The Ascension or Exaltation of Jesus Christ

I. The Fact of the Ascension or Exaltation of Jesus Christ.

(i) Eph. 4:8 — “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”

Acts i: 9 — ‘*’ And when he had spoken these things, while they be held, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”

Luke 24: 51 — “And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.”

Heb. 10: 12 — “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ has ascended up on high, been received into Heaven, has sat down at the right hand of God.

The Ascension or Exaltation of Jesus Christ is definitely spoken of thirty-three or more times in the New Testament.

II. The Manner of the Ascension or Exaltation of Jesus Christ.

(1) Luke 24: 51 — “And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven.”

Acts i: 9 — “And when he had spoken these things, while they be held, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ was carried up into Heaven while the disciples were looking and received out of their sight.

(2) Jno. 17: 5 — “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ has been glorified with the Father Himself with the glory which He had with Him be fore the world was.

(3) Heb. 7: 26 — “For such a high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ has been made higher than the heavens. (Compare Heb. 4: 14, R, V., “passed through the heavens.” Eph. 4: 10, R.V.)

(4) Eph. i: 20 — “Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.”

Col. 3: i — “If ye then be raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is now seated on the
right hand of God.

QUESTION: Is this to be taken literally of location, or figuratively of power?

ANSWER: Acts 7: 55, 56 — “But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Be hold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” Though God is in a sense everywhere, there is a place where He peculiarly manifests Himself and His glory — a place where He can be said to dwell in a sense in which He dwells nowhere else. Jesus Christ is at His right hand in that place.

(5) Eph. 1:21 — “Far above all principalities, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ has been exalted far above all principalities (R.V. “rule”) and power (R. V. “authority “) and might (R.V. “power “) and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. (Compare Eph. 6: 12, A.V. and R.V. and Greek. The R.V. is not consistent in its translation of words in these two passages.)

(6) Acts 5:31 — “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: God the Father exalted Jesus Christ with His right hand. (Compare Eph. 1: 19, 20.)

in. The Purpose of the Exaltation of Jesus Christ.

(i) Jno. 17: i — “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.”

FIRST PROPOSITION. Jesus Christ was glorified in order that He might glorify the Father.

(2) Acts 5: 31 — “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ was exalted that He might be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

It is the “Ascended” or “Exalted” Christ that now rules the believer and saves him and gives repentance and forgiveness of sins.

(3) Heb. 6: 20 — “Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.”

THIRD PR OPOSITION: Jesus Christ was exalted to enter heaven as a forerunner for us.

He has gone ahead to prepare the way and open the gates by His atoning blood and priestly intercession.

(4) Jno. 14 2 — “In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ has ascended into
heaven to prepare heaven itself as an abode for us.

QUESTION: How?

ANSWER: Heb. 9: 21-24 — “Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be puriiied with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Heaven itself must be sprinkled with blood to be fitted to be the abode of blood-sprinkled sinners.

(5) Heb. 9:24 — “For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven Uself. now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

i QO What the Bible Teaches

FIFTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ ascended and entered heaven now to appear before the face of God for us — i. e., to act as high priest on our behalf; to present the blood of atonement and make intercession for us.

This is illustrated by the Old Testament high priest who was only the type of Him that was to come.

(6) Heb. 10: 12, 13 — “But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; from hence forth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.”

Acts 2: 34, 35 — “For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.”

Acts 3: 20, 21 — “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and sat down on the right hand of God to await the complete subjection of His enemies and the restitution of all things. When that time comes lie will come forth and His enemies be quickly subdued before him. ( See Chapter on the” Second Coming of Christ”)

(7) Eph. 4: 10, R.V. — “He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.”

SEVENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ ascended far above
all the heavens that He might Jill all things.

IT. The Results of the Exaltation of Jesus Christ.

(1) Eph. 1:18-20 — “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: In the Exaltation of Jesus Christ, as in His Resurrection, the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us-ward is seen.

(2) Heb. 4: 14-^6, R.V. — “Having then a great high priest, who hath passed through the heavens, J«sus the Son of God, let us b»W fast our confession. For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: Through the Exaltation of Jesus Christ we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens and we can holdfast our confession and draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace.

If we have any hesitation or fear in our approach to God, all we need to do is to remember our ascended Saviour, our great high priest in the presence of God, at the very “right hand of the throne, the Majesty in the heavens.” (Heb. 8:1.)

