The Return of the Lord in the Gospels
The Gospel of Matthew may rightly be termed the Genesis of the New Testament. It is the bridge which leads from the Old dispensation into the New. Its character is Jewish and dispensational; in it the Son of God is presented as Messiah the King, the Son of David, who came as the “minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers” (Rom. xv:8). The promises made unto the fathers are the promises of the kingdom, covenanted to David. ‘The angelic annunciation of His birth includes the throne of David and the kingdom. “‘ The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end”’ (Luke ii:32, 33). The Gospel of Matthew reveals therefore that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of David, that He came as the King offering the promised kingdom to His own people, that the offered kingdom was not accepted and afterward He Himself was rejected. The divine arrangement of the first twelve chapters is of great importance. On the correct interpretation of these twelve chapters depends the right understanding of much of the teaching of the rest of the New Testament. We give a brief review.
In the first chapter the genealogy of the Lord Jesus and His birth are given. The genealogy shows that He is legally entitled to the throne of David, through Joseph.* The Second chapter contains the record of the wise men from the
*For a complete exposition of the genealogy see the author’s Exposition of Matthew.
East, seeking the newborn king of the Jews. No other Gospel records this interesting incident. The Gospel of Matthew being the Gospel of the King is the only Gospel into which this visit of these Gentiles fits. It is an instructive event which foreshadows future history. ‘The Gentiles from afar come first to seek the King, while Jerusalem knows nothing of her King, and no priest, elder or scribe went to Bethlehem to worship Him. The ihird chapter shows the herald of the King, who announces the nearness of the kingdom, with the soon appearing of the King, and how the Lord Jesus entered upon His official ministry. In the fourth chapter the Lord Jesus being tested by the devil, is proven to be the King, the Holy One, who had no sin and could not sin. Immediately after He began to preach ‘‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Chapters five, six and seven contain the so-called Sermon on the Mount, which only this Gospel records in full. The great discourse may rightly be called “the ‘proclamation of the King” as to His Kingdom and its righteous government. Then follow two chapters in which a number of miracles are put together, taken out of their different settings, to demonstrate that He who spoke with authority, is the omnipotent King, the Son of God. In the tenth chapter we find the sending forth of the messengers of the King to preach the message of the kingdom to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, giving them the power to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers and to raise the dead. The eleventh and twelfth chapters reveal the fact that neither the message nor the King would be accepted by the people, but that He and the kingdom would be rejected.
With the twelfth chapter the kingdom preaching ceases. No longer goes forth the message “the kingdom of heaven is at. hand.” The King now speaks as prophet and announces the mysteries of the kingdom, the present age and its religious and moral characteristics. He also speaks prophetically of His coming passion, that He would be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, be crucified and raised from the dead; He speaks of the future building of His Church and announces His return to this earth. ‘There was no need for Him to speak prophetically of the literal kingdom, for that kingdom is the burden of all the prophets in the Old Testament; the blessings and glories of the earthly kingdom were known to the believing Jew as they are known to us.
The first prophetic utterances of our Lord are therefore found after the preaching of the kingdom had been rejected, that is, after the twelfth chapter. It is true in connection with the healing of the centurion’s servant He had announced the rejection of the children of the kingdom, and the calling of the Gentiles, and at other occasions He hinted at future events (Matt. vili:11, 12; x:16-34; xi:20-24; xii:40-45), but these hints were given in connection with the anticipated rejection.
In the thirteenth chapter He is seen sitting by the seaside. He had left the house, and spoke to the multitude and to His disciples in parables. These parables reveal the mysteries of the kingdom. It is no longer the literal kingdom, but the development of the religious conditions of this dispensation. Our age with the King absent, His truth and doctrine preached and offered to the whole world, was unrevealed in the Old Testament. It was kept secret (xiii:35). In these parables He speaks of His future work at the end of the present age. ‘The first parable pictures prophetically the coming world-wide dissemination of the good seed. The second parable shows that this age will be a mixed age, the wheat and the tares grow together in the field till the harvest comes.* ‘The harvest is the end of the age, not “the end of
*See our Commentary on Matthew Vol. ii, p. 1-25. the world.”’ At the end of the age, when the harvesting takes place, He will act, sending forth His angels as reapers, who gather the tares for the burning, while the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (xiii:38-43).
