The Second Coming of Our Lord
By Editor
IT is a Bible doctrine. Old Testament and New Testament teem with references to that glorious event. We are glad to see it taking hold upon some of the teachers of the people, those who are called to stand between the living and the dead. As before noted, it was preached upon by a large number of Denver pastors, Sunday, October 6. Brief reports of some of these sermons were printed in the Denver Daily News of October 7. We note some of these utterances. Dr. S. T. McKinney, pastor of the Ohio Avenue Congregational Church, after quoting John 14:1-3 and Acts 1:9-11, said: "One could go on for hours quoting passages from both Old and New Testaments that refer to a coming again of Christ. Turn to the Old Testament, and we find that the larger number of the passages that refer to a coming of Christ have not yet been fulfilled. If Isaiah 53, that speaks of His suffering on the cross, was literally fulfilled, shall we not expect that Zechariah 14, that speaks of His coming to reign, shall be as literally fulfilled? When we turn to the New Testament, we find references to this second coming everywhere. A student has said that it is mentioned 380 times in the New Testament, that one verse in twenty-five has reference to His coming again; that whereas Paul speaks thirteen times of baptism, he speaks fifty times of the Lord's coming again." "The question is, How shall He come? and the answer is, '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 that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.' He shall come; and those who have died believing in Him, together with the living believers, shall be caught up to meet Him in the air. The belief that Christ will come again is the great comforting doctrine of the church." The Rev. Joshua Gravett, pastor of the Galilee Baptist Church, taking for his subject, "The Millennium and Evolution," said: "The majority of Christians since Constantine's professed conversion to Christianity have spiritualized the prophecies of the Old Testament, forcing them into the Procrustean bed of this church age. Before Constantine, the church generally held that the Lord would return and reign, in harmony with their literal interpretation of the Jewish prophets. To them Jesus was a rejected King, and they pilgrims and strangers on earth, waiting for His return to take them home. Like those who in this day believe with them, they were witnesses specially active in the work of home and foreign evangelization. We grant that they may have misread some of the signs, but we are confident that they were right in looking toward heaven for their Deliverer. 'So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.'" The Rev. A. J. Finch, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church, said: "To doubt the second coming of Jesus Christ is to call in question the validity of the inspiration of the Scriptures. All that has to do with the Christian life revolves around this great central truth. Unfortunately it is a doctrine that in the past has been seized upon by fanatics, and thus brought into disrepute; but taken by itself, it becomes a mighty spiritual force." And then, speaking of its influence upon the life of the church, and especially in the primitive days, he said that "the stories of the most sublime heroism, of the purest faith, and of the greatest self-abasement" were then manifest. "With the loss of their hope vanished their power. 'Where there is no vision, the people perish.' The one thing needed to energize and regenerate a decadent church is a living, coming Lord." As to its influence upon the life of the individual, he declared: "Christianity is individualistic. Whatever social message it may have for the world, the individual is never lost sight of. As the individual, therefore, studies his relation to God and the divine kingdom, he recognizes the importance of personality. The culmination of this purpose of God is found in the second advent of our Lord." Dean H. Martyn Hart, of St. John's Cathedral, speaking of the time of His coming, said: "If we knew the exact date of His coming, we should lose the incentive to keep ourselves in a condition of humility, and be tempted to walk in the pride of our hearts. The second advent is as sure as the first. It is impossible to conceive that all the wrong and suffering, the sin and destruction, the tears and wo which mar the fairness of this beautiful creation, can be according to the will of a bountiful and beneficent Creator, who is powerless to prevent it. Impossible! What the Word of revelation asserts over and over again, is that a King shall yet reign in righteousness, that the day of Jesus Christ shall come, when tears shall be wiped off all faces, and there shall be no more crying, for the former things shall pass away, the earth shall once more blossom as the garden of God the Lord, and we shall be the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty." The Rev. F. W. Evans, of the Montview Boulevard Presbyterian Church, on the return of our Lord, quoting various passages from the Bible, said: "There be some who say that He has come back. Have they seen Him returning? The Lord declares that 'every eye shall see Him.' These glorified clouds in which He and His saints will return will be beyond