We may have the hope of the Lord's coming as being glad to get to the end of the desert, because it is a desert; or we may long to be out of it because Canaan is at the end. If it is not the latter, we shall be in danger of being tired with running, which is always wrong; we should be in the spirit of waiting pilgrims, not weary pilgrims, for we ought not to be weary. I do not say we are not weary, but we ought not to be so. " For consider him, who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds."
We ought, in the power of the Spirit, to be longing for Christ, because of the excellency there is in Him. It is not because of the judgments that are coming, that we should wish to be with the Lord; for in the book of Revelation, when all the judgments have been gone through, He presents Himself to the church as " the bright and morning star;" and the bride says, " Come," it is her response to Himself for what is in Himself, and not because of the judgments. And when He has presented Himself as "the bright and morning star" to the church, He does not add, " Surely I come quickly," until the church has first cried out, " Come," in answer to what He is in Himself, and therefore a desire produced by the revelation of Himself.