(3) Acts 2: 33 — “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: Because of His Exaltation Jesus Christ has received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit and poured Him forth upon His believing and obedient dis’ ciples.

It is the ascended Christ who baptizeth with the Holy
Spirit (Jno. 7: 39; 1 6: 7; Acts 1:5.)

(4) Jno. 14: 12 — “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: Because of the Exaltation of Jesus Christ those who believe on Him will do greater works than He Himself wrought during the days of His humiliation.

(5) Heb. 2:9 — “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: Because of His Exaltation Jesus
Christ is seen clothed with glory and honor.

(6) Heb. i: 3, 4 — “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: By His Exaltation Jesus Christ is

made better than (exalted above) the angels.

(7) Phil. 2: 9, R.V — “Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name.”

SEVENTH PROPOSITION: By His Exaltation Jesus Christ
has been given the name which is above every name.

(8) i Pet. 3:22 — “Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.”

EIGHTH PROPOSITION: By the Exaltation of Jesus Christ angels and authorities and powers have been made subject unto Him.

(9) Eph. 1:22, R.V. — “And he put all things in subjection undei his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church.”

NINTH PROPOSITION: By the Exaltation of Jesus Christ: (a) All things have been put in subjection under His feet, (b) He has been made head over all things to the church.

(10) Phil. 2: 9-11 — “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (See R.V.)

TENTH PROPOSITION: Because of the Exaltation of Jesus Christ, in the name of Jesus every knee shall ultimately bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE COMING AGAIN OF JESUS CHRIST.

L The Fact of His Coining Again.

Jno. 14: 3 — “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Heb. 9: 28 — “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time with out sin unto salvation.”

Phil. 3: 20, 21 — “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

i Thess. 4:16,17 — “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Acts 3: 19, 20 R.V. — “Repent ye therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that so there may come seasons of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the C/fcm/who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things whereof God spake by the mouth of his holy prophets which have been since the world began.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again.

NOTE i. — This coming again of Christ is not at the death of the believer, (a) He does not come again at death “with a shout,” etc. (b) Those who are alive and remain are not caught up, etc., at the death of individual believers. (Jno. 14: 3, and i Thess. 4: 16, 17, manifestly refer to the same event. They are exactly parallel in the three facts stated: i. The “I will come again” of Jesus, equals “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven” of Paul. 2. The “Receive you unto myself” of Jesus, equals the “Shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord” of Paul. 3. The “That where I am, there ye maybe also” of Jesus, equals the “So shall we ever be with the Lord” of Paul. Paul’s words are manifestly an inspired commentary on those of Jesus, and the refer* ence of the words of Jesus to His coming at death is thus made impossi« ble.) (c) Jno. 21: 22 — “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me,” shows how utterly im possible it is to make Christ’s coming refer to death. “If I will that he tarry,” evidently means, “If I will that he remain alive.” Now put Christ’s coming at the believer’s death and you get this nonsense: “If I will that he remain alive until he die, what is that to thee?”

NOTE 2. — The “coming again” in the verses given above is not the coming of Christ at the coming of the Holy Spirit. That is, in a very real and important sense, a coming of Christ. This appears from Jno. 14: 15-18, 21-23 — “If ye love me keep my commandments. And I will pray Ihe Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide wvith you forever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not. neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. He that hath my commandments, andkeepeth them, he it is that loveth me; and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” But this coming of Christ is not that which is referred to in the passages under consideration, (a.) All of these promises but one (Jno. 14: 3) were made after the coming of the Holy Spirit and pointed to a coming still future. (&.) Jesus does not receive us unto Himself to be with Him at the coming of the Holy Spirit. At the coming of the Holy Spirit He comes to be with us (Jno. 14: 18, 21, 23), at His coming again mentioned in Jno. 14: 3; i Thess. 4: 16, 17, etc., He takes us to be with Him. (c.) He does not at His coming in the Spirit “fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory.” (Phil. 3: 20, 21.) (d.) There is no trump of the archangel, no shout, no resurrection, no rapture in the clouds, at this coming of the Christ. In other words, this coming in scarcely any particular conforms to the plain and explicit statements of Christ and the Apostles concerning His coming again.