In the sixteenth chapter we find the first direct prophetic utterance of our Lord as to His second coming. He is with His disciples at the coast of Caesarea Philippi, the borderland of the Gentiles. In answer to His question Peter confessed Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Upon this God-given testimony the Lord predicted the future building of the Church upon Himself as the rock (verse 18); the future ministry of Peter (verse 19); His coming rejection, death and resurrection on the third day (verse 21) and then follows the prophetic announcement of another coming of Himself,
Chapter xvi:27 ‘‘For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with Hts angels, and then He shall reward every man according to his works.’ Unmistakably He speaks of another coming. It is to be in the glory of His Father; the angels will accompany Him, and His coming will bring reward to every man according:to his works. It could not mean His first coming for He speaks of an event in the future, nor did He reward every man according to his works at His first advent. The verse which follows presents an apparent difficulty: “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.” ‘The reasoning of many commentators on these additional words of our Lord is as follows: The Lord could not have meant a literal, a personal coming of Himself, for all those who heard Him utter these words have died. He meant a spiritual coming of Himself. ‘These expositors apply mostly His coming in His kingdom to the gift of the Holy Spirit; they teach that He came on the day of Pentecost. But how can the coming of the Holy Spirit reasonably be the coming of the Son of Man? The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, is the second person. Nor did the angels appear on the day when the Spirit of God came to earth. And what about ‘“‘rewarding every man according to his works”? Other commentators say, He meant the destruction of Jerusalem, while still others identify His coming with the death of the Christian. But did He appear with His angels in the year 70, or did He give then every man according to his works? As far as the death of the believer is concerned, Scripture makes it clear that when the believer dies he goes to be with the Lord, and therefore it cannot be the coming of the Lord.
The chapter division in this part of Matthew’s Gospel is unfortunate. There should be no break here. The next chapter records the transfiguration, to which our Lord referred, when He announced that some of those who stood there should see Him coming. From 2 Peter i:16-20 we learn the deeper meaning of His transfiguration. Peter in this passage declares that he was an eyewitness of His majesty, and that he made known unto believers the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. That wonderful scene on the holy mountain was a pattern of the return of the Lord in power and glory, when He comes in His kingdom, surrounded by His Saints, represented by Moses and Elijah, one who had died, the other who had gone to heaven without dying. The Lord’s face shone like the sun; He is clothed with the glory of the Father. As He stood upon that mountain, so will He stand some future day upon this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords, attended by His Saints and the angels of God.
Chapter xix:28 “And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” These words were spoken by our Lord when the rich young man had left Him, and Peter asked the question “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed Thee, what shall we have therefore?” Here again our Lord speaks of reward for those who have followed Him. He does not promise rewards at the present time. There will be a regeneration, a time when all things will be made new, and when that time comes He will not be the occupant of the Father’s throne, but will receive His own throne, the throne of His glory. ‘Then He will reign and judge, and His own will be associated with Him. But the time of regeneration for the earth, the deliverance of groaning creation, does not come till He receives the throne of His glory, and He will not receive that throne till He comes in the glory, of the Father and His angels with Him.
Chapter xx11:44 “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, rt will grind him to powder.’ He had quoted the one hundred and eighteenth Psalm concerning the stone the builders rejected, which becomes the head of the corner. The other New Testament references show that He is the stone, rejected by the Jews, and that He became the corner stone. While He does not mention His return in the quoted words, that event is clearly indicated. ‘The Jews fell on the stone, rejected Christ, and were nationally and spiritually broken. ‘The day comes when Christ, the stone, will fall on others and grind them to powder. ‘The second chapter in Daniel gives us the complete picture of the smiting stone, which falls from heaven and deals the great man-image such a blow that every portion of it becomes like the chaff of the summer threshing floors (Dan. ii:35).* The stone which did the work becomes a
*See Exposition of Daniel by A. C. G., Chapter II. mountain filling the whole earth. The man-image is the symbol of the times of the Gentiles, the stone represents the second coming of Christ, and the transformation of the stone into a mountain is the prophetic symbol of the world-wide kingdom of Christ.
Chapter xxi11:38, 39 “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, full ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.’ The last sentence is to be linked with His promised return. It will be fulfilled in the day of His second coming, when a remnant of believers from His own earthly people will welcome Him with the Messianic greeting recorded in Psalm cxviii.
