The Return of the Lord in the Book of Revelation
The final book of the New Testament is the only prophetic book in the New Testament Scriptures. Its prophetic character is indicated in the very beginning (Chapter i:3). We have learned that there is a prophetic element in every portion of the New Testament. ‘The Lord Jesus Christ exercised His office as the Prophet, when on earth, and predicted things to come concerning Jerusalem, His own nation, the Gentiles, the present age, and above all did He predict His return in power and glory to receive His own throne. The message of apostolic preaching included prophecy. Every one of the great doctrinal Epistles reveals prophetically the consummation and fullness of redemption, when Christ comes again. In this last Bible book given through the Apostle John, when a prisoner on the island of Patmos, we find the greatest New Testament unfolding of the visible return of the Lord and the events connected with it. Not only what is revealed in the New Testament, but also Old Testament prophecies are restated once more in this majestic book which leads us from time into eternity. One of the reasons why the prophetic message of the Revelation has been so much misunderstood and misinterpreted is the ignorance of expositors as to the contents of the prophetic Word in the Old Testament and God’s revealed purposes. This great capstone of the entire revelation of God must forever remain a sealed book if the personal, visible and glorious return of Christ is not owned. It has been so much criticized and even ridiculed because that coming great event which will enthrone the Lord Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords is not believed.
The correct title is “‘the Revelation’; the name of the Apostle John should be omitted, though it was communicated through John, the book is not the revelation of St. John. As the opening verse tells us, it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The word revelation in the Greek ‘‘ Apocalypsis” means ‘‘Unveiling.”” We find in this book the unveiling of the Person and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. While on earth our Lord said “‘Search the Scriptures... they are they that testify of Me.” The final testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ is given in this book. Here we read of His Deity, His life and witness on earth, His sacrificial death, His resurrection and exaltation; but above all His glorious return is prominently made known. He is seen in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; He sends messages from His throne to the churches. We behold Him as the Lamb in the midst of the throne; He is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who receives from God’s hands the seven sealed book. He breaks the seals, sends forth the trumpeting angels and the seven angels which pour out the vials of divine wrath. Again we see Him as the Angel of the covenant presenting before God the prayers of the Saints, and entitled to the possession of the land and the sea. John beheld Him sitting upon a white cloud crowned with a golden crown, and a sickle in His hand, and finally He appears riding upon the white horse followed by the armies of heaven to conquer the hostile forces and begin His glorious reign over the earth.
The charge brought against this majestic book that it is disjointed and lacks an orderly construction is wholly unfounded. It is the opposite; all is arranged in perfect order. The first great prophetic message of this book concerns the Church on earth. The seven church messages give a startling prophetic forecast of the history of the Church on earth from Apostolic days till the true Church is taken to glory and the apostate Church is disowned. This is found in the second and third chapters. Then follows the vision of the glorified church in the presence of the throne, after which we find the things which are coming upon the earth during the last seven years of tribulation with which the present age closes. When the end of those years comes He is revealed from heaven and His kingdom reign begins. Finally we behold in this book the issues of eternity.
After these introductory remarks we turn to a closer examination of the different passages in which His return is mentioned.
Chapter 1.4-8 “John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be to you, and peace, from Him who 1s, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne; and from Jesus Christ, who 1s the faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him who loveth us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever, Amen. Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, sath the Lord, who 1s and who was, and who 1s to come, the Almighty.”
These are the words of sublime greeting with which the Book begins. The Son of God is revealed here in His essential Deity and in His Incarnation. In His essential Deity He is the “I Am,” Jehovah, the self-existing One, who was, who is and who is to come. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending, the Almighty. In incarnation we know Him as Jesus Christ. Of Him this text speaks in a threefold way. He is the faithful witness.
Such He was on earth as He made God known to man and witnessed to the Truth. Then He is the first begotten from the dead, which indicates His death, the death of the cross. In the third place He is called “‘the prince of the kings of the earth”’; this is a title which He will receive in the future when He returns to earth and claims His crown rights over all the earth, purchased by His blood.
