The Great Theme | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 19, 1872

The Great Theme.

The great theme of Christian hope and promise, is the coming again of our Lord Jesus Christ. A distinguished English divine states, after a careful examination, that at least one verse in every thirty contained in the New Testament refers to this subject. If he had included all the allusions to this great event, the proportion would have been much greater. There are in all seven thousand four hundred and fifty-nine verses in the New Testament, and more than three hundred and twenty of them point forward with eager gesture to the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. This fact is very significant, and proves to us the mind of the Spirit with regard to the prominence and frequency with which this matter should come before the minds of Christians, and be handled in our public ministrations. It was certainly one of the chief topics of apostolic instruction and early Christian hope; and it is to be taken as a serious defect in our modern Christianity that so little is made of it, and that the subject is left so much to the handling of those who make an ism out of it, and often treat it in a way very damaging to the whole cause of the gospel. Because some men abuse it, is no excuse for our ignoring it, knowing as we do that it is a vital part of our creed, and most important in all its bearings.

1. Ponder, then, the fact itself, that our blessed Lord is certainly to return again to our world. He is now at the right hand of the Father; but from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. Too prone are we to think of him only as a historic personage, who lived many centuries ago, and who has long since passed away, like Pharaoh or Alexander—that all that concerns him relates to times far removed in the past, with no present reality—and that all we have to do with him now, is the observance of those institutions and precepts which he gave to the world in his earthly lifetime. We do not seem to feel, as we ought, that the grave which closed over him for a little while could not hold him, that he now lives, that he is at this moment engaged making ready for a return hither, and that he will come again, in like manner as he was seen going into Heaven. And yet, it is even so. The Lord himself, even the crucified man of Nazareth, shall descend from Heaven with a shout, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trump of God. His feet, once torn with nails, shall stand again upon the mountains of earth; and they that pierced him shall look upon him. The terrified soldiers who saw him die, the blaspheming Pharisees who thirsted for his blood, and rejoiced when they saw it spilled, the infidel horde who have in every age insulted his name and persecuted his church, and every saint, and every one who reads these lines, shall behold him, the Son of man come down again to earth. Despisers of his word—neglectors of his gospel—false professors of his name—and resisters of his grace, who have continually turned their backs upon his calls of mercy—all shall see him. For he cometh, he cometh to judge the earth.

2. Ponder also the solemnity of that great event. It is related of a great French preacher, that he was once called to deliver the funeral address of a prince. It was an impressive occasion. All the great ones of the land were there. Majesty itself, with all its royal surroundings, sat clothed in sackcloth, and weighed down with grief. All the glory and grandeur of human greatness had shrunk away into nothingness. Only grief and dismay filled and pervaded the assembly. He arose to speak; but utterance seemed denied him. He stood abstracted and lost. A long and awful pause ensued, until breathing itself seemed to be suspended. And when every heart was thrilling, he broke the silence by a scarcely audible whisper—“There’s nothing, great but God!” The effect was overwhelming. But we will just go forward a little in our thoughts to the sort of scene that is to be enacted when the day of Christ’s return has come—to the manner in which all human greatness and glory shall wilt down before his divine presence—to the sort of feelings which shall then take possession of the great congregation of mankind. It will hardly need a great master of eloquence to thrill into our souls that “there’s nothing solemn but the Judgment!”

There are, indeed, many other solemn things, and scenes, and occurrences, well fitted to move the profoundest depths of human awe; but they are scarcely to be named in comparison with the tremendous solemnity of the day of Judgment.

The thunder storm is very solemn. When the quick arrows of heaven flash forth in their power—when the deep crash of the thunderbolt startles up communities—when the dread artillery of God rushes along the sky, and rumbles around the world, it is a time of awful sensations. But what is that to the far-sounding crash which shall startle the very dead in their graves, and arouse even the long-forgotten into life again.

The earthquake is solemn, when cities totter without a warning, and kingdoms rend, and islands flee away. But what is that to the tremor which shall convulse our globe, and shake heaven itself, when the things which are temporal shall be all swept away!

The volcano is solemn. When its cone of fire, stirred into fury by some spirit of the under-world, shoots to the heavens, and from its burning entrails pours out its rushing lava over whole countries, deluging cities in its course, and burning up flying populations, the scene is appalling! But what is that to the conflagration which shall consume the proudest works of man, and overwhelm the armies at which the world quaked!

The funeral of a dear and honored friend is solemn. The heart throbs, and the tears flow, and the bodily powers almost refuse to do their wonted offices, under the intensity of the soul’s bitter laceration. But what is that to the obsequies of the world itself, when all this present scene of things shall go down to an eternal grave!

It is solemn and affecting to hear an earthly judge pronounce sentence upon the poor convict. But what is that to the sentence of the Judge eternal which sends the impenitent to the prison-house of hell, and gives over each guilty one to death eternal!

Who, who, can do justice to such a theme!

