Matthew 24:30, commentary and pictures

Matthew 24:30 foretells the personal, literal, visible return of Jesus in the clouds of heaven to this earth with power and great glory, seen by all the peoples of the world. The sign in heaven is a cloud attending Him, first appearing in the east small and dark as a man's hand, then drawing nearer and growing brighter until it becomes a great white cloud on which He is seen seated as King and Judge with countless angels. All the tribes of the earth mourning means the wicked are overwhelmed with terror, shame and despair at His glory, fleeing and calling for rocks to hide them from His face and wrath. For the righteous it is a day of joy and deliverance, when the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ are raised immortal and the living saints are changed and caught up together to meet the Lord in the air. This coming is still future and was not fulfilled in Jerusalem's destruction, its day and hour are unknown yet near, so all are called to watch, repent and be made ready in holiness and obedience to stand with Him in peace.

Prophetic Setting and Scope

The prophecy to which the verse belongs speaks at once of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the coming of Christ and the end of the world, reaching beyond the fall of the city to the final day when the Lord comes in glory to punish the world for its iniquity. The destruction of Jerusalem was only a faint shadow and type and foreshadowing of the final judgment, a further fulfillment pointing to worldwide destruction by fire when all the tribes of the earth mourn at seeing the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. In that final fulfillment those who have rejected mercy and trampled the law face doom under a world in Satan's rule, consumed by the manifestation of glory when the restraining Spirit is withdrawn, while the faithful people of God are delivered and gathered to Christ. The disciples had associated the judgments upon Jerusalem with a personal coming in temporal glory, expecting Him to take the throne of universal empire, punish the impenitent Jews, and free the nation from Roman rule.

The account extends from His first advent to His second, describing after the major events of world and church history His coming in His kingdom. It sketches the history of the present dispensation to the complete restitution of all things, carrying sympathy with the church in her warfare and sufferings on to her promised redemption. It looks toward the closing scenes of this world's history, the final triumph of the people of God, the destruction of Satan and all his followers, the total and eternal extirpation of evil from the universe, and the renovation of the earth as the everlasting inheritance of the saints when the controversy is concluded and coming glory is revealed. The parable that follows portrays people looking for His appearing.

The verse itself describes the visible return in majesty and glory after preceding signs and tribulation, when the sign of the Son of man appears in heaven, all tribes mourn, and He is seen coming in the clouds with power and great glory. It is the final great event in earth's history, distinct from Jerusalem's destruction and not fulfilled then. The argument from this chapter therefore challenges the claim that Christ had already returned when Jerusalem was destroyed, while the signs in the heavens and on earth show the future coming in power and great glory is near, urging preparation and warning the world of approaching judgment.

It belongs to a discourse of prediction and warning given shortly before entering Gethsemane after a tiring day of work. That coming in the clouds at the end of the world was already made known to Enoch, that the Son of God who was to die as man's sacrifice would come with power and great glory attended by the angelic host to give life to the righteous dead and ransom them from their graves. He will receive the obedient and loyal to Himself, crowned with glory and honor, delivering His people after the foretold time of persecution between His departure and return. At that time the world will be corrupt, a boastful presumptuous self-willed generation in rebellion against God's law, denying the Lord, trampling His blood and despising His atonement, while the wicked are separated from the Lord's presence and consumed with fire, a victory foreshadowed by the song of Moses recounting past dealings and pointing to great future events.

Its outline of coming events and perils of the last days was given to instruct those who would afterward believe and help them prepare for the great conflict, requiring a higher standard in view of present dangers. It warns of judgments upon cities whose inhabitants dishonor God and reject reproof, showing that even grand seemingly enduring structures cannot withstand God's judgments, and calls for careful faithful action in warning the world and turning to the Lord to stand in the judgment. Its warnings call people to prepare for the return and to use lives and resources in mercy and salvation work before that time, reaching those in danger of perishing with the final message of mercy. That powerful glorious return in the clouds is forwarded by three angels working in harmony, and God's workers advance it by uniting in heart and mind and strength and cooperating fully with one another and with God and with the third angel, carrying the work into new territories while sustaining pure principles. The prophecies of Daniel and Revelation with other Scripture harmonize in illuminating this coming and its signs as the central warning and vital guiding message directing attention to readiness to stand in the judgment.

Nature of Christ's Coming

The verse describes a personal, literal, bodily, visible and public return of Christ in the clouds of heaven to earth with power, majesty and great glory, seen by all the tribes of the earth who mourn at the sight. It is not merely a spiritual reign, an unseen event, a secret appearance in secret places, His coming to each person at death, a claim that the dead are already raised, or a temporal millennium before He comes. As fulfilled prophecies were literal, so this coming with the Father's glory, the angelic hosts, the cloudy chariot and the trumpet to gather the chosen will be literal. After the heavenly signs He comes visibly and not in secret, accompanied by heaven's hosts with angels sounding a trumpet and gathering His chosen people, the promised return of the same Jesus who ascended.

It is the soon and near return of the same Jesus who ascended with angels and will return in the same manner, the One who came in humiliation to suffer now returning as victorious reigning Captain. He will establish His kingdom on earth over the whole earth, put down all authority, subdue every authority and rule over all nations and the kingdoms of the earth. This does not describe a military campaign to free the Jews or restore their earthly privileges, nor His first coming as a child or a merely temporal kingdom by human force; that was a mistaken interpretation of prophecies as promising a temporal Jewish king. It is the blessed hope believers look forward to with joy.

He comes in His own glory and the Father's glory with all the holy angels and heavenly armies with Him in exceeding brightness with no lack of honor, a company numbering ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Divinity is then no longer concealed, revealing Him as equal with the Father, King of kings, Lord of lords, Redeemer and Lifegiver admired by all who have served and received Him. Unsullied light shines from His splendor, and while the whole world is plunged in darkness there is light in every dwelling of the saints who catch the first light of His second appearing through close contact and constant communion with God. Creation testifies to His triumph as it sympathized with His sorrow at death, while the wicked flee from His presence and His followers rejoice in the undimmed rays of the brightness and glory of the King in His majesty. In that day those counted lowly will be truly lofty, and the earth will know that the heavens rule.

