THE RETURN OF THE LORD.
By F. M. W.
Upon no Bible subject has there been more widespread agitation in the religious world than upon that pertaining to the coming of Christ to this earth. Believed by the few, but scouted by the many, it has nevertheless during the last few years in some way and to some extent commanded the attention of the majority. In the minds of the ungodly and the sinner, its contemplation is most unpleasant, for to them it means a day of retribution, a cutting short of their wrong purposes and their unholy plans. On the contrary, to the child of God it appears as the one desideratum, the goal of his expectations, the fruition of his hopes, the fulfilment of his cherished desires. To him the coming of Christ will be as the coming of a friend, a Saviour, a long-lost brother. He who loves Christ will love His appearing. I love my mother, my wife, my sister, my brother; and if I love them I will love to be near them. It is quite impossible for me to separate my love for them from my love of their personal presence. So it is with the love of the disciple for his Lord. If he loves Christ in heaven and not on earth, far off, and not near by, it is not true, genuine love after all. It is love in name, and not in fact and in truth. And so I say again, We can not separate our love of the Lord from our love of His personal presence. But when Christ returns to this earth, will He come personally? By many it is thought that He will come only in a spiritual sense. That He does come in a spiritual sense through His representative, the Holy Spirit, we do not deny. But that He will come in a literal sense must be conceded from the plain declarations of Scripture on this point. He Himself says: “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.” John 14 : 1–3. The statement of our Saviour in the above words is given new emphasis by the angels who appeared to the disciples at the time of His ascension, as brought to view in the first chapter of Acts: “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also 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.” Verses 10, 11. To the disciples’ sorrowful hearts, as well as to the longing heart of every child of God to-day, these words of the angel come with sweet assurance. The same Jesus, with whom Peter, James, and John had associated for three years and a half, with whom they had been identified in joy and sorrow, in temptation and suffering, who had alleviated their distresses, satisfied their temporal needs, and opened to their spiritual understanding divine truth, was to return to them once more. O, blessed thought! And to the disciples to-day, living and laboring in the midst of trial and temptation, buffeted by the enemy, and finding comfort only in the promises of the Holy Scriptures and the assurances of Christ’s representative, do these words of the angel come with comfort and satisfaction. We ourselves as God’s children, if faithful, are to behold the blessed Jesus; not another, but Himself; not His representative, but He Himself, who died that we might live, who suffered debasement that we might enjoy exaltation. Says the inspired apostle, in writing to the Thessalonian church, “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven.” But these expressions prompt another inquiry: How will the Lord return? Will His coming be known to one of His children and not to another? Will He come unheralded and unknown as He did eighteen hundred years ago, a lowly babe born in Bethlehem’s manger? Ah, no indeed! but with all the pageant splendor of His celestial kingdom. By mighty signs and wonders will His approach be heralded. And when He appears in the celestial dome, attended by His body-guard of shining ones, every eye shall behold Him, and they also which pierced Him. Matt. 24 : 27; Rev. 1 : 7. Christ will come to claim His own, to receive His people home to the mansions He has gone to prepare for them. His voice will wake the sleeping dead. John 5 : 28, 29. In response to that life-giving call, those who have been sleeping in Jesus, from the death of Abel down through the ages until the last disciple fell under the power of death, will come forth from their dusty beds shouting victory over death and the grave. 1 Cor. 15 : 51–55. By the brightness of Christ’s coming the living righteous are changed from mortality to immortality, and, with His children who have been awakened from their long sleep, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. “Wherefore,” says the apostle, “comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4 : 16–18. O glorious day soon to dawn! We can but exclaim in the words of the beloved disciple, “Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” What a glorious reunion will His coming bring in! What a grand praise service will then be held! And when the sons of God, with their blessed Redeemer at their head, ascend to the city of God, how the universe of God will resound with shouts of joy and paeans of victory. Then when we have awakened in His likeness (Ps. 17 : 15), and been changed into His glorious image, we shall indeed be satisfied. Satisfied, and yet not satisfied; for every day will our hearts drink in new joys, every moment will witness a more perfect transformation into the divine image, and every word and act and phase of Divinity will manifest to our minds deeper riches of divine love, and enlarge our hearts to greater depths and breadths, and tune our tongues to loftier and sweeter tones of praise. F. M. W.