NOTE 3. — The ’ ‘coming again” mentioned in the verses above was not at the Destruction of Jerusalem. The Destruction of Jerusalem was in a sense the precursor, prophecy and type of the Judgment at the end of the Age, and therefore in Matt. 24 and Mark 13 the two events are described in connection with each other. But God’s judgment on Jerusalem is manifestly not the event referred to in the texts given above, (a.) On that occasion those who sleep in Jesus were not raised, living believers were not caught up to meet the Lord in the air, the bodies of believers were not transformed, (b.) Years after the Destruction of Jerusalem we find John still looking forward to the Lord’s coming. (Rev. 22: 20.) See also, Jno. 21: 32, 23 — “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me. Then went this saying abroad among the brethren that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” These words were written years after the Destruction of Jerusalem. Not any one of these events, nor all of them together, nor any other event that has yet occurred fulfills the very plain, explicit and definite predictions of Christ and the Apostles regarding Christ’s coming again. The Coming Again of Jesus Christ, so frequently mentioned in the New Testament as the great hope of the Church, is still in the future.

II. The Importance of the Doctrine of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ. FIRST PROPOSITION; The Second Coming of Christ is said to be mentioned 318 times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament and “it occupies one in every twenty -jive verses” from Matthew to Revelation.

SECOND PROPOSITION: By far the greater number of the predictions concerning Christ in the Old Testament are connected with His Second Coming.

(3) i Thess. 4: 18 — ‘’Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (See context.)

THIRD PROPOSITION: The Coming Again of Jesus Christ is the doctrine with which God bids us to comfort sorrowing saints. This is true also of the Old Testament. (Compare Is. 40: 1, 9, 10 — “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.”

(4) Tit. 2: 13 — “Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”

2 Pet. 3: n, 13, R.V. — “Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: The Coming Again of Jesus Christ and the events connected therewith are the blessed hope and eager desire of the true believer.

The last prayer in the Bible is “Even so, come Lord Jesus.” (Rev. 22: 20.)

(5) 2 Pet. 3:3, 4, R. V. — “Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: The Coming Again of Jesus Christ is a doctrine in hick is the particular object of the hatred and ridicule of mockers who walk after their own lusts.

A worldly church and worldly Christians also hate this doctrine.

(6) Matt. 24: 44-46 — “Therefore be ye also ready; -for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.”

Luke 21 134-36 — “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”

i Jno. 2: 28 — “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, ye may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coining.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: The fact of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ is the great Bible argument for a life of watch fulness, fidelity, wisdom, activity, simplicity, self-restraint, prayer and abiding in Christ. (See also Matt. 25. Entire Chapter. )

(7) Luke 12: 35, 36 — “Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their Lord, when he shall return from the marriage feast, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him.”

SEVENTH PROPOSITION; The Coming Again of Jesus Christ is the one event for ichich the disciples of Christ should be looking.

rn verse 37 an especial blessing is promised upon those whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching. (Compare Heb. 9:28 — “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”)

III. The Manner of Christ’s Coming Again.

(i) i Thess. 4: 16, 17 — “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

Matt. 25: 31, 32 — “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.”

2 Thess. 2:7, 8 — “For the mystery in iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”

Zech. 14:4, 5 — “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake’ in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.”

It is evident from a comparison of the above passages that the Coming Again of Jesus Christ has various steps or stages:

(a) FIRST STAGE: In the air whither His believing people are caught up to meet Him.

(b) SECOND STAGE: To the earth. In this latter stage His saints come with Him.

i Thess. 3: 13 — “To the end he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.”

Col. 3:4, R.V. — “When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory.”

i Thess. 4: 14 — “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”

In the air Christ comes for His own; to the earth He comes with them. For anything we know a considerable interval may take place between these two stages of the Lord’s coming. Luke 21:36 — (“Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.”) and 2 Thess. 2: 7, 8 — (“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only ho who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”) — seem to hint that the whole period of the great tribulation intervenes between the coming of Jesus in the air for His earthly saints and His coming to the earth with His saints. There are not, however, two comings, but two stages in the one coming. Bearing in mind the distinction between these two will help to solve many of the seeming discrepancies between different texts of the Bible on this subject.

(c) THIRD STAGE: A succession of events follows His coming to the earth.

(2) Acts i: ii — “Which 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.”

Heb. 9: 28 — “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time with out sin unto salvation.” (“Shall appear,” literally “shall be seen.”)

Rev. i: 7 — “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ shall come again bodily and visibly.

(3) Matt. 24:26, 27 — “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Be hold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again with
great publicity.

(Compare Rev. i: 7 — “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so. Amen.”)