Upon the cloud He sits as heaven's victorious King and supreme Judge on the Father's throne, crowned with glory not thorns, with King of kings and Lord of lords on vesture and thigh, in glory no language can describe. His countenance is as bright as the noonday sun, His eyes as a flame of fire searching His children through and through, His hair white and curly lying on His shoulders, His feet having the appearance of fire and as fine brass, and His voice like many musical instruments. About the cloud are fire and a rainbow over it with the bottom like fire, many and glittering crowns upon His head, ten thousand angels singing a lovely song around Him with a retinue of holy angels with bright glittering crowns, a sharp sickle in the right hand and a silver trumpet in the left. The sign itself is the cloud surrounding Jesus, first seen in the east as a small dark or black cloud about half as large as a man's hand, known at once and watched in solemn silence, then drawing nearer the earth growing lighter, brighter, more glorious and majestic until it is a great white living cloud of unsurpassed majesty in which the lovely person of Jesus can be clearly beheld riding forth to conquer. At the sight all faces gather paleness and those rejected gather blackness, the earth trembles before Him, the heavens depart as a scroll rolled together, every mountain and island are moved, and the question who shall be able to stand is answered that those with clean hands and pure hearts shall stand and His grace is sufficient, followed by awful silence then joy and higher singing as the cloud nears.

At His second appearing He comes as the Son of man in the same human nature in which He ascended to heaven, identifying Himself with humanity even in His glory. He is humanity's substitute and surety who lives to make intercession, is preparing a place for all who love Him, remembers and keeps those united to Him, ministers to them by His angels, and is not ashamed to call them His brethren. He is the ordained man by whom God has appointed a day to judge the world in righteousness, giving assurance that the whole unfallen universe is interested in His great work of salvation, so those who share His suffering and reproach will share His glory with joy and thanksgiving.

His coming follows in order His first advent to this world to reveal the Father and live sinless, His suffering to save, His resurrection and ascension to the Father, and the completion of His mediatorial work in the heavenly sanctuary when He establishes His kingdom on earth. It occurs after probation has closed and immediately after the heavenly work of judgment when every case has been decided, rewarding each person according to deeds, with the closing of mercy occurring shortly before the visible coming. It does not begin a further opportunity to repent or accept truth, and those who expect probation after His appearing deceive themselves; those who accused and rejected Him will see Him again and acknowledge Him but too late for salvation.

Even in deepest humiliation He calmly and deliberately declared His royal character and divine identity by speaking of this coming in glory in the clouds of heaven, showing His lowly appearance did not lessen it. Scorn, scornful questions about His promised coming, claims of peace and safety, and rejection will not change that certainty or prevent its sudden exposure of the unprepared. His return is to be kept clearly before people as the event they are to prepare for, the same Jesus who ascended accompanied by angels coming in the same manner.

His coming brings decisive events that forever end Satan's usurped authority over the world, for Satan knows his rule is almost finished. The whole world will then be divided into two classes, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous, His jewels gathered, sin rolled back upon Satan its originator, His kingdom established on earth, and the seal of final triumph set upon the faithful. Because his last opportunity to gain control of the world and destroy its inhabitants is now before him, he will make his most decided efforts with ever greater enmity, bringing his forces into activity in a last work of rebellion while two great armies are at war, and as perils thicken about the remnant believers must stand as faithful sentinels fully surrendered and kept by divine power lest they utter specious reasonings, betray sacred trusts and join alliance against the Ruler. God will have a people on earth to translate without seeing death, for God dwells and reigns and Satan will not become sovereign.

Sign in Heaven

The sign of the Son of man in heaven is a cloud surrounding Jesus, first seen in the east as very small and dark or black, about half as large as a man's hand, known at once and watched in solemn silence. It draws nearer the earth growing brighter, more glorious and majestic until it is a great white bright cloud, more lovely than ever before. At first Jesus is not seen upon it, but as it approaches His lovely person can be beheld clearly seated upon it, riding to conquer as King and Judge attended by countless angels. His coming with power and glory brings terror, fear and grief to those rejected by God, while it brings joy and hope to the righteous who recognize Him and stand with clean hands and a pure heart through His sufficient grace. His descent is followed by the sounding of His trumpet, the resurrection of the sleeping saints to immortality, and the changing and gathering of the living with the resurrected to meet Him.

White clouds rolling over mountains recalled the promised return in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The thought arose that a cloud had sheltered God's people from the sight of their persecutors and could provide shelter for escape. In connection with His coming with clouds and angels, two white clouds filled with angels were seen announcing His coming to the world. Their meeting and parting was accompanied by apparent singing, suggesting both His glorious scene and a shelter for escape.

Signs in sun, moon and stars and perplexity among nations testify beforehand, but the setting or rising sun is not itself that sign. The near return in the clouds is the grand truth Seventh-day Adventists look for, expressed in their name. Full faith in this soon coming is to be shown plainly as witness to all nations, kindreds and tongues by a people working in harmony with heaven to prepare the way of the Lord. It should make a deep impression without further explanation of the sign, the mourning, or the manner of His coming.

Preceding Signs and Order

The coming follows tribulation and ordered signs, for after the great papal persecution and trouble among the nations the sun is darkened, the moon withholds its light, the stars fall and the powers of heaven are shaken, then the sign of the Son of man appears in heaven, all the tribes of the earth mourn, and He is seen coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory attended by a multitude of shining angels. He sends His angels with a great trumpet to gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other, raising the dead incorruptible and changing the living saints to honor those who loved Him and kept His commandments, re-linking families, wiping tears and presenting them faultless with exceeding joy. Its nearness is known as summer is known by the fig tree when its branch is tender and puts forth leaves, and the generation seeing the signs will not pass till all is fulfilled, for heaven and earth will pass away but His words will not, and this visible coming is no secret event and no mere destruction of Jerusalem but the final great event of earth's history proving He is near even at the doors.

Those days of tribulation are the 1260 prophetic days or years of affliction of God's people in the Dark Ages, beginning in A.D. 538 when the bishop of Rome was made Head over All the Holy Churches and Corrector of Heretics and continuing to 1798 when the papal power over Europe was broken. Active persecution did not continue through the whole period because the Lord shortened it for the elect's sake through the increasing influence of the Reformation and the opening of the New World as a refuge, with toleration advancing from about 1776. The signs beginning its fulfillment therefore belong to the brief period between about 1776 and 1798.

The powers of earth now being shaken are those who rule on earth, shaken by war and rumors of war, sword, famine and pestilence including the shaking of nations in Europe, and this is not the shaking of heaven. The powers of heaven are the sun, moon and stars that rule in the heavens. At the voice of God the sun, moon and stars are moved out of their places without falling or passing away, this planet also is shaken, then dark heavy clouds clash, the atmosphere parts and rolls back revealing the open space in Orion from which the voice of God comes and through which the Holy City will come down.

