“Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled”
By Irwin H. Evans
Promises That Are Wonderfully Clear—Given to Fill the Soul with Comfort—They Tell of the Coming One—How Can They Be Doubted? “LET not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. 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.” When Christ spoke these words to His followers, He left them a definite promise of His return to this earth. This return could be no other than His second coming. At the time this promise was made, the Saviour’s work on this earth in behalf of sinners was nearly finished. Gethsemane, that night of wrestling alone in prayer, was still before Him. One of His chosen disciples was yet to give the traitor’s kiss. An overconfident disciple was to deny Him thrice. Then would follow the cruel mockings and scourgings, the cross, and Calvary; and all would be done. In the face of all this, with death before Him, and the yawning grave awaiting Him on the morrow, the Master made the definite promise to His disciples: “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.” Who could read such a promise from the lips of the Saviour, just preceding His death and resurrection, and not believe that He is to come to this earth again? After the resurrection, only ten days preceding Pentecost, the promise of Christ’s return to this earth was most emphatically reiterated. The scene was a very dramatic one. Christ had appeared in Jerusalem, revealing Himself to His disciples, after which they went to Mount Olivet for quietude and conversation. They were in sight of the city where Jehovah had been worshiped by the people of God since the days of Solomon; that city over which the Saviour wept in pity as He foresaw its utter destruction but a few years thereafter; the city in which stood the beautiful temple, the pride and joy of the Jewish nation, the temple in which the veil separating the holy from the most holy had been rent in twain by an unseen power. While talking with His disciples, the Master suddenly began to ascend into heaven, in a cloud of glory. And while the disciples were beholding this miraculous event, and looking heavenward for a last glimpse of their departing Lord, two men, in shining apparel, stood by them, and said: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? 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.” Can we suppose for an instant that Christ meant to deceive His disciples, or that these angels from the courts of heaven were conveying a promise to them which God did not intend to keep? When they 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,” it was in language as clear and simple as could be uttered. His coming was not to be hidden or mysterious; but as they saw Him depart in glory, so He would be seen returning to this earth. Every one of the disciples who saw Christ ascend into heaven on this occasion, whose writings have come down to us, mentions most confidently his expectation of the Saviour’s return. Peter, the ardent and zealous one, who traveled far and wide to preach the gospel of the kingdom, says: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7, 13. The apostle James, who seemed to be one of the pillars of the church in Jerusalem, wrote as follows, in his epistle: “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” James 5:7, 8. John the beloved, whom the Master seemed to hold in such tender affection, wrote: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2. Jude, the brother of James, used this language concerning Christ’s return to the earth: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” Jude 14, 15. “EVERY EYE SHALL SEE HIM”
The author of the book of Revelation again and again repeats the promise of Christ’s second coming. It seems to be the keynote of the Apocalypse. Let us read a few of the texts in Revelation referring to the event: “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. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Rev. 1:7, 8. “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” Rev. 3:11. “And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Rev. 22: 12, 20. How can any one read such scriptures without concluding that the disciples of Christ, who were present at the time of His ascension, and heard the words of the heavenly messengers, believed in the second coming of the Son of man to this earth? PAUL TAUGHT THE SECOND COMING
The apostle to the gentiles, too, was an ardent Adventist; for again and again, in his letters to the churches, he mentioned the return of Christ to this earth. In his letter to Titus, we find these words: “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2: 12, 13. Writing to Timothy, he said: “That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ;” and, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom.” 1 Tim. 6:14; 2 Tim. 4:1. To the church at Thessalonica, Paul gave the most emphatic assurance that Christ was to come again, in these words: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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.” 1 Thess. 4:13-18. Surely such language must have inspired, in the hearts of those who read these epistles, both hope and faith in the second coming of Christ. In the epistle to the Hebrews, we find this declaration: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. 9:28. Reader, are you an Adventist? Do you believe the advent message taught by Christ and His disciples, that Jesus Christ will come to this earth again? Do you believe that these promises must be fulfilled, and that the Lord will return to this earth to gather to Himself those who have been faithful and true? If not, why not?