These u inner chamber” Christs and “obscure corner” Christs are a humbug long since predicted and exploded. Even at His coming for His saints there seems to be a large measure of publicity about it. (1 Thess. 4:16, 17 — ‘’For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first. “) The doctrine of a secret rapture of believers does not seem to have much support in Scripture.

(4) Matt. 24: 30 — “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.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: The Son of man is coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

“In the clouds.”

Compare Ex. 19: 9 — “And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, 7 come unto theg in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD.”

Ex. 34: 5 — “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.”

Ps. 97: i, 2 — “The LORD reignethjlet the earth rejoice; letthemultitude of isles be glad thereof. Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.”

Matt. 17: 5 — “While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”

Ps. 104: 3 — “Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds HIS chat lot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind.”

Is. 19: i — “The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.”

From these passages it appears that it was Jehovah who came in the clouds; therefore, to say that Jesus is coming in the clouds is to say that He is coming as a Divine one or in Divine glory.

(5) Matt. 16: 27 — “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man accordiflg to hit works,”

too What the Bible Teaches

Mark 8: 38 — “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and oi 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.”

2 Thess. i: 7, R.V. — “And to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming m the glory
of His Father with the holy angels.

(6) Rev. 16:15 — “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

i Thess. 5: 2, 3 — “But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ shall come as a thief- — unannounced, without warning, unexpectedly, suddenly.

The world will be taken up with its usual occupations.

Matt. 24: 37-39 — “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Sou of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”

The attempt to lay out a complete and fully defined chart of events leading up to the Lord’s coming, loses sight of this clearly revealed fact about His coming. Our part is to see to it that that day does not come upon us as a snare.

Luke 21 ‘.34, 35 — “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”

IV. The Purposes of Christ’s Coming Again.

(i) Jno. 14: 3 — “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

i Thess. 4: 16, 17 — “For the Lord himself, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we wK~~> are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to receive His own unto Himself; that where lie is, there they may be also.

It is primarily love to His own that draws Jesus Christ to this earth again. He so loves us that He cannot get on without us.

(Compare Jno. 17: 24 — “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”)

(2) Phil. 3: 20, 21, R.V. — “For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to fasfiion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory.

(3) Matt. 25: 19 — “After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to reckon with His servants.

(4) Matt. 16: 27, R.V. — “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to render unto every man according to his deeds.

It is not at death, but at the coming of the Lord that we receive our full reward.

2 Tim. 4: 8 — “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

i Pet. 5:4, R.V. — “And when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

(5) 2 Thess. i: 10, R.V. — “When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all them that believed (because out testimony unto you was believed) in that day.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to bl glorified in His saints and to be marveled at in all them that be lieve.

(6) Matt. 25: 10 — “And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.”

Rev. 19: 7-9 — “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. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to be united in marriage with His betrothed bride, the Church (Compare Eph. 5:23-32), and to celebrate the marriage supper.

(7) Luke 19: 12, 15 — “He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.”

Matt. 25: 31 — “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”

Jer. 23:5, 6 — “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, TPIE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUS NESS.”

Ps. 2: 6 — “Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.”

Zech. 14:9 — “And the LORD shall be king gver all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”

Rev. 19: 12, 15, 16 — “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 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 winepress 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.”

Rev. 20:4 — “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in then hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Rev. ii: 15 — “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

SEVENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to
reign as a king.

(8) Zech. 14: 1-4 — “Behold the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”

EIGHTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to deliver Israel in the day when his trials and sufferings shall culminate.

(9) Zech. 8: 3, 7, 8 — “Then saith the LORD, I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, The holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”

NINTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to gather together the outcasts of Israel from the East country and the West country into Jerusalem.

(10) Rom. 1 1: 26 — * ‘And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”

TENTH PR OPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to deliver Israel and turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

(n) Mai. 3: 1-3 — “Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall sud« denly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”

ELEVENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again as
a refiner and purifier of silver.

(12) 2 Tim. 4: i — “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.”

TWELFTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to
judge the living and the dead.

(al Matt. 25: 31, 32 — “But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all the nations.”

Jesus Christ is coming again to judge all the nations. The nations here spoken of are the nations living on the earth at the coming of the Lord.

(b] Rev. 20: n, 12 — “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”

Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the dead. One thousand years separate these two judgments. (Rev. 20: 7-11.)

(13) Jude 14, 15, R.V. — “And to these also Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”

THIRTEENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.

(14) Is. 26: 2i — “For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

FOURTEENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.

