THE SECOND ADVENT: The Manner and Object of the Event Considered.
By James White
BY ELD. JAMES WHITE.
Text: 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.
Jesus was soon to leave his disciples and ascend to the Father. And in his words of instruction and consolation he was preparing their minds for that event which would prove a grief to them. His presence constituted their joy. His absence would be their sorrow. “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.” Matt. 9:15. The real friends of our Lord will ever desire his tangible presence. Worldly professors, whose affections are placed upon the things of this life, will enjoy his absence quite as well. And while a worldly church may treat with indifference, or reject, or even scoff at, the Bible doctrine of the soon return of the Lord, those who truly love their divine Master will receive the word relative to his coming with all gladness.
Our Lord was tenderly introducing to his disciples the subject of his ascent to Heaven. “Little children, yet a little while I am with you.” John 13:33. “Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterward.” Verse 36. This statement caused distress and consternation in the minds of the disciples, and led Peter to say to his Lord, “Why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.” Verse 37. Then follow the comforting words of the text, assuring the sorrowing disciples that their Lord would come again, and receive them to himself. With such a faith and hope, the waiting church of Jesus Christ may well sing:—
“How bright the vision! Oh! how long
Shall this glad hour delay?
Fly swifter round, ye wheels of time,
And bring the welcome day.”
And while the church waits in joyous expectation of speedy deliverance, her Lord “saith, Surely, I come quickly,” to which the church responds, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Rev. 22:20. The certainty of the second advent of Christ, and the manner and object of his coming, are points of thrilling interest to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ.
He will appear the second time. Paul speaks directly upon this point: “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that look for him, shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Heb. 9:28. Again he says, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13. Another apostle testifies to this point thus: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2.
The second advent of Christ will be personal and visible. This proposition is sustained by a large amount of testimony from the highest authority.
1. The Son of God himself, when addressing his disciples upon the subject of his second advent, pointed forward to the generation that should witness the signs of that event in the sun, moon, and stars, and said, “They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matt. 24:30. See also Mark 13:26; 14:62; Luke 21:27; John 14:3.
2. Holy angels, at his ascension, made a most definite and decisive declaration relative to his personal and visible second advent. When Jesus ascended from the Mount of Olives, his disciples looked steadfastly toward Heaven to catch the last glimpse of their Lord as he was taken up from them. And as a cloud was receiving him from their sight, “behold two men [angels] 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.” Acts 1:11. The doctrine of the personal and visible appearing of our divine Lord here rests upon the veracity of the two holy ones in white, who testified that the same Jesus would return again from heaven, in like manner as he ascended up to heaven. And in agreement with these words of assurance are those of the Revelation: “Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him.” Rev. 1:7.
3. Paul testifies to the personal and visible second advent of Christ in language not to be misunderstood. “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.” 1 Thess. 4:16, 17. See also Titus 2:3; 1 John 3:4.
At the second coming of Christ, the last trump will sound, the voice of the Archangel will be heard, the righteous dead will be raised, and the living righteous will be changed to immortality. It is then that victory over death and the grave is triumphantly shouted by all who receive the gift of eternal life at the last trump. “Behold, I show you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Cor. 15:51–55.
Again the apostle sets forth the hope and joy of the true church of Jesus Christ in all ages, while passing through persecutions and great tribulation, and while her members have been falling under the power of death and the grave, in these consoling words: “But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [God brought Christ from the dead, and will also bring from the dead, with Christ, all the righteous dead.] For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent [go before] them which are asleep. 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. 4:13–18.
When this visible union of the Redeemer and the redeemed shall take place, then the church will be no more separated from her adorable Lord, but, with all the endowments of immortality, will ever be with him.
When the Lord shall appear the second time, sinners then living will be destroyed by fire, and the earth will be desolated. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day.” 2 Thess. 1:7–10. “And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” Chap. 2:8.
The man of sin, the papacy, is to be destroyed with the brightness of Christ’s coming. And, at the same time, those that know not God, the heathen, and those that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, will perish under the vengeance of flaming fire that attends the revelation of the Son of God from Heaven. When the heathen, the papists, and all others who do not obey the gospel of Christ, shall be destroyed, there cannot be one wicked person living.
Christ’s exposition of the parable of the tares of the field proves the destruction of all wicked men who shall be living at the time of his second coming. “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.” Matt. 13:37–42. That will be a clean work. When all things that offend, and they which do iniquity, shall be gathered out of the earth, there cannot be one sinner left in it.
The prophet describes the day of the destruction of the wicked, and the desolation of the earth, in these fearful words: “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate; and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” Isa. 13:9. “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.” Isa. 24:1–6.