The bright clear sign does not appear until after a mighty earthquake, a time of unprecedented distress and despair such as never was since there was a nation in which God's people suffer affliction, darkness, clouds of heaven clashing and rolling back like a scroll as the final literal sign of the seventh vial, and the voice of God shaking heaven and earth to deliver His people. Then a voice comes from heaven, the clouds roll back to reveal the sign which God's children know and recognize, heralded by music, with thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand angels encircling Him in glory. At its nearness graves open and the dead are raised, the living saints are changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and caught up to meet the Lord in the air, while those who acted the most prominent part in rejecting and crucifying Christ, even those who put on Him the purple robe and crown of thorns and drove nails through His hands and feet, are raised to see Him as He is and with all rejecters see the saints glorified and bewail. The events before His coming are beyond the understanding of worldly minds, yet His coming itself is not the same kind of mystery, and to endure that evil time people must partake of the divine nature through Christ, for human strength alone cannot sustain them.

The coming takes place at the end of all things in perilous times, just after the signs foretold are fulfilled all around, after the time of trouble, and after the gospel is preached as a witness to all nations, then the end comes. Every set time for the Lord to come that leaves out that order will pass by, and each date set and passed only weakens faith. It is the culmination in the time of the end with soon-falling judgments, coming suddenly as a thief amid ambition, strife and bloodshed, and its nearness contrasts with ministers who assure peace and safety, for the unprepared so assured will face sudden destruction and will not escape.

It is accompanied by shouting, awful brightness, lightning like a flash from east to west and north to south, the last great trumpet sounding to earth's remotest bounds, terrible earthquake, reeling earth like a drunkard removed as a cottage, departing heavens as a rolled scroll, mountains and islands moved out of places, cleansing fire penetrating everything and purifying the tainted atmosphere, and a host of ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Before He appears everything in nature is convulsed, with lightning from heaven uniting with fire in the earth causing mountains to burn like a furnace and pour floods of lava over villages and cities, molten rock thrown into water by upheaval of hidden things, mighty earthquakes and great loss of human life. In those days of destruction God is the refuge of believers as Noah was preserved in the ark, and those united with the Lord and prepared to meet Him in peace escape unscathed untouched by smoke and flame as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were untouched because the Son of God was with them, while those who mocked mercy are terrified and those who watched, believed the warning and prepared as in Noah's day are not taken by surprise.

The great sign is preceded by signs and wonders in the heavens and by disasters by sea and land as drops and sprinklings from the vials of wrath upon land, sea and air, including unusually destructive fires, earthquakes burying cities and villages, railway accidents, tornadoes, floods, vitiated air, pestilences, cholera and unexplainable diseases, and diphtheria gathering little ones. These are only faint representations and premonitory convulsions of what will be in the near future, warning of when the earth shakes with terrible shocks, its crust rent by concealed elements, lordly palaces made heaps of ruins, wealth swept away and the religious world terribly shaken, because the end of all things is at hand. Moral depravity existing just before His coming, drunkenness, violence and crime fulfill prophecy and show His appearing in the clouds is near, and judgments now terribly shaking large cities and laying great buildings in ruins in minutes despite size and safeguards show what will come upon the whole earth and that His coming in power and great glory is even at the doors.

The gospel must be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, peoples and tongues before He comes in power and great glory to redeem His people, a work the church must carry out. That gospel message pointed forward to this coming and set before men through faith and obedience the hope of sharing the saints' inheritance in light, and the same message is given today with signs fulfilled and the Lord at the door, with the warning of the judgment and its connected messages followed by this coming so that preaching His near coming is an essential part of the everlasting gospel. The church's work of giving that message with living power can hasten the day of God, for had it done its appointed work He would already have come, calling people to wait, watch, work, pray and warn.

Signs and rapidly unfolding prophecies herald His appearing and divide the whole world into two classes, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous. Ignoring those signs is sinful, while faithful watchmen who attend to events, watch and wait, heed the light of truth and remain watchful will not be surprised, unready or caught unawares. The verse belongs to the signs awakening the knowing from lethargy to earnest effort, calling people awake, prepared and actively proclaiming warning and working for salvation just before His return, which closes speedily after the world grows wicked enough for trouble such as never was, with solemn truths and events revealed to John on Patmos and described in Revelation of what takes place on earth just before His return.

The coming is as in Noah's day, when people carried on ordinary activities, remained unprepared and were overtaken by destruction while the elect were gathered by the angels. Human nature without God's Spirit is the same now as then, and Christ's reference confirms Genesis presents Noah and the flood as historical fact and inspired Scripture. It is therefore a solemn warning not to become absorbed in ordinary pursuits and pleasures as before the Flood but to heed God's warnings and prepare.

Mourning and Judgment Wicked

All the tribes of the earth mourning means the wicked are filled with terror, despair, remorse, shame and conviction when they see His glory and majesty in the clouds with power and great glory. Those rejected grow dark with fear and gather paleness, fleeing His presence to hide in dens and rocks and calling for mountains to hide them from His face and wrath. Earth trembles, and rulers of every rank hide from Him and the Lamb's wrath, left in intense darkness, silent horror and fixed doom with the Spirit gone. The destruction of Jerusalem was only a faint shadow of this worldwide event, when God's restraining Spirit is withdrawn and human passion breaks out, and those made out of harmony with God through sin are consumed by the manifestation of His glory while His people are delivered. His coming brings searching judgment in which those with clean hands and a pure heart stand by His sufficient grace, while the rejected are overcome with fear and grief and the righteous find joy and hope.

Those who accused, rejected, mocked, scourged, pierced, spat upon and crucified Him, even those in the purple robe, crown of thorns and nails, are raised to see Him in glory with angelic attendants. They acknowledge Him and mourn bitterly but too late for salvation, vividly confronted with the judgment they took part in and crying for rocks to hide them. At that time He sits as supreme Judge on the Father's throne, escorted by legions of angels, pronounces sentence on His enemies, and faces no appeal, with the accusing crowd at His trial among those He judges. His triumphal ride into Jerusalem before the crucifixion was a dim foreshadowing of that final triumph amid angels and rejoicing saints, and the judgment upon Jerusalem anticipates the final destruction of those guilty of His death. The bright sign appears after mighty earthquake, unprecedented distress and darkness as clouds roll back like a scroll, then the dead are raised, the saints changed, and all are caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

In that day God's law is revealed in its majesty in His own glory and the Father's and the angels' glory with no lack of honor, as the standard of character understood by defiant breakers who despised, discarded and trampled it. Before keepers and transgressors are placed Eden's Sabbath when foundations were laid and all the sons of God shouted for joy, and Sinai's blackness and darkness, blazing lightning, thunder, tempest, earthquake, loud trumpet waxing louder and louder, and God's voice proclaiming the law largely lost amid Egypt's idolatry. Ministers who taught by smooth words that the law is no longer binding and the Sabbath only for Jews, educating hearts to contempt for prophets, apostles and delegated servants, recall that grandeur. All will then know who God is and the sinfulness of sin under His government who holds every life and judges everyone according to works, that Christ came not to destroy but to fulfill, that not one jot or tittle passes till heaven and earth pass, and that breaking and teaching against the least brings lowness while doing and teaching brings greatness.