(15) 2 Thess. i: 7-9, R.V. — “And to you who are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

FIFTEENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to render vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(16) 2 Thess. 2: 8, R.V. — “And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to naught by the manifestation of his coming.”

SIXTEENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to slay the lawless one with the breath of his mouth and to bring him to naught by the manifestation of His coming.

(17) Is. ii: i, 2, 4, 5, 9 — “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots; And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. They shall not hurt nor*lestroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

SEVENTEENTH PROPOSITION: Jesus Christ is coming again to establish a universal reign of righteousness and godliness upon earth.

The coming of Christ is the true solution of all social problems.

V. The Results of Christ’s Coming Again.

NOTE. — The Results of Christ’s coming again naturally run parallel to the purpose of His coming again. But some passages are better classified under the Purpose and others under the Results.

(1) AS REGARDS GrOD.

(a) Is. 40:5 — “And the glory of God shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.” (Note context vv. 3, 9-11.)

FIRST PROPOSITION: In the Coming Again of Jesus Christ the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

(2) AS REGARDS THE CHURCH.

(a) i Thess. 4: 16 — “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: At the coming of Jesus Christ the
dead in Christ shall rise.

(b) Phil. 3:20, 21 — “For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ the bodies of believers shall be transformed into the likeness of the body of His glory.

(Compare Rom. 8: 23 — “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Then the work of regeneration is completed.)

(c) i Thess. 4: 17 — “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ all believers — those still living and those who had fallen asleep but are now raised — shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air to be forever with Him. (Compare Jno. 14: 3.)

(d) i Jno. 3: 2 — “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ believers shall be made like Him because they shall see as %& is.

The Coming Again of Jesus Christ aof

Beholding Christ transforms into the image of Christ. (2 Cor. 3: 18, R.V.) But now we see through a glass darkly and the reflection is imperfect. Then we shall see Him face to face in His undimmed glory and shall perfectly reflect it.

(e) Col. 3: 4, R.V. — “When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: When Christ comes again and is manifested, then shall believers be manifested with Him in glory.

(/) 2 Tim. 4: 8 — “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of the Lord those who love His appearing shall receive a crown of righteousness.

(g) i Pet. 5: 4, R.V. — “And when the chief shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.”

SEVENTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ faithful shepherds of the flock (see context as to what constitutes faithfulness) shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.

(K) Rev. 20: 4 — “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

EIGHTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus
Christ His people shall live and reign with Him.

NOTE. — This verse seems to refer primarily to the tribulation saints, but by implication to all believers. Certainly the bride must reign with her husband.

(3) AS REGARDS ISRAEL.

(a) Is. 25: 9 — “And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: Because of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ there shall be great joy among His people.

This can hardly be limited to Israel, but the context seems to imply that the primary reference is to them.

(by Is. n: u, 12 — “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judahfrom the four corners of the earth.”

Ezek. 36: 24, R.V. — “For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.”

Ezek. 37: 21 — “And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Be hold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land.”

Zeph. 3: 19, 20 — “Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time I will bring you again, even at the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith the LORD.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: Because of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ the children of Israel shall be gathered together from among the nations, from the four corners of the earth, and brought into their own land.

(c) Ezek. 37: 19, 22, 24 (See context) — “Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ divided Israel — Ephraim and Judah — shall be reunited into one nation under the one king David — Jesus.

(d) Jer. 23: 5, 6 — “Behold the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: Because of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely.

(Compare Rom. n: 26 — “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.”)

(e) Ezek. 37: 23 — “Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.”

Ezek. 36: 25-27, 29 (Note context) — “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthincss, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: Because of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ Israel shall be cleansed from all their jilihiness and from all their idols, a new heart will be given them and a new spirit put within them, the stony heart shall be taken away from them and they given a heart of flesh. God will put His Spirit within them and cause them to walk in his statutes and they shall keep His judgments and do them.

(Compare Jer. 31: 31-34 — “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”)

(/) Ezek. 36: 37, 38 — “Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

Jer. 31:27 — “Behold the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed cf man, and with the seed of beast.”

Ezek. 36: 33-37 — “Thus saith the Lord GOD; in the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be builded. And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, this land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited. Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it. Thus saith the LORD God; I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.”

Zech. 8: 3-5 — “Thus saith the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, The holy mountain. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION: Because of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ and the events that grow out of that coming Israel shall be wondrously multiplied, and the waste, desolate and ruined cities shall be rebuilt, and the desolate land made like the garden of Eden. Jerusalem shall be called” the City of Truth,” and shall be filled with peace, prosperity and gladness.