The words, “few men left,” in verse 6, do not mean that a few will be left on the earth; for the prophet declares that “the land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled.” Verse 3. God will destroy all who inhabit the earth at the time of the second advent, excepting the few living righteous, who will be changed to immortality without tasting death.
The voice of the Lord proclaimed to the prophet the blindness and deafness of apostate Israel, which led him, in anxiety and anguish of spirit, to cry, “Lord, how long?” And the Lord answered, “Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate.” Isa. 6:11.
God speaks by the weeping prophet. The terrors of the day of the coming of the Son of man are portrayed in most fearful words. In the general slaughter there will be no escape for wicked men, though their profession be as high as Heaven. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground. Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock shall be heard; for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture. And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the Lord. He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.” Jer. 25:32–38.
Again the prophet of God is carried forward in prophetic vision to the point of time just prior to the general desolation, and describes the state of things when false professors shall be aroused to their lost condition. “Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you. And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” Isa. 33:10–14.2
Again the Lord hath spoken by another prophet: “I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the Lord. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked: and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord.” Zeph. 1:2, 3. “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” Verses 14–18. “Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.” Chap. 3:8.
The second coming of Christ is a subject of great importance to the church. This is evident from the amount of testimony relative to it, in connection with the resurrection of the just, and the Judgment, found both in the Old and New Testaments. Ministers and popular professors may cast the doctrine aside as not essential to the Christian faith; nevertheless, it may be traced through the Sacred Scriptures, as made prominent by prophets, Jesus, and apostles. The Bible dwells upon essentials. It does not deal in non-essentials. When the Lord in his word gave his people a rule of faith and practice, he was careful to leave the non-essentials all out. Hence, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine.” 2 Tim. 3:16. And let all the people say, Amen!
But the doctrine of the second appearing of Christ, made so very prominent in the Scriptures, is lost sight of by those who receive theories not found in the Scriptures. Thus the fulfillment of all the threatenings of God’s word, relative to the swift approaching day of wrath, and the revelation of the Son of God in flaming fire, to destroy the inhabitants of the earth, as they were once destroyed by water, are put far into the distant future, if not completely lost sight of, by the unscriptural doctrine of the world’s conversion and the temporal millennium.
The second personal appearing of Jesus Christ is most absurdly applied to several different things. Some teach that death is the second coming of Christ. This is not only a violation of plain Scripture declarations, but of the laws of language. There can be but a single second advent of Christ; while this misty sentiment has as many appearings of Jesus as there are deaths. The early disciples did not receive the idea that death was the second coming of Christ.
Peter, seeing the beloved John, “saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.” Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” John 21:21–23. So far were the disciples from holding that death was the second coming of Christ, that when they understood their Lord to intimate that John might remain until his return, they at once concluded that he would not die.
And what foggy theology is this, that makes death the second appearing of Christ! He is coming as the Life-giver, and the believer’s best friend. Death is the life-taker, and man’s last enemy. 1 Cor. 15:26. Christ is coming to give life to the just, and to “destroy him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.” Heb. 2:14. The devil has the power of death, and, in the providence of God, is permitted to send the barbed arrow even to the heart of the just, lay him low in death, and lock him in the tomb. But the Life-giver, having passed under the dominion of death, and having been gloriously raised from the embrace of the grave, triumphantly says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [hades, the grave] and of death.” Rev. 1:18. The devil holds the power of death. Christ holds the keys of death and the grave, and at his second appearing he will unlock the tombs of the just, break the power of death, their last enemy, and lead them forth to immortal and eternal scenes of glory.
Again, conversion is said to be the second coming of Christ. Then there are as many second comings of Christ as there are conversions. There can be but one second appearing of Jesus Christ. And, again, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit are said to be the second advent of Christ. Hence, men talk of the spiritual coming of Christ, and his spiritual reign for one thousand years. But here, also, they are involved in the difficulty of a plurality of second comings of Christ; for in this case they would have Christ appear at each gracious manifestation of the Holy Spirit. There can be but a single second advent of Christ.
The distinction between the manifestations of the Holy Spirit and the personal presence of Christ at his second appearing is made very plain in the Scriptures. Says Jesus, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter.” John 14:16. This language implies the distinct existence of more than one comforter. When Christ was with his people, he was their comforter. In his absence, the Father was to send another Comforter, even the Spirit of truth. During the absence of the Son, the Holy Spirit was to be his representative, and the comforter of his sorrowing people.
The facts in the case are distinctly stated in the following impressive words: “But now I go my way to Him that sent me.” “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:5, 7, 8.
