A Presbyterian Minister upon the Second Advent.
WHY I LOVE HIS APPEARING.
How strange and unscriptural the prejudice and aversion which some of our Lord’s dear people feel toward the theme of his second appearing. Paul, in his old age, writing his last letter before martyrdom, recounts his good fight of faith, and looks forward with rapt anticipation to the crown of righteousness awaiting him when the King comes into his kingdom, and awaiting “all them also who love his appearing.” I love his appearing because we shall have a perfect model government when he comes. The Nobleman has gone “to receive for himself a kingdom,” and to return with judicial power and kingly glory. When our King comes, the kingdom for which we daily pray will come—a real monarchy, according to the analogy of the four preceding kingdoms of Daniel—an absolute monarchy, with an all-good, all-wise and all-mighty sovereign at its head; a kingdom of peace and righteousness, and one that cannot be moved. When we look out upon Satan’s empire of evil and decay; when we see the history of the nations written in blood; when we consider that man’s sway has failed to attain the good we seek, and left creation groaning and travailing in pain, why should we not love his appearing, and the manifestation of the sons of God? “Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” I love his appearing because when he comes I shall get a full reward for all my services here. “Occupy till I come,” is the command. “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me,” is the glorious promise. When he is manifested, we shall have a family gathering, reckoning and reward. In “the regeneration” we shall be crowned with the dignity of kings, and endued with the purity of priests. I love his appearing because when he appears I shall be like him—a perfected and glorified likeness of him who is “fairer than the children of men, and altogether lovely.” I shall have a body “fashioned like unto his glorious body.” A painless and instantaneous thrill of immortality will render this vile body incorruptible, incapable of weariness or pain, and unfettered by the laws of grosser matter. It will be animated, controlled, transported entirely at the will of the indwelling spirit, and clothed with the beauty and bloom of endless youth. My freed and purified spirit shall enter into the experience of the Saviour’s beatitude—“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” I love his appearing because I love all those who will appear with him. The angels of light, who now watch over my waking and my sleeping hours, will then appear. I shall meet the patriarchs and prophets, the apostles and martyrs. I shall then greet the saints of all ages with transports of delight. I shall meet loved kindred, torn from my embrace by the ruthless hand of death. “Then shall the buried babe, and the slumbering boy of promise, awake from the cold, dark sleep of years, no more to writhe237under fierce diseases or to be torn from parental love. Then shall those loved forms, on which the clouds are pressing, and over whose damp resting-places many a winter’s snow has lain, and many a summer’s flower bloomed—come forth to light and life, never again to fall under the power of corruption. Then shall the broken and scattered household be regathered to separate no more.” “Then shall be the coronation day for those that have labored and suffered for Jesus. Then shall the martyr receive his crown, and the saint his ineffable portion. Then shall tears cease to flow, and sadness to depress. Then shall the exile reach his happy home, and the toiling pilgrim find his everlasting rest. Then shall the worshiper look upon the face of his God, and the faithful servant receive the transporting commendation and welcome of his Lord. Then shall earth’s long predicted Sabbath come, and the eternal jubilee of the redeemed begin. Then shall the mystery of divine compassion be consummated, and this prodigal orb of ours, restored once more to her Father’s smiles, take her place in the sisterhood of unfallen worlds, reflecting in richer luster and celebrating in grander songs the praises of him who made it, and the mercies of him that redeemed it with his blood.” We are not in darkness; let us not be in hopeless tears. I love his appearing because I love him who is to appear. The quintessence of our religion is love, and that love concentrates in the matchless person who has “loved us and given himself for us.” His greatest consolation for his disciples at his departure was ministered in the sweet promise, “I will come again and receive you to myself.” We naturally desire to have the object of our supreme affections near us. Written communications and mementoes are indeed dear, but only when we cannot enjoy his manifested presence. The word and seals of Jesus’ love, conveyed to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, are now inexpressibly dear, but only “until he come;” and we cannot please our absent Bridegroom better than to refuse to be satisfied with these things, except in the constant hope and prospect of his appearing in his radiant form. Yes, I confess that, with Paul, I love his appearing. Enoch and David, Abraham and Lot, Peter and John—all the glorious throng of inspired worthies—loved his appearing, and prophesied or sang of it with rapt emotion. Oh yes, there is reason enough why we should love his appearing, and daily pray with increasing faith and hope, “Thy kingdom come.” I dare not say exactly how near this glorious consummation is, nor dare I say how far off. If the primitive saints had some reason to expect it in their day, how much more have we! I know that it is nearer every day. When I read the crowning promise of Jesus, “Behold I come quickly,” and study the signs of the times in the light of prophecy, I find strong reasons for believing that many who read these lines will never taste death, but be thrilled into immortality. Let us watch unceasingly, and wait patiently for his appearing.