description. Ah, we will know He is back from glory when we see Him and His saints and the encircling glory." The Rev. M. A. Stone, pastor of the Corona Presbyterian Church, preaching on "The Practical Value of the Doctrine of the Premillennial Return of Our Lord," declared: "This doctrine has been the pole-star of the church. There have been two great events in the history of the world, the creation and Calvary; and there is another great event yet future, Christ's coming. I believe in the personal and premillennial return of Jesus Christ to earth." The Rev. Perry V. Jenness, at the Twenty-third Avenue Presbyterian Church, preached on "Increasing Indications of Our Lord's Return to Earth," and said among other things: "Why should it be thought unreasonable that Christ should come again? Grant that He is the Son of God born of a virgin, and the miracle of His human birth is harder to understand than any second appearing will be. I accept the simple statements of the New Testament that He will come again. I believe it, and freely admit that there are many things connected with it that I do not understand." Then he gave as reasons for believing that the time is approaching: "Denial on the part of professed followers that He will ever come. The last days are to be characterized by great disturbance of nations. All former world movements have been local. The present transformation includes in its sweep practically every nation and every continent. Unrest everywhere; changes so rapid that only a close student can keep pace with them. A most significant sign is the universal demand of the masses for power. Lawlessness is also a characteristic of the days before the Master shall come again. One only needs to look around with an eye half open to observe that the oldest laws of the race are being defied as never before. The Sabbath and marriage laws have come to us from Eden, and men are throwing off their restraint everywhere. Nothing is sacred or venerated. Judges have forfeited our respect, and courts have become the tools of rich and powerful interests. Christ alone can establish righteousness. Commercial signs, political signs, social signs, and above all, spiritual signs, all conform to those conditions which we are told shall precede the Lord's return. We fix no date for His coming. We only say, 'Blessed is that servant whom his lord when he cometh shall find, so doing.'" The Rev. Ralph C. Byers, of the North Congregational Church, remarked: "Since part of the disciples' prophecy was literally fulfilled, there is no sane law of interpretation that can deny the literal fulfilment of what remains. Paul says in many places that He will come, 'but no man knoweth the day or the hour.' 'What I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.'" The Rev. George W. Arms, pastor of the North Presbyterian Church, preaching on "The Blessed Hope," said: "There is not a single writer of the New Testament but that tells of the second coming of Christ. That this was the hope of the early church is a fact that even the 'higher critics' admit, for it is simply a matter of history. Scoffers may deny the fact of the coming, but they can not deny the fact that in the New Testament it is there painted as the hope of the church. But whether we are as mockers who say, 'My lord delayeth his coming,' the fact remains that it is the hope of the New Testament church. Those who have been the greatest blessing to the church are those who have been filled with this hope. You may be indifferent to this hope; but remember, as was the world to the first coming of Jesus. We may call it rubbish; but Paul did not call it rubbish, nor did Peter, nor James, nor John. They called it 'the blessed hope.'" The News tells us that the discussion has aroused an interest among the churchmen and laity such as has seldom been equaled, and which promises to increase. There are other ministers who declare that Christ was always here in spirit life only, and will not return, and that He will never walk earth again. But we are glad to quote the above from ministers of Jesus Christ in various denominations who believe that our Lord is coming again, glad that they are not afraid to lift voices expressing their faith. Christ is coming. The earth belongs to Him. Long time has He held Himself from entering that which is His own, in order that men might accept in cool, calm reason the instruction given in His Word concerning the salvation purchased by Him, and know that the climax of that salvation is His second coming. To those who believe and receive Christ, who have His life abiding in them, purging out the sin, His coming will be welcome. They will say: "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save9us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." But those who reject the Christ, will in that burning glory of His appearance perish with the sin they have chosen. There is much more to be said on the subject. There are many events connected with our Lord's second return; but we believe that the Bible is just as clear concerning all these related events, and what they should mean to His church, as it is concerning the great central thought of His coming. Thank God for the agitation! Those who believe the Word and sincerely search for its meaning, will find the truth. W.