We turn next to the greatest prophetic discourse of our Lord, the so called Olivet Discourse. Matthew gives it complete, while Mark and Luke contain certain omissions and additions. ‘This greatest of all prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ has for its center His personal, visible and glorious return to this earth. He predicts events preceding His return, the event itself, what is connected with it, and the events which follow His return.
Chapter: xxiv:1-2 “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things. Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’ The full prophecy as to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple is given by Luke. Here the bare fact is stated that the temple is to be destroyed. It is a serious error to apply what follows exclusively to the destruction of the temple and to Jerusalem. This event is not in view at all in the Gospel of Matthew. We shall demonstrate this as we follow the text.
After He had uttered the words as to the coming destruction of the temple buildings, the disciples asked Him questions as to His coming, the sign of His coming and the end of the age.
The great center of the discourse. contained in chapters xxiv and xxv is found in verses 29 and 30 of the twenty-fourth chapter: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”
Preceding this great prophetic announcement the Lord speaks of the present age and more particularly of its end. The events which will transpire in connection with the Jewish people, rehabilitated in Palestine, a believing remnant suffering during the great tribulation, their deliverance, the restoration of the scattered tribes to their own land, are predicted by Him. Verses 4-45 of the twenty-fourth chapter contain these future events. We find next three parables in chapter xxiv:45 to chapter xxv:30. .. Each of these parables is related to His return. ‘These parables reveal the religious conditions prevailing up to the time of His coming again, and how He will deal with these conditions. ‘The final section of the prophetic disclosure shows Him upon the throne of His glory with the nations gathered about Him, whom He judges. This great judgment is prophesied by Him in chapter xxv:31- 46. We take up each section briefly. Our complete commentary on Matthew in two volumes devotes nearly a hundred pages to this great portion of the first Gospel.
I. The events which precede His visible and personal return. The opening statements of this first section in verses 5-7 are applicable to the present age in a general way. Throughout this age there have been false Christs deceiving many; there have been wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. The many wars have always been followed by famines and pestilences. Every century has brought earthquakes in divers places. Our own generation has witnessed the greatest war of all history, followed by the greatest famines and the greatest pestilences. Furthermore we have also witnessed the greatest earthquakes of historic times. What a confirmation of the words of our Lord! Before this age ends the same things will happen again, but on a larger scale. The world is even now getting ready for it and Revelation vi, the breaking of the four seals, foretells these events likewise. The greater portion of the discourse relating to this present age, is taken up with the end of it, as it will take place, not among the Gentiles, but among the Jews. ‘This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that our Lord calls special attention to the prophet Daniel and his predicted “‘abomination of desolation” (verse 15). The Danielian prophecy has nothing to do with the Church or the Gentiles, but the abomination of desolation takes place on Jewish ground, in Jerusalem and Palestine. The Jews are returning to their own land; a restoration in unbelief takes place before our eyes. It will be fully consummated in the near future when the national aspiration of Jewry will be realized in the long proposed Jewish state. When finally the true Church, the body of Christ, will no longer be on earth, when its supernatural removal (1 Thess. iv:16-18) has taken place, the Lord will call a remnant from among the masses of unbelieving Israelites; a part of this remnant will be in Palestine while others will move about as witnesses among the Gentile nations. Of this believing remnant during the end of the age our Lord speaks next in verses 9-28. On account of their faith and their witness they will suffer persecution. Many false prophets will arise and they must endure to the end of the seven years, the close of the age, in order to be saved (not a spiritual, but an earthly salvation) to enter the kingdom, which comes with the King’s return. ‘They will be His Witnesses among all the nations, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, which is, the heralding of the coming of the King, calling upon the nations to repent. ‘There will then be great tribulation, in the land, and throughout the world. Antichrist will reign in his satanic power for 1260 days, or three years and a half, as revealed in Daniel and Revelation. Politically, commercially and religiously confusion will reign. When this period of time has ended “immediately after the tribulation,” the Lord predicts He will come again in great power and glory in the clouds of heaven. ‘The only way to interpret the words He spoke is the literal interpretation. It does not mean a spiritual coming, but a literal coming. The age will end as predicted; there will be a great tribulation and after its force is spent Christ will come back to earth again. All kinds of false teachings have been connected with the plain statements of our Lord. One Pastor Charles T. Russell deceived many by his invention that Christ came back in a secret manner in 1874, and that He would be publicly revealed in 1914. Others deny that there ever will be a great tribulation, like a recent voluminous writer in his attempts to teach prophecy. He follows the same argument of nearly all commentators, that the words of our Lord were fulfilled in the past when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman armies of Titus. But the theory
that our Lord speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem, and that His coming in the clouds of heaven in great power and glory happened in connection with that event is unscriptural. The words of our Lord which follow are the conclusive evidence.
