Flaming clouds!
Myriad angels attending!
The heavens athunder with shouting!
The Lord Himself descending!
The trump of God awakening the dead!
Bursting tombs, quaking cemeteries, rocking mausoleums!
Resurrected saints ascending!
Living ones rejoicing!
Caught up together in glad reunion!
The wedding in the air!
What mortal pen can describe the glory of the coming King of Kings for His Blood-bought, chosen Bride?
There is a mighty awakening in the earth today. The children of the Bridechamber are all astir. They are donning their wedding robes; they are trimming their lamps, examining their vessels, and with open Book are poring over the word of divine annunciation:
"For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
"Then we which are alive and remain 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." (I Thess. 4:16.)
The voice of one believer is exhorting another:
"Get Ready!"
"Get Ready—Jesus is Coming Soon!"
The ripple and stir of motion is running through all the camp of the waiting church.
Coldness, worldliness, formality, and indifference are being laid aside. Slumber is being brushed from heavy eyes. Consecrated faces are turning toward the growing radiance in the East.
It is the subject of the hour!
Millions are discussing it pro and con!
Some are teaching it, others are doubting it. Some are repudiating it, others are questioning honestly concerning it. The questions resolve themselves into four major queries:
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Is He coming?
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How is He coming?
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When is He coming?
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For whom is He coming?
These questions merit the most thoughtful consideration of the universe and are doubtless the most propitious and weighty of the day.
IS HE COMING?
According to the Word of the Living God, the answer is an unqualified affirmative.
In the Old Testament, there are twenty times as many references to the second coming of the Lord as there are references to his first coming.
That is, there are twenty times as many prophecies concerning the coming of the King who shall rule and reign upon the throne of David and go forth conquering and to conquer, as there are references to the crucified and rejected Nazarene.
Small wonder that the Jews did not recognize the Christ! They were looking for a King, riding on a snow-white charger; the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, they knew not!
In the New Testament there are some two hundred and sixty chapters.
In those two hundred and sixty chapters the second coming of our Lord is definitely and positively referred to three hundred and eighteen times.
In the Epistles of Paul, water baptism is referred to thirteen times; the second coming fifty times.
Every time we pray the Lord's prayer we are praying for the Coming of the Lord.
"Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done."
How can there be a kingdom without a King?
The last words of the Bible containing the last message of the risen and ascended Saviour to His earthly Bride, concern the second coming:
"Surely I come quickly."
And the recorded answer of the waiting believer is ever:
"Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
They to whom God's Word is sufficient and final authority, know that Christ is coming back again because the infallible Scriptures so state in plain and unmistakable language.
Jesus Himself declared that He would come again:
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself." (John 14:3)
If I go away I will come again—we know that He did go, slowly, visibly, literally before the eyes of His wondering disciples; and He will so come again.
The Angels declared that He would come again:
"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." (Acts 1:11)
Peter foretold the return of the Lord:
"The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." (II Pet. 3:10)
Paul declared:
"Unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation." (Heb. 9:28)
John admonished:
"And now little children abide in Him; that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at his coming."
In the face of these and clustering other Scriptures of like portent, even they who do not embrace the teaching of the "literal coming" are forced to declare:
"Oh, yes! We believe that the Lord is coming, but not as you believe it."
Questioned as to just how they believe He is coming, the interrogator finds that there are five principal theories held by those who deny His imminent and literal appearing.
A. The Destruction of Jerusalem.
There are those who believe that the prophecies concerning His coming were fulfilled in 70 A.D. at the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersal of the Jews.
But no! When Christ returns it is not to scatter Israel but to gather together again. (Jer. 31:10; Isa. 1:26)
B. The Outpouring at Pentecost.
There are those who believe the promise was literally fulfilled on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Ghost descended with rushing wind and tongues of fire. They quote the Scriptures, "I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you," in substantiation of their claim.