(g) Zech. 8: 23 — “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.”

Is. 49: 22, 23 — “Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.”

SEVENTH PROPOSITION; Because of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ Israel shall be greatly exalted above the nations.

(h) Is. 66: 19 (Note context) — “And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish. Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.”

EIGHTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ Israel shall go forth as preachers of the glory of Jehovah to the nations.

(4) As REGARDS THE NATIONS AND UNREGENERATE INDIVID
UALS.

(a) Matt. 24: 30 — ‘* 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.”

Rev. 1:7, R.V. — “Behold he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they which pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him.

The gladdest day of all for His people, the saddest day of all for those who are not His people

(b) Matt 25:31, 32 — “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.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ all the nations shall be gathered before Him for judgment, and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats, dec.

(c) Acts 15: 16, 17 — “After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might a 12 What the Bible Teaches

seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name ia called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.”

Zech. 8:20-23, R.V. — “Thus saith the LORD of hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to intreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to intreat the favor of the LORD. Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

Is. 2: 2, 3 — “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ the residue of men and all the Gentiles (nations] upon whom His name is called will seek after the Lord. Peoples shall come and the inhabitants of many cities. Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to intreat the favor of the Lord.

QUESTION: How can this be if immediately upon His coming the nations are gathered before Him, judged, separated and as signed to their eternal destiny?

ANSWER. — It is not said that immediately upon His coming the nations will be gathered, etc. Our difficulties arise from the fact that we assume what the Bible never asserts nor implies; viz., that these things are all crowded into a day or a few days or a year. These events are connected with and result from His coming, but they take time for their development. I doubt if the prophecies are intended to give us a definite and detailed history in their order of all the events connected with the Lord’s coming. The great important facts necessary to keep us watching and to cheer our hearts and fire us for our work are given in outline. But always remember that, while prophecy is exactly and literally true in every word, prophecy is not history.

(d) Ps. 2:9 (See context vv. 6, 8.) — “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron: thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ and His glorious reign, rebels against Him will be shattered.

(e) 2 Thess. i: 7-9, R.V. — “And to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”

FIFTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ those who know not God and those who obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the Glory of His might.

(As to what “destruction” means, compare Rev. 17:11, with 20: 10, and Rev. 19: 20. See also, chapter on the future destiny of those who reject the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.)

(/) Zech. 14: 16 — “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which come against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the king, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.”

Is. 49: 7 — “Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nations abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee.”

Rev. 15:4 — “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 made manifest.”

Ps. 2: 8 — “Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.”

Ps. 72: 8-1 1 — “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down be fore him: all nations shall serve him.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION. At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ every one that is left of the nations, and kings and princes shall worship and serve Jesus Christ.

(g) Zech. 9: 10 — “And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the earth.”

Rev. n: 15, R.V. — “And the seventh angel sounded; and there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever.”

SEVENTH PROPOSITION: At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ the kingdom of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ: and He shall reign forever and ever.

(h) Is. 2:4 (See context v. 2) — “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Mic. 4: 3, 4 — “And he shall judge among many people and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.”

Ps. 72: 7, 16 — “In his days shall the ‘righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. There shall be a hand ful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.”

EIGHTH PROPOSITION; At the Coming Again of Jesus Christ war shall cease, peace and plenty shall reign, and the righteous shall flourish.

(5) THE RESULTS OF CHRIST’S COMING AS REGARDS HUMAN
SOCIETY AS A WHOLE.

(a) Is. 11:9 — “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

FIRST PROPOSITION. The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

The day of Christ’s Coming Again and reign will indeed be the golden age and well may we cry, “Amen; come Lord Jesus.”

(6) THE RESULTS or CHRIST’S COMING AGAIN AS REGARDS
THE ANTI-CHRIST AND THE DEVIL.

(a) 2Thess. 2: 8, R.V. — “And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: The Anti- Christ shall be slain (or put out of the way. Compare Rev. 19 20.) by the breath of His mouth and brought to naught by the manifestation of His coming.

(b) Rev. 20: 1-3, R.V. — “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished: after this he must be loosed for a little time.”

Rev. 20: 10, R.V. — “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are also the beast and the false prophet; and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: The Devil shall be chained and cast into the abyss for a thousand years, and then after a little space of liberty be cast into the lake of fire where he shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

(7) THE RESULTS OF CHRIST’S COMING AGAIN AS REGARDS THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE.