“And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (verse 31). Did this take place when Jerusalem was destroyed? Who are the elect? This word is found in the Synoptics seven times. In the Epistles it is used nine times. As used in the Gospels it never means the Church of Jesus Christ, but His people Israel; as used in the Epistles the word “‘elect”® never means the people Israel, but always the Church. ‘This is a valuable fact. We ask, when Jerusalem was destroyed did the Lord come and send His angels to gather the people Israel together from their world-wide dispersion? No! ‘They were scattered as a result among all the nations of the world. This in itself is proof that our Lord speaks of His future coming. Others are so elementary in their exegesis that they identify the gathering of the elect by angels with the home gathering of the Church as prophesied in 1 Thess. iv:16-18. As if there could be any kind of correspondency between Matt. xxiv:31 and that passage.
The mentioning of the fig tree fully confirms the truth of what we have stated. ‘The fig tree is emblematic of Israel. The cursing of the fig tree and the subsequent withered condition is symbolically Israel during this age. But the fig tree is to put forth new leaves. The Jewish hope is not dead. It died when Jerusalem was destroyed, but it will be revived immediately before the age ends and the Lord returns.
But someone will probably point to verse 34, *‘ This generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled.’ The word “‘generation” has been made to mean that very generation living then. Therefore, it is claimed, the Lord taught His return to take place within their life time. But the Greek word “Genea” has the meaning of ‘a race of people.” It is used in this sense in Luke xvi:8 and elsewhere in the New Testament. ‘“This generation” means the race which sprung from Abraham, God’s chosen earthly people. Well have they been called “the everlasting nation.”
Care must also be taken with interpreting verses 40 and 41. The one who is taken, when the Lord comes in visible glory, is taken in judgment, the one who is left, is left to have a share in the earthly kingdom. It is different, as we point out later, when the Lord comes for His Church. Then some will be taken to be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and others will be left to pass through the great tribulation and face the day of wrath.
II. We give a brief word on the three parables which follow. The first parable is the one which describes the faithful and the evil servant. The faithful and wise servant reckons with the fact that his Lord is coming some day and therefore he gives meat in due season to the household. Having done this and acted faithfully, the Lord calls him blessed. “‘Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.”” The evil servant says “‘my lord delayeth his coming.” This leads to his outrageous actions. Then the lord comes in a day when the evil servant does not look for him at all and punishes him for his evil deeds. Anyone can trace in this parable the prevailing religious conditions of this age, past, present and future. Had the Church always believed that the Lord is coming back, ecclesiastical conditions would have been far different from what they have been. But nearly all Christendom either denies the fact of His coming, or puts it into the remote future, thus saying “my Lord delays His coming.”
THE RETURN OF THE LORD oa
The second parable, the parable of the ten virgins, pictures similar conditions. ‘The ten virgins are typical of professing Christendom. ‘The wise virgins who have oil, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, represent true believers; the foolish virgins who have lamps only, but no oil, represent those who have the outward form of godliness, but are destitute of the reality, for they are unsaved Church members. In the beginning of the Church all waited for the coming of the Bridegroom. But as He tarried the blessed hope was given up, and for many centuries nothing was heard of the return of Christ. The midnight cry was sounded (as it is now) and while the Wise virgins, true believers, trimmed their lamps and the foolish virgins tried to obtain oil, the Bridegroom came, Those who were ready entered in to be with Him; the others faced a closed door.
The parable of the talents is the third parable. Two used the talents they had received; one did not use his talent. ‘Those who were faithful were rewarded and the unfaithful one was punished. It will be seen that each parable is teaching the return of the Lord, rewarding those who are faithful and punishing the unfaithful. Without belief in the coming of the Lord these parables are meaningless.
