THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL.
By M. C. Wilcox
THE hope of the Gospel culminates in the second coming of Christ. Around that great event, according to the Scriptures, cluster the all-important destinies of mankind. Then will the faithful in all ages, who sleep in Christ, be raised to immortality. Then will the bodies of the righteous living be changed from corruptibility to incorruptibility, even as the character has been previously changed by the power of God. Then will both classes be taken to the heavenly mansions of the New Jerusalem. At His coming, also, those who have rejected Christ will perish in the light of His presence. He longed that they should be saved by the glory of His grace. Unmerited favor was poured out upon them. He veiled His glory in human form that they might bear its presence, and yet by faith be changed by its power, and so be ready to meet Him when He came to rescue and prepare the purchased possession. But, alas! they would have none of Him. Of old they crucified Him. Since that time many have crucified Him afresh in His truth and in the person of His saints. But when He appears in the transcendent glory of heaven's King, they will perish in that glory, be destroyed by the forthshining of His presence (2 Thess. 2:8). Then will begin the glad eternal reign of Jesus our King. No more of oppression will the people of earth know. No more war will redden green slopes or crystal waters with the blood of the slain. No oppressive labor-tyrants will pale the cheek and thin the blood by the barest pittance of wage, that he may reap the bigger profits. No race wars will embitter hearts. No disease blanch the cheek or dim the eye. No old age, with bent form and faded locks, will be there. No sextons, no cemeteries, no sad funeral train, or pall, or hearse. Christ the Lifegiver reigns, and the life and glory of God floods the entire earth, and death is no more among those who know Christ Jesus. All this and more the second coming of Jesus Christ means to this earth and its people. Surely to the people of God it is rightly called "the blessed hope." "There is a King of Glory,
Ere long on earth to rise,
Sung in prophetic story,
Descending from the skies;
The Babe of Bethlehem, 'tis He;
It is the Man of Calvary,—
Not crowned with thorns, and gory,
But crowned with glory now!
Not crowned with thorns to-day,
Not mocked and led away,
But crowned with everlasting glory now!"