The Glory at His Coming
By G. B. T.
It Will Be Awe-Inspiring Beyond Description — No Power Can Possibly Duplicate It The second advent of our divine Lord will be the most majestic and glorious event of the history of the world. To exploit their victories over other nations, kingdoms have prepared magnificent and gorgeous pageants, and have displayed, so far as men can, the splendor of earthly empires. But all this dims as the candle before the noonday sun in comparison with the sublimity attendant upon the Son of God when He comes to reap the harvest of the earth, and to gather into the garner of heaven the victors through His blood. The Lord Himself Will Come
The One who comes is Himself God. He marshals the host of heaven, and is clothed in light unapproachable. The Patmos seer beheld Him in vision, and said that “His countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.” Rev. 1: 16. When Christ appeared to Saul on the way to Damascus, the light that was seen, though the sun was shining in its midday power, was “above the brightness of the sun.” Isaiah the prophet beheld the throne of God, and its attendant glory, and cried out that he was undone. These instances give us but a faint view of the splendor and grandeur that surround the eternal Son of God. The Combined Glory of All
And even more than this is promised. He is to “come in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.” Luke 9: 26. It is not within the bounds of human utterance to describe the power and glory foreshadowed in those few words of Scripture. When one angel descended with a commission from the Father to bring back to life His Son, sleeping in Joseph’s tomb, the brightness that attended him struck awe to the hearts of the Roman guard, and they fell as dead men in his presence. What unsurpassed brilliancy will attend the King of kings when as a triumphant conqueror He comes, with unnumbered millions of the shining heavenly host in His train! All the armies that are in heaven, seraphim and cherubim, will follow the Captain of the Lord’s host when He comes to liberate the captives in the tomb, and to translate the living righteous. Then, too, will be seen the awful glory of the Father Himself. False Christs Can Never Do It
False christs have appeared at times since Jesus left the earth, and others may yet appear. But whatever manifestation of supernatural power may be given to confirm their false claim, they can never counterfeit the manner of the Saviour’s coming. Neither can the events that attend the Saviour’s appearance be brought to pass by any false christ. When Jesus comes, “all that are in the graves shall hear His voice,” and rise. “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: 16-18. The Graves Are Opened Then
- In that awful hour, when the Redeemer returns for His people, the graves of those who are dead, some of them for millenniums, will be opened, and the ransomed ones will rise, clothed in immortal health and vigor, and be translated into the kingdom. The living wicked will be destroyed by the glory of the Lord, and lie, unlamented and unburied, upon the face of the earth. The earth will quake, and the rocks will be rent. Islands with living freight will sink to rise no more, and mountains will disappear.
Truly, no pretentious impostor who claims to be the Christ ever has or ever will demonstrate his claims in the midst of scenes so awe-inspiring. We are to-day down on the stream of time, past the rise and fall of empires foreshadowed in prophecy, to the days when this great event is about to take place. The hope of Israel is soon to be realized. God’s people should indeed look up with joy. We are truly living in troublous times; but this is only a fulfillment of the words of God, and in no uncertain tones tells us that the day of God is at the door, and the Son of man is soon to come.