III. The third section of the discourse is not a parable, but a prophecy. It is generally called “the parable of the sheep and the goats.” But our Lord does not say it is a parable. It is a prophecy, revealing His judgment work after His return, when He takes the throne of His glory, not in heaven but on earth. The Father’s throne which the glorified Son of Man occupies during the present age, is in heaven; the throne of the Son of Man will be established on and over the earth; it is the throne of His glory. This judgment is generally called the universal judgment at the end of the world. The Scriptures do not teach a universal judgment. ‘There is a judgment of the righteous, as there is a resurrection of the just; there is a judgment of the wicked dead, as there is a second resurrection unto damnation. But neither one of these judgments or resurrections is taught in Matthew xxv:31-46. Nothing is said about a resurrection. The judgment concerns living nations. Some are put on His right hand; others on His left. The standard of judgment is what the nations have done, or have not done, to His brethren. His brethren are not the members of His body, but His brethren according to the flesh, Jews. He sent forth these Jewish messengers during the end of the age. They preached the Gospel of the Kingdom (verse 14). Some of the nations believed and while the judgments of the Lord were in the earth they learned righteousness (Is. xxvi:9) and expressed their righteousness in doing good to these messengers. Other nations did not accept this final call of the mercy of God; they mistreated the messengers and did not show them kindness. ‘They will be put on the left and pass away as nations from the earth, while the nations which believed and learned righteousness will remain on earth to enter the prepared kingdom.
Only one more passage in Matthew mentions His return.
Chapter xxv1:64 “Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said; nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.” Itisasolemn passage. The high priest had said to his prisoner, the Lord Jesus Christ; “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.” Then He answered in the words which we have quoted. In them He confirms His Deity, predicts His exaltation to the right hand of God, and His visible return in the clouds of heaven. Upon this true witness He was judged guilty of death. When He spoke of His return “in the clouds of heaven” the Jewish officials knew that He claimed to be the One whom Daniel saw in his night vision, who receives from the hands of God the kingdom, whom all nations and languages are to serve (Dan. vii:14).
The Gospel of Mark
There are not many passages in the Gospel of Mark which mention His return. We mention those which are not found in Matthew.
Chapter vit1:38 “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” ‘This is also quoted by Luke in the ninth chapter. Mark and Luke record the transfiguration and link with it the words of the Lord that some would not taste death till they see the kingdom of God (Mark ix:1; Luke 1x:26). The Olivet prophetic discourse is reported by Mark only in part; the parables of Matthew, and the description of the judgment of nations are omitted. But there is something in Mark which neither Matthew nor Luke mention.
Chapter x111:34-37 “For the Son of man 1s as a man taking a far journey, who left His house, and gave authority to His servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch. 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. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” The far journey is His return to the Father. He left His house, the relationship with His covenant people Israel. He also gave authority to His servants, His apostles, and after His ascension, as the head of the body, He gave to every one his work. The porter, who is commanded to watch, may be applied to the Holy Spirit, just as this word is used by our Lord in the tenth chapter of the Gospel of John. Then He commanded them to watch. He is coming again, but the exact time is not revealed by Him. He told them before “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time 1s” (Verse 32, 33). It is presumption to try to find out the exact time of His return. Setting the time of His second coming has been in the past a popular delusion, and it is still being indulged in, in spite of the miserable failures of fanatics. Seventh Day Adventism with its perverted Gospel and prophetic teaching, started with Miller and the false prophetess Mrs. White, who prophesied the day of His coming. So did Russell of the Millennial Dawn delusion (International Bible Student Association). Then there was Mr. M. Baxter, founder of the “Prophetic News,” who published his ‘Forty Coming Wonders” in which he fixed the dates for all coming prophetic events. When the time arrived and nothing happened, he invented new dates, and published a new edition. ‘Then there are smaller pamphlets written by Mr. Baker, W. B. Blackstone and others, which attempt to figure out the time of His coming. All date and day setting is unscriptural, and the believer does well to ignore all attempts to ascertain the time of His coming, for it is unrevealed.
The Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke presents our Lord as the perfect man. The Holy Spirit gives in this account, written by the beloved physician, the details of His entrance into His earthly life by the Virgin-birth. The Modernist, who denies this great foundation rock of the Gospel, charges that two of the Gospel records (Mark and John) have not a word about the Virgin-birth; Matthew speaks of it and only Luke gives a full account of Mary of Nazareth, the angel’s visit and his heaven sent message. On account of the silence of the other Evangelists they reject the fact of the Virgin-birth as unreliable. It shows, like all other claims made by this rationalistic school, their blindness. Matthew was led to mention the bare fact that Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit, because Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy, which is the genealogy of Joseph to whom Mary was espoused. To show that Joseph was not the father of our Lord, Matthew mentions the fact of the Virgin-birth. Inasmuch as Luke wrote of Him as the second Man, the perfect Man, the Spirit of God gave through his pen the full facts of the Virgin-birth. Mark did not write about this, because he draws the picture of the perfect servant, and John was led to write of His Deity and the eternal life, and ety was no need to restate what Luke’s Gospel contains.
We quote the message of the Bon Gabriel, lohaneee 1:3 1-33 ‘And behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the LordGod shall give unto Him the throne of His Father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” How literally the first part of this announcement has been fulfilled is well known. The second part, relating to the throne of David, His reign over the house of Jacob and His kingdom, is generally declared to be sa piritual throne of David in heaven, and a spiritual reign, and a spiritual kingdom. When God made a covenant with David He did not promise him a spiritual throne in heaven, nor a spiritual kingdom, but an earthly throne and an earthly kingdom. The return of our Lord, the Son of Man and the Son of David, will bring the realization of the promised throne and the promised kingdom.
The three songs of praise which follow in the Gospel of Luke, the Magnificat of the Virgin, the praise of Zechariah and the adoration of Simeon in the temple, have a prophetic strain looking forward to the consummation, when the King receives His throne.
Chapter x11:35-40 “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning: and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return on account of the wedding: that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him 1mmediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down at meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if He shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that tf the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not.” It is obvious that He speaks of His second coming. He exhorts His own to wait for that event with girded loins and shining lights. He comes on account, or, for the wedding (the correct rendering). He will come suddenly and His watching servants are to be rewarded. He will come forth and gird Himself, as when He washed the disciples’ feet, and serve them. What service that will be when He has His redeemed with Him, we do not know. He speaks of the second and third watches only, and not of the first and the fourth. In Matthew xiv we have a hint that He will come in the fourth watch.
Peter spoke asking “‘Lord speakest Thou this parable unto us, or even to all?’ He answered him with a parable of the faithful and unfaithful servant (verses 42-48) it is the same parable as recorded in Matt. xxiv with something added as to the future punishment (verses 47, 48).
Chapter xvi1:24-37. In this passage He speaks of His future coming once more “‘For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one part under heaven shineth unto the other part under heaven: so shall also the Son of man be in His day.” The present age is ‘“‘man’s day,’’ when He comes again His day will begin. ‘That day will come suddenly. Then He mentions what precedes His return, “‘But first must He suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.”
What is recorded by Matthew is also stated by Luke with some additions. ‘‘4nd as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot: they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded: but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom 1trained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall tt be in the day when the Son of man ts revealed,”
He does not speak of righteousness and peace reigning on earth when He comes, but His day, the day of His visible manifestation, will be preceded by the days of Noah and Lot, that is, the same moral conditions will prevail on earth. The days of Noah were days of violence; the days of Lot were days of immorality. The common affairs of the race in commerce, agriculture and in social life continued till sudden judgment came. Thus it will be before He comes again. Violence, immorality and other forms of unrighteousness and lawlessness will increase and culminate in the great tribulation. He does not find a converted world when He returns. Both the deluge and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah are typical of the judgment which falls upon the ungodly when He comes back; and as Noah and his house were saved, and Lot escaped, so will the righteous be delivered.
Chapter xviii:8 “Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall He find the faith on the earth?” ‘This was spoken after the parable of the unjust judge (verses 1-7). The widow is the remnant of Israel sorely pressed during the days of tribulation. ‘They cry, at that time, as His own elect, night and day unto Him (verse 7). His answer will be His visible manifestation by which they will be delivered. But when He comes He will not find the faith, that is the faith revealed in His Holy Word, on the earth. The Spirit of God in the Epistles gives the complete revelation as to what He will find when He returns.
