IT is strange, when one begins to talk of the Lord’s coming, to have to tell people in what sense we use those words. The Bible certainly knows of but one sense anywhere, that of a real and personal coming. Of a first and a second coming, no doubt, it speaks, but the one just as real and literal as the other. I refer of course to the coming of the Lord Jesus. I do not at all dispute that in the Old Testament— I am acquainted with no instance in the New — the Lord, that is, Jehovah, is said to “come” in providential judgment upon various lands. This, no doubt, is what has led to the idea of a providential coming of the Lord Jesus. But the two things are widely different. Jehovah, or God as such, is said to fill heaven and earth, thus to be present everywhere, and his coming is, perhaps in every case, a figure for His making known that presence, which man is blind to, till some mighty act reveals it. On the other hand the coming of Jesus, of the “Son of man,” of Christ, and His “appearing,” or “revelation,” — the most frequent terms used in the New Testament, — imply not simply His coming as a Divine Being (which He surely is,) but His coming as a man, “the man, Christ Jesus.” These are names which belong to Him as man. It is the same truth which the angels’ words expressed more fully to those who witnessed His ascension: “this same Jesus shall come again, in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.” — (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).)
As to the interpretation of the Lord’s coming as death, no single Scripture even seems to justify it. The disciples on the contrary had quite other thoughts plainly, when, in consequence of our Lord’s saying as to John, “If I will that he tarry till I come,” it went abroad among them, “that that disciple should not die.” And indeed it would have been a strange thing to have said or meant, “that that disciple should tarry till he died,” which, if the Lord’s coming means death, would have been what was actually said.
Nor is there another Scripture that will bear this interpretation any better. The one most applied in this way, and made even the text of many a sermon on the shortness and uncertainty of human life, is just as plainly misapplied as every other. The exhortation to “watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come” (Mat. 24:42), is taken from the midst of a prophecy two chapters long (24, 25), which explains in the most complete way what is meant by the “coming” there spoken of. And nothing but what I am compelled to call the most careless reading of Scripture can account for such misapplication.
It is no better as an argument to say, as so many do, “Well, at any rate, death will be the coming of the Lord to me.” Are we wise enough to correct Scripture in that way or to judge what would be a proper equivalent, or rather a good substitution for what it does say? It speaks of death, and it speaks of the Lord’s coming, and never confounds the one with the other. Are we able to say one is as good as the other, and then really make that a plea for dropping out, what it does say, and putting our own fancies in its place?
The chapters just referred to, as I have already said, give us too complete an explanation of what the coming of the Lord is, for which we are exhorted to watch, to allow of any mistake about it. Few I suppose would venture to assert that within the compass of a most connected prophecy we should find two or three different “comings” brought before us. No one need doubt, if he simply reads the chapters through with care, that but one is to be found. And that one is as far as possible from being death or a providential judgment. Let us put together what these two chapters give us as to it, excluding all doubtful points, and see.
The question of the disciples comes up first: “Tell us when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world (or age).”
Connected together in their minds, no doubt, the time of the temple being thrown down, to which they refer in the question “when shall these things be?” need not be the time of the Lord’s coming. We shall find in the answer to these questions, that it could not be.
Notice, then, all through this answer, it is spoken of as “the coming of the Son of man,” a very different thing from a providential one. Moreover it was to be no secret, no disputable matter, of which they could say, Lo, here is Christ, or there, but “as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be.” Then, it was to be a “coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory,” and all the tribes of the earth should see it and mourn, and He should “send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet to gather together His elect from the for winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” A little after it is compared to the world-wide destruction of the wicked by the flood. Then we are told in parables, of the faithful and wise servant made ruler over His Master’s goods, and of the evil servant cut asunder and his portion given with hypocrites, both at this “coming.” Then of a company of virgins, some with oil in their lamps and others not; of the wise, thus ready, going in with the Bridegroom to the marriage, — of the test, the unprovided foolish ones; shut out. Then once more of the judgment of the faithful and unfaithful. All those at the same “coming,” And finally we pass again from parable to literal plain speech, and the first words that meet us are, “When 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; and before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.” And this judgment ends with: “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous into life eternal.”
Now, difficulties as to certain points there may be; but is there any difficulty, or should there be, as to whether this is a real and personal coming of the Lord that is before us, or not? The prophecy is most complete and connected, it is plain, throughout. If it is not the coming of the Lord to the judgment of the whole earth, then farewell to any proper understanding of the Word of God. If all this is but high flown language for the destruction of Jerusalem, or anything else but what is so plain upon the face of it, then the blessed Word of God is — nay, I will not give utterance to the thought which that suggests.
But then, what about the question at the head of this paper? Does anyone repeat with anxiety or with joyful interest the inquiry of the disciples, “When shall these things be?” The answer furnished by the chapters before us — full of deepest significance to sinner and to saint, is this, and naught but this: “WATCH.” “Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” “Be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh.”
O Lord, even now arouse all who read this, whether saved or unsaved, to take heed unto Thy words!