Then follows an outburst of praise. It is not the worshipful praise of John, but the praise of the Holy Spirit through the true Church. The Saints, those who know Christ, praise Him for His mighty love, because they know He died for their sins, has cleansed them by His blood and given them a place with Himself. The possession of this place awaits His return. He does not yet have the kingdom, nor does He reign as King; only when He reigns can His own reign with Him over the earth. The announcement of His coming with clouds is His appearing to the world. It is the same of which He spoke in Matthew xxiv:30, ‘“‘And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth (land) mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” The tribes are the tribes of Israel. Two other passages of Scripture throw light on this verse. In John xix:34-36 is the record of the pierced side; His legs were not broken. John informs us that these things, the piercing of His side and the unbroken legs, were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled. But while we read of the Scripture fulfilled that a bone of Him shall not be broken, John writes that another Scripture says “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.” It is still unfulfilled. That is why the word fulfilled is not used. This Scripture is found in Zech. xii:10. “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and supplications, and they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”? Those who pierced Him are His own people Israel, who rejected Him. ‘The context shows that this takes place “‘in that day,” that is the day of the Lord, when He appears visibly. Jerusalem will be in great trouble and distress (Zech. xiv), but He will appear for their salvation and for the judgment of their enemies. The glorified body of the Lord Jesus Christ retains the nail prints and the mark of the pierced side (John xx:27; Luke xxiv:40). “Behold, He cometh with clouds,” is therefore His visible, second Coming, when all the remnant of Israel, will turn to Him and be saved by Him (Rom. xi:26).
The seven messages, which the glorified Christ sent from the throne to seven churches in existence in Asia Minor at the close of the first century, contain the history of the entire Church on earth in a nutshell. The omniscient Lord knew from the beginning what the course of the professing church would be, beginning with the first declension in apostolic days down to the end of the age when apostasy would demand judgment. In the seven local assemblies He selected and addressed, He beheld certain, characteristics, which later would become the prominent features of the entire professing church. To give a complete outline of the prophetic significance of these messages is not the purpose of this work. We have done so elsewhere.* We briefly state that the message to Ephesus gives the picture of the Church at the time the Apostles had ended their testimony (with the exception of John). Smyrna shows the Church during the dreadful persecutions under the different Roman emperors. Pergamos presents the Church being corrupted by identi-
*Exposition of Revelation by A. C.G. 230 pp. 85 cents postpaid. fication with the world and by priestly assumption. Thyatira gives a prophetic picture of the Roman Catholic apostasy. Sardis is the Reformation period. Philadelphia and Laodicea describe the conditions of the professing Church apart from Rome, at the close of the age. Philadelphia is the faithful, loyal remnant, who keep His Word and deny not His Name. Laodicea is Modernism, the Protestant church in apostasy.
In the first three messages the Lord does not mention His coming at all. But He speaks of His return in the four other messages. The first three periods are gone and will never appear again; the last four periods and phases remain till the Lord comes back. For this reason He does not speak of His return in the messages to Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamos, for He knew these periods would pass before His return. Not so with the last four; Roman Catholicism with all its evil doctrines, its superstitions and evil practises remains, till He comes. Sardis, the Reformation Churches, remain and when He comes He will find on earth an apostate church, which He disowns.
To those faithful even in the Roman corruption He says: * But that which ye have hold fast till I come.”’ (Chapter ii:25.) Then He gives those overcomers a promise. “And he that overcometh, and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of tron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of My Father. And I will give him the morning star.” ‘The noble men and women, thousands of them, who during Romish night held fast the truth of God and sealed their noble confession with their blood, after cruel tortures, have not yet received the promised power over the nations, nor do they, as disembodied spirits, rule with a rod of iron. The promise, yea all the promises, in the book of Revelation, will be made good when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.. If He does not come again to receive from the Father’s hands the nations for His inheritance all His promises made to the overcomers are failures, and those whose trusted in them trusted in vain.