Chapter xix:11-27. This passage contains the parable of the ten pounds. It was occasioned by those who thought “that the Kingdom of God should immediately appear.” They recognized in Him the promised Messiah, the King, but did not realize that the cross and the suffering had to precede the glory. He speaks of Himself as going to a far country to receive a kingdom, and to return. In the interval His servants are to be faithful with the entrusted pounds; He tells them “Occupy till I come.” The ten servants like the ten virgins, represent Christendom. The one who hides the pound in the sweat cloth (soudarion) is called a wicked servant, and represents unsaved, professing Christians. The citizens mentioned in verse 14, who hated the nobleman, are the Jews. The parable teaches that when the Lord returns He will reward His faithful servants and will give them a share in His Kingdom.
The Olivet discourse is given in part by Luke in the twenty first chapter. We do not repeat what has already been stated in Matthew’s account, Chapter «x1:20-24. ‘This passage predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the world-wide dispersion of the Jewish people. We quote the last verse. ‘And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” Jerusalem will not always be trodden down by the Gentiles. Redemption and glory is everywhere promised in the prophetic Word of the Old Testament to Jerusalem. But the accomplishment of these promises is everywhere linked with the coming of the once rejected King. There will be no restoration of Israel, no glory for Jerusalem, till Christ comes back. The times of the Gentiles will end. Their end is the end of the age and that comes with His return. How long do the times of the Gentiles last? When will they end? Nobody knows. We know when they began, but the duration of these times is unrevealed.
Verses 25-28 “And there shall be signs in the sun and tn the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring: 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 wth 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.”
Between verse 24 and 25 comes in the present age. When the age ends times of distress and perplexity will come, heaven and earth will be shaken before the Son of man appears in a cloud with power and great glory. Verses 34-36 contain words of warning and exhortation in view of the fact of His coming. While these words mean primarily those who wait for His visible coming to the earth, they also have an application to His Church waiting to meet Him in the air.
The Gospel of John
The striking difference between the Synoptics and the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, is known to every thoughtful Christian. Without enlarging upon these differences we call attention to the total absence in this Gospel of all the prophetic announcements of His return, which we have found so frequently in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. Nothing is found in this Gospel about the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70, for the simple reason that the Gospel of John was written at least 20 years after that event. Nor is there found a single word of the Olivet discourse. Not once does our Lord refer to the great tribulation. Once He speaks of Antichrist, the false Messiah, but without any further teaching as to the end of the age. (John v:43). The Spirit of God guided the hand of the beloved disciple to omit all these statements, not to pen anything about the characteristics of the age, the wars, the rumors of war, the famines, the pestilences or earthquakes. Nor did John record the repeated declarations our blessed Lord made, that He would come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Nothing is said of the regathering of Israel, the budding fig tree. In vain do we look for the kingdom parables with their great dispensational messages.
Why is it thus? The purpose of the Gospel of John furnishes the answer. It is the Gospel which reveals Christ as the Son of God, with the assurance that those who believe on Him have life, eternal life, through His name. What this eternal life is, in what it consists, what it includes, and how it is sustained and manifested, is all blessedly unfolded in the fourth Gospel.
His disciples, except Judas, who betrayed Him, had believed on Him; they were therefore born again and had received in the new birth eternal life. In His high priestly prayer (John xvii) He speaks of them as being not of the world even as He is not of the world. By believing on Him they belonged to Him, were separated from the world, which lieth in the wicked one; their lot and portion was no longer with the world, for they had passed from death unto life, no longer the subjects of judgment but destined to eternal glory. While in the Synoptics they represent prophetically the believing Jewish remnant in the end of the age, in the Gospel of John they represent not the nucleus of an earthly, literal kingdom, but the nucleus of the Church. According to the eternal purpose they were members of that body already, soon to be baptized by the coming of the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ, the Church.
Because they are the representatives, prophetically, in Matthew, Mark and Luke of believing Jews of the end of the age, these Gospels record His sayings as to the tribulation, the abomination of desolation, the persecutions, the false Christs, His visible coming, and the signs of His coming and the regathering of Israel. But inasmuch as they are seen in John’s Gospel as identified with Him, no longer of this world, but brought into a new and heavenly relationship, His second visible coming, the preceding events, the signs of His coming, the end of the age, the tribulation and the regathering of Israel, as well as other events are not mentioned in this Gospel.