(a) Rom. 8: 19-21, R.V. — “For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.”

Is. 55: 13 (See context). — “Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Is. 65:25 — “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.”

Is. 32: 15 — “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for

Is. 35:1, R.V. — “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” (Context vv. 2, 4.)

FIRST PROPOSITION: In connection with Christ’s Coming Again — the creation itself shall be delivered from the corruption to which it is now subject into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. Thorns, briers and carnage shall be no more. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.

(b) 2 Pet. 3: 12, 13 — “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, looking for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

Rev. 21: i — “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: There shall be a new heaven and a
new earth. (Compare Rev. 21: 2-27.)

As the result of Christ’s coming there will be a new and glorious man, in a new and glorious body, in a new and glorious society, in a new and glorious universe.

“Amen Come Lord Jesus.”

VI. The time of the Coming Again of Jesns Christ.

(i) Matt. 24: 36, 42 — “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”

Mark 13: 32 — “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the son, but the Father.”

FIRST PROPOSITION: The exact time of the Coming Again of Jesus Christ is not revealed to us.

NOTE. — Calculations from the data given in Daniel by which some try to fix the exact date of Christ’s return are utterly unreliable. They attempt the impossible. The statements were not intended to give us a clue to the exact date of Christ’s return. It is a part of God’s purpose and method in dealing with men to keep them in uncertainty on this point. The prophecies of Daniel were extant in the day when Christ uttered Mark 13: 32 — “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.” And He doubtless understood the lessons those prophecies were intended to teach, but He distinctly declares that even He did not know the day or the hour of His coming again. Any teacher who attempts to fix the date of Christ’s return is at once discredited, and it is entirely unnecessary to wade through his calculations. God does not desire us to know just when His Son shall return. Acts i: 7 — “And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which tJie Father hath Put in his own power.” Let us leave the times where God has put them, “in his own power.” He does desire that we shall be always ready for that return.

(2) Matt. 24:44: — “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

SECOND PROPOSITION: The Coming Again of Jesus Christ will be at such a time as even His disciples think not. Even the faithful and wise servant will be taken unawares, but lie will be found doing His Master ‘swill, (vv. 45, 46.)

(3) Luke 17: 26-30 — “And 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. Like wise 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 it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even so shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

THIRD PROPOSITION: The time when the Son of man is revealed will be a time when the world is absorbed in its usual occupations.

(4) 2 Thess. 2: 2-4 — “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalted himself above all that fe called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

FOURTH PROPOSITION: The day of the Lord will not come
until after the revelation of the tnan of sin.

Of course the day of the Lord is the time of the Lord’s coming to the earth. This is preceded by His coming in the air to receive His bride, the Church, unto Himself. (1 Thess. 4: 16, 17.) There is nothing to show that quite an interim may not occur between this coming of Christ for His saints in the air and His coming with His saints to the earth. There are indications that there must be such an interval, (a) Christ has much to do with His people before He comes to deal with the world. (b) It is distinctly taught that there is now a restraining power that hinders the manifestation of the man of sin. (2 Thess. 2, vv. 6, 7, R.V.) It is natural to presume that this restraining power has something to do with the Church.

(5) i Tim. 4: i — “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”

2 Ti. 3: 1-5, R.V. — “But know this, that in the last days grievous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, no lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, puffed up, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God; holding a form of godliness, but having denied the power thereof: from these also turn away.”

Luke 18: 8 — “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Never* the less, when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

FIFTH PR OPOSITION: The last days, and the time of the Coming Again of the Son of man, will be a time of apostasy, grievous times, and faith will be hard to find.

2 Tim. 3: 1-5, gives a very accurate picture of our own time. But we should bear in mind that earnest men of God and students of the Bible have often thought in times past that the coming of the Lord was very near. So it was and they were not mistaken, as were those who thought it was so far away that they let it have no effect over their lives. The multiplying iniquities of our day, the apostasy of many professed Christians, preachers and professors of theology into damning error and unbelief, the increase of lawlessness on the part of great corporations on the one hand and the oppressed poor on the other — these are all signs of His coming, which may be very near at hand. Men’s hearts are “fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world.” (Luke 21: 26, R.V.) But when we see these things begin to come to pass we should then look up and lift up our heads because our redemption draweth nigh. (Luke 21: 28.)

