Untitled article | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 24, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 37.

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. NO. 2.

WE noticed in the last issue of the SIGNS the meaning and use of the words which refer to our Lord's coming and events connected therewith. These words were (1) erchomai, and its derivatives, which signify to come, to go, to pass; (2) ephistemi, having the meaning of coming suddenly upon, impending, to be at hand; (3) heko, which means to be come, to have arrived; (4) parousia, meaning a coming, arrival, personal presence; (5) apokalupsis, signifying disclosure, manifestation, revelation, appearance; (6) epiphaneia, meaning appearance, brightness, glorious display. Many references to passages of Scripture were cited to show the use of these words in the New Testament.

Is there but one coming of Christ, or are there several? The Bible presents three different events in the close of Christ's priestly work, which in our English version are referred to as "comings." The first of these is shown in Matt. 25:10 as the coming of the Bridegroom. The parable in which this text is found does not tell us the time of this coming, but it reveals this, that it is when the marriage of the Lamb is about to be consummated, or when the Bridegroom comes to take his bride. What is meant by the term marriage? Who or what is the bride?

We reply to the latter question first. It is most plainly declared that the bride is the New Jerusalem. In Rev. 21:9 it is recorded that an angel said to John: "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife." And the next verse reveals as clearly as words can who the bride is: "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God." And this is in harmony with the word of the Lord through Paul and Isaiah. Paul says in Gal. 4:26, "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." And Isa. 9:6 declares that Christ is "the everlasting Father." We are of God, begotten through him. Jerusalem is our mother, and is therefore the Lamb's wife.

But this New Jerusalem is also the capital

of the Abrahamic inheritance, or the kingdom of the Seed, Christ. It is that city for which Abraham looked, "whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11:10), the capital of that "better country" (verse 16). This same thought is also presented in Isa. 62:4, 5: "Thou [Jerusalem] shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shalt thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah [my delight is in her], and thy land Beulah [married]; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee; and as a bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." The same truth is taught in Isaiah 54. Jerusalem which is above is now said to be barren; the children have not yet come home, and she is represented as mourning for them. See Gal. 4:26, 27. Isa. 54:5 reads as follows: "For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called." More evidence might be presented, but this is sufficient to prove that the Bridegroom is Christ, and the bride is his everlasting kingdom, of which the New Jerusalem is the representative or the capital city, the palace of the King.

When does Christ take this kingdom? He was not a king while here; he prevented those from making him king who so desired. He went away from earth "to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." Luke 19:11, 12. He now reigns a kingly priest on his Father's throne. Rev. 3:21; Heb. 8:1; 5:10; 7:1, 2.

He sits on the Father's right hand till his foes are subdued by the Father. Ps. 110:1. The same truth is expressed in Zech. 6:12, 13 and 1 Cor. 15:24-28. Of this last text we give the following paraphrase, which will be found to harmonize with the other scriptures above quoted and referred to:—

"Then cometh the end [of the present age, Christ's priesthood], when he [Christ] shall have delivered up the kingdom [of grace] to God, even the Father; when he [the Father] shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he [Christ] must reign [on his Father's throne] till he [the Father] hath put all enemies under his [Christ's] feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he [the Father] hath [then literally, now in purpose] put all enemies under his [Christ's] feet. But when he saith all things are put under him [Christ], it is manifest that he [the Father] is excepted, which did put all things under him [Christ]. And when all things shall be subdued unto him [Christ], then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him [the Father] that put all things under him [Christ]; that God may be all in all."

It is manifest from the above that it is not until the close of Christ's priestly work that he receives his kingdom, or that the marriage takes place; and the going in to the marriage, or the coming of the bridegroom, must precede the marriage itself. To those of our readers who are familiar with the question of the priesthood of Christ, the time of the coming of the Bridegroom to the marriage will be readily understood. A study of the subject shows:—

(1) That the sanctuary built by Moses was typical of the heavenly; (2) that the priests ministered unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, even the ministry of our great High Priest (see Ex. 25:9; Heb. 8:5; 9:1-12; 8:1); (3) that as the sanctuary of the earthly had two apartments, the holy and the most holy, so also had the heavenly (see Rev. 4:5; 8:3; 11:19 compared with Heb. 9:1-7); (4) that as the high priest closed his round of service in the most holy place (Heb. 9:7), so Christ, the antitypical priest, would finish his there; (5) and as that work was in reality a judgment work, in which men would be cut off, or their sins cleansed and put away by the cleansing of the sanctuary (Leviticus 16), so Christ cleanses the heavenly sanctuary from all remembrance of sin in the close of his ministry, which is also (as it must be) a judgment work (Heb. 9:23, 24; Rev. 14:6, 7); (6) that the 2300 days of Dan. 8:14, beginning in 457 B.C., ending in A.D. 1844, reach to the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary, or the work of the investigative judgment, which determines who are worthy of life and a part in the first resurrection (Luke 20:35; 1 Cor. 15:51, 52); (7) that at the end of this investigative judgment, at the end of Christ's priesthood, which will close before Christ comes, the decree which forever settles the cases of all responsible beings, which shows that all have either accepted of Christ or closed their hearts to the voice of mercy, goes forth from the lips of the Judge (Rev. 22:11, 12; Zeph. 2:1-3). All this may be abundantly proved.

This coming to take the kingdom is shown in Daniel 7. In verses 9 and 10 is presented the great Judge of all, surrounded by holy angels, opening that great tribunal. This took place in 1844. Just at this time, as Daniel views this dread tribunal, he sees the following:—

"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him." Verses 13, 14.

This coming, therefore, is not a coming to this earth, but a coming to the Ancient of Days in heaven, when he sits as judge in the last closing work, in the most holy place of the heavenly temple. Christ not only finishes his work as priest here but he also receives his kingdom. This was the coming (erchomai) or going in of the Bridegroom. Those who trusted God's word in 1844, followed Christ by faith into the most holy place and his closing work. This coming or going did not close probation, but it fulfilled the prophecy of Dan. 8:14 and Rev. 14:6, 7. God revealed it through the prophetic word.