UK 12My purpose this evening is to speak of the coming of the Lord, but not in order to prove it from scripture, but to show how it is interwoven with the whole fabric of Christian thought, so that if you take it out you rend the whole fabric to pieces. I do not say that there may not be saints resting on the foundation that do not see it; but if I come to the word of God, it is interwoven with the whole scheme (I do not like the word), and that all scripture, in the various thoughts, feelings, and affections of the Christian, are woven and mixed up with it.
You see that the Lord Jesus, beloved friends, has been rejected in the world, and that cannot go on forever, every knee must bow to Him. Just take the fact as it is: He has been rejected by the world altogether, the world through which we are passing is a world that has rejected the Son of God, whom God has taken to His right hand. The Holy Ghost has come down consequent upon His exaltation, as the Comforter, but the closing of all that state of things is that the Lord comes again and takes His power and glory; therefore the coming and exaltation of the Lord is that without which Christianity is not complete; I cannot believe in His first coming and not see clearly the necessity of the other.
As an illustration, we have the passover and the pass-over fulfilled; " Christ our passover has been sacrificed for us;" and the feast of Pentecost fulfilled too-the Holy Ghost came down; but when you come to the feast of tabernacles, where do you get it fulfilled? it is not fulfilled, and is yet to come. That is the real meaning of John 7; the feast of tabernacles is there, but He cannot go up to it. His brethren said to Him, " If thou do these things show thyself unto the world " (John 7:44For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, show thyself to the world. (John 7:4)), but He said, My time is not yet come;" then at the end of the feast He says, " If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink; he that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." That is, that He substitutes for the time the presence of the Holy Ghost instead of His being revealed to the world, and that is what we have in Christianity, the Holy Ghost come down from heaven and dwelling in the saints.
The Christian looks back upon what has been done, and looks forward for Christ to come to take him up to heaven; if you leave that out you leave out the thing that completes it all. The Holy Ghost points us forward to Christ, and leads the soul out to the thought and apprehension of His coming. The world having rejected Christ, the Holy Ghost comes down meanwhile; " we see not yet all things put under him." There is this double aspect of it-the world has rejected the Son of God; He must come and execute judgment consequent on His rejection.
But there is another, and blessed side of it, that when He was rejected He accomplished redemption, and having clone this, and given the Holy Ghost to those that believe, He is not coming to execute judgment, but to take us to be with Him to execute the judgment with Him. The more we look into scripture, the more we shall see the way in which this expectation of the Lord's return is identified with the thoughts and feelings of the Christian. You may get the general thought if you look at the end of Titus 2, " the grace of God that bringeth salvation bath appeared.... looking for that blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory," &c.; the grace of God has appeared and brings salvation, teaching us to walk soberly, that is in self-restraint; righteousness towards others; and godly-with God; it embraces the whole christian life. Grace has appeared; glory, which is the hope, has not. We are saved in hope, not we hope to be saved; we, through the Spirit, wait for the hope of righteousness, that is the hope that belongs to faith. Grace hath appeared and brought the salvation, thus showing us how to walk in this present world, it teaches us this blessed hope, the appearing of the glory.
In Heb. 9 we see the same thing; verse 24 we find that "Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." I look at Christ as in God's presence for me. " Nor yet that he should offer himself often... but now once in the end of the world bath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." The cross was the end of the world, morally speaking God had finished with man, and therefore He says, "Now is the judgment of this world," &c.; it was the end of the world in that moral sense, the tryings and testings whether righteousness could be got from man are over; the righteousness has come down to us in the gospel. The apostle says he is not ashamed of the gospel, because the righteousness of God is revealed; that made it the end of the world.
Then you see how he speaks of it, " As it is appointed unto men once to die... so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him. Shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Just as grace has appeared once for the putting away of sin, so as regards us, as Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, so to them that look for HIM He will appear the second time without sin-He has done with sin the first time, that is all over, so completely done with it that to those that look for Him He will appear the second time without sin. What for? To take us to glory-" unto salvation." In Heb. 2 it puts in a distinct way what we find as to His present position, " One in a certain place testified, saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him... thou crownest him with glory and honor." We do not see that He has got the power, but we do see Him crowned with glory and honor, expecting till His enemies be made His footstool, and we are waiting for Him.
