The Armies of the Lord.
By R. F. Cottrell
Soon the scene is to be enacted described so vividly and majestically in Rev. 19:11-16: “And I saw Heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in Heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” This is the sublime description, in symbolic language, of the coming of Jesus Christ, with all the holy angels, as they descend to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. All the wicked of the earth will then be slain, and the saints gathered and taken to those mansions which Jesus has gone to prepare. But it is of another army of the Lord we would speak more particularly. He has an army upon earth. The Christian is exhorted to put on the whole armor of God, to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and his reward depends on his fighting a good fight and getting the victory over his foes. Among men those who faithfully serve the Lord, obeying his voice, constitute his army upon earth. He employs them in his work. He enlightens and leads them, so that they fulfill his pleasure. At the present time he has a special work—the preparation of a people to be redeemed from among men, when the armies of Heaven shall come down in wrath to destroy the enemies of the Lord. For a little more than a quarter of a century he has been enlisting and drilling soldiers to take a part in the last contest between truth and error; and he promises the overcomer a seat with him in his throne. This army must be well disciplined; so that each will be found at his post, and all move in harmony. Enlistments are still in order. Who will take a part in this service? A great work is before us. The Lord is soon coming; and the world is to be warned. In Ps. 68:11 it is written, “The Lord gave the word: great was the army [margin] of those that published it.” The number of those who are publishing the closing message of the gospel, though small, is increasing. The word of God will not fail of accomplishing its design. Now who will sacrifice time and means to do the Lord’s work and save men? This work of the Lord is a work of sacrifice and self-denial from beginning to end. The Son of God gave the example—the key-note. He left Heaven, with his high and glorious command. He gave, not only glory and riches, but himself, to toil, to suffer, and to die to redeem lost men. The mercies of God thus exhibited toward us, demand a sacrifice from us. And is it too much that we should give wealth, luxuries, ease, and riches in that cause for which the Son of God poured out his soul unto death? No; it is our reasonable service to offer ourselves and all that we have to God, to be used in the work of saving our fellow-men. Who will take a part in this closing work? Who will begin now? Soon it will be too late. Now you can do something which God will accept. Soon the war will be ended and the harvest be past—the work done and the reward given.