THE COMING OF THE KING by Augusta W. Heald

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 29, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 22.

THE COMING OF THE KING.

By Augusta W. Heald

There had been a bleak storm of rain and sleet, and in the early morning everything was crusted with ice. The sun had not yet appeared, but increasing light in the eastern sky announced his speedy coming. Where a low hilltop and the near horizon seemed to blend, a wide-spreading apple-tree stood, a little taller than its fellows, just in the track of the coming orb of day. It caught the sun’s rays while all around awaited the dawn; and it stood transfigured, illumined, radiant, glorified; there seems no word to express the exceeding beauty that gleamed from the icy tree, bathed in the crystal light of coming day.

This fleeting radiance of a winter morning suggests a thought of that “blessed hope” which, in these latter days, stands out from the sacred page with ever-increasing clearness, illumined by heavenly rays emanating from the great Source of all light. This hope, so precious to the church in all ages, is founded upon the Saviour’s words: “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.” John 14: 2, 3.

Already have appeared the signs which herald the approach of the King of kings, and the ushering in of that glad morning when the light of God’s eternal day will dawn on this dark world of sin and sorrow; when our eyes shall “see the King in His beauty,” and “behold the land that is very far off.” Isa. 33: 17. Blessed are those servants whom their Lord shall find watching His coming. For them the pearly gates will open wide, and in the “many mansions” of the “Father’s house” they will be received into “everlasting habitations.” Luke 16: 9.

We may not say the doctrine of the Saviour’s soon-coming eclipses all other Bible truths, but rather that it includes them all. In contemplating this divine theme, faith, hope, and love find fullest and freest scope. This grand event which we are anticipating will be far more glorious than anything this world has ever witnessed. Our Saviour once came as the helpless babe of Bethlehem, born of woman, cradled in a manger. He came as the Son of man; but now He comes accompanied by all the holy angels; He comes a King, to claim His own, to reward His servants, and to destroy His enemies. As He ascended from Olivet, “and a cloud received Him out of their sight,” even so He will return “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” “having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle,” wherewith He will reap “the harvest of the earth.” Acts 1: 9; Matt. 24: 30; Rev. 14: 14, 15. And the saints, as ripened sheaves, “will be gathered into the heavenly garner.”

The coming of the Lord is of like solemn import to both the living and the dead. When the Lord descends from heaven “with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God,” “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.” 1 Thess. 4:16, 14. Whence does God bring them? from the courts of heaven?—Surely not; for even “David is not ascended into the heavens.” Acts 2: 34. They who “sleep in Jesus” are yet in the dust of the ground, awaiting the call of the Life-giver. His voice will pierce the sepulchral chambers of death to earth’s remotest bounds, and the “dead in Christ” will come forth.

O, who can picture that hour, when the silent cities of the dead shall be peopled with living souls? From shaded valley, from sunny slope or bleak mountain side, from rock-bound caverns or lowest depths of ocean, the redeemed of the Lord shall come. We shall see again the loved and lost of other years; with bitter anguish we laid them in the silent grave; death’s icy hand had chilled the loving heart and frozen the life-current; but now the grim destroyer is vanquished, and they come again from the land of the enemy,—not pale with suffering and disease, as we last saw them, but radiant with the bloom of immortality, ransomed from the power of the grave, and heirs of eternal life. O, the blissful moment when we will clasp them to our hearts again, and know that they are ours forever! But blessed, thrice blessed, the delight of meeting our dear Redeemer! He who has passed for us thru the gloomy vale of death, and bids us live again forevermore.

“We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;” for “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 Cor. 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:16–18.

But there is another class to whom the coming of the Lord will bring naught of joy,—the wicked, who have said in their hearts, “We will not have this Man to reign over us.” Luke 19: 14. To them His coming will be a day of destruction from the Almighty. They have served the mammon of unrighteousness; they may have gained riches and worldly honors; but what do these things avail them now? Their riches are corrupted, being the wages of sin. Their gold and silver are the price of oppression, and will be a swift witness against them. In the great day of the Lord men will cast their idolized treasures “to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, . . . for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth,” even crying out to the rocky crags, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Isa. 2:20, 21; Rev. 6:16, 17. The wicked will have just reason to fear the righteous indignation of the Almighty; for they have despised His Word and slighted every offer of mercy; and when at last their day of probation is ended, “there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.” Heb. 10: 26, 27.

The day of probation is not ended. As yet mercy calls, and we may every one be of the number who will greet the coming King with joy, exclaiming: “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” Isa. 25: 9.

AUGUSTA W. HEALD.