3. Ponder again the danger there is of being led astray with regard to the coming of Christ. The Saviour specially forewarns of false prophets and false teachers by which many shall be deceived, and so be taken by surprise by that day. We are continually admonished to keep ourselves in constant readiness for that day, lest it come and find us unprepared. These continual admonitions assure us that there is danger of being so overtaken. There is much also in the notions and teachings of our times which tends to heighten and increase this danger.

It is a common belief that it is not possible for Christ to come in our day, because the world is first to be converted, and that the glorious millennium must first come. But this is a fearful snare, of which we need to be on our guard. Whether there is to be a millennium or not, the Scriptures give us no right to put it in between us and the day of Judgment. Everywhere is the coming of the Lord spoken of as an impending event.

We are distinctly assured that it will take the world by surprise—that Christ will come as a thief in the night—that when men are crying peace and safety, the great day will break in upon them—that as a snare will it come upon all them that dwell upon the earth, and that with the suddenness of the lightning’s flash will it take the unwatched children of men. As it was in the days of Noah, so it is to be again. The people are to be going on as usual, buying and selling, building and feasting, marrying and giving in marriage, and the whole course of things running on the same as always, and not know until the crisis arrives and the trumpet blows. *

4. Ponder also the advantages of being on the safe side. Even if the day of Judgment should not come for thousands of years yet, we will lose nothing by being ready for it, and looking for it every day we live. If we die in a state of readiness, we will be no worse off on that account. Our particular anxiety on the subject will not hurt us. Our constant waiting for the Saviour to come, whether he comes in our day or not, will not damage our Christian zeal and fervency, and we need have no fear that it will rise up to condemn us when that day comes. On the other hand, such a constant expectation of Christ, and such constant guarding of ourselves that we may be found of him without spot and blameless, is the very thing to keep our piety most alive and active. It is the very thing to break the power of temptation, the delusive charms of this world’s blandishments, and the force of wicked lust. For a man to have it before him every day and hour, that Christ may come at any moment, and that just as he is, where he is, and in the very act in which he is engaged, he may be instantly called to meet his God, is so potent an incentive to purity, fidelity, and holiness, that it is the very thing above everything else to keep him faithful and impel him forward. He cannot possibly be the worse for it, even if it should turn out that he is hundreds of years beforehand with his anticipations.

But very different does the matter stand in the case of him who counts that Christ cannot come in his day, gives the matter no attention, and is after all mistaken and surprised in unpreparedness. Will it be said that he loses nothing by the miscalculation? Is it not rather to be said of him that he loses everything? Jesus says of such a man that he shall be cut off from the society and portion of the church of the first-born, and that in his case there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Great, therefore, is the risk and danger to which people expose themselves by putting off the day of Christ’s coming into the remote future. They may perchance be Christians, and be “saved,” but they are not Christians according to the primitive model, and their salvation will be only so as by fire, if they are saved at all. At best, they certainly will “suffer loss.” They lose the force of a very powerful motive to constant godliness of life—to constant reference to the Judgment in all they do—and to such a disposition of themselves in their going out and coming in as not to be at any moment or in any situation surprised or unready if the trump of God should sound. They lose this vigorous stimulant to holiness and separation from the vanities and follies of this world; and they also lose much of the real sweetness of the gospel and its blessed hope. And, with all, they expose themselves to the danger of losing their entire salvation.

No wise man ought ever to assume such risks unnecessarily. It is a sin against reason and self, as well as against God. A man ought always to be on the safe side of every question, when he has an opportunity to do it. *

We lose nothing by looking for Christ every day; but if we rest on the belief that he cannot possibly come in our day, we lose everything. Therefore the exhortation of Christ and his apostles is, to be always ready, with our lamps trimmed and burning, and our loins girded, as those who wait for the Lord.

5. Ponder finally the comforting and composing assurances which the Saviour gives to those who earnestly observe his directions and wait for his return.

Whilst others are running hither and thither in the world, finding the Christ coming in this and that, and bewildered by all sorts of deceptive theories which only draw off the attention from the true hope of the church, these are in the way of life and salvation just as they refuse to hear of any Christ, come or to come, than him whose personal return they await. No one can lead them into the wilderness to find Christ. No man can make them believe that anything is Christ but Christ himself. Jesus has told them that his coming shall be open and conspicuous, and self-manifest, as the lightning which cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west.

In peaceful quiet they keep themselves and wait. They know that when their Lord comes they will know it. They know too that they need give themselves no concern about how they shall make their way to him when he comes. Where the carcass is, there the eagles are gathered together. And with the same instinct and power from God, where Christ is, when he comes, there they will be also.

The truth is, they have nothing to disturb them. They have only to watch and wait. Christ will attend to all the rest. They are simply to occupy till he comes, doing their duty on earth with a willing mind, and looking for their Lord from Heaven. This is their commission, their attitude, and their peace. Beyond this they need be careful for nothing. If he comes soon, the sooner they will enter upon their inheritance.—Prophetic Times.