Chapter 111:3-5. “‘ Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come unto thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess His name before My Father, and before His angels.” Sardis represents the Reformation period and the Churches of the Reformation. They will exist, like Roman Catholicism, till He comes. ‘The Lord calls on Protestantism to hold fast and to repent, exactly that which Protestantism is not doing today. What the glorified Christ says as to His coming as a thief will some day take place. It is not a coming in some other way, but His personal coming. The faithful ones who confess Him in the midst of Protestant failure and denial of the faith will He own before His Father and the angels. When will that be? Mark viii:38 tells us it will be at His coming. ‘The message to Philadelphia which follows brings into view the true Church, the faithful remnant, those who walk in separation and who own Christ alone. They are a feeble folk for He says, ‘Thou hast a little strength.” They keep His Word and do not deny His Name. The Lord of glory has given to them an open door, which no man can shut. We hear what He has to say to this faithful, loyal remnant of His people, who represent the assembly, His body in these days of the end of the age.
Chapter 111 10-12. ‘‘ Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation (trial), which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and I will write upon him My new name.”
Here is a gracious promise of exemption, which every true believer can claim. There is coming an hour of trial for all the world. What else can this mean but that coming time of tribulation with which the ages closes, and of which the Lord spoke while on earth (Matthew xxiv:21) and also His Apostles (2 Thess. ii)? Before that hour of trial arrives, not while it is in process, He will take His true Church to glory and 1 Thess. iv. 16-18 will be fulfilled. The believer who belongs to this remnant remembers daily His promise “I come quickly” and waits for Him.
Laodicea runs parallel with Philadelphia. Laodicea is the professing church in apostasy; it is the Modernism of today. In this message He speaks as the coming judge. He threatens to spue the nauseating thing out of His mouth. He calls to repentance and speaks of Himself as standing at the door. From Laodicea there is no recovery. No new reformation takes place. No great revival restores things as they were in the beginning. Here we have a divine forecast of the endhistory of the professing church on earth. While there is His true Church waiting for His coming, true to Him, holding fast the form of sound words, the great mass of professing Christians will depart from the faith once and for all delivered unto the Saints, so that when He comes He will not find the faith upon the earth, as He announced (Luke xviii:8).
Chapter 1v:1-2. “‘ After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard was as tt were of a trumpet talking with me, which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be afterwards. And immediately I was in the spirit, and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.”
A great change suddenly takes place. John is transported in the spirit from earth to heaven. Earthly things are left behind and the unseen, heavenly things appear. Such a sudden change is in store for the true Church. It will take place when His gracious promise in John xiv:1-3 is fulfilled. In the preceding chapter we read of His promise “I will keep thee from the hour of trial,”’ and His threat “‘I will spue thee out of My mouth.” The opening words of the fourth chapter show the fulfillment of the promise and the threat as well. The true Church will be taken up to glory; the apostate church is seen completely rejected.
Symbolically the words in the beginning of this chapter stand for that great revelation penned by the Apostle Paul in the First Epistle to the Thessalonians (iv:16-18). The open door is the symbol of the’entrance of the Saints into His presence. As it is written in Paul’s revelation, so here we read of a voice speaking and also the trumpet. The shout which will gather His Saints together to meet Him in the air will probably consist in the words which John heard, ““Come up hither.” As John was immediately in the spirit in the presence of the Lord, so we, when the Lord comes for His Saints, will be changed “‘in a moment, in the twinkling of an‘eye’’) {1 Cor: xvi52)-
We find then here in the Revelation the definite information that before the tribulation with which this age closes, revealed in detail in Chapters vi-xix, can pass into history, the Lord will take His people to be with Himself. This is also indicated by the word ‘“‘afterward” ... the things which must be afterward. We are still living in the things “‘which are,” that is in the period of the Church on earth. The things afterward appear after the rapture of the Saints of God. All events in the book of Revelation after the third chapter are future.
In the fourth and fifth chapters the redeemed are seen in glory as a glorified and worshipping company. An impressive scene takes place which is related to His return. In the beginning of the fifth chapter we read that God holds in His right hand a seven sealed book. It is found that the One who alone is worthy to receive the book, to break its seals, to make known its contents is “‘the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.”’ The Lion appears at once in the midst of the redeemed as “‘a Lamb as it had been slain.” For the redeemed He is the Lamb of God. They heard on earth the message ‘‘Behold the Lamb of God!” They looked and lived. But He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah as well. He will manifest His Lion-character in royal judgments when He is about to return and in the day of His visible manifestation. ‘The book He receives contains the judgment actions of Almighty God, of which He is the executor, as well as the title deeds to the earth. ‘*The Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son” (John v:22). When He came the first time He came for salvation. “For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn (judge) the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 11i:17).. When He comes the second time He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts xvii:31).
