The “I Come” Which Shall Be
By L. F. Starr
FOUR times in the book of Revelation the glorified Redeemer speaks explicitly the “I come” of His sure and speedy return. “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast.” Rev. 3:11. “Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Rev. 22:7. “Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me.” Verse 12. “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen.” Verse 20. Great is the emphasis, mighty and holy indeed the import, of such a personal promise. When Christ had ascended to the heavenly home, glorified and divine humanity, and the disciples had seen the cloud receive Him, this same Jesus who had walked and talked and prayed with them, who had been with them in their boats on the lake, and who had toiled that very day with them up the ascent of Olivet,—the same Jesus had gone to share the Father’s throne. The angels had assured them that the very One who had ascended into heaven would come again even as He had ascended. “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.” “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.” “The Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him.” Thus will be fulfilled the Lord’s own promise to His disciples: “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.” From this array of Scriptural evidence, well might the disciples of Christ rejoice in the hope of His soon return. The “I come” and the “I will come” of Scripture is a literal and glorious coming, for which the church of God has looked from the first—“looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” The “I come” and “will come” of Jesus Christ is a glorious appearing to the church of God. It is not at death—there is nothing glorious about death; but it is a meeting time, when those long separated by the tyrant Death, will clasp glad hands once more, and the family circle will be reunited. It comforts our hearts with the assurance that beyond the weary wastes of this earth, and beyond the sin and the gloom, there is a meeting day on the hills of eternal bloom, and the coming of Jesus will be a glorious appearing to all who are His. It is somehow possible for all who love and submit to the written Word, and hold heartily that definite prediction is a divine reality in that Word, to look up together into the heavens, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, loving His appearance, looking for the Saviour, who shall change our body of humiliation, and who shall welcome us to meet Him in the air. It is possible somehow for us all to be thus standing with our loins girded and our lamps aflame, as men waiting for their Lord. Who will be ready? Shall you? Shall I? “Be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh.” “Be ye also ready” indicates a state of preparation. What common ground for loving, solemn meditation may be found here! “Behold, I come quickly.” “Surely I come quickly,” “this same Jesus.” In the “quickly” of the promise, we are all to read that the disciple’s attitude, as it was with the Israelites of the Exodus, is to be that of the man whose shoes are on his feet and his staff in his hand ready. It is an old story, but never out of date, certainly not in this age of enormous worldliness, when all but few “think not” of the stealthy approach of that great day. In the very midst of conditions as we see them to-day, in His own time He who comes as a thief in the night, but who is also the midnight friend to His beloved, will be here—and a new order of things will begin. The righteous will live and dwell with Him and loved ones through eternal ages. Is this prospect remembered and cherished? Are we maintaining it in the soul’s sanctuary, as a dear and joyful event? We may, we must, cultivate such a view of Him as shall naturally spring up in a moment and welcome Him. Then can the church of God unitedly sing: “I shall be glad when Jesus comes,
Come when or how He may.
My heart with joy doth welcome Him.
Lord, hasten that blest day.”
The return of Christ at His second coming will be a time, a moment, a crisis, never to eternity to be forgotten; a point of interview between the disciple and the Master, the servant and his Lord, at the solemn close of this working-day. “Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God.” Laborer for Christ, ambassador for Him whose name you trust, can we hasten that day? We are all, we are each, on our way to “give an account of the deeds done in the body,” of what we have gained by trading, of how we have lived for Him. We know not how soon, in the judgment, an inquiry will take place in the case of each, which will be as complete as Christ can make it. And the report upon it will be made as only He can make it. He will manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God. How shall we meet the searching test?—As regards acceptance—only by looking to His hands and His side, and hiding there; only by walking in the light, and with Him day by day, in close walk, as friend with friend.