The Second Coming of Our Lord
By Geo. B. Thompson
THERE is no truth of the blessed Gospel which is more clearly taught than that our Redeemer will return the second time. Before this awful event all others pale. It is the sublimest spectacle and most matchless display of transcendent glory connected with the scheme of redemption. When the Lord spoke the eternal principles of His own perfection from the flaming top of Sinai, and traced them in stone with His own finger, the whole earth trembled, and the glory of God was revealed in mighty majesty. But this divine exhibition of heavenly glory will be surpassed when the Redeemer comes to take to Himself the people whom He has saved from the terrible thralldom of sin. At His first advent He came in weakness. He came as a helpless babe to show the frailties of our frame. As a lamb He came to bear the burdens of a weak and degenerate race. But how different the scene when He appears the second time to overturn the proud and stately empires of earth and scatter them like chaff driven by the wind! We may think of the glorious event, and it is well to let the picture linger in the mind, yet we can never take it in. The human mind can never comprehend in its fulness the hour when, crowned King of all kings, the Saviour comes to reap the harvest of the earth. The coming of our Lord is a real thing. It is no fantom. It is the advent of a real personal being. Jesus left the earth a real person, bearing in His body the marks of His humiliation. "And while they [the disciples] looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:10, 11. An angelic cloud received Him into glory, and when He appears the second time, He is seated upon a "white cloud," "having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle." Rev. 14:14. When He comes He will be escorted, like the victorious conqueror which He is, by "all the holy angels." Matt. 25:31. When one angel came to the sealed tomb to call the Redeemer as He lay locked in the fixed embrace of death, the glory which attended the celestial messenger struck to the earth the guard of Roman soldiers who were watching the sepulcher. How much glory, think you, will be revealed when the unnumbered millions of mighty angels come with their Redeemer? They come as reapers to gather the sheaves into the heavenly garner. But this is only a little of the glory which is to be seen. The King comes in the most supernal glory, "the glory of His Father." Matt. 16:27. He will come in "His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 9:26. In the past, kings, emperors, and potentates of earth have sought to show the glory of their empires. In triumphant splendor and overweening pride they have exhibited all their regal pomp and glory. But they have perished, and their glory is no more. But the consuming majesty and glory which attends the coming of Jesus overshadows theirs as the sun shining in its zenith power eclipses the rays of a candle, and His glory will endure thruout all ages. Its luster will not be dimmed by passing cycles. And now, as in ages in the past, the Lord will warn the world of the event which is approaching. He warned the antediluvians; He warned Sodom; He warned Nineveh; and when His first advent was impending, He sent His forerunner with a special message for the time. And when we reach the closing days of the world's history, we read that there will be "signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." Luke 21:25-27. Reader, this glorious day draws near; it will soon be ushered in. Prepared or unprepared, its stern realities will soon be upon us. For the righteous it is a day of the greatest joy, when they can look up and rejoice. For sinners it is a day of gloominess, desolation, and destruction. While the Life-giver is still on the mercy-seat, offering pardon to the impenitent, shall we not turn to Him with full repentance, that we may find forgiveness, and be numbered among those who can look up and say, "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us"? Isa. 25:9. 1. What encouraging promise did the Lord make to Abraham?
"Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever." Gen. 13:14, 15. 2. To whom was this promise renewed?
"Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac; and confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant." Ps. 105:9, 10. 3. What promise was given thru Daniel?
"The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him." Dan. 7:27. 4. In what did Isaiah's hope center?
"Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." "And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. . . . And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." Isa. 65:17, 19, 21-24. 5. Did the patriarchs and prophets receive the promised inheritance?
"These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Heb. 11:13. 6. The promise is to Abraham; how then do others receive the benefits of it?
"For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." Gal. 3:27, 29. 7. In what order will the redeemed receive their reward?
All at one time. "These all, having obtained a good report thru faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." Heb. 11:39, 40. 8. What is the inheritance?
Abraham "looked for a city which hath foundations," a country great and broad; in vision Isaiah saw homes, with vineyards, in a land whose deserts rejoice and blossom as the rose; John saw a beautiful city with jasper walls, a life-giving river, a tree of life, and the throne of God and of the Lamb, before which the redeemed throng bow in adoration; Peter looked for "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." This earth, then, will be restored to its Edenic beauty to be the home of man. Isa. 45:18; Zech. 14:4, 9. 9. What events precede the reception of the inheritance?
At the close of earth's probation (Rev. 22:11), the Saviour comes to receive His people, the righteous of all ages, calling the dead from their graves (2 Thess. 4:16), changing the righteous living to immortality (1 Cor. 15:51, 52), receiving both companies together in the clouds (2 Thess. 4:17). In heaven they live and reign with Christ a thousand years (Rev. 20:4), judging the wicked (Rev. 20:12, 13), who will have been slain by the brightness of His coming (2 Thess. 2:8). At the end of the thousand years, the New Jerusalem descends to earth (Rev. 21:1, 2), the wicked dead are raised to receive their just punishment (Rev. 20:12-15), and the earth is wholly freed from sin and its effects (Rev. 22:3). Then the saints shall possess the land; "the meek shall inherit the earth." 10. Who only partake of the joys of that land?
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne." "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in thru the gates into the city." Rev. 3:21; 21:7; 22:14.