I expect even the smallest of you who read this have seen a thunderstorm, have heard the loud noise of the thunder, and seen the bright flash of the lightning, and perhaps some of you felt rather frightened, while others are braver and like to watch. I wonder if any of you can find a Psalm, which speaks of the thunder as God’s voice, and one verse which says, “The God of glory thundereth.”
If I were to ask you, “When is it that the thunderstorms come?” I think you would all say, “O, they come in the summer,” and you would be quite right; they generally do. But the storm I am going to tell you about came in the winter.
We had all gone to bed, and were asleep, when at about twelve o’clock we were suddenly wakened up by the loudest peal of thunder I have ever heard. It was like crash upon crash of artillery sounding out; and shall I whisper to you that although I am many, many years older than you, I was frightened! and you will know how terrible the noise was when I tell you that several people were made quite ill by it.
After the thunder had died away, we had, O! such a storm of wind and hail and rain, which lasted for several hours. But now I want to tell you that a dear little boy called Stanley, about five years old, was staying with his father and mother and tiny sister in the same town for a little holiday, and on that night he was tucked into his little bed as usual, and was fast asleep, when suddenly there came the great crash of which I have been telling you, waking him up, as well as his father and mother. And what do you think little Stanley said? I do not think you could guess if you tried. I expect you would think that such a tiny boy would be frightened, and want his kind mother to cuddle him up in her arms until the storm was over. But strange to say, dear little Stanley was not one bit afraid. He just sat up in his little bed, and said so sweetly, “Is that Jesus mamma?”
His dear father said afterwards it made him think of the verse when Jesus came to His disciples in the storm, and said, “It is I; be not afraid.”
But I think I hear some of you saying in astonishment, “Why did the little boy think it was Jesus?” Well, I think this is the reason. His dear father and mother both loved the Lord Jesus, and were expecting Him to come very soon from heaven to take them up there to live with Him always; and they had read to little Stanley the verses which speak about it, and in several of these verses we are told that as the Lord Jesus comes down from heaven there will be a shout and sound of a trumpet, which is called “the trump of God.” And so dear Stanley did not feel afraid when he heard the great noise of the thunder, but thought it was Jesus coming to take them all up to heaven, as He has said He will do.
Now, before you finish reading this, I would like you to get your Bibles and either read for yourself, or ask mother to read to you, a few verses which speak about the coming of the Lord Jesus, so that you may know just what God says about it. One is in 1 Thess. 4:16, 1716For 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: 17Then 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. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑17), and the other is in 1 Cor. 15:51, 5251Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51‑52). There you will see about the shout, and “the trump of God”; and also I specially want you to think about “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.”
You know how quickly a moment passes by, and how quickly you blink your eye; and yet just as quickly as you can do that, Jesus is coming again; and who do you think He will take up to heaven with Him? He will take all who love Him, and whose sins have been washed away in His precious blood. But, dear children, those who do not love Him, and who have not come to Him to have their sins washed away, will be left down here, and will never go to heaven to be with Jesus. If I were to ask you, “Do you want to go to heaven with Jesus?” I know you would all say to me, “O, yes, I would like to be in heaven with Jesus”; but then little children and grown-up people often add, in their hearts, if not out loud, “But there is plenty of time, I need not be saved just yet.” And so I do want you to think of what the Bible says, that Jesus is coming “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” and then it will be too late for you to get your sins put away. Now He is holding out His loving arms to every little child and grown-up person too, and saying so tenderly, “Come unto Me.” Will you not come to Him now? Then you too will be glad and happy if Jesus were to come, even tonight. (Mark 13:33, 3533Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is. (Mark 13:33)
35Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: (Mark 13:35).)
ML 08/02/1917