THE OBJECT OF CHRIST'S COMING.
By F. M. Wilcox
IN past numbers the object of Christ's return to the earth has been suggested. This is a subject that demands broader consideration. Of His first and second advents and of the relations existing between the two we have a statement in Heb. 9:28: "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." He came the first time without sin so far as His own perfect character was concerned, but He came as a sin offering. He came to suffer in our stead, that He might bring us unto God. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that through faith in His atoning sacrifice the merits of His righteousness might be accounted unto us. The world was in sin and rebellion against the government of God. It had cast off its allegiance to the banner of Prince Emmanuel, and was under the colors of the great rebel leader. In consequence of this rebellion the whole race of mankind was doomed to utter destruction. Christ in His infinite love proposed to undertake the great mission of reconciliation. He would offer Himself as a substitute to die in man's stead, bridging the gulf between the holiness of God and guilty man, and opening the way whereby lost and fallen humanity might become reconciled to the government of heaven. O the mystery of such unfathomable love! O the breadth, and depth, and height of such mercy! The sacrifice is made, and Christ is offered up, and now through all the ages the work of reconciliation—of reconciling man, not God—is going on. Christ will come to complete the work so well and faithfully begun, to take all those who have availed themselves of His sacrifice and mediation to Himself, and reign over them as their Prince and King and Governor. But not alone this, the beautiful heritage bestowed upon man at the creation—which, in consequence of man's transgression, has suffered the effect of the curse, so that from the Eden of beauty in the beginning it has been transformed into this sin-cursed, weather-beaten, and storm-scarred earth—is to have a part in the plan of restoration. And so, when Christ returns to earth He comes to establish His kingdom. Says Paul in his second letter to Timothy: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word." Synonymous with the return of Christ there is to be set up a kingdom. Says our Lord Himself, in the Gospel according to Matthew: "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory." But what does the kingdom embrace? First there must be a king. This will be the Lord Jesus Christ, no longer clad in robes of humility, no longer reviled and oppressed of men, but crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. Secondly, there must be subjects over which the kingly rule shall extend. These are supplied by the glorified ones who are redeemed from this earth at the second coming of our Lord. And these glorified ones will be divided into two classes: (a) Those who are resurrected at the appearing of the Lord; and (b) those who are translated at the end of the world without seeing death. Says the apostle: "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 we shall be changed." Speaking of the same event he says again, in his first epistle to the Thessalonians: "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." We see from these two scriptures that there are two classes plainly brought to view,—those who are resurrected at the coming of the Lord, and those who are alive and translated without seeing death. These are the two classes which compose the inhabitants of the kingdom of Christ. Thirdly, there must be a territory. We can not conceive of a kingdom as existing in no definite locality. Hence, somewhere in the universe of God must be the boundaries and limitations of the kingdom inhabited by the redeemed throng. That territory, the Bible reveals, will be this earth itself. Originally it was bestowed upon man as his everlasting heritage. The command to Adam was to multiply and fill the earth. Had sin not entered, just as long as Adam and his posterity had lived this earth would have been their home; but now sin has obtruded itself. It has turned aside the purposes of the Omnipotent One, but O, glorious assurance, if sin for a little time can turn aside God's eternal purpose, it never can thwart that purpose. Every purpose of God will carry in the end. Every arrow of the Spirit will find its mark. Every saying of the Lord will prove true. We learn from the third chapter of Peter's second epistle that the purifying fires of the last day will purge this old earth and bring it back to the same vernal state of beauty that it possessed when it came from the hands of its Maker in the beginning. A father may give to his little son a golden ball. That son, in his childish playfulness and sportive glee may mutilate and soil the beautiful globe. It becomes contaminated and polluted. The father, in his love, takes the ball and places it in the crucible, and from the fires of purification it once more rolls forth as bright and beautiful as when it was first made from the precious golden metal. So God will take this ball of an earth and place it in His great crucible,6and let the fires of the last day purge away its dross and sin and defilement. Sin is then eradicated, the thorns and thistles are despoiled, the barren desert becomes as fertile as a garden, the ragged, rocky peaks melt away and constitute as formerly the bone-work of the earth, and are clothed with beautiful verdure of ever-living green, and this forevermore shall constitute the home of the redeemed host. Every kingdom has its capital, its chief city, and this requisite is supplied in the New Jerusalem, which, as John says, comes down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:1. And in this glorious city, with its streets of gold, its gates of pearl, and its walls of precious stones, Jesus will reign supreme, God among men, once more and that forever. And His kingdom is a kingdom of love, and not of force. He will wield His scepter in love, and all the ransomed host shall render willing and loving obedience to His divine rule. And every heaving breast shall be calmed, and every tearful eye shall be dried; for God Himself shall wipe away all tears. O the contrast between that kingdom of peace and the kingdoms of men to-day! O the blessedness of such a reign, one that permits no comparison with the most glorious reigns that this earth ever saw! May God grant, dear reader, that you and I shall enter in there as subjects. But to be subjects of the kingdom of glory then, we must be subjects of the kingdom of peace now. Christ is now seeking to set up His kingdom in every heart, and every soul in whose heart Christ is enthroned as Prince in this world, will enjoy the blessed privilege of being a subject of the kingdom of our Lord in the ages to come.