The Glory of the Redeemer in His Second Coming

Ye enemies of God! Ye despisers of Christ! Ye lovers of the world, dazzled with its pomp and fascinated with its pleasures, pause for a moment and contemplate this tremendous scene.

Look at that point far away in the ethereal regions where the gradually lessening form of our Saviour disappeared from the gaze of His disciples when He ascended to heaven. In that point see an uncommon but faint and undefined brightness just beginning to appear. It has caught the roving eye of yon careless gazer and excited his curiosity. He points it out to a second and a third. A little circle now collects, and various are the conjectures which they form respecting it. Similar circles are formed and similar conjectures made in a thousand different parts of the world, but conjecture is soon to give place to certainty—awful, appalling, overwhelming certainty. While they gaze, the appearance which has excited their curiosity rapidly approaches and still more rapidly brightens. Some begin to suspect what it may prove, but no one dares to give utterance to his suspicions. Meanwhile, the light of the sun begins to fade before a brightness superior to its own. Thousands see their shadows cast into a new direction, and thousands of hitherto careless eyes look up at once to discover the cause. Fully, clearly, they see it, and now new hopes and fears begin to agitate their breasts.

The afflicted and persecuted servants of Christ begin to hope that the predicted, long expected day of their deliverance has arrived. The wicked, the careless, the unbelieving, begin to fear that the Bible is about to prove no idle tale. Fiery shapes moving like streams of lightning begin to appear indistinctly amidst the bright, dazzling cloud which comes rushing down as on the wings of a whirlwind. At length it reaches its destined place. It pauses; then suddenly unfolding, it discloses at once a great white throne where sits, starry resplendent in all the glories of the Godhead, the Man Christ Jesus. Every eye sees Him. Too well do the wretched, unprepared inhabitants of the earth now know what to expect; and one universal shriek of anguish and despair rises to heaven and is echoed back to earth. Louder, far louder than the universal cry, now sounds the last trumpet, and far above is heard the voice of the Omnipotent summoning the dead to arise and come to judgment. New terrors now assail the living. On every side, nay, under their very feet the earth heaves as in convulsions. The graves open and the dead come forth, while at the same moment a change equivalent to that occasioned by death is effected by Almighty power on the bodies of the living. Their mortal bodies put on immortality and are thus prepared to sustain a weight of glory, or of wretchedness which flesh and blood cannot endure. Meanwhile, legions of angels are seen darting from pole to pole, gathering together the faithful servants of Christ from the four winds of heaven, bearing them aloft to meet the Lord in the air where He causes them to be placed at His own right hand, preparatory to the sentence which is to award them everlasting life.

Yet another and a different scene presents itself. Consternation now seizes the myriads whom this event has surprised amidst their worldliness, their gaiety, their voluptuousness, their barter, their marrying, and their being given in marriage. As a thief in the night, the Bridegroom has startled them from their sleep! Now the graceless professor seizes his lamp and finds it destitute of oil. The Pharisee hastens to wrap his righteousness around him but discovers that it is too narrow to conceal his deformity. The scoffer, the skeptic, the careless, the procrastinator, are seen fleeing from fastness to fastness, from mountain to mountain, from rock to rock, but none afford a shelter from the darkening storm. The great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to stand? The judgment is set! The books are opened; the wicked are arraigned; the trial proceeds; the verdict is given; the sentence is pronounced! The doom is fixed, and the undying worm and the quenchless flame are their portion forever! “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” “Upon the wicked He will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.”

Reader, are you prepared for the coming of the Lord? Are you ready to enter in with Him to the marriage supper? Are you a professor? Have you grace-renewing, humbling, sanctifying, Christ-exalting grace in your heart? Is your preparation one of principle, one of habit? Will it abide the searching scrutiny of that day? Examine and see. Take nothing for granted in deciding a matter so solemn and involving interests so momentous. Christ must be all in all to you—the entire groundwork and fabric of your salvation. Mere notions of truth, external membership with the Church, sacraments, regular attendance upon the means, punctilious observance of days, and forms, and ceremonies, in themselves, are no fit preparation for this awful event. As the fruit of a living faith in Jesus, they are valuable, but standing alone without repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ they are the wood, the hay, the stubble which the last fire shall consume.

Believer in Jesus, the day of your redemption draweth nigh! The Lord is at hand. Behold, the Judge standeth at the door. The days we live in are eventful. The times are perilous. The signs, thickening and darkening around us, are deeply and fearfully significant. We are standing on the eve of events perhaps more awful than the world has ever seen. A period of glory for the Church brighter than has yet shone upon her, and a period of woe to the world darker than has yet cast its shadows upon it, seems rapidly approaching. Then, “let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” “Watch 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: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.” Oh, to blend the steady thought of our Redeemer’s coming with every present duty, privilege, and effort; how would it hallow, cheer, and dignify us, consecrating by one of the most solemn motives, the lowliest work of faith and the feeblest labor of love!

Thus, too, would there be a growing preparedness of mind for the judgments which are yet to come upon the earth. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

A child of God! Can this earth’s vain pleasures

Be ought to thee for whom the Saviour died?

Rise, rise above them all! Its worthless treasures,

Its soul-destroying joys, its pomp and pride.

Be His in all, thy soul and eye be single,

Fixed as the glory that surrounds the throne;

Seek not Christ’s services with the world to mingle,

Remember, God has sealed thee for His own.

O child of God! Be not this earth thy dwelling

But stand in spirit on that glassy sea,

Where the rich harmonies for ever swelling,

Sound forth the slain Lamb’s love, so full, so free.

Stand forth in peace, far above all the madness

Of sinful man, weighing with even scale

The worth of all things—feeling the deep gladness

Of one who follows Christ within the veil.

Child of the living God! What boundless blessing!

His Spirit thine, to comfort and refine;

The heir of God! Joint heir with Christ, possessing

All things in Him, and He Himself too thine,

Hold fast thy crown, go forth with joy to meet Him:

Soon will He come, and take thee for His own.

With girded loins and burning lamps then greet Him,

The Bridegroom’s triumph thine—thine too His throne!

Precious Jesus! We have been contemplating Thy glory as through a glass darkly. Yet we thank Thee and adore Thee even for this glimpse. Dim and imperfect though it is, it has endeared Thee, unutterably endeared Thee to our hearts. Oh! if this is Thy glory beheld through a clouded medium what will it be when face to face! Soon, soon shall we gaze upon it. Then, Thou glorious King, we will exclaim, “It was a true report that I heard…of Thy acts and of Thy wisdom… and, behold, the half was not told me.”

Seeing that we look for such things, grant us grace that being diligent we may be found of Thee in peace, without spot, and blameless. Send us what Thou wilt, withhold from us what Thou wilt; only vouchsafe to us a ‘part in the first resurrection,’ and a seat at Thy right hand when Thou comest to Thy kingdom. Low at Thy feet we fall! Here may Thy Spirit reveal to us more of Thy glory! Oh irradiate, sanctify, and cheer us with its beams. Behold we cling to Thee! Thou art our Immanuel, our portion and our all. In darkness we repair to the fountain of Thy light. In sorrow we flee to the asylum of Thy bosom. Oppressed, we come to the shelter of Thy cross. Oh, take Thou our hearts, and bind them closer and still closer to Thyself! Won by Thy beauty, and drawn by Thy love, let there be a renewed surrender of our whole spirit, and soul, and body. Claim and take Thou a fresh possession. “Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.” “Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.” Then, oh, then, shall we unite with the HALLELUJAH CHORUS, and sing in strains of surpassing sweetness, gratitude, and love—“THANKS BE UNTO GOD FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT.”

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen