flood in the days of Noah. Matt. 24. And Paul speaks of those who see the day approaching Heb. 10:25; compare 9:28; 10:36-38. Therefore it is a good thing to look for him. And Paul says, when he charges his faithful fellow-servant before the Lord Jesus who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom: "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. 4:7, 8. We have seen that Peter also says that the crown of glory will be received "when the chief Shepherd shall appear." And therefore it is a very desirable thing to "love his appearing."

But the Lord Jesus said there will be some looking for him and sounding the alarm (Joel 2:1), when his coming is near, even at the doors, and that when the faithful servants are giving meat in due season there will be some who smite the servants who are more watchful than themselves, and they will say, "My Lord delayeth his coming." They have no faith in preaching the advent doctrine, and they will be cut asunder and appointed their portion with the hypocrites. And this notwithstanding they claim him as their Lord. And some will derisively ask, "Where is the promise of his coming?" The promise is plain, and the prophecies of both Testaments show that his coming will be looked for according to the promise and to the signs which are given and the many prophecies fulfilled. But they cannot see it. They are as blind to his second appearing as the editor of the Cynosure. But Peter gives them a hard name which we will not repeat in this connection. 2 Peter 3:3, 4.

Why is the preaching of "that blessed hope" so unpopular even in the churches? It was foretold that it would be so "in the last days;" but why is it? Surely, "an enemy hath done this."