But Pentecost was not the coming of the Son, but of the Holy Spirit of whom He Himself spake saying, "If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." Christ spake of the Spirit as "Another" Comforter. To confuse the two would be to nullify the God-head.
C. Conversion.
There are those who say that Conversion is the coming of the Lord. When the sinner is converted, they claim, the Lord comes to Him and that is all there is to the subject as far as they are concerned and it is carelessly brushed aside.
They do not stop to consider that at conversion the believer comes to the Lord, not the Lord to the believer. Nor do they consider that there are no rending graves, no translations in the air attending and that the specifications of the one do not at all measure up to those of the other.
D. Death of the Believer.
There are those that believe the coming of the Lord takes place at the death of every believer.
When the saint passes, the Lord comes for Him and receives Him unto Himself.
But no! The coming of the Christ is not attended by funeral trains, weeping mourners and yawning tombs that await new inmates!
The coming of Christ is attended by bursting tombs, resurrected saints, reunited loved ones and joy unbounded!
There are still others who contend that the spreading of the Word throughout the heathen lands comprises the coming of Christ.
They contend that His kingdom is within us, and the world is getting better and better every day and in every way, and when the doctrines of Christianity shall have girdled the globe and the world shall thus have been brought under the gentle scepter of the Man of Galilee, then shall His coming have been brought to pass.
True the kingdom of God is within the believer, and is a foretaste of glory is begun within his soul, but that the world is getting better is contradicted in every newspaper and in the world about us.
Furthermore, those of us who are most interested in the bearing of the gospel to the foreign lands must reluctantly admit that the task of evangelizing the heathen is at best a painfully slow and tedious problem. Whereas the coming of the Lord is neither slow nor tedious.
He will come "in a moment,—in the twinkling of an eye—as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west."
HOW IS HE COMING?
If then, none of these theories comprise the coming of the Lord, we are brought face to face with the question, How is He coming?
Does the word of God answer this question?
Yes, clearly and at some length and in detail.
A. The Same Jesus.
First we know as to the manner of His coming that He will be the very same Jesus.
"This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him to go." (Acts 1.)
The visible, tangible, real Christ which ascended is coming back again.
He Who said "Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself, handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have;" He who ate bread and fish and honeycomb before their eyes is back in clouds of Glory not a mythical, intangible shadow; not the weird concoction of some medium's brain or cunning tapping upon tables and taking form in some nebulous ectoplasms, but the Same wonderful, genuine, blessed Saviour, Hallelujah! And we shall know Him by the prints of the nails in His hands!
B. In Like Manner as Ye Saw Him Go.
Second, we know that He will come in the air even as He went away. He ascended visibly from the crest of the Mount of Olives, and as visibly in the clouds of Glory shall He re-appear.
C. He Shall Descend From Heaven With a Shout.
Third, we are told that He shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an Archangel and with the trump of God. (1 Thess. 4:16)
"Will that penetrating reverberating, mighty trumpet-toned shout be heard by all the world?" the question is frequently asked.
Upon this point it is difficult to give positive answer.
On the one hand we have the preponderance of evidence that when the Father spake from Heaven to His Son at the Jordan and again during the Triumphal Entry, the people heard the sound in both instances.
True, the untaught, whose ears were not attuned to the infinite, could not understand the source nor the meaning thereof; one thought it thundered, another that an angel spake. The attendants of Paul on the Damascene road heard the sound of the voice of Him that spoke to Paul, but saw no man.
At any rate the ear of the believer shall hear and understand that Call Divine.
The sound thereof shall penetrate the graves of the dead in Christ and cause the walls of the silent mausoleum to be rent asunder that the sleeping saints may rise to greet Him in the air. The living shall hear it also and rise with them to greet Him in the clouds.
D. As a Thief in the Night.
Fourth, we are warned that the Lord will come "as a thief in the night."
"What a peculiar term to use in regard to the Christ!" one exclaims. "A thief in the night!"
