(Matthew 24:29-31.)
No. 5.
WHILE unexampled sorrow and distress will characterize the great tribulation, yet many will be saved out of it. Not only an elect people of Israel, as we have seen, but “a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations,” will be brought to stand in joy and blessing before the throne of God, through the blood of the Lamb. “These are they which came out of (the) great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God,” &c. (Revelation 7:9-17.)
At the close of this period there will be a terrible commotion of the great powers; that is, everything that can be moved will be shaken, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Heb. 12:27, 28.) These commotions will precede the Lord’s personal revelation in power and great glory. We read: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.... and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (vv. 29, 30.) Observe that “the sign” is connected with the manifested glory of the Lord Himself. There have been many conjectures about what we are to understand by “the sign;” but perhaps there is no better solution than the tenth chapter of Revelation furnishes. There we are taught that when the Lord (symbolized by an angel) takes possession of the earth, by setting His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth, He is not only clothed with a cloud, and His face as it were the sun (expressive of the highest majesty), and feet as pillars of fire (descriptive of His almighty power in judgment); but we are told that a rainbow was upon His head, which surely is a token or sign, that though He come to judge the world in righteousness, He still remembers His covenant with the earth and all flesh. (See Genesis 9:11-16.) Then will our Lord’s testimony before the high priest be fulfilled, “Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:64.) Then too will “all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (verse 30.) It will be a terrible time of anguish and mourning for those who are then on the earth, and they shall not escape; for “every eye shall see Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him.” (Revelation 1:7.) The nineteenth chapter of the Revelation gives us most affecting details of the terrible judgment upon the living when the Lord thus comes out of heaven with His saints. In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew we have simply the power and glory of Christ, and His dealings specially with His elect of Israel, in answer to the questions as to the end of the age, and the time of His coming to the earth, when Israel shall say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Accordingly we are next told that angels will be sent forth with the great sound of a trumpet, to gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (verse 31.) The meaning of these words becomes plain enough when we turn to the Old Testament Scriptures. Our Lord seems to have referred to Isaiah; for there we find it predicted that a great trumpet shall be blown, the effect of which will be to collect the scattered ones of God’s ancient people ready to perish, and bring them to worship Jehovah in Jerusalem. “Ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.” (Isaiah 27:12, 13.)
It is important to notice that this action our Lord speaks of is the ministry of angels, and that it is simply a gathering of people from one part of the earth to another that they may worship in the holy city; consequently, there is no mention of resurrection, or of persons being changed in a moment, as will take place when the Lord descends into the air for us. Again, we may notice that these elect are gathered from “the four winds,” which is a Jewish form of speech, and applied by the prophet Zechariah to those whom God has scattered, “I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord.” (Zech. 2: 6.) It is clear that such language cannot be applied to the church of God; for however much it is divided through our sin and folly, yet it has never been scattered to the four winds, which we presume is a figure of the decided way in which God in judgment has scattered His earthly people northward, southward, eastward, and westward, so that we shall not know where they are, and no one will be able to gather them again but He who has spread them abroad. The expression, “from one end of heaven to the other,” is also a similar phrase to what we find in the Mosaic writings. “Ask from one side of heaven unto the other,” is certainly a form of speech which does not refer to the heavens, but to an extent on earth which is unlimited. (Deuteronomy 4:32.) Again, “If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee,” seems to refer to this very time. (Deuteronomy 30:4.) We thus see how an intelligent Jew would understand, from the form of speech used in the ancient Scriptures, such phrases as “from the four winds,” and “from one end of heaven to the other.” Those who are in Christ, and have the Spirit of God, scarcely need to be informed how totally inapplicable such language is to those who compose the church of God, and are made partakers of the heavenly calling. It is not surprising, therefore, that we find no such expressions used in the epistles, where the Christian’s hope is so fully and clearly taught. May we, then, patiently wait for God’s Son from heaven!
“Ah, yes, Lord Jesus! (Thou whose heart
Still for Thy saints doth care,)
We shall behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy full image bear.
“Thy love sustains us by the way
While pilgrims here below;
Thou dolt, O Saviour, day by day,
Thy suited grace bestow.
“But oh! the more we learn of Thee,
And Thy rich mercy prove,
The more we long Thy face to see,
And fully prove thy love.
“Then shine, Thou bright and Morning Star!
Dispel the dreary gloom;
Oh, take, from sin and grief afar,
Thy blood-bought people home!”