His coming is a solemn judgment scene and vengeance on those not knowing God nor obeying the gospel, when all nations are gathered before Him and every person is rewarded according to works, including good left undone and every secret thing with books opened by Him who knows every work, before the assembled universe. Commandment-keepers are honored and transgressors condemned, each called to stand with or against Him and separated to right or left, revealing sin's result, life's value and God's vindicated government. The decisive test is not profession or church membership but character developed in life. It brings the kingdom to the just as the blessed hope completing redemption and conquering death, puts down every authority to rule the whole earth, and sets the seal of final triumph upon the faithful.

When He appears probation has ended with no further opportunity to form character fit for heaven and no pleading blood to wash sin, so people remain as found with character fixed forever. The pure and holy remain so forever and the unholy, sinful and filthy remain so forever, and the impure cannot then be purified or complete Christian character. Holiness must have been formed during probation by removing sin and defects and righting wrongs, with the faithful receiving immortality. There will be no time then to prepare, for He comes suddenly with awful surprise, so preparation, repentance, cleansing from moral injustice, meekness, righteousness and turning from selfishness and covetousness belong to earthly probation now. Those unready at His appearing remain unready.

Resurrection and Reward Righteous

While the whole world is plunged in darkness there is light in every dwelling of the saints, and they catch the first light of His second appearing through close communion with God. A glorious light shines upon the delivered holy ones who remain until the coming, and it stays upon them until He appears, taking away care and weariness and giving health and beauty. Their enemies cannot endure that light and fall as dead men before it.

The righteous welcome His coming with joy as the God they waited for to save them, rejoicing in His presence and salvation. Those who looked for Him and loved His appearing, who watched, believed the warning and prepared as the faithful in Noah's day were prepared, will not be taken by surprise. He descends to set the final triumph upon the faithful who followed His footsteps, who meet Him in peace as witnesses of the success of His suffering mission, sharing the glory of Father and Son, receiving the crown of life and His commendation. They are marked by obedience to all the commandments and not to the beast, made like Him and as joint-heirs with Him.

At His coming the trumpet sounds to earth's remotest bounds amid the archangel's shout, graves open, and the general first resurrection of the just takes place from righteous Abel to the last saint. It is far beyond the few graves opened at Christ's resurrection, and it raises the righteous to glorious immortality on whom the second death has no power. Enoch's translation represents those who will be translated, and those raised after Christ's resurrection are a specimen that death cannot keep its captives. The living faithful are delivered and changed from mortal to immortal in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and together with the risen saints they are caught up to meet the Lord in the air with shouts of glory and victory to share victory, glory and the eternal home.

Its appearing comes at the jubilee, when the pious slave rises shaking off his chains while the wicked master is left confused. After the sign the Son of God's voice calls the sleeping saints, who come forth clothed with immortality crying victory over death and the grave, and the living are changed and caught up together with them. They ascend into the cloudy chariot with wings and wheels rolling upward toward the Holy City, amid Holy cries from wheels and wings and angels and Glory Alleluia from the saints, where Jesus opens the golden gates to commandment-keepers who have right to the tree of life. Jesus Himself descends with His angels before He sends them with the trumpet to gather the elect from the four winds and every direction, His voice calling the sleeping saints to meet Him in the air being distinct from God's earlier shaking voice uttered from Jerusalem or the heavenly throne. In that gathering He honors those who loved Him and kept His commandments, re-links the family chain, wipes all tears from their eyes, and presents them faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

He comes to honor lovers and commandment-keepers and to take them to Himself, fulfilling His promise of mansions in the Father's house and the higher school prepared for them. He welcomes those who reflect His image, who are known by name in the Lamb's book, true and faithful, and seeing Him brings them lasting joy and blessing in their eternal home. It is a joyful reunion where faithful workers who brought a harvest of souls greet one another and meet around the great white throne, hear Well done, good and faithful servant, have the light and glory of God beaming upon them from the face of Jesus Christ, behold the King in His beauty, and receive an abundant entrance into the kingdom. Those who sought, waited and remained faithful enter God's city and kingdom keeping the commandments, receiving glory, honor, immortality and eternal life with trials ended, reunited as families to meet their loved ones then.

He will give the crown of life to all who will receive it. Those obeying God's commandments and relying on Christ's saving merits, fixing their eyes on Christ and following His example, grasping His divinity by living faith and revealing Him in perfect character, and hearing God's word and doing it as doers of the word, will meet Him with joy and triumph, with confidence and gladness, rejoicing in His salvation and saying Lo, this is our God. They will receive the crown of life and enter into their Lord's joy. Those who labor for Him and awake to serve faithfully will be commended, welcomed into the holy city, and receive everlasting life through peace with God, practical obedience to His law, and active care for those around them.

The coming is still future, so the dead apostles and saints lie in their graves and are not in heaven. Mary the mother of the Lord has not been raised but waits for the sound of the trump of God that shall call the dead from their prison house. New believers who had newly accepted the faith grieved when fellow believers died before it occurred, thinking death had made it impossible for them to witness His coming. Because the dead have not yet heard that trump, all prayers offered to Mary and to dead saints fall to the ground and do no good, teaching for doctrine not Thus saith the Lord but the word of the man of sin, and claims that the dead are already raised are injurious delusion because the visible universal coming with earthquake, trumpet and resurrection has not yet been seen.

First Advent Misunderstood

Matthew 24:30 describes the second appearing in power and great glory when He will put down all authority and rule over the kingdoms of the whole earth, not a military campaign to free the Jews or restore their earthly privileges. Its glory belongs to the second appearance and is distinct from the first advent in humility, when divinity was clothed with humanity and He came as a babe of poor parentage without worldly honor or outward display. Jewish teachers, scribes, rulers and leaders wrongly applied prophecies of this reign in power to the first coming, expecting a temporal prince and conquering ruler on David's throne to overthrow Rome by force, restore Jewish liberty, end foreign rule, subdue kingdoms to Jewish authority and exalt the nation with contempt for others. Pride, corrupt reading and unteachableness blinded them so they confused the two classes of prophecy and rejected Jesus despite evidence, and that history repeats in those claiming present truth while misapplying Scripture.

