p. 92 | THOUGHTS ON THE ADVENT

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 5, 1861

THOUGHTS ON THE ADVENT.

(Continued)

ANOTHER argument for the coming of the Lord, we draw from the promises of future reward to the righteous; and in these we see not only the fact of Christ's second coming, but also its necessity. The reward of the faithful followers of Christ is made to hinge upon the second advent. It therefore follows that without the coming of the Lord, there can be no fulfillment of the promises, no future reward; and hence every promise becomes a declaration that the Lord will come again. Let those who love the Lord and his appearing now turn with us to a few of the promises in question.

Says Peter [chap. iv, 4], "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away." Here a crown of glory is promised to the faithful under-shepherds of the flock of Christ. When will it be bestowed? When the chief Shepherd shall appear. We have not an intimation throughout the book of God that this reward can be bestowed at any other time. Therefore, no appearing of the great Shepherd, no crowns of glory. But crowns of glory are promised on the immutable word of God; the chief Shepherd will therefore appear to perform the glorious coronation. Mark the language of this verse in another particular: It says, When the chief Shepherd shall appear. No invisible coming at the death-bed or in visitations of judgment or of mercy can here be meant. To appear, is to be in sight, to be visible to the eye; and such is to be the nature of the coming of the Son of man, when all the tribes of the earth shall see him, and wail because of him.

Paul in his second epistle to Timothy [iv, 8], speaks of his approaching martyrdom in these words: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day." What day? The remainder of the verse explains: "And not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." Ah, that is it; the day of his appearing; for on no other day can all those that love his appearing receive their crowns. Having the same confidence that rested in the bosom of Paul, that sustained him in all his conflicts and toils, scourgings and imprisonments, we can toil on in cheerful hope, content to look for our reward where he looked for his—to the glorious day of the Lord's appearing.

The instructions of the great Teacher to one of the Pharisees to whose house he had been bidden to eat bread, was this: "When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." Luke xiv, 13, 14. Two great truths are here plainly stated: 1. That there is to be a resurrection of the just; and 2. That then, and not till then, the righteous are to be rewarded. But when is the resurrection to take place? It is when, as the Saviour himself declares in John v, 28, 29, the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of man. And when do they hear this voice? It is when, as Paul says in 1 Thess. iv, 16, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. That the term, archangel, is used to designate the Son of man, see Jude 9, and Dan. x, 21; xii, 1.

In 1 Cor. xv, Paul sets forth in a most forcible manner, the important place which the resurrection holds in the great scheme of redemption. He shows that all that has reference to a future dispensation centers in that event; that if there be no resurrection, all that we are doing in reference to a future life, is vain; for, in that case, even they that are dead in Christ have perished. Verse 18. But further on he shows, as in 1 Thess. iv, 16, above quoted, that the resurrection itself is dependent on the coming of the Son of man. The question then clearly stands thus: No second coming of the Lord, no resurrection; and if no resurrection, then no future life, and of consequence, no future reward. Let professed Christians who oppose the doctrine of the second advent think of this! Let them know that in their opposition they are attacking the very citadel of their only hope.

In our Saviour's last discourse to his disciples previous to his crucifixion, when he had occasion to tell them of his departure from them which was approaching, he immediately re-assures their hope and courage, by telling them that he would personally return and receive them to himself. John xiv, 1-4. "When Christ who is our life shall appear," says Paul to the Colossians, iii, 4, "then shall ye also appear with him in glory."

Yes, the Lord will come. In the immutable counsels of Heaven it is decreed; and neither man nor devils can alter or prevent it. Rejoice, patient and toil-worn believer. He whom you love, whom you are trying day by day to serve and glorify, and upon whom all your hopes are built, will assuredly appear. You shall yet see the King in his beauty, and behold the land that is very far off. Death may lay you low, but he cannot conquer; for your life is hid in One who is mightier than he. Col. iii, 3. The grave may cover you; but the voice of the Son of God shall yet be heard to its lowest depths calling forth his slumbering people. He for whom we wait has the keys of the grave, and Death is unable to make his bolts so firm that they cannot be forced by the Lord of life and glory. Blessed be the name of our dear Redeemer forevermore!

Sinner, the Lord will come; and which would you wish to be in the day of his appearing, his friend or foe? What you would be then, you must be now; for when the great decree shall have gone forth, He that is holy let him be holy still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, it will be too late to change your position. He comes to render his anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of fire [Isa. lxvi, 15]; and those who now scorn his truth and despise his followers, will then call for the rocks and mountains to bury them from his presence; but even the rocks and mountains will refuse to render even that sorry assistance to the enemies of the Son of God. Would that the solemn warnings which you now hear, might work in you the needed reformation. If you will not let them, yours must be the responsibility, and yours the consequence.

(To be continued.)