NEARLY nineteen centuries have rolled away since Jesus in glory uttered these momentous words. Every hour brings us nearer to their accomplishment. And yet the world at large buys and sells, and lives on for self, its vanities and needs, as though they never had been uttered. There stands the solemn sentence, inscribed four times indelibly on the eternal page of Scripture. Let the infidel sneer, let the mocker mock, let the skeptic laugh, let the false-hearted delay, let the indifferent ignore, let millions doubt, let worldlings pursue their way, yet Jesus, the glorified Man of the eternal counsels of God, saith to all, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give to every one according as his work shall be.”
All Scripture testified of His first coming. He came. The same Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, testify also of His second coming. He will come again. Centuries have rolled into the past, nations have risen and fallen; wars, revolutions, famines, &c., have filled the page of history since the promise went forth. A world seething with wickedness abuses the grace that delays His return; but the moment will come. Quickly, quickly, saith the word of Him who cannot lie (Titus 1:2). With the Lord a thousand years is as one day. Some two thousand have run by since the exiled prophet received the message in the isle of Patmos. Every moment brings us nearer to the fulfillment of His word. Where is the wise man, where the scribe, who can tell us when? No man knoweth the day nor the hour (Matt. 24:36, 25:13), is the solemn announcement from His own blessed lips.
Reader, what effect have these words on you? Much there is to take place ere His manifestation in public glory to judge the nations and reign, but as you read these lines He may descend in a moment from the throne of God to claim His own (1 Thess. 4:15-18). Are you one? Would His rallying triumphant shout thrill your heart with unutterable joy? Would the voice of the archangel be your summons to the heavenly glory? Would the trump of God be the joyful sound that your soul had long awaited in this poor world of sin? What a moment! Myriads raised, myriads changed, myriads together rapt to glory, all the redeemed of God! Every churchyard, graveyard, cemetery, urn, every resting-place of the dust of. His saints, in a moment shall yield its dead! Every living believer on the broad expanse of this our planet will be then, and in a moment changed! (1 Cor. 15:51.)
Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 15:50). But divine power, that raised Christ, shall raise His sleeping ones, change His living ones, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. 15:52). The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout (1 Thess. 4:16). All His own shall hear. He shall descend; we shall ascend. Changed into His blest image, the countless throng of sinners saved by grace, washed from all their guilty stains in His own most precious blood, in a moment shall behold their Lord! The feeblest that has touched the hem of His garment by faith shall be there. In the twinkling of an eye, swift as, or even swifter than, the lightning flash, the air will be thronged with His purchased ones, caught up to meet Him (1 Thess. 4:17). Will you be there?
Oh what a glorious moment for the redeemed of God, when Christ shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied! Patiently He is seated at the right hand of the Living Majesty, the Man whom God delighteth to honor. Infinite mercy and longsuffering stay the longed-for moment of His return. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Hence the still wide open door. Oh, sinner, enter while you may!
“Room, room, still room,
Oh enter, enter now!”
Swiftly the hand of time goes round the world’s dial! Swiftly the last ray of light in the day of grace is about to pass away, and the awful night of judgment and vengeance of Almighty God ensue! Woe to the man who neglects His salvation till it is too late! Listen now, we beseech you, to the warning cry, “Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:12). “Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 10:37). Come now, poor troubled heart, to the Saviour while you may. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little” (Ps. 2:13). Now, now is the day of salvation. A moment more, and the hour of grace may have passed and gone forever (Matt. 25:10).
“Surely I come quickly” (Rev. 22:20). Surely. Sinner, beware. What power will open for you the once closed door? Your case will be hopeless! Oh the agonizing remorse of the soul that meant to enter in, but put it off, and put it off, and put it off, till it was too late! Oh the agony of the memory of love neglected, grace rejected, mercy despised, Christ forgotten, till it was too late Mercy waits upon you, grace pleads with you, love lingers for you. Dare you continue heedless on your way?
“My reward is with me,” to give every one according to his works. Are yours fit for His eye? Maybe you are one of those who are crying, “Lord, Lord, have we not in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matt. 7:22.) But, alas, it is your estimate of them, and not His. Alas, it is but the way of Cain. Are your works the fruit of faith? Is it love to His Name, in response to His constraining love, that has produced them? Or are they the wretched efforts of your unregenerate heart to propitiate God? Arouse ye, thoughtless soul, the world is guilty of the shedding of the blood of Christ, and no sin-stained works of yours can atone, or help to do so, for your guilty stains. No work but His can aught avail to entitle you to dwell with Him.
Many are the wonderful works of Christless professors that well-please themselves, and their professing neighbors, but what will Christ’s estimate of them be in that swift approaching day? Then shall He say to many, “I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23). His reward is with Him. He will reward His own for even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, even the very smallest act which is the fruit of faith. And He will reward the worldling and the professor with judgment according to their deserts. He will give every man according as his work shall be.
Not a single thing can you do to please God until you are saved. “They that are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8). All your efforts are in vain, and hopeless. You must have a Saviour first. Christ is He. Have you received Him? Your sins may be many; His precious blood will blot them out. Your conscience may be troubled; His finished work will give you peace. Your heart may be dissatisfied; He will more than fill it. Your soul may be miserable; He will fill you to overflow with unspeakable joy (1 Peter 1:8). It is Christ you need. Guilty and lost you are, if unconverted, one among millions. Christ died for all (2 Cor. 5:14, 15). Believe now, just as you are, as a sinner confessed, on His blessed Name, and you shall be saved. If He died for all, and the Word of God says it, you are included. You are one of the all. Do you take God at His word? Yes? You hesitate. “Surely I come quickly.” Beware. Do you then believe Him? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” You do? “Now, it was not written, for his sake alone... but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 4:23-25; verses 1, 2).
By faith, without a single work, past, present, or future, we are justified. The accomplished work of Christ is the sole ground. All the wondrous value of that work is, so to speak, put to each believer’s account. He is justified, has peace with God, access into grace, where he has a totally new standing before God; and joy in a new hope, the glory of God; and is called to glory in tribulation, as he seeks to follow the One who saved him; abounding in good works, until he reaches glory. Dost thou believe?
E. H. C.