His humble, joyful entry into Jerusalem before His sacrifice and crucifixion faintly prefigured that final triumph, when He accepted royal honor to direct attention to Himself as the world's Redeemer while remaining in humility on His way to die. That ride was a dim foreshadowing of His future return in the clouds with power and glory amid the triumph of angels and the rejoicing of the saints. The judgment that came upon Jerusalem anticipates the final destruction of those guilty of His death, for those who rejected, pierced and looked upon the one they pierced will look upon Him then and mourn bitterly.

In contrast to His first advent when angels broke the night silence proclaiming glory to God, peace on earth and goodwill toward men, He is soon to come again with power and great glory, and that great event is right upon us. Men must be awakened out of carnal security to prepare, and those not wedded to the world will see the time demands earnest, powerful preaching of the Word rather than weak, faint, methodical discourse, which will arouse the powers of hell in opposition. The Lord's Supper is to be celebrated until that second coming, keeping fresh in believers' minds the great deliverance accomplished through His sacrifice.

Time Unknown Yet Near

The exact day and hour of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory are held in secrecy as in a thick cloud, and no definite time, day, month, or year is given, for it cannot be known by man or angels, nor could Christ Himself make it known. He comes in an hour not thought of, as a thief in the night, so all time-setting is false reasoning warned off by God. The command is therefore to watch and pray, to live and work and wait each day as the Lord's in fidelity, faith, love and purity of soul, with constant expectancy. Yet its nearness can be known by its signs as summer is known by the fig tree when its branch is tender and puts forth leaves, and at His coming He will send His angels with a great trumpet to gather His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

He will return suddenly, with awful surprise to the inhabitants of the earth, taking the unprepared by surprise with no time then to prepare to meet Him. When He appears character is fixed and not remade, the holy remaining holy and the filthy remaining filthy. Before that coming most will not accept the gospel, and judgments will fall suddenly and in succession upon cities upon those who received light but did not follow it. Sudden destruction comes upon every unwatched soul while false prophets soothe sinners crying peace and safety and ministers cry peace at wickedness's height, so God's faithful servants must give earnest, solemn, loud warning in no whispered tones, presenting the important present truths to arouse those asleep in slumbers and stir them to inquire and prepare.

The events foretold are waymarks showing that the Saviour's foretold second coming in power and glory will surely come to pass. It is very near, even at the doors at the close of the earth, and because the signs have already appeared believers are to look up and lift up their heads because redemption draws nigh. The predictions of Matthew 24 are being fulfilled in the present age and must be studied again and again and brought before both believers and unbelievers, with ministers and teachers presenting them above matters of lesser consequence because they decide eternal destiny. Their unmistakable fulfillment shows Christ's coming is at hand and calls His church to arouse to questions of eternal importance, promising the soon return to the eternal home and new earth, so nothing should divert attention from proclaiming the message before the end of all things.

Its nearness makes earnest preparation, watching, soul-preparation and warning urgent, because time is short, the end of all things is at hand, and probation is closing. People are warned to prepare to meet Him and to be clothed in the wedding garment to enter the marriage supper of the Lamb, for He foretold signs fulfilled all around, yet many are indifferent even as the end nears. The event is presented as near as a reason to become ready, and the safest course is to make ready with pure heart, seeking sanctification and new strength and grace, which convinces sinners they are not ready and brings peace, joy, love for Jesus and Christians, love for prayer meeting, and joy in Bible reading and prayer. Those who say My Lord delayeth His coming and have no desire for His appearance, and those who say He will not come for thousands of years and cry peace while warning is given, have no prospect of meeting Him in peace, while His redeemed who wait with hope and readiness will see Him, be welcomed as His own, and be taken to their eternal home in lasting joy.

The nearness was proved by tracing the prophecies and prophetic periods with keen exactitude and was expected in 1843 only a few short years ahead, and looked for in 1844 on prophetic ground even by remote peoples such as Arabs of Yemen, Rechabites, Danite Israelites and Tartary believers. The passing of the expected time without His appearing in the clouds put expectation to a close test of faith: some abandoned hope, while sincere believers remained disappointed but steadfast, continuing to hope His coming would not be long delayed and seeing that delay does not cancel the sure word. The solemn warning of the third angel's message recalls minds to the sacred truths about that coming that first convicted hearts when Christ's near coming was preached from 1840 through 1844 as God's leading, and doubting that history pleases Satan. The very soon time cannot be told, so believers keep watch, remain ready, and wait with hope and trust.

That coming in the clouds with power and great glory is very near before the years of probationary time are filled and before a thousand generations of covenant mercy run out, at which time His faithful people will be in His kingdom keeping His commandments. This nearness, not the day of death, is the great constraining motive God gives for zealous and earnest service, requiring ministers, workers and gospel medical missionaries to go forward with the last message of mercy despite plans to occupy minds and divert attention, and to work persistently to bring unbelievers to the truth. The speedy day must be talked openly and urgently and not put off, each asking whether at the Judge's right or left and living in all holy conversation and godliness. Though its time cannot be specified, giving the heart to Jesus, surrendering self-will, and praying at once for grace and a changed life to overcome faults and do His will keeps ready, sustaining believers through toil, pain, sorrow and trials as they look forward and hasten toward it with joy hoping to live to see it.

Proclaiming the Coming Worldwide

The world must be warned now of the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, for He will come suddenly bringing awful surprise with no time then to prepare to meet Him. That warning is the proclamation of the gospel message of truth, the last mercy, the righteousness of Christ, and the third angel's message swelling to the loud cry, carried by combined divine and human agencies to call people to repent, come out from the world, and obtain fitness. It is to be given by canvassers, evangelists, and physicians and by circulation of larger books, and by carrying the message to cities and new territories not yet reached, and it is neglected when minds absorb in commercial interests such as building and running food factories, food stores, and restaurants. Its nearness gives urgency to watching, awakening, preparing the way, and proclaiming to every people, nation, and tongue and calling sinners to repentance.

That warning is the grand work represented by the first, second, and third angels flying through the midst of heaven proclaiming God's law with the faith of Jesus, with the third angel's message as the last warning before His revelation. It is carried forward by workers of all ranks and gifts united in opening the living oracles to all peoples, with institutions of learning, publishing houses, and health institutions cooperating as instrumentalities of God, the church below uniting with heaven. God's messengers are to proclaim His soon appearing with earnestness and the Spirit's living power to every creature and city, in no whispered tones but to arouse those asleep, while false prophets soothe sinners crying peace and safety and sudden destruction comes on every soul not watching. The proclamation goes forth with the third angel's message in power, deepening and widening until the earth is lightened with glory, leading people to serve, watch, work, pray, and warn while waiting.