I just say here, Suppose people die before the Lord come, well, they are with Christ waiting; " absent from the body, present with the Lord," " to depart and be with Christ which is far better," they are waiting too. The promise we have got is to be conformed to the image of
Christ, when He comes. The body is to be raised and changed, to be conformed to the same image. " As is the earthly such are they also that are earthly... and as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." I turn to these passages to show you that what characterizes the Christian is, we are waiting for Him.
In John 14, when the Lord was comforting the disciples when He was going away, they had given up everything for Him, and now they were losing Him, He says, " believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you." I am not going back to glory as Man and leave you in the lurch down here. I cannot stay with you (chap. 13.), but I am not going to give you up, and therefore I must have you with me. In chapter.13. Peter would not let the Lord wash his feet, it was what slaves did in great houses; then He says, " If I wash thee not thou halt no part with me." Peter was rejecting it, but then He says, I am not going to give you up, but if I go to God you must be fit to be there. They were really converted and clean through the word (Judas, of course, excepted); He says I have not given up serving you, I must have you to be with me. In John 14 He tells them not to be troubled meanwhile, the Comforter was coming then He goes on, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again." He was going to prepare a place up there, not being able to stay with them here, but would come back again to take them to be with Him. " Unto myself;" that word " myself " is everything. He does not say " to heaven " or " the Father's house."
The coming of the Lord has this special blessing, that it does not leave heaven a vague place. I have found the greatest blessing in the doctrine of the Lord's coming as it brings the Person of Christ before one, He is the object before the eye. This is the way scripture always presents Him. " To depart and to be with Christ is far better." I am speaking of the way the Person of Christ is what fills the eye. " Absent from the body, present with the Lord," and again "Lord Jesus receive my spirit." It is perfectly true, but it is not the vague thought of going to heaven, it is going to Christ; it is of course going to heaven too, but what fills the soul, is that Christ who loved them, who won their hearts through grace (they had given up everything for Him), says, I shall not be satisfied till I bring you up there.
That is the first way He comforts them, and they had seen the Father by seeing Him; then the rest of the chapter speaks of the Holy Ghost who would come and show that they were in Christ, and Christ in them. When the disciples went out to Bethany to see Him going to heaven, the angels said, " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner," &e. (Acts 1:1111Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. (Acts 1:11).) There it is His appearing, it is the same general truth, though not His coming to receive us. You cannot talk of death there, Christ is coming in like manner as He went, " so coming," is not a person dying; the angels say He is coming. The Lord was imprinting all this upon their hearts, that when He was gone, the Holy Ghost was here, but what they were looking for was His coming; meanwhile they would be taught by the Holy Ghost, and have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, crying, " Abba Father," by the Holy Ghost, but what the Holy Ghost brings specially before souls is His coming again.
In 1 Thessalonians we have " they themselves show of us... ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven." The world was saying," here are these people, a new thing that has come, they have left all their idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait," &c.; they were converted not to hold the doctrine merely of His coming but to wait, &c. They had learned of Him, by the Holy Ghost, testifying of Him in the gospel, and therefore they loved Him; there was no conversion then except to wait for God's Son from heaven. Where do we find that now?
Many hold it, and see it thoroughly but who ever talks now of being converted to wait for God's Son? and yet the apostle had not been more than three or four weeks there. In chapter 2., notice the way it is connected with the thoughts and feelings of the Christian, "We, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart,.... for what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" "Crown of rejoicing," (they were won to God)-" in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now it is his ministry, he cannot even rejoice in that without thinking of the coming of Christ.
Now, take another thing which belongs to the Christian, that is holiness, " the Lord make you to increase and abound in love... unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," &c. (1 Thess. 3:12,1312And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 13To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:12‑13)), in holiness, when? Now? No, at His coming. At His coming it will all appear, and be manifested.
Let us look at the first Epistle of John, it is also in connection with holiness, chapter 3., " Behold what manner of love.... [puts us in Christ's place], we know that, when he shall appear we shall be like him," &c., we have not seen the glory yet, " it does not yet appear what we shall be," &c., " but we know," &c. If we know that we are to be like Christ (conformity to Christ is in the glory, we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son) we are to walk as He walked, but there is no full conformity till then; it is not being conformed when the body is in the tomb, and the spirit in paradise; the time to be conformed to Him is when we get to the glory, and see Him as He is. " He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself." If I know that when Christ appears, I shall be like Him, I try to be as like Him as I can now-purifieth himself even as he is pure-it is according to that standard. It is very important thus to see as regards holiness, that it is directly connected with the coming of the Lord. J. N. D.
(To be continued, the Lord willing.)