WHEN WE SEE THE DAY APPROACHING.
By G. B. Thompson
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Heb. 10:25. The time here referred to is no doubt the “day of the Lord,” which the Scriptures tell us “will come.” What day could more appropriately be called “the day” than that day in which the Son of man will be seen coming on a cloud, with all the angels in heaven with Him; coming in His own glory, and that of His Father and of the holy angels; when the wicked living on the earth will be slain, and all the living righteous will be changed in a moment; when the graves of God’s people will be opened, and they will come forth, and be caught up to meet the Lord in the air? This day, we are frequently told, even by professed watchmen, will come on us as a thief, that it is impossible to know anything concerning this great event. But let it be noted that the text says that some will “see” this day coming, will see it “approaching,” not after it has actually come. To illustrate: The other day the writer had occasion to take the train for another city. He went to the station, and, after purchasing a ticket, stepped out on the platform and looked down the track; but he could not see the train. He consulted the timetable and the clock in the waiting-room, and by comparing them found that the train was about due, that the last station, in all probability, had been passed. He was ready to go, was waiting, and anxious to be off; for he was on his way home. He kept looking and waiting, and presently a rumbling sound was heard, and, with lightning rapidity, the ponderous engine, drawing its long train of living freight, rounded a curve, and he saw the train approaching. So with the day of the Lord. God’s people have, in all ages, been looking forward to this great event as the consummation of their hopes. Enoch prophesied of it. Jude 14. Job, in the midst of his affliction, was sustained by the thought that his Redeemer would stand at the latter day upon the earth. Job 19:25, 26. The sweet singer in Israel sung of the time when Christ would come, and gather His children from the earth. Ps. 50: 3–5. Isaiah exhorted that the weary soldiers of the cross, bivouacked on the battle-field of life, be strengthened by the thought that “our God will come.” Isa. 35: 3, 4. And Paul, from the midst of a Roman dungeon, under sentence of death by Nero, wrote these cheering words: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” 2 Tim. 4: 6–8. In a little while after this, Paul was led from his dungeon to the place of execution. But as he stood where the earth in a moment was to drink his blood, he did not quail before the block, nor the gleaming sword of the executioner, but, looking toward heaven, one writer tells us, he exclaimed: “O Lord, when shall I embrace Thee? When shall I see Thee for myself without a dimming vail between?” His last words were a hope of the second coming of Christ. Since this faithful martyr went down in death, eighteen centuries have rolled by, and we find ourselves far down the stream of time. And as we scan the great divine time-table,—the long, unerring prophecies of the Word,—we find that, with the speed of lightning, the last station on the way to the celestial city is being passed. We can truly “see the day approaching.” Reader, are you ready, waiting? Can you say, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him” (Isa. 25:9)? Can you respond immediately when the Lord comes and knocks (Luke 12:36)? Have you said farewell to the last earthly thing (Luke 9:61)? The struggle is almost over. Signs everywhere reveal that the end is near. The consuming glory of this day already mantles the horizon. Be ready, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Matt. 24: 44.