The Coming of Christ

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 9, 1856

The Coming of Christ.

He shall come upon the wicked unawares.

Proof: "For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, and they shall not escape." 1 Thess v, 2, 3. "For in the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not, until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. xxiv, 38, 39. "The Lord of that servant shall come, in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of." Matt. xxiv, 50.

Remarks: The day of the destruction of Jerusalem, did not come upon the wicked Jews unawares, for they were fully apprised of the intention of the Romans, and made preparation to meet the attack. That day did not come upon them as a thief, in an hour that they were not looking for it, for they knew a long time beforehand, that the Roman legions would certainly appear; and when sudden destruction came upon them, they were not saying peace and safety; for at that time they had internal wars and insurrections, spreading devastation throughout the whole city! Neither were they at that time marrying and giving in marriage; neither were they feasting, as they were in the days just before the flood; or as they will be when the Lord comes; for when the Romans besieged the city, starvation and wretchedness stalked abroad in its most horrid form; and was to be seen depicted in every countenance; whilst the ladies of the highest rank satisfied their hunger upon the flesh of their own offspring! This had not little the appearance of either a wedding or an infare!! But thousands of the Jews escaped, at the time their city was besieged; but this will not be the case with the wicked, when the Lord shall come; for the Apostle says, "they shall not escape," and as the flood came upon the wicked antediluvians "and swept them all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." He shall come "with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them, of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed; and of all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." Jude 15. Did Christ, in the person of Titus, convince all the ungodly Jews? No, for they fought till the very last. None of them were convinced by the arguments made use of on that occasion! Did he execute judgment at the destruction of Jerusalem, for all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him? How about those blaspheming infidels, who now assert that the blood of Christ is no better than the blood of a dog? Was judgment executed upon them at the destruction of Jerusalem?—Universalim vs. Itself.