And again, the Shakers see the second appearing of Christ in the person of Ann Lee. And the Mormons see the fulfillment of the prophecies relative to the coming and kingdom of Christ in the gathering of “the latter-day saints.” And the spiritualists generally agree in saying, Lo, here is the second advent of Christ in the manifestations of spiritualism.
In the prophetic discourse of Matt. 24 and 25, covering the entire Christian age, our Lord, after speaking of the tribulation of the church under papal persecutions, says of our time: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” Matt. 24:23, 24. The word then in this passage points to a specific period of time when “Lo, here is Christ, and Lo, he is there,” would be heard. Our Lord here describes the spiritual deceptions of the present age. False christs arose not far from the first advent, to deceive the Jews in regard to that event (Matt. 24:5); likewise false christs and false prophets have arisen at this day to deceive the people on the subject of the second advent.
Dr. Henshaw, the late Bishop of Rhode Island, speaking of the doctrine of the temporal millennium, in his Treatise on the Second Advent, says:— “So far as we have been able to investigate its history, it was first advanced by the Rev. Dr. Whitby, the commentator, and afterwards advocated by Hammond, Hopkins, Scott, Dwight, Bogue, and others, and has been received without careful examination by the majority of evangelical divines in the present day. But we may safely challenge its advocates to produce one distinguished writer in its favor, who lived before the commencement of the eighteenth century. If antiquity is to be considered as any test of truth, the advocates of the premillennial advent and personal reign of Christ with his saints upon earth, need have no fears of the result of a comparison of authorities with the supporters of the opposite theory.”
Daniel Whitby, D. D., was born A. D. 1638, in England, and died A. D. 1727, and from the modern and popular error of a temporal millennium and the spiritual reign of Christ have grown the mystical applications of the plainest declarations of Scripture relative to the second appearing of the Life-giver, to death, to conversion, to the manifestations of the Holy Spirit, to Shakerism, to Mormonism, and to spiritualism.
How forcible then, are the words of Christ when applied to the subject before us: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.” Matt. 24:23. No one need fail to see who the men are that are crying, “Lo, here is Christ, and, Lo, he is there!” The Lord continues in verses 25, 26: “Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth; behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.” Our Lord is here dwelling upon what he had just before told them. His subject is still the teachings of those who cry, “Lo, here is Christ!” “Lo, he is there!” If the Mormons say, “Behold, he is in the desert,” the injunction of our Lord is, “Go not forth.” Or, if you hear proclaimed from the popular pulpits of our time, “Behold, he is in the secret chambers,” Christ’s second coming is spiritual, at death, or at conversion, “believe it not.”
And why not receive such mystical teachings? The reason is given in the next verse: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Our Lord has not only pointed out false prophets, and warned us against their mystical teachings, but he has in contrast set before us the manner of his second coming in the plainest terms. The vivid lightning, flashing out of the distant east, and shining even to the west, lights up the whole heavens. This, probably, is the most appropriate figure that our Lord could employ to illustrate the flaming glory that will attend his second advent, when he shall come attended by all the holy angels.
The presence of only one holy angel at the new sepulcher where Christ lay in death caused the Roman guard to shake, and become as dead men. The light and glory of a single angel completely overpowered those strong sentinels. The Son of man is coming in his own kingly glory, and in the glory of his Father, attended by all the holy angels. All the holy angels are coming with the Lord. Not one will be left in Heaven. The number of the angels round about the throne, as the body-guard of the Son of God, are “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” See Rev. 5:11. And Paul speaks of the heavenly messengers as “an innumerable company of angels.” Heb. 12:22. What grandeur! what dazzling brightness! when the King of kings shall come down the lighted vault of heaven, attended by all the angels of the heavenly world! Then the whole heavens will blaze with glory, and the whole earth will tremble before him.
The doctrine of the second appearing of Christ has been held by the church ever since her Lord ascended to the Father to prepare mansions for her reception. It is the event that consummates her hopes, terminates the period of her toils and sorrows, and introduces her eternal repose. What sublime scenes will then open before the waiting children of God! The blazing heavens will reveal the Son of God in his glory, surrounded by all the holy angels. The trumpet will sound, and the just will come forth from the grave, immortal. And all—Redeemer and redeemed, attended by the heavenly host—will move upward to the mansions prepared for them in the Father’s house.
To those who really love their absent Lord, the theme of his soon return to bestow immortality upon the dead and living righteous is fraught with unspeakable blessedness. This event, with all its grand results, has always been the hope of the church. Paul could look over eighteen long centuries, and speak of it thus: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:13. And Peter exhorts: “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God.” 2 Pet. 3:12. And Paul again, after speaking of the descent of the Lord from Heaven, the resurrection of the dead in Christ, and their ascent with the living righteous to meet the Lord in the air, says, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thess. 4:18.