And why not? Because the Church of Jesus Christ, composed of all true believers, born again, not of the world as He is not of the world, identified with Him, will not be on the earth during the end of the age, will not pass through the tribulation of those days, has nothing to do with the “abomination of desolation” and will not see Him coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. This great and comforting truth, that those who belong to Christ and constitute His body, will not be on earth during the great tribulation, but have a better hope, is, for the first time, brought out in the Gospel of John. When we examine the teaching of the Epistles as to the return of our Lord, we shall discover the full meaning of that blessed hope, which is stated by our Lord in the Gospel of John.
And now we are ready to quote and explain the one, and only one passage, in this Gospel in which the coming again of our Lord is directly and most blessedly promised by Himself.
Chapter xiv:1-3 “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: tf it were not so I would have told you. TI go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, ye may be also.’ This is a unique promise. No such promise is recorded in the preceding Gospels, nor is there anything like it written in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. The prophet Isaiah indicated that God had something very blessed in reserve for those who would see
the days of the Messiah. “For since the beginning of the
world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him” (Isaiah lxiv:4). This is quoted in the New Testament (1 Cor. 11:9) and there we read “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” Here then is a new revelation.
Let us remember once more that the eleven were Jews by nature. What was their hope? They believed in, and expected, the coming of the Messiah, the Son of David. Their hope was an earthly hope. They expected to be with Him in His earthly kingdom. The mother of the sons of Zebedee requested that her- sons might occupy places at His right hand and at His left in His reign. To be in Jerusalem, the capital of the coming kingdom, to have share in that kingdom, was the highest hope of the believing Jew. And these disciples expected nothing else. They could not expect a higher calling and a more glorious destiny, for Old Testament revelation is silent on such a higher destiny.;
They were greatly troubled. He had said to them “‘Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me, and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you.” Before that He had announced His betrayal by one of their number. Then Judas having “received the sop went immediately out; and it was night.” They did not know what it all meant. What would become of their Jewish hope, if He leaves them alone? Can there be a kingdom without the presence of the King? Then came His soothing words ‘‘Let not your heart be troubled,” followed by the most blessed statements. He speaks of the Father’s house, not of a place on earth, in Jerusalem or the kingdom, but in heaven where the Father dwelleth. He tells them that He goes there to prepare a place for them. They expected He would prepare a place for them in Jerusalem. Then comes the assurance, with which they had become familiar from what He had said at other occasions: “I will come again.” What followed was altogether new to them: “and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” They heard from His lips that He would leave them, that His destination would be the Father’s house, there He would prepare a place for them; in due time He would come back, receive them unto Himself, and make them the sharers of His place in the Father’s house. How perplexed they must have been. They did not realize what it all meant. They still clung to their Jewish hope, but after the Holy Spirit came they understood the better hope of a better inheritance. Thus Peter wrote to his brethren in the dispersion, ‘‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved for you in heaven” (1 Peter 1:2,3). When Christ expired on the cross their Jewish hope died; when He was raised from among the dead and received up into glory, they were begotten again unto a living hope, and then realized that their inheritance is heavenly, with Him in everlasting glory.
The word of our Lord in the fourteenth chapter of John is the first time the blessed hope is mentioned, something entirely different, as we have shown, from the Jéwish hope of an earthly kingdom. We shall find the full revelation as to this hope in the different Epistles. How near and dear this hope, to have His own with Himself in the Father’s house, is to His own loving heart, may be learned from His great prayer. ‘There He prayed the Father for that, which some future day, will be gloriously answered. “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me; for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.” (John xvii:24).
There is another passage in John in which our Lord mentions His coming indirectly. He had announced, at the shore of Tiberias, Peter’s destiny. ‘Then Peter asked concerning the destiny of John. In answer the Lord said “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” (xxi:21,22). But our Lord did not say that John should not die.
Our Lord probably indicated that John should tarry longer than the other Apostles, and as a very old man, as a prisoner in Patmos, should behold the great events in the “Revelation of Jesus Christ” connected with His coming for the Church, and His coming in power and glory for judgment and the establishment of His reign over the earth.