THIS is a most important statement, and one that leaves no doubt to the believing heart, scoffers notwithstanding. Of them it is written, “There shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” (2 Peter 3:3, 43Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (2 Peter 3:3‑4)). This is simply the taunt of infidelity, as much as to say―He will not come.
Stay, my friend, if you be a scoffer you are mistaken. He will come again, and that quickly. When on earth Jesus said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3)). This was said to His own.
After the work of redemption was accomplished, and Christ had ascended on high, the Holy Ghost said concerning Him, “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 11:3737They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Hebrews 11:37)).
Again, from heavenly glory, Jesus speaks, and, in the closing page of Scripture, thrice over does He say, “I come quickly” (Rev. 22:7, 12, 207Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. (Revelation 22:7)
12And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. (Revelation 22:12)
20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. (Revelation 22:20)).
Without any doubt, then, the Lord’s return is certain. The question alone is, Is it imminent? Is it at hand? Everything says, Yes! A groaning creation calls for His return to deliver it. A careless world, ripe for judgment, invites His return to judge it. A backsliding and worldly Church needs His return to redeem it from an evil scene which has corrupted it, alas!
All therefore points to, His speedy return, and every soul saved, or unsaved, should be impressed with the solemn fact―He is near at hand. What a revolution will His coming produce. For the Christian it will be the blessed exchange of glory with Christ for the trials and exercise of the pilgrim pathway. It will, be to go home―home to the Father’s house—home to be with Jesus forever. “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we watch (are alive when He comes) or sleep (be in the grave), we should live together with him” (1 Thess. 5:9, 109For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. (1 Thessalonians 5:9‑10)). What a future! We have a title to it without a flaw―His blood―and surely it is a prospect without a cloud.
It is a grand appointment that God gives the believer, and through grace I am going to keep it. Are YOU, my reader? If you are not saved, if you are not converted, it will be a sad appointment that you will have to keep, for, consequent on the return of the Lord Jesus, God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness, by that man whom he hath ordained” (Acts 17:3131Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)). That man is Jesus, the Jesus you do not love or care about.
Friend, your position is really serious. You had better believe the gospel, and rest on Christ.
What an awful eternity lies before the unbeliever! “The blackness of darkness forever” awaits the apostate sinner. Apostate angels God “hath reserved in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6,136And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. (Jude 6)
13Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 13)). Do you suppose a careless, godless, sin-loving despiser of the gospel will have any better fate in the day of Christ’s righteous wrath? I trow not. The gospel has come. The Lord is coming. He will come for the believer. Judgment is coming for the impenitent and unbelieving. Escape it!
This being so, it behooves every unblessed, unsaved soul to hasten to the Lord. He is ready and waiting to save. His blood avails for the vilest, and the worst. Friend, delay no longer. Come to Jesus now. Come as you are, in your sins. He will not cast you out. He delights in blessing the needy. He rejoices in saving the lost. Let Him have joy over you now, ere it be too late. You have really no time to lose. He may come ere the year closes. Procrastinate no longer. There yet is time. Tomorrow may be too late. He may have come. “I will come” is His word. Ere He comes for us, do you come to Him. This is my closing exhortation to you in 1895. God grant that you may heed it, and that the last days of the year may find you a decided believer, waiting for the Lord’s return. Amen.
W. T. P. W.