Is Death the Second Coming of Christ?
On the headstones which mark the resting-place of many a Christian sleeper, placed there by loving hands and sorrowing hearts, is the inscription, “Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” Now that is Scripture, spoken by our Lord, and recorded in the Gospels. See Matt. 24:44. It certainly has its application somewhere, and both text and context show that it is to some phase at least of Christ’s coming. 1. It is utterly incongruous and unjust to represent death as the second coming of our Lord; for He is our everlasting Friend, while death is an enemy, “the last enemy that shall be destroyed.” 1 Cor. 15:26. And the Destroyer of death and of him that brought death, is our Lord, who “abolished death,” and “brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” 2 Tim. 1:10; Heb. 2:14. Certainly it is unjust to the Destroyer of death to identify Him with His enemy. 2. Death is the result of sin; for “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12. “And sin, when it is full-grown, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15. Jesus Christ can not be the Saviour from sin, and yet be the result of sin. 3. When Jesus was here upon the earth, His coming never meant death, but life. When He went to the house of Jairus, it was to give life to the little daughter. When He entered the little city of Nain, it was not as a death messenger, but to give life to the widow’s son. “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died,” said each of the sorrowing sisters of Lazarus, as Jesus entered Bethany; but He declared, “I am the Resurrection, and the Life.” His coming was life to Lazarus; but death to Lazarus was not Christ’s coming. Death Is Not Christ’s Coming
No! Christ’s coming is not death nor at death. The Scriptures do not say, When Christ, who is our death shall appear, but, “When Christ, who is our Life, shall appear, then shall ye [whose life is hidden with Christ] also appear with Him in glory.” Col. 3:3, 4. He comes as the Lifegiver; for “He is our Life.” When He calls, the graves open and yield their captives, and all the hallowed resting-places of the ages give up their dead to the words of life. For that coming when the Saviour shall become the Judge, “be ye also ready.”