For Little Ones.
JUST two hundred years ago, nearly everybody in England believed that the end of the world would come before the year closed. It seems strange that people should be so very ignorant in a so-called Christian land of the plain teaching of God’s word on this most important subject, but so it is. They do not know, although it is as plain as plain can be, that long before “the end of the world,” as they call it, the Lord Jesus will come from heaven to take those that love Him away to that blessed “place” in the Father’s house which he has prepared for them. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven” [how kind, and yet how like him to come himself] .... “and the dead in Christ” [not those that have died out of Christ] “shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain” —living as we now do, and going about our employments — will be suddenly changed, so that our bodies will be made like unto Christ’s glorious body, all in a moment; and then we “shall be caught up in clouds,” together with the risen ones, “to meet the Lord in the air.” Of course the people that are not caught up, because they do not love Christ, and therefore are not children of God (John 8:4242Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. (John 8:42)), will not see him at this time. The clouds are a long way up above the earth, and “the air” into which the Lord will descend is further off still. It is thought that the stars which twinkle so brightly at night, and which the little boy thought were “holes to let the glory through,” float in ether, which is a kind of air, and if that is “the air” into which the Lord will descend, why it is far, far away indeed. However, he will descend into the air, that’s certain, because God says so in his word; but which air — whether the “lower” that we breathe, or the “upper” that no bird’s wing has ever stirred — doesn’t matter much to you and me. Only I sometimes think when I see on a summer’s evening a great flight of rooks who have been busy all day in the fields, soaring away high above the earth to their home in the wood on the bill, “How pleasant it must be to soar so high and to float away home so easily far above everything in this poor world below! “And then I think again,” We who love Christ shall one day soar away far, far higher than they. And as we float away homeward to meet the Lord in the air, how very little this poor world and all its belongings will seem to us then!” Nor do we know how soon this may be. We only know that we are taught in God’s word to “look for” it every day. Now this is called “the coming of the Lord,” but it is not “the end of the world” by any means. Oh dear no. For even after we who love Jesus are gone, the world will still roll on, as it has done for nearly six thousand years; and a great many things will happen in a very short space of time, and people who have refused to come to Jesus while the day of grace lasted (which is wow, you know), will be terribly deceived by him who deceived our first parents in the garden of Eden. The world will be a terrible place to live in then; such a place as I trust none of my little readers will stay to see it. And remember, if you do stay to see it, it will be all through your own unbelief. But I cannot now tell you all that will happen — only this: that after a short space of time, we who have been all the while happy up there with the Lord, while the poor wicked world has been going on sinning and suffering, shall come with him “to execute judgment upon all” living sinners (Jude 14,1514And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 14‑15); Matt. 25:31-4631When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:31‑46)), —not the dead ones, —they will not be raised and judged till a “thousand years are finished” (Rev. 20:5, 11-155But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. (Revelation 20:5)
11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15)): Well —
“Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
Doth his successive journeys run;
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
Till moons shall wax and vane no more.”
Now this reign will last a thousand years, and only after that will the end of the world come. Yet people thought it would come two hundred years ago; and as there were about that time some very strange meteors in the heavens, and other wonderful sights and startling events, the idea became so general that not only the ignorant people, but the learned also believed it. Well, it happened during the summer of 1666, that while the assizes were being held in the western circuit, a remarkable storm very suddenly arose. The court was then sitting, and the bench was occupied by Sir Matthew Hale, at that time Lord Chief Baron, a true and earnest Christian, who was noted for his consistency at a time when wickedness was practiced more openly and more generally in this country than it is even now. A barrister who was present has described the scene. Very suddenly, an awful darkness overspread the heavens vivid flashes of lightning at intervals lighted up every object in court with a lurid brilliancy, startling and terrific; tremendous peals of thunder rattled loud and long, and seemed to shake heaven and earth, and the building in which they were assembled. The effect on those present was strange and fearful. A general consternation seized all, and each looked in terror at his neighbor. Presently a whisper ran through the assembly that the dread moment so commonly expected had arrived indeed — that the day of judgment had come, and that the terrible battle of the elements then raging was but the beginning of more awful scenes yet to follow! Everybody, as by common consent, forgot the business in hand: the counsel rose from their seats, and the whole multitude, in a fit of great terror, betook themselves to their knees, and cried aloud for mercy. What a scene this must have been! Had you been there, young reader, what would you have done? Would you have cried for mercy too, or have you obtained it already through Christ Jesus our Lord? There way one person present in that scone who was quite in peace. The barrister who describes the circumstances says that, happening to look towards the judicial bench, he saw the judge, Sir Matthew Hale, sitting there perfectly unmoved — calm, self-possessed, and showing both by his looks and mariner that he was perfectly composed in the midst of the general confusion and alarm around him, evidently conscious of having nothing to fear. From this the barrister drew the conclusion that he whom he was watching had his mind so stayed on God that no surprise, however sudden, could discompose him; and “he verily believed that if the world had then been really to end, it would have given him no considerable disturbance.” Stayed on God, —what a blessed position! To be stayed on God, the soul must know him; and Judge Hale did know him, for he was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ: his sins were washed away by his precious blood; he was a new creature in Christ Jesus, and a child of God. What had he to fear? It was his Father who raised the storm; why should he be terrified? A father will not harm his child; and had that storm been really meant to usher in the coming of the Lord, instead of cause for fear, it would have been an occasion for great joy, unspeakable and full of glory. It is said that he continued to make his notes just as if nothing was the matter. Perhaps he really thought the hour was come when he should see his Lord, and so wished to finish his business thoroughly as a faithful servant who, in whatever he did, sought to do it all to the glory of God; for, those believers whose minds are stayed on God, know well the importance of being faithful. Even a believer, if walking carelessly, cannot have his heart stayed on God. No, little believer, if your ways are wrong in anything, your heart is not right with God. Think of these things, and whenever you witness a thunder-storm, remember Judge Hale, whose heart was STAYED ON GOD.