Christ's Coming | AdventAI

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 13, 1865

Christ's Coming.

As the Scripture plainly testifies that the Lord Jesus Christ once died on the cross for sinners, and that He rose from the dead the third day, and that He now sits in Heaven on the right hand of God the Father, so clearly does it also testify THAT THE LORD JESUS IS TO COME AGAIN.

What will be the state of the World when the Lord Jesus returns? “As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, also, as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke xvii, 26-30.)

Now, since God has given such a testimony in His word, we ought seriously to consider the remarkable fact, that the Lord Jesus is to come to this world, when things will be going on as in the days of Noah, and as in the days of Lot.

The coming of the Lord Jesus is sufficient to cause fear in every heart that has not yet received forgiveness of sins, and that seriously considers the circumstances and consequences to be such as they are; for though it is very easy now to forget God, and the name of the Lord Jesus, yet in the day when He shall appear, it will be impossible to do so. In that day it will be said, by unconverted men, to the rocks and mountains, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. vi, 16, 17.) In the time of Noah, men could easily despise the testimony of a coming deluge, yet it came; and what was their condition afterward? So, also, in the days of Lot; and so, also, at the present time, in connection with the testimony given to the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Forgiveness of sins through the Lord Jesus is now preached; it is expressly testified, “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. iii, 23); and, also, “that through His name ‘whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins’” (Acts x, 43). But it is also testified that the Lord is to come as a righteous Judge. On that day the Lord Jesus shall appear, “in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints,” &c. (2 Thess. i, 8-10).

Reader, consider these facts. I know well that many shut out from their thoughts everything respecting the second coming of Christ. They say in their deeds (if not in words), “Where is the promise of His coming?” They dislike to think of wrath to come, and that the world will be found in a state of hopeless enmity against God when Christ shall return: they would rather believe that everything is improving, than consent to the testimony of God concerning these things. Consider the days of Noah and the days of Lot, and look forward to the second coming of Christ, as taking place in circumstances similar to those at that period. In the time of Noah some escaped, even those that were in the Ark; and so, to every one that believes in the Lord Jesus now, there shall be safety through His blood in that day. Reader, consider what thy state will be when Christ shall appear as a righteous Judge!

It is easy to say, that a long period will elapse before the appearing of the Lord; but who has informed us that there is to be any such long period? No man on earth can assert (unless he be extremely presumptuous) even a single word about the time of Christ’s second coming. One thing, however, is plain, “In such an hour as ye [unbelievers] think not, the Son of man cometh.”

But though the expectation of this appearing is sufficient to cause the world to fear, yet believers can joyfully look forward as waiting for the Lord in that day; for then shall they receive their full blessing. As soon as the Holy Ghost gives to a sinner faith in the Lord Jesus, he has eternal life in his soul; but when Christ comes, the same life will be in his body also: “who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. iii, 21). And though the greater part of the saints be dead, every one of them shall arise from the grave, and all believers “which are alive and remain, and the dead in Christ, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thess. iv, 17). Well is this hope called by the Apostle “a blessed hope.” And so it is even now to every saint who hath received the testimony of the Holy Ghost concerning it.

Christians ought to know, undoubtedly, that the world is in a state of enmity against God, that they themselves are called out of the world, not having any hope concerning the world, through moral reformation or anything else, until the Lord Jesus personally comes, “whom the heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things” (Acts iii, 21). The world is now condemned, but, through the Gospel, every sinner that believes is gathered out of the world; but on that day the Lord Jesus shall gather “out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that work iniquity;” the world will still hate the Lord Jesus, without being restored, until He returns in the times of restitution (not destruction) of all things. He himself shall be the great Restorer, and to Him shall all the glory be given.

Believers ought to look onward to the second coming of Christ; they should endeavor to win souls out of the world, and to remember the words of Christ concerning themselves, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John xvii, 16); they should, in their practical walk, obey the call of God, “And ye yourselves be like unto men that wait for their Lord.”

These are but a few observations on a very important subject. Reader, thou art earnestly requested to search into the full testimony of the word of God concerning it; and may He, through His Spirit, teach thee His truth.