Yet how apt! When the thief comes in the night, he sends no advance warning. He does not go down the street an hour before, crying:
"Hear ye! At half past three in the morning I will enter the home of Robert Clark to take away his jewels and his gold."
A thief comes unexpectedly.
His approach is unannounced.
He comes for a definite purpose, and, having accomplished the purpose, he as quickly departs.
He comes not for the wood, the hay nor the stubble. He comes for the gold, the silvers and the precious stones.
So with the Christ of Glory.
His coming will be unannounced as to date. "Of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only."
Again, Christ comes not for the worldlings, but for the faithful, for the hearts of gold, the precious stones that will adorn His blessed crown.
E. With Power and Great Glory.
Fifth, we are assured that when our Saviour comes to catch His Bride away, He will come, not as the despised and rejected Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; but as the Crowned King of the Ages. His scepter will be in His hand; His sandals upon His feet; His royal garments shall be upon Him; His humiliation over forever.
WHEN IS HE COMING?
"If you cannot set the date, nor tell the hour of your Lord's approach," asked a man of me one day, "then why do you state with such assurance that the Lord is coming soon again?"
"Because," I replied, "though we do not know the day nor the hour, of the seasons we are not ignorant For the Lord will not do anything till He reveal it first to His servants."
We know the seasons because the Lord has granted us certain signs, whereby we might know when His coming is at hand. These signs are being fulfilled for the first time since the words of prophecy fell from the Saviour's lips—fulfilled with startling rapidity on every hand.
One day the disciples called the Master aside, and put to Him three pointed questions. They asked Him:
"When shall these things be?"
"What shall be the sign of Thy coming?"
"And of the end of the world."
The first question concerns the destruction of Jerusalem; the second concerns the coming of Christ; the last concerns the final judgment.
It is, therefore, with the second question we are herein most concerned.
"WHAT SHALL BE THE SIGN OF THY COMING?"
Know you of a more potent question than this or of one which more vitally affects the Church of God?
Far from displeased with the trend of their questioning the Master gave to them and to us through His Word, many varied and infallible proofs whereby we might know of a surety when His coming was nigh at hand.
These signs affect the religious, the political, the educational and the international worlds.
I. Religious Signs.
In answer to the request of the disciples for signs whereby they might know when His coming drew nigh, the Saviour gave, among other signs, several which referred to the religious world.
"The love of many shall wax cold."
"Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof."
"They shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, saying, Where is the promise of His coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were."
"Men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God."
These signs are certainly fulfilled in startling detail all about us today.
Not all the religious signs, however, were to be of a discouraging nature.
The Lord also promised that a latter day revival should precede His Second Coming.
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy." (Act 2:17, p. 18.)
Almost every parable of the Old and New Testament points to this latter day revival. The revival of the Ten Virgins, for instance; their arousal from slumber, and the refilling of their lamps. The instance of the replenishing of the wine which had run low at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, the stirring in the Valley of Dry Bones, and bringing back of the Ark, after its long absence from the Tabernacle, etc.
II. Educational Signs.
These signs point expressive fingers also at the educational development of the last days.
"Knowledge shall be increased."
"Many shall run to and fro."
"The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broadways, they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings."
Here again is an apt picture of the developments of these last days. TRAVEL, for instance. Men are for the first time in history really running to and fro. Until the last century, no opportunity had really ever been afforded for this prophecy's fulfillment.
The discovery of the gasoline motor, the steam engine and all they entail has been reserved, in His wisdom and providence, for the present day.
The automobile is described with startling realism by the prophet Nahum.
And as for knowledge being increased in the last day, one has only to remember the recent harnessing of electricity and the waterways, only to remember the infancy of the telephone, radio, steamboat, motor car, and all the thousand and one new inventions of the present age.
The discovery of high explosives, the perfecting of poisonous gases, the building of airplanes, submarines, torpedo boats and destroyers was unknown until the time of the present generation. Significant indeed is the fact that their development should so closely precede the coming of Armageddon!
