Christ's Coming at the Judgment.
OUR next appeal is to Paul's epistles to the Thessalonians. It is freely admitted that the proceedings of the day of Judgment did not form the theme of these epistles, and, therefore, whatever light they shed upon the subject in hand comes incidentally. It is, however, none the less clear when it comes, and none the less satisfactory because it comes as it does. We commence by reading from 2 Thess. 1:3-10: "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure; which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer; 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, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day." In this passage two things are apparent, which, together, make out that the coming of Christ is the day of Judgment. First, the unbelieving and disobedient shall then be punished; and, secondly, the punishment is that final award which follows the judgment. The first point is plainly affirmed, so as to admit of no denial. The last point, though not stated in so many words, is quite evident from the nature of the language employed: "Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints." There is no doubt that the punishment is connected with the coming of Christ, and, from the terms in which it is described, it must be final. It is no temporary infliction, no preparatory or premonitory judgment, to be renewed or repeated or reversed at a subsequent day. It is expressed in the strongest language that ever occurs with reference to the ultimate doom of the ungodly, and corresponds in this respect with the terms of the final sentence pronounced by the Son of man when he gathers the nations and separates them as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats, and consigns the condemned to "everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." In the preceding epistle this same coming of the Lord is connected with the resurrection of the dead, as we have seen in another chapter. We turn to it here to show that in that epistle, and in the immediate connection where the resurrection is described, the retribution of the ungodly is recognized as occurring at the same time, and in language that properly denotes the day of Judgment, and is positively and uniformly applied to that day. Let us read the paragraph as written, without regard to the division of the chapter: "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. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief." 1 Thess. 4:16, to 5:4. Here the descent of the Lord from Heaven, to raise the dead, is called "the day of the Lord," and it is affirmed that "the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." And the Thessalonians knew this so perfectly that it was not needful that the apostle should tell them anything concerning the time of the advent. They knew, as well as he, that the time was not revealed, but purposely left in all uncertainty, the times and the seasons being left in the Father's own power. They must have learned this from some one who had told them the words of the Lord himself, which he so frequently used in the presence of the disciples. "Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." "For ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of Heaven, but my Father only." This, then, is "the day of the Lord that so cometh as a thief in the night," the day that "overtakes" the unwatchful as a thief. It brings not only surprise, but "destruction." It is "the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men," and they that are unready "shall not escape." It is the same day of which Peter says, "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up." It will be observed that in this Peter used the same words that Paul did in regard to "the day of the Lord." They both had in mind the same day, and Paul alludes to the "destruction" it will bring upon the ungodly, and Peter expressly calls it "the day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men." Where, then, is there room for doubt that the unrevealed day of the Lord's second coming is the day of Judgment? It is certainly the day of the resurrection of the dead, and no less clearly is it now shown to be the day of final retribution. Thus inseparably are the great events of "the last day" linked together. The coming of Christ and the resurrection are joined together; the coming of Christ and the Judgment are joined together, and, as another chapter shows, the resurrection and the Judgment are joined together. Then, "what God hath joined together let not man put asunder." This showing is met by the assumption that the coming of Christ, treated of in these epistles, was not a personal, but a "figurative," advent—that same "figurative" advent supposed to relate to the destruction of Jerusalem, which we have so fully considered and refuted. But we must look at it again in this connection, or be thought neglectful of something which our "liberalistic" friends regard as highly important. First of all, our attention is called to the fact that the Jews were somewhat numerous in Thessalonica, and that they had a synagogue there, and were full of zeal for the maintenance of their own worship. Acts 17:1-13. This is to assure us that the Jews, who were the persecutors of the disciples at Thessalonica, would be interested in the judgments that might befall their brethren in Jerusalem. But suppose this to be so, since the Lord made no promise to come again at that time, but warned his disciples not to be deceived by the appearance of false christs, on what ground the Thessalonian Christians could be expected to interpret the language Paul addressed to them concerning the coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, and the retribution of the wicked in the day of the Lord, as relating to a figurative coming at the destruction of Jerusalem, is something which ordinary minds can neither see nor comprehend. The truth is, that figurative coming, which has figured so largely in modern expositions, is simply a figment of the fancy, without foundation in the Scriptures, and without use or meaning in exegesis. It is probably true that some gathered the impression from Paul's first epistle, in which he spoke of "the day of the Lord" coming "as a thief in the night," that they ought to expect the coming of Christ very soon—to regard it as "imminent"—and needed further admonition on that point. If such were the case, it is evident that they did not confound "the day of the Lord" with the national disaster that awaited the Jews. There is absolutely nothing to warrant any supposition to that effect. But whatever their thought in regard to the nature of the advent—and it is pretty certain that they began to cherish the idea of a speedy personal coming to raise the dead and punish the wicked—the apostle did not rebuke their error on that point, but only in regard to the "imminence" of the event. There was, doubtless, reason for his solicitude in relation to this matter, as the earnestness of his expostulation shows too much feeling to have arisen without the perception of danger to his brethren. His language is, "Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, 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, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." We are not concerned, just now, about the identification of the "man of sin," but remark, in passing, that there are some characteristics here which fit the Papal power better than any personage or thing that has ever appeared on the earth. The titles which are given to the chief Pontiff in Rome, as "our Lord God, the Pope;" the prerogatives and powers he claims, as the vicar of Christ; the homage he receives, in the bended knees and prostrate forms of the multitudes that do him reverence; and the place he occupies on solemn occasions in the "temple of God," so called, all point to him as the only one on earth who "exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshiped," and who claims to exercise divine authority in the church. But the fact most important, in this connection, is the apostasy or "falling away" predicted. It was, evidently, a great departure from the simplicity of the gospel, whose origin could be traced to elements already at work in the church, and whose results were to reach onward through the centuries to the revelation of Christ. It was also to be closely related to the coming of the lawless one, the man of sin, whose coming was "after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders." This apostasy, if we can at all depend on the facts revealed in the unimpeachable history of the church, began in the days of the post-apostolic fathers, and reached its full development in the fifth century, when worldliness and fanaticism combined almost destroyed the spirituality of the Church, and the Pope aspired to universal sovereignty. If this is correct—and who can successfully controvert it?—then it is impossible to believe that the coming of Christ, about which we read in these epistles, was a figurative coming to destroy Jerusalem. And whether our interpretation of the "apostasy" be correct or not, it is evident that the "falling away" did not take place in time to allow the revelation of the "man of sin" to antedate the downfall of Jerusalem. That event took place A. D. 70, about forty years after the ascension of Christ, and not to exceed sixteen years after the date of this epistle. It cannot be that the apostle wrote this earnest entreaty to the Thessalonians not to be shaken in mind, as though the day of Christ was near at hand, if it was within sixteen years of its consummation, and the date being unknown, it might happen even sooner than that! And then there was something in the apostle's mind connected with the coming of Christ, which he called "our gathering together unto him." But there was no "gathering together unto him" when Jerusalem was destroyed, and there was to be none; for the disciples were instructed not to gather together at that time, but to "flee to the mountains." Thus it appears, in every aspect of the case, that this fancied "figurative" advent fails its supporters, and leaves their theories of retribution, which depend upon it, without the semblance of a foundation.—Second Coming of Christ, by Bishop Merrill.