p. 10 | THE COMING EVENT by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 9, 1900

THE COMING EVENT.

By Uriah Smith

THERE are many coming events; but one deserves to be set apart by itself from all others, and distinguished above all others, and emphasized more than all others; and that is the one described by John in Rev. 1:7, to which he challenges the world to give heed, by introducing it with the words, “Behold, he cometh.” “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

Who cometh?—Read the preceding doxology, which sets forth the character and work of the one who is the subject of the apostle’s fervid exclamation: “Grace be unto you, and peace, . . . from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen.”

This is the one of whom John says, “Behold, he cometh;” and the world knows who he is; his name is upon all lips,—on some in prayer and praise; but upon the majority, alas! in irreverence and profanity; and when he comes, they will know who he is, and what his coming is, and what it means to them. No man will need to ask his neighbor, when Christ appears, and the fearful convulsions which attend that coming are rending the heavens and the earth, What event is this? what causes this commotion? who has ever heard anything about this before? and what does this all mean?—No; instinctively the whole situation will flash upon the mind. As in the case of a drowning man, they will live over, in an instant, all their past lives, and read as in a flash of lightning their just doom. As Belshazzar needed no one to recount to him his deeds of transgression, and the measure of his guilt, when the handwriting appeared upon the wall, before his countenance was changed, and his knees smote together in terror, so the wicked of the earth, at that day, need no rehearsals of their deeds, before the despairing cry flies to every lip, Rocks and mountains, “fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

This proclamation, “Behold, he cometh,” has been long before the world. It is one of the earliest proclamations that God caused to be sounded in the ears of the inhabitants of this earth. It began with one who was only the seventh in the line of succession from Adam, who was the first man on the earth. At that early hour Enoch faithfully warned the men of his time, saying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.” Hardly earlier than this would men have multiplied upon the earth sufficiently to form congregations to listen to such a thrilling and decisive message, so important for men to know even in the beginning of their history, so needful to bear in mind all along in their experience, and so necessary to be clearly understood as the time of their probation should draw near to its close.

Holy men, and chosen ones, all along the stream of time have re-echoed the strain. John, in holy vision on Patmos, proclaimed, “Behold, he cometh.” And now witnesses raised up in our day, take up the same proclamation, with many a wish that the sound could enter into every living ear, “Behold, he cometh with clouds.” And soon a palsied earth, convulsed from circumference to center; the darkened and shaken powers of heaven,—sun, moon, and stars,—a heaven rent in twain from pole to pole, and rolling together on either hand, and passing away in billows of fiery flame; the islands disappearing from view, and the mountains toppling into the sea, amid lightnings and thunderings, and great voices, shall proclaim again, “Behold, he cometh.” But that proclamation uttered by nature will be too late to be of any benefit to a living sinner. The saints will only give an exclamation of satisfaction at the fruition of their hope: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us;” and the wicked will utter a wail of despair, imploring the rocks and mountains to fall on them, and hide them from the presence of their then returned Judge. Now is the time to give the message double emphasis; for now it may be heeded, and the event prepared for.

The Lord himself has warned us of that hour: “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” He has placed this event as a living token in connection with his last supper: “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” And he has given every one his work, saying, “Occupy till I come.” And how the thought, and the proclamation, of his coming near, should quicken every hand to the performance of its allotted task!

“And every eye,” says John, “shall see him.” It will be a literal, visible appearance. It is not said that every mind shall think upon him, as if it might be an invisible, mystical, or spiritual, coming. No; but every eye shall see him. This includes all men living when he comes, and many of those who have long been dead; for the righteous dead will all be summoned from their graves; and at the second resurrection all the wicked dead will be called forth; so at last all the human family shall see him.

But John, in Rev. 1:7, speaks of what we call his second coming,—that coming that lies next before us, when, as Paul says, “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. 9:28. And our Lord, in his great prophecy in Matthew 24, emphasizes that coming, when he says, “Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Jesus as well as John speaks of the mourning of the tribes of the earth. That mourning will be very general: “All the tribes of the earth.” It will be a very bitter sorrow; for it is called “wailing.” This shows that all are not to be converted, and ready for salvation. If that were the case, why should they wail? They will not be expecting good nor deliverance from the coming of Christ. This coming will be to them like the sentence of the court; and they will know that their doom is forever fixed. They have ridiculed his name, tried to hinder his work, despised and oppressed his people; and they do not wish to see him. They would rather see any one else, or any other thing. To look into the face of him who has so loved them as to pour out his blood for them, to wash them from all their sins, and has pleaded with them and borne long with them, but has been incorrigibly rejected by them, and now comes to visit upon them his righteous judgments,—oh, how they will dread to see him!

But “every eye shall see him.” None can escape; none can hide; for nothing can conceal them from his gaze. The rocks and mountains, for which they so zealously pray, can not intercept the lightning of his eye. If men, by means of the X-ray, can look through the most dense and opaque substances, what can hide man from those eyes that are as a flame of fire, and whose vision will reach into the graves, and recall the dust of his sleeping saints, though the earth might hold them in its rock-ribbed center?

And when he appears, and the cry is wrung from every lip, “Behold, he cometh,” there will then be an attraction for the gaze of men, above every earthly object. No matter how busy the eyes are, no matter how vain, they shall then be riveted upon that wonderful sight in midheaven. The great sound of the trumpet, the voice of the Archangel, the brightness of the flaming fire, the glory of the whole angelic host, who come with him (Matt. 25:31), will fix all eyes upon that scene. The miser will forget his gold; the millionaire will gaze no longer upon his bonds and coupons; the statesman will regard as nothing the honor and applause of nations; the demagogue will fail to hear the voice of cheering multitudes; and all eyes will be turned to the one dominating object in all the universe, the form of the Son of the great God, coming in the clouds of heaven. Balaam seems to have had a clear vision of the closing scene, when he exclaimed, “I shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh.” Num. 24:17. But to some the sight will be one of joy and triumph. “Thine eyes,” says the prophet, “shall see the King in his beauty.” Isa. 33:17. Our Lord says, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Paul says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”

Since we all must see him, if not under circumstances of delight, then under those of trouble and distress, why not see him now? why not come to him now, and look upon him, and live? Why not listen to his voice while it can be heard in tones of love and pardon, and not wait till we hear it in the stern sentence, “Depart from me.” “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” A brief remnant of hope and opportunity now remains. Prepare to meet thy God. — U. S.