God's people will stand together to welcome the soon coming Lord and Saviour in power and glory, and many others will be brought through God-sent publications bearing light from the heavenly sanctuary to share the glorious liberty of the sons of God. They are awakened to conviction of sin and to hungering and thirsting after righteousness by learning of reconciliation for iniquity and everlasting righteousness brought in by the Messiah through His sacrifice. The end is near and souls perishing out of Christ must be warned far and near without hindrance by scattering books containing the message like autumn leaves. That coming follows the giving of the last message of warning and salvation with mighty power, in a work moved forward with solidity and double strength and new efficiency, as Christ abides in humanity and the character of the infinite God appears in His workers as witness pointing to the throne of the living God.

Health publications together with publications presenting the third angel's message help prepare the way for the future return in the clouds with power and great glory. People must be fitted for that coming by accepting special truths, and circulation of health journals is a powerful agency in preparing people to accept those truths. Faith in that soon coming is to be shown plainly and openly, with medical institutions established as Seventh-day Adventist institutions to prepare the way by representing gospel medical missionary work, working in harmony with heaven, and bearing witness to all nations, kindreds, and tongues as a people who love and fear God and keep holy His memorial of creation.

The second advent of the Son of God is the end point of the prophecies, reached by carrying hearers down through the prophecies link after link to the closing scenes of this world's history. Proclaiming that coming gives strength with every effort, and William Miller and those who joined with him proclaimed it as John the Baptist heralded the first advent of Jesus and prepared the way for His coming. The speedy return in power and glory received from Scripture was also sought to be proclaimed by Lacunza. The reasons for faith in this coming belong to testing truth for the last days and are to be proclaimed with a certain trumpet sound, together with the Sabbath question and the third angel's message, at the first and in the middle and at the end of evangelistic series such as camp meetings, holding greatest interest for every individual member of families.

The return of the Lord Jesus Christ in the sky with mighty power and splendor is a special message to be given to the people, both church members and those newly come to the faith. It must be given with the Holy Spirit accompanying the words, for only the Lord can make impression on hearts and only He can be trusted, and labor for the church is of no use unless the Holy Spirit moves and deeply impresses hearts. It calls every soul to look and live, to reach up to the Saviour for imparted grace, and then to walk out on the promise. Its nearness in this age just prior to the present time requires a work like John's before Christ's public ministry, bearing the prepare-to-meet-God message and calling publicans and sinners and Pharisees and Sadducees to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, given as directly and faithfully as John rebuked kings for iniquity even when life was imperiled, which requires beholding God until self is lost sight of.

The revelation of the Son of man in the clouds with power and great glory in the very last days, in the very close of earth's history, giving reward to the obedient so readiness is required, follows the proclamation of the third angel, the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, after which an angel comes from heaven whose glory lightens the earth. The first, second, and third angels' messages warning the world about that second coming with power and great glory are linked together, remain in force while time lasts, and shape religious experience as they prepare the world for return. The proclamation of the third angel's message prepares people for that soon appearing with power and great glory to be proclaimed. In connection with expectation of the near approach of the Son of God, the Sabbath instituted at creation is presented as a sign established by the Lord.

Call to Holy Readiness

Readiness is being the faithful and wise servant made ruler over the household to give meat in due season, blessed when the Lord comes and finds so doing and made ruler over all goods, for the coming in the clouds with power and great glory with angels gathering the elect from the four winds is unexpected and demands watching. Saying in the heart my Lord delays His coming and smiting fellow servants and eating and drinking with the drunken brings the lord in an unexpected day and hour to cut asunder and appoint with the hypocrites with weeping and gnashing of teeth, a course fulfilled where work for outcasts is opposed. The elect include the most depraved poor outcasts, even publicans and sinners, rescued from Satan who grasp gospel hope and restore the moral image of God to stand precious next to the throne and enter the kingdom before those with great opportunity and light who walk in darkness, while those in ministry with light who will not overcome appetite and passion will be left. In the latter times some depart from the faith demanding great carefulness, and in the last great day many will cry Lord, Lord, open unto us, but the door will be shut and the knock in vain.

Only those clothed in the garments of His righteousness will be able to endure the glory of His presence, so the coming in the clouds with power and great glory calls for urgent fitness, readiness, holiness of heart and acceptance with God through studying the Word and standing in right relation to Him. Preparation is to be full and complete to meet Him, a joyful hope for His children whom He will take home to the eternal home where they will see Him and be welcomed, and the hope calls believers to stay ready, keep faith strong, and share the light. Longing for His appearing grows with closeness to the Lord and stirs sanctification by the Spirit, purity of heart and preparation to meet Him in peace, bringing peace, joy and perfect love, and His appearing is near to end sin and temptation and change mortal bodies to immortality. The liberally endowed must be patterns of piety holy in heart and life with dominating faith lest they dishonor God, and everlasting sanctification comes as He takes children home.

That appearing in the clouds is the decisive event, the grand review soon to take place, for which people must be ready during probation through Christ's righteousness not self-righteousness, with eternal loss for the unprepared. The Bible prepares people by showing them to put away sin, put away idols, and form characters fit for entrance into the mansions Christ prepares, forming a Christlike spotless character through living faith shown in works, patient obedience to law, personal piety, and practical godliness that feels need, asks pardon and imputed righteousness with assurance prayers are accepted, and prepares day by day keeping His Word to meet Him in peace as those who come out and obey are blessed.

Readiness is to count fitness more important than anything, be spiritually awake, established and unmovable through the shaking just before, purified, made white and tried, complete in Him and clothed not in personal righteousness but faith's righteousness including Christ's robe, the wedding garment of His character, heaven in the soul, denied self, surrendered will, victory by the Lamb's blood and testimony, humility, the world not first, and keeping God's law. It requires accepting His invitation, being born of the Spirit with passions and wills brought under His, becoming pure in heart and Christlike through grace, so as to welcome Him with joy rather than fear and sit with Him at His table, with solemn thought because judgment and eternal decisions and rewards are connected and the soul must be cleansed from every stain to stand acquitted. Those faithful and patient in doing good will receive glory, honor and immortality when He comes, prepared to escape what is coming and stand before the Son of man.

