The object of this paper is to show how the Lord’s coming is, in a sense, dependent on our prayers, and communion with the Lord in that blessed hope. Does not the correct rendering of 2 Peter 3:1212Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? (2 Peter 3:12) lay that thought upon the mind? “Looking for, and hastening (speudontas) the coming of the day of God; wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved.”
At once, no doubt, the objection will arise with some, What! Can such an event as the Lord’s coming depend on our prayers—on us? I would answer, Yes, just in the same way as while the Lord has ordained all else for the Christian, so has He, also ordained the means, as Ephesians 2:1010For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10) tells us.
It is, I would remark, God’s great object and joy to have His people working with Him, partakers of His mind in whatever He does, or is about to do (Eph. 1:99Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (Ephesians 1:9)). “Surely, the Lord God will do nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants, the prophets.” (Amos 3:77Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7).) In one sense, all the Lord’s people are prophets. (Psa. 105:1515Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm. (Psalm 105:15); John 15:1515Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (John 15:15).)
Let us look at this truth as shown in the Old Testament. How is it respecting the bringing in again of Israel? Is there not a most deep and blessed communion of prayer, and desire respecting it? (Isa. 62:6, 76I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, 7And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. (Isaiah 62:6‑7)), “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (See also Isa. 26.)
Is there not then many and many a sigh: “O! that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion!” (Psa. 14:7; 53:67Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. (Psalm 14:7)
6Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad. (Psalm 53:6)). And so we find it (Isa. 64), “O! that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence, as when the melting fire burneth,.... to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence!” And then, I think, the answer, verse 3: “When Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy presence. For. . .” and the whole part is full of it.
And so Luke 18, I suppose, continues from chapter 17, about the Lord’s coming: “And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry unto Him day and night, though He bear long with (or ‘over,’ or ‘respecting’) them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.”
And does not the position of the creature (Rom. 8), as viewed in God’s mind, lay this thought on us? The very creature is looked upon there as waiting thus intently. “The earnest expectation (apokaradokia) of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Shall it be less so with us, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit? Blessed indeed it is, when He who testifieth these things saith, “Surely I come quickly,” to reply, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Blessed when such is the real position of our hearts—
“Our hearts are with Him on the throne.
No more we brook delay,
Each moment waiting for the word,
Rise up, and come away” —
yet willing to stay His full time in service. Surely then, dear brethren, these things have a solemn voice to us. Should the Lord take an unwilling, careless, worldly bride to Himself? Why has the Lord revived the thought, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh,” but that we should have communion of heart and desire with Him? Let us remember that we are joint heirs with Christ—His expectations, His hopes, are ours.
May we not learn something from the history of Israel in the wilderness? God brought them out of Egypt, and in the next year, I think, spies were sent up to search the land. But, through unbelief, they despised (perhaps better, “rejected”) the land. Consequently, they were left to wander forty years in the wilderness, until that generation was consumed. God did not lead them up into Canaan, for they were not prepared for it. And so again in its day, the Lord will have Israel prepared. (Zech. 13:99And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God. (Zechariah 13:9)). “I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call upon My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people; and they shall say, The Lord is My God.”
Solemnly, then, I would say, dear brethren, should these things speak to us. If we get into worldliness and carelessness, are we, in truth, hastening that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ? I now commend these things to the hearts of all the Lord’s dear people, looking to Him for His blessing.