He receives the book and breaks the seals. When the sixth seal is broken the end of the age with His visible manifestation appears. 3
Chapter vi:12 “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of Hts wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?” (See Isaiah 11:10-22; x111:9-11; Matthew xxiv:30-31.)
The seal judgments are followed by the trumpet judgments and the vial judgments. In connection with the sounding of the seventh trumpet His glorious manifestation and victory is again mentioned.
Chapter x1:15-17 “And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, which wast, and art to come, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned.” Not till these judgments are accomplished during the end of this age will the world be converted and the nations learn righteousness. ‘The kingdoms of this world can only become the kingdom of Christ at the time of His return. World conversion before the second coming of Christ is an unscriptural delusion.
Chapter xiv: 14-16 “‘ And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud sat one like unto the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come for Thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He that sat on the cloud thrust in Hts sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.” It is the time of the harvest, the end of the age, of which our Lord spoke in two of His parables (Matthew xiii). He is the great reaper, and He also uses the angels as we read in the verses which follow.
Chapter xo: 3-4“And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear Thee O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments are manifest.” ‘This is the song of the victors over the beast, the overcomers during the reign of Antichrist (Chapter xili), His victory, when all nations worship Him and all evil is dethroned. But that will not take place till His judgments are manifest in the earth (Isaiah xxvi:9) and His judgments are always linked with His return.
Chapter xvt: 15 “Behold I come as a thief. Blessed 1s he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”
These are His own words. Chronologically in this book - they were spoken when the tribulation is nearing its end and all is preparing for the battle of that great day of God Almighty, the battle of Armageddon. The exhortation is addressed to the Jewish remnant, suffering during the tribulation, and waiting for His coming, when deliverance is in store for them. When the seventh angel pours out his vial into the air, the consummation is at hand, and the day of His visible manifestation... (verses 17-21).
After a description of the mystical Babylon (Chapters XVii-xviii) and the judgment of it, the book introduces us once more to a heavenly scene. The voice of much people is heard, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God. All heaven is celebrating the overthrow of Babylon and the victory which is now at hand for the Son of Man. His reign is about to begin. ‘‘And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready” (xix:1-7). The Bride of the Lamb, the Church, is now come to her glorious rights bestowed upon her by Him who loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Then all is ready for, not an opened door in the heavens, but for the opened heavens, and for the age-long expected manifestation of the returning Christ in great power and glory, to conquer with one mighty blow the opposing forces of evil, to dethrone Satan and to take His own throne to exercise the rule of righteousness and peace.
Chapter xix:11-16 ‘‘ And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war. Hts eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems, and He had a name written, that no man knew, but
He Himself. And He was clothed in a vesture dipped in
THE RETURN OF THE LORD 107 blood, and His name ts called the Word of God. And the
armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and He treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”
The language is symbolical. The white horse typifies the victory of Him who sits upon the horse. He comes wearing many diadems. The brow which was once crowned in mockery with the cruel crown of thorns, wears now the diadems of kingly glories, such as were never seen upon earthly kings. His glory is told out in the names He bears. He has a name which is unknown, known only to Himself. It is the name of His essential Deity. His next name is “the Word of God.” It is the name which speaks of His incarnation, when He walked upon the earth among men. The third name is His name of the future. While He is constituted “‘ King of kings and Lord of lords” in the eternal purposes, and this title belongs to Him, He is not yet enthroned as King and Lord over all. Not in this dispensation but in the next, the dispensation of the fulness of times (Eph. i:10) will all things be put under His feet. That dispensation will be ushered in when heaven opens and He comes forth, as seen in this Patmos vision, as the mighty conqueror. He comes to overthrow the gathered nations under the leadership of the beast” (Chapter xiii:1-10). “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His armies” (Verse 19). The day of Armageddon has come. The stone, which Nebuchadnezzar saw falling out of heaven, strikes, and the end of the times of the Gentiles has come (Daniel ii). He smites the nations in judgment. He gathers them as the kingly Judge, and as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats so He will separate them (Matthew xxv:31-32). He is enthroned upon Zion’s hill and as long ago predicted in the second Psalm, He begins His rule with a rod of iron, the rule of righteousness, followed by the rod of peace, when all enemies have been subdued (Psalm cx:2). The armies of heaven which He brings with Himself are the redeemed hosts, as well as the holy angels. All He predicted while on earth as to His return will then literally be fulfilled.