Belief in the near coming reforms life, lays a solemn sense of the impending crisis on listening crowds, convicts by the Spirit, and stirs gray-haired men and women, those in maturity, youth and children to seek God with groans and weeping and praising. Belief makes the heart dwell constantly on holiness and long above all to be ready and entirely accepted, convincing sinners they are not ready, carrying conviction home, and giving peace, joy, love for Jesus and all Christians, love for prayer-meeting, and joy in reading the Bible and in prayer for all who believe and earnestly long for His appearing. The message of His soon return in power and great glory will bring conviction to many hearts, but unbelief presses heavily revealing itself in apathy and indifference toward the unwarned. Those who say My Lord delays and have no desire for His appearance, and those who say He will not come for thousands of years and cry peace, peace while warning is given, have no prospect of meeting Him in peace, and the time is solemn with no time to lose.

His coming in the clouds with the Father's glory and power is an awful event for the unprepared and glorious for the ready, calling for wakefulness, and it is the blessed hope of the church bringing the kingdom to the just, looked forward to in every age as completion of redemption and final conquest of death. Those looking and waiting purify hearts, progress in divine life, increase overcoming faith, and at His appearing His faithful people will be like Him. His redeemed are to wait with hope and readiness to see Him, be welcomed as His own, be taken to the eternal home with lasting joy and blessing, and believers of every age take personal part in preparing themselves and reflecting light, hastening toward the promise with animated hope, proclaiming Christ's righteousness and the third angel's message. Expecting it makes eternal realities clear and worldly praise, riches and pleasures profitless, inspiring vigorous action, fervent love, careful holy living and distinction from the world as the glorious hope of commandment-keepers awaiting the Redeemer, new earth and everlasting life.

Being ready for the return in the clouds is more important than anything else and requires God's converting power, the Spirit's work, self-denial, and Christ manifested in the life to meet Him, with robes made white in the Lamb's blood. Those who recognize His presence and work through the Holy Spirit now will recognize Him when He comes and meet Him in peace. Each must ask whether ready and guard faith from worldly schemes and entanglements, be free from selfishness, bigotry and spiritual pride, imitate meekness and humility, and use resources to bless others with good news. Preparation is by purifying hearts and working through grace to save others, helping one another, with parents filling homes with sunshine by kind words and deeds and educating to praise the Lord.

Waiting and watching for the soon coming in power and great glory with genuine faith in the sign must sanctify life and character through the Gospel, causing fear and trembling for coming things, living as sojourners seeking a better heavenly country instead of spending treasure to glorify self, and heeding calamities and earthquakes as the stroke of an offended God lest weighed and found wanting. Waiting means putting off works of darkness and putting on armor of light, refusing to set up gold or silver or lands as idols or give heart service to this world and its interests, including mania for land speculation in city and country and scorn for competence by moderate gains of industry and frugality. Faith in the soon coming is to be plainly shown as witness to all nations, kindreds and tongues with love and fear of God and keeping holy His memorial of creation, working in harmony with Heaven, with Sabbath observance and Seventh-day Adventist medical institutions representing gospel medical missionary work preparing the way.

Readiness is living connection with God, believing, trusting and following to know Him, giving the heart to Jesus, overcoming self-will and temper through the Lamb's blood and Word testimony, seeking sanctification, purity, strength and grace, being clothed in the wedding garment to enter the marriage supper, with spotless character like Him, faith shown by works, feet on the Word as rock, searching Scripture, dwelling with Christ now for help in trial, and weaving His beauty into character, for He cannot be kept apart now and enjoyed as heavenly companion. Practical godliness feels need, asks pardon and imputed righteousness assuredly accepted, receives the Word under the Spirit, learns meekness, serves fully, tests readiness, examines faith, and is diligent and honest in ordinary work, with sins and defects not removed at the coming but sanctification completed during probation before He comes with angels to give immortality. Complete fitness is required of those who love Him and long for His visible return to end sin and bring children home changed from mortality to immortality.

Belief in His soon manifestation in the clouds with power and great glory must be shown in sanctified life and character not mere profession, for His coming will plainly settle solid Christians versus mere professors and many will be weighed and found wanting, giving cause to fear and tremble. Only those who are laborers together with Him will be taken to Himself and enter the pearly gates, while a mind wholly absorbed in earthly enterprises with scarcely a thought of heavenly things separates from God in dangerous position, requiring the heart cleansed of idols and the gospel received as new quickening power. In the last days spiritual strength is needed to be ever ready, cherishing essential truths rather than diverted by new ideas, keeping every piece of armor on under pressure, showing by actions personal piety and wholehearted cooperation by practicing God's law, for talking law is not obeying and doers are justified representing God without denying truth. The end of all things is at hand calling not for idle expectancy but action according to faith with works in proportion to faith, vigilant waiting joined to earnest working for salvation, showing grace and love in unselfish righteous lives free from selfish worldly monopolies, with peace with God, practical obedience and active care for others.

Profession of looking for the coming Son of man does not prove genuine faith, for last-day perils bring a trial in distressing perplexity testing young Sabbathkeepers and all professors to reveal whether they truly followed Jesus or were shaped by the world. Youth who will not give up the world but unite with it in picnics and other pleasure gatherings under claim of innocent amusement contradict profession, separate from God, become children of the world, and stand a miserable example to unbelievers. A selfish worldly life reveals the heart's belief that the Lord delays, calling for waiting watchfulness, while as the near time draws on Satan's temptations against commandment-keepers grow stronger because his time is short, and worldly conduct and frivolous conversation are inconsistent with readiness. Only sacrificing self-denying lives of sobriety, humility and holiness wait truly, prepared and educated for immortal life.

This hope of the Lord's coming in the clouds calls His people to examine hearts whether in the faith. The coming is near with lookers standing on eternity's borders in moral debasement like a second Sodom, who must exemplify faith and maintain purity and holiness through deep-rooted principles unmoved by temptation because Christ abides in the heart by faith, for without purity and holiness they are not accepted.

To endure the evil time before the event, which is beyond worldly understanding though the coming itself is not the same mystery, people must partake of the divine nature through Christ, for human strength alone cannot sustain them. They must be guided by the Spirit to be prepared, pray for help to change the hard wicked will, give the heart to Jesus, overcome self-will and having one's own way, and ask at once for a heart to do His will, bringing a changed life. Merely understanding Scriptures about the coming while remaining insensible, hard-hearted and unimpressed, making less ado over the coming Saviour than over an earthly queen, shows the heart is not right, while keeping Him in mind with real belief brings conviction of unreadiness. Faithful believers may live until the revelation in the clouds with power and great glory or die beforehand sleeping in Jesus, and while darkness covers earth those of the light rejoice that redemption is near, knowing those who reign with Him must also suffer with Him on earth to be prepared to meet Him when He wakes the dead with heavenly hosts.