(6) Mark 13: 34, 35, 36 — “For the Son of man is 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 we know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morn ing: lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.”

Luke 12: 35, 36 — “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 from the wedding: that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.”

Matt. 25: 13 — “Watch therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”

Matt. 24:42, 44 — “Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

SIXTH PROPOSITION’: We are repeatedly exhorted to be watching, looking and ready for our Lord’s return. It must, therefore, be an event that, as far as we know, may occur at any moment. There is no event predicted in Scripture, or series of events, that must occur before Jesus comes to receive His own unto Himself. There are events that must occur before He comes to the earth with His saints. (2 Thess. 2. ) He may come for us as far as ice know at any moment, and it stands us in hand to be always ready, for in such an hour as we think not the Son of man cometh. (Matt. 24: 44.) QUESTIONS: First. Is not the world to be converted before Jesus Christ comes? ANSWER: —

Rev. i: 7 — “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.”

Matt. 25: 31, 32 — “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.”

2 Thess. 2: 2-4, 8 — “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. And then shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”

Luke 18: 8 — “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh. shall be find faith on the earth?”

Luke 21: 35 — “For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.”

2 Tim. 3: 1-5 — “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incon tinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

These passages show us a world anything but converted at the coming of Christ. 2 Thess. 1: 7-10 — [“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day,”] shows us two classes — . converted and unconverted — at the revelation ‘of Jesus Christ from heaven.

Second. How shall we explain Matt. 24:14 — “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come?”

ANSWER: (1) This verse tells us that the gospel is to be preached “for a testimony” (R.V.) unto all the nations, not that all the nations will be converted. (2) In a sense, in a scriptural sense too, this has already been done. (Rom. 10: 18 — “But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their works unto the ends of the world “Col. 1:23, (R.V.) — “If so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded and stedfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached in all creation under heaven; whereof I Paul was made a minister. “) (3) It shall be preached before the em;? come,” but the coming of Jesus Christ to receive His own is not the end but the beginning of the end.

Third. How shall we explain 2 Thess. 2:1-4 — “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth him self above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”

ANSWER: It is true that the man of sin must be revealed before “the day of the Lord is present.” (R.V.) But the day of the Lord is not the coming of Christ to receive His Church but that which follows it. How closely it follows it, it is difficult to say. The Thcssalonians were troubled by the doctrine that the Day of the Lord was, not at hand, as Authorized Version reads, but already begun. This Paul shows them could not be, for “the man of sin,” who was to be especially dealt with in the Day of the Lord, had not yet been revealed. There is reason to think, as already said, that the taking away of the Church must precede this revelation of the man of sin.

NOTE. — There is a quite widely accepted theory that “the man of sin” has already been revealed in the Pope. But he does not fill out the picture. In the Pope there is a preparing for the man of sin.

Fourth. Will the Church pass through the great tribulation?

ANSWER: It is clear from the Bible that the Church will pass through tribulation (Acts 14: 22; and other passages), but that does not prove at all that the Church will pass through ’ the great tribulation,” when God deals with a Christ-rejecting world. There is much to indicate that the Church will be sheltered during this period. (Luke 21: 36. See also the whole book of Revelation where all after Ch. 4:1, has to do with the time after “the Rapture of the Church.” )

Fifth. Is the world getting better?

ANSWER: 1 Jno. 5: 19, R. V. — “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in the evil one.” In Biblical usage “the world” is the body of men and women that rejects Christ and lies in the wicked one. The Devil is its God ( 2 Cor. 4:4.), and of course it is necessarily growing worse. But if we mean by “the world “— as men usually mean when they ask this question — the entire mass of men, Christians and non-Christians, then it is to be said that there are two developments going on side by side, the development of the kingdom of God and the development of the kingdom of Satan, to be brought to a crisis when the Anti-Christ is developed at the head of the one and the Christ appears at the head of the other. This crisis will end in the complete victory of Christ and the kingdom of God. In the meantime, on the one hand God is gathering out of the world a people for His name (Acts 15: 14), and His people are growing in the knowledge and likeness of himself, and the world is of necessity to a certain extent influenced by them. On the other hand, there is a development of “the mystery of lawlessness pr (2 Thess. 2: 7, R.V.), resulting in increasing error and apostasy in the professing Church as well as out of it, and in growing immorality, and especially the development of anarchy or “lawless ness” among all classes of society.

BOOK III.

WHAT THE BIBLE TEACHES ABOUT
THE HOLY SPIRIT.