The Coming of Christ

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 48.

The Coming of Christ.

“It must, therefore, be a matter of absorbing interest to every man, how, and when, and with what antecedents and results, the Son of Man shall come. ‘This,’ says Charles Beecher, ‘is the question now in the providence of God first claiming the solemn attention of the churches.’ What can be more momentous than the closing up of this whole present scene of things—the passing away of the world’s present fashion and administration? What revolutions in government—what subversions of present social arrangements—what destruction of empires, thrones, principalities, and powers—and what shakings of the heavens and of the earth—are involved! What new and strange experiences shall pass over men when once the glorious King and Judge of quick and dead shall blaze forth His startling presence in the clouds, and summon the earth to answer for all its deeds! And shall we not seek to understand the revelation of God concerning these amazing scenes? Shall we not awake from our dreams of peace, and open our eyes to the startling things that are crowding thick around us, and our ears to what God has said about them? Have we not been allegorizing, and spiritualizing, and Jerusalemizing the prophetic word until we hardly know where we are, or whether there is anything more to be expected or not? Let us, then, rouse up upon this momentous subject. We have mighty interests staked upon it. There is more said about it in the Scriptures than upon any other single theme. And yet Christians now hardly cast a thought forward to the mighty occurrences which it involves. We say the prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come!’ but so cold and lifeless is the petition on our lips that we scarcely know what we are asking. Jesus says, ‘Behold I come quickly!’ but we fold our arms and answer, No, no; it will yet be a thousand years or more. He says, ‘Watch!’ but we say, There’s no danger that He will come in our day. . . . Alas, whose heart now thrills to the startling announcement, ‘The Lord cometh!’ Who looks, and sighs, and prays now, for the return of our Saviour to our world? Who is waiting for, as he is hastening unto, the coming of the day of God? Who is keeping himself in readiness for its solemn revelations?’—Joseph A. Seiss, D.D.