III. Nation Shall Rise Against Nation.
"Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet."
"For when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them . . ."
"Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places."
"A man's foes shall be they of his own household."
Never since the world began had there been such a universal talk of Peace, as before the late world war.
THE PEACE PALACE AT THE HAGUE
Finally came the crowning effort and monument of mankind to Peace—a monumental effort which almost immediately became the laughing stock of men and devils, for it has known no peace since the bolt fell from the blue upon it—I speak of the building of the Peace Palace at The Hague.
The leading nations of the world combined their efforts in its erection.
Stained glass windows for the council chamber were the gift of England.
Gobelin tapestries came from France.
Silk tapestries were presented by Japan.
Priceless porcelain was the gift of China.
A vase of jasper arrived from Russia.
A throne of marble was sent by Greece.
Costly rugs were donated by Turkey.
Germany gave the great gates of bronze at the park entrance.
The U. S. A. gave marble statuary to adorn the Peace Palace within and without.
From smaller, less influential nations, came other gifts.
A number of eminent judges were brought from the ends of the earth to sit as a permanent jury upon all difficulties as they might arise, arbitrating peacefully and fairly all differences of the nations.
A great library was gathered, in which the difficulties and manner of settlements arrived at, of all former wars, were set forth that precedents might be established and like pitfalls avoided.
At last the great Palace was ready for dedication.
The flags of all nations waved gaily in the breeze.
International silver bands flared forth national anthems.
Men tossed their hats into the air and cheered wildly for, "Peace, Peace, Universal and abiding Peace!"
Then—The Blow Fell!
What was it you said, Lord?
When they cry, Peace and safety, then shall sudden destruction come upon them?
Within three months, after the first gun was fired, six out of eight of the greatest powers in the world were at each other's throats! Blood flowed forth in rivers. And, strange to say, a man's foes were they of his own household.
Germans living in America and Britain went back by thousands to fight their brothers.
The King of England, the Czar of Russia, the King of Belgium and the Kaiser of Germany were all closely related and of one household.
BLOOD, FIRE AND THE VAPORS OF SMOKE
BLOOD?
They fought knee-deep in blood in the trenches!
FIRE?
For the first time in history, men fought each other with liquid fire and a rain of flame.
Vapors of Smoke?
Men curtained in their airplanes, ships and armies in vapors of smoke; and they fought a warfare with poisonous vapors. They saw it coming, one day, those soldiers, as they stood in their trenches.
Clouds of green chlorine gas, rolling in low banks close to the earth. They rubbed their eyes and looked again!
There it came billowing toward them, blown by the breeze. Men could fight men, but they couldn't fight smoky vapors! Steadily, with deadly, maddening deliberation it rolled toward them, passed over their trenches and was gone; leaving them all dead just where they were.
Good old Book! You do know what you are talking about! And though men say you are old and out of date and fit only to be relegated to the shelves of a bygone age, you are the most up-to-date book in the world. You are a thousand years ahead of date, and more sure and accurate than the news journals of the day!
THE FIG TREE SIGN
A. The Numeric Fig Leaf.
"Now learn the parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise when ye shall see all these things know that it is near, even at the doors." (Matt. 24:32, 33.)
Every reader who is at all familiar with the prophetic Word knows that the "fig tree" is the emblem and sign of the Jewish Nation. Therefore, this Scripture means that when the Jewish Nation, which, according to the Word, has been dispersed and scattered to the ends of the earth, diminished and despised, shows signs of coming back to life, and shows a startling increase in numbers and power, one may consider it as one of the last and most conclusive signs that the Lord is at the door.
What a startling increase the Jewish Nation has shown.
A little over one hundred years ago statisticians and almanacs set the Jewish numbers at 200,000.
Today's almanac puts the number at 17,000,000.
Never has such sudden increase been known under similar circumstances, living within their own race, excommunicating their sons and daughters if they dare marry into another.
