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I Will Come Again

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · May 27, 1873

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 41, No. 24.

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I Will Come Again.

By Mary Martin

“In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 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.” John 14: 2, 3.
“Surely I come quickly.” Rev. 22: 20.
SWEET, precious, and comforting, is the message I bring to you. Jesus is coming! It is no new story. Long years ago the angels said, “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.” Ever since these words were uttered, there have been those who believed in the doctrine, “Unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Is there no music in these words, does he say who has accumulated thousands, and is still engrossed in schemes of earthly aggrandizement? Though the Bible has said, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God,” there is yet a chance for you. If you can be helped to see things as they are, your wealth may go to save the needy for whom Christ died, and thus a treasure be secured to you “eternal in the heavens.” In a little while, your bank stock will be of no account. The gold and silver you now prize so highly will be thrown “to the moles and to the bats.” There is a bank which cannot fail, “where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal,” and God has pledged his honor that this stock, through all the coming ages, shall never grow worthless. Soon a grander time will come than you even dream of now. Your costly dwellings, earthly elegance and grandeur, will be superseded by a city whose gates are built of pearl, whose streets are solid gold. Be persuaded to devote the few remaining moments to seeking a preparation for that blessed “second coming.”
My dear young friends, would you, too, turn a deaf ear to these sweetly solemn words, “I will come again,” hoping for long years of gayety and pleasure? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Your brightest plans, formed without consulting your Maker, may be defeated at any moment. The hopes so fondly cherished may be blasted long ere fruition, and these sad words, “My life has been a failure,” or the more solemn ones, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved,” be your lamentation. There is no need of failure here. Then come with whatever talent God has lent you, and work with a will; for the harvest moon is waning, and a place is being prepared in the “many mansions” for all the faithful ones.
Worn servant, you who have toiled “from early morn till dewy eve” ’neath summer’s sun and ’mid winter’s snow, well do you understand the language, “I will come again.” Does the narrow path grow more uneven? Do the masses turn away with derision or indifference from the message you bear? Precious the promises: “My grace is sufficient.” “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Through the long vista of years comes this pledge of remembrance: “I go to prepare a place for you. . . . I will come again, and receive you unto myself.”
Grief stricken mourner, this “second coming” must be a subject in which you are deeply interested, for it is the “Life-giver” who is to appear, and “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him” from “the land of the enemy,” nevermore to be taken captive, for he who brought sin into the world and death through sin will be slain with his own weapons. Then trust in God and “wait for his Son from Heaven.” Very soon will the resurrection morning restore your buried treasures, for “he is faithful that promised,” “Surely I come quickly.”
To you who are homeless, tired, and worn—you whose lives are only prolonged physical suffering, remember the “many mansions.” Tenderly our Saviour speaks as he tells of a place he has gone to prepare for you, a place where pale lips will never quiver with anguish they would fain conceal, or the aching head turn away to hide the eyes heavy with their weight of tears, but, instead, will be “fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore.”
You who are surrounded by discouraging circumstances, scarcely knowing where the path of duty lies, are you still waiting for answers to prayer offered long ago, tempted to think God’s ear is heavy, that it cannot hear? We may not live to fathom the mystery why God sees fit to lead us as he does, or know the full meaning contained in the lessons his providence would teach. It is enough that we know he is leading us, and if we are saved at last we may see the brink of the precipice from which we were kept only by severe scourging, while we in our human blindness never knew it was there. Then wait no longer for Satan to die, or your Heavenly Father to work a miracle; but arise, and come nearer to Him who has promised heavenly wisdom, and, with the strength which cometh from above, perform your life-work, for Jesus is coming.
What we know not now, hereafter, Why and wherefore, we can trace; Nevermore through a glass darkly, But forever, face to face; When life’s dreary desert changeth Burning sand for blushing rose, And the way-worn traveler findeth Home at last and sweet repose; When the weary form, the burden, Shall exchange for endless rest, Then we’ll know, as now we may not, Why the thorny road was best.
MARY MARTIN.
New Hampshire.