In the twentieth chapter we have His thousand-year reign revealed. It is the kingdom reign, when all things are put in subjection under His feet, when nations turn swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks. Satan will be bound by Him (Genesis iii:15), the first great promise of the Bible, will then be fulfilled. ‘The head of the serpent is crushed. He can no longer deceive the nations. Christ reigns and the redeemed reign with Him over the earth. “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” During these thousand years every prophecy of blessing and glory in both Testaments will be literally fulfilled. Peace on earth and “glory to God in the highest” has now come. His own people have their rewards and what He promised for the time of regeneration has been realized (Matthew xix:28).
We do not follow here the ending of the Kingdom reign of Christ. ‘The reader will find this explained in our complete exposition of Revelation, nor do we enlarge on the eternal issues as revealed in this book. We quote the remaining references to His return.
Four times in the last chapter of Revelation, and therefore the last chapter of the whole Bible, His Return is mentioned. In doing so the Holy Spirit shows that with Him it is not the unessential doctrine, of no account and little consequence, as stated by so many theologians.
Chapter xxii:7 “Behold, I come quickly. Blessed 1s he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” It is one of the last beatitudes of the Bible. Those who sneer at this book, and the thousands of indifferent Christians who never read this book or ponder over its wonderful revelations, have no share whatever in this blessing. But if a Christian believes in the personal and glorious return of the Lord, that Christian will read and study this greatest of all prophetic books, and keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Chapter xx11:12 “‘ Amd, behold, I come quickly; and my reward 15 with Me to give every man according as his work shall be.’ ‘The previous passage in which the Lord announced His return and a promised blessing speaks of obedience; the second announcement of His coming is linked with the promised reward. What He had spoken on earth (Matthew xxv: 8-27) He repeats from glory. His coming brings the rewards for His servants (2 Tim. iv:8).
Chapter xxi1:17 “‘ And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”
The preceding verse contains His own words. “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star.” This self-witness brings at once a response from the Holy Spirit. The Morning Star is the harbinger of the nearing dawn, with the rising Sun in all His glory. His visible return in great power and glory is spoken of in the last chapter of the last book of the Old Testament as “the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings’’ (Mal. iv:2). The Morning Star denotes His coming for His Saints. For this the Holy Spirit longs, when He can present the complete body of Christ, the assembly in His presence. Therefore He utters His “‘Come,”’ not here the invitation to the sinner, which follows directly, but the “Come” is addressed to Him who is the root and offspring of David, the bright and Morning Star. The Bride is the assembly, the true Church. The Spirit dwells in her and she joins in and says “‘Come.” The Spirit and the Bride desire longingly His coming. But there is another “Come.” It is addressed to those who know Him not, who have no share and part in the coming glory, when His own are gathered home into the Father’s house. The last Gospel invitation, the last “‘ whosoever’ is given in this verse.
Chapter xx11:20 “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, Come, Lord Jesus.” This is His last word. Once more He announces His coming. It will be suddenly. The next word which His own will hear from His lips is the shout (1 Thess. iv:16), the ‘Come up hither.”” The prayer ‘‘Even so, Come, Lord Jesus’’ is the answer of His waiting bride, the Church. For centuries it has been the forgotten prayer. But now it is prayed as never before. The prayer will be answered when He comes suddenly, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. May we never forget to pray this last prayer in the Bible.