Consider the fate of other nations who have so lived.
The Indians are fast declining.
The Aborigines are almost extinct.
The Eskimos soon will be no more.
Scientists tell us that unless the Hawaiians marry into other races they will soon be a race no more.
Yet the Jews, still living among themselves, are putting forth their leaves, numerically, as none other.
B. The Financial Fig Leaf.
The Jews now unquestionably hold the moneys of the world in their hands. Everything they touch seems to turn to gold. Rothschild alone, before the world war, was worth $482,000,000. This has been doubled and trebled since.
Some attention to the money power of the Jews was attracted during the famous Dreyfus trial in Paris. When a second trial was denied, stocks and bonds dropped dangerously, and it seemed the backbone of finance would break over Jewish knees, till the trial was granted. Then all was as before.
C. The Educational Fig Leaf.
The position of the Jews as college professors, musicians, scientists and students of law, the motion picture directors, the merchants of the day, challenge attention by their very overwhelming numbers.
D. The Back to Zion Fig Leaf.
Voltaire laughed the Bible to scorn because it declared that the Jews would return to the Promised Land.
"Promised Land indeed!" said he. "Why, it's nothing but a barren strip between the hills and the open sea."
Evidently he knew not of the River Titus that flows high up on the Northern Hills, nor the aqueducts that would be reopened. (Joel 2.)
Evidently, also he must never have seen France in its beauty, or he would have know what could have been done with a strip between the hills and the open sea.
"But the Jews can never go back!" protested others.
"For centuries the alien Gentile feet have trodden the streets of the beloved city. The unspeakable Turk, holds the situation in his bloody hand."
Ah, yes!
But wait for God, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.
Through weary, interminable months and years the world war had dragged on. Neither side could win. Back and forth across the Hell of No Man's Land they struggled!
Then came the day the document was signed which declared that if the Allies captured Jerusalem its gates would thereafter be opened unto the Jew.
One month from the day, General Allenby encamped with his men outside the city walls. I have had the pleasure of visiting in the homes of Jews and Mohammedans in Jerusalem and hearing their account at first hand.
Without the city walls, came the command:
"To arms!"
"Fall in!"
"Mark time!"
"Advance!"
And through the historic gate they marched.
Within the city all was pandemonium!
The Turks were fleeing in terror! They who had resisted all others and fought with so bloody sword, now turned and ran without a shot being fired or a blow struck! They had had a saying amongst them that they would never evacuate the city till "The River flowed to their gates and Allah stood at their walls."
And now," they cried, "behold both these things are upon us!
"The river has been piped to our gates for the soldiers. And Allah (Allenby) is at our wall!"
So forward! Right! Left! Right! they marched and backward in ever increasing confusion fled the Turk. And so that memorable day it came to pass that the Crescent and the Star came billowing down, and the Union Jack went up that staff atop the Tower of David, and the gates of Zion stood open once more to the children of its bosom.
They who had been dispersed to the ends of the earth through all the centuries were now free to return.
THE LORD IS NEAR
The cup of the Gentiles is almost full!
The Lord is at the door!
The angels of the Apocalypse are preparing to empty their vials of wrath upon the world!
The four horsemen are in their saddles ready to ride!
The spirit of the Anti-christ is abroad, spreading itself as a green bay tree!
The Clouds of Blasphemy, Sin, Christ-rejection, and of Unbelief hang thickly o'er the world, veiling their eyes to the coming Armageddon!
"Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their forehead." (Rev. 7:3) The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are impatient to be gone!
They neigh, and champ upon forming bits, pawing with sharp shod feet held in check only by those strong-armed, commanding angels.
Soon the storm will break and the Tribulation come! The Bridegroom is therefore calling to His own:
"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bethar." (Songs of Sol. 2:17.)
"If the goodman of the house has known at what hour His Lord suffered his house to be broken into"
Watch and be sober, for in such an hour as ye know not your Lord cometh!"