Because Satan knows his rule is almost finished and his last opportunity to control the world and destroy inhabitants is now, he makes most decided efforts with ever greater enmity bringing forces into a last rebellious work as perils thicken about the remnant, and that soon opening of great scenes in the Lord's coming with power and great glory will forever end his usurped authority. Those who believe truth must stand as faithful sentinels on the watchtower fully surrendered to God and kept by divine power, praying and presenting Christ's merits connected to the Mighty in counsel for Spirit, energy and discernment, or Satan will put specious reasonings into them to utter, betraying sacred trusts and forming alliance with Satan against heaven in battle against the Ruler. In that day unsullied light will shine from His splendor in His own and the Father's glory with all holy angels, while the world is in darkness there will be light in every dwelling of saints catching the first light, the Redeemer admired by receivers catching undimmed rays of the majestic King, the lowly truly lofty, and earth knowing heaven rules. Belief is shown by sanctified life and genuine faith in the signs, fear for coming things, heeding calamities and earthquakes as an offended God's stroke lest weighed wanting, even by structures reflecting belief.

Faithful Daily Living

Belief in the soon appearing in the clouds does not excuse carelessness in ordinary work but is to be joined with diligence, honesty, fidelity and integrity in daily affairs. The shortness of time is to be kept in mind and talents faithfully used for God's glory now, for at the coming entrusted money will no longer be useful. The Lord comes with power and great glory to call His church to account, and those given great light and precious privileges who hide talents in the earth will face His word then.

At that sudden appearing workers, including restaurant workers, are called to give an account of stewardship. Only those standing on vantage ground, purified, made white and tried, having on the robe of Christ's righteousness, will be prepared to sit with Him at His table. What has been gained that brings nearer heaven and counts in God's work is therefore to be examined, the hundreds met every day warned to prepare to meet God, souls led to Christ, and those crowding in cities and towns not content merely to receive but giving the Bread of life to hungry souls.

Health reform is one great branch of preparation for the coming of the Son of man. Preparing to stand in the great day of God is a solemn work calling for continued earnest united prayer, and the promise of the Holy Spirit does not remove the need to pray.

Those who look for the soon return in the clouds should show by their lives that faith is a governing power, resisting worldliness and worldly influence and remaining faithful while they prepare and wait. The churches are to look and wait for the coming of the Son of God in power and great glory while present truth enlightens, arouses, convinces, sanctifies and purifies them. Genuine faith in the signs of His soon coming is shown through a life and character sanctified by the gospel.

The soon appearing in the clouds is what those professing to keep God's commandments are looking for, as a loved and kept commandment-keeping church whom He loves and keeps, waiting and watching. It is the great day of the Lord for which people must be prepared by a call to repentance and readiness to meet God, with God's people just before the visible coming preparing others to stand. God's workers await the hastening day by striving for spiritual maturity, harmonious characters and faithful use of distinct gifts in their roles. That future endpoint lays present duty on teaching children and grandchildren God's requirements, laboring especially for children and bringing them to Christ, helping and blessing even the very young, living and working faithfully together in marriage, remaining faithful to God and one another, cherishing distinctive principles, self-denial and sacrifice, keeping Him in mind in dwelling and business, and living as waiting for the Lord.

It is sacred truth to be taught with solemn searching power, approached with trembling earnestness and purified life and welcomed with fervent desire to live to see it. Its proclamation convicts sinners, brings them into the fold, and moves believers to work for friends and relatives with multiplying conversions. The world must be warned of the Son of man coming in the clouds with power and great glory by proclamation of the gospel message of truth carried by canvassers, evangelists, physicians and larger books, not neglected by minds absorbed in commercial interests such as building and running food factories, food stores and restaurants. Jesus the Prince of peace will certainly soon come in power and great glory, to be proclaimed now as warning when men are ambitious for power and the world is filled with strife, discontent, confusion and bloodshed.

Persuading sinners to believe that Jesus is soon to come in the clouds belongs with giving up idols, keeping God's commandments and winning souls, yet meets no interest, no desire to search Scripture, no conviction over transgressing law, flimsy excuses, indifference, decided opposition, ridicule and contempt heaped on God's holy law, requiring enduring patience and unwavering faith rather than discouragement. People may reject the precious truth of the soon coming when extremists misrepresent its teachers, and those who look for Him while claiming to keep God's commandments need spiritual perception, vigor, steadfast faith and power in prayer. Opposers of God's work and servants will face Him coming with power and great glory to judgment where books are opened and each is judged according to deeds by Him who knows every work, and they are to be pitied and prayed for that the Lord may forgive. Accepting the soon-coming message brought trials and difficulties, though less than those from further advanced truth afterward, and believers centered in Jesus and filled with His Spirit can remain united even disagreeing on points though this truth will receive increasing discussion.

Even among professed watchers very strange failures will happen without strength from on high, for Peter's self-confidence and denial show boasts of faithfulness are dangerous and without deeper experience many will not bear trial. Just prior to the coming God calls for men to prepare a people to stand in the great day of the Lord by just such a work as John's in these last days, with direct warning and call to repentance and readiness rather than peace and safety, to escape what is coming and stand before the Son of man. It is a grand review soon to take place for which parents are urged to prepare their children.

His people are to wait for the soon return with patient meekness, working, praying and watching. The revelation in the clouds with power and great glory marks the culmination of the time when Christ's divine-human character, incarnation and atonement are studied and proclaimed, and the work of preparing and purifying the churches and preparing people to stand belongs to the period just before it. God's people prepare others by carrying the light of truth for that second appearing. The near soon coming is good news, mattering more than risky amusements, requiring preparation, drawing listeners and gathering souls.

That speedy appearing must be talked about openly and urgently, not put off, each asking whether at the Judge's right or left and living in all holy conversation and godliness. Expectation calls for giving the heart to Jesus, surrendering will and asking His help to do His will, with prayer bringing grace and changed life to overcome faults and live ready, though the time cannot be specified. It is a day believers hope to live to see, sustaining them through toil, pain, sorrow and trials.

The personal coming in the clouds in the near future at the close of time makes individual preparation urgent, with none living for self but eternal life as mainspring of action, showing reverence for God, love for Jesus and interest in souls. Influence must work in every direction through words, example, testimony and prayers to attract not repel, leaving a bright heavenward track to show the way. The Christian is part of the great whole bound to society, responsible for influence for good or evil, to be of purest highest stamp, letting works testify of faith and gathering sheaves instead of shaming Christ by perverse life.