T H E  S E C O N D  C O M I N G

 

O F  J E S U S.

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CHAPTER I.

 

JESUS IS COMING.

 

“The Son of Man cometh.”—Matt. 24:44.

 

 

THERE is a great deal in the Bible about the second com­ing of Jesus.  Some one has said that the second coming of our Lord is mentioned one hundred and twenty times in the New Testament.  Another has said that four per cent of the New Testament is given to this one subject.  Still another has said that one verse out of every twenty‑six in the entire Bible mentions the second coming of Christ.  I have never taken the time and care to count the verses in the Bible referring to this subject, and so I am not prepared to verify the above state­ments.  I am aware of the fact, however, that to this subject much space in the Bible is given.  Perhaps I could not count the references if I should try, for there are many that I have never discovered.  The Book of Revelation is devoted almost entirely to the second coming of Christ; the Song of Solomon treats of the preparation of the Bride.  We have, therefore, an abundance of Scripture from which we may glean thoughts for this book.

When a child I heard men speak of the end of the world.  When a meteor would shoot through the sky, some one would tell me that that was a world like ours coming to an end.  I was told that our world would some day go off like a meteor, never to be heard of again.  Afterwards I was told that this world was destroyed one time by water, and that it was to be destroyed in the future by fire.  I thought that some day I would

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THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.

 

 

see the fire coming, burning everything before it, dirt and all.  After this I heard that Jesus was coming back to this world to judge the world, to set the earth on fire, and to scatter the ashes to the winds.  Many other theories about the subject were pre­sented, but being interested so much in this subject, I began to search the Bible, and then I found all these theories contrary to the Word.  My own heart has been greatly blessed by study­ing this subject, and what I have learned I am ready to pass on to others.

     At the head of this chapter we have the simple statement, “ The Son of Man cometh.”  If we had no other Scripture, we should expect the Son of Man to come.  One jot or one tittle of God’s Word is as sure as God Himself.  It can never fail.  Jesus said, “The Son of Man cometh,” and this would be suf­ficient if we had no other Scripture, but other Scriptures we have.  “They shall see the Son of Man coming.”—Matt. 24: 30.  “Your Lord doth come,”—Ver. 42.  “The lord of that servant shall come.”—Ver. 50.  “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh.”—Matt. 25: 6.  “When the Son of Man shall come.” —Matt. 25: 31.

     Surely, this number of quotations from just the twenty-­fourth and twenty‑fifth chapters of Matthew should prove to any one the certainty of the coming of Jesus.  No one can say that these Scriptures refer to the first coming of Jesus, for Jesus Himself spoke these words while on earth the first time.

     Some tell us that these words refer to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.  If this be true, what about the following quotation from 1 Cor. 1: 7: “So that ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”?  Here is another: “We look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”—Phil. 3: 20.  Both of these verses were writ­ten after the day of Pentecost, and they put His coming in the future.  So these words of Jesus can not refer to the coming of the Holy Spirit.

     Others think that all the Scriptures about the coming of the

 

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JESUS IS COMING.

 

 

Lord refer to the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus in A. D. 70.  Such teachers substitute Titus for the Lord.  How­ever, if this is probable, what shall we do with Rev. 22: 12: “Behold, I come quickly”?  Jesus spoke these words twenty­-six years after the destruction of Jerusalem.  So we are driven to look elsewhere for the coming of the Lord.

     Some tell us that the coming of the Lord into a heart in conversion is the second coming of the Lord.  Yet, we read in Rev. 1: 7, “Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him.”  He certainly does not come this way every time a soul is born from above.

Another popular theory is that all the Scriptures speaking of the second coming of Christ refer to death.  I would ask the advocates of this to read 1 Thess. 4: 16, “For the Lord him­self shall descend from heaven with a shout . . . . and the dead in Christ shall rise first.”  Some one informs me that what is meant by the dead rising is the person who is dying going up to heaven.  Look at verse 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.”  So if the coming of the Lord refers to death, then every time a person goes to heaven, those who are alive go with him.

It seems to me that no rational person could believe other than that Jesus is to come in person to this earth again.  As a further proof, however, and to more firmly establish our faith, let us read the words of the heavenly messengers unto the men of Galilee.  “This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”—Acts 1: 11.

     Before we close this chapter we wish to give you a pros­pectus of what we teach in the following pages.

     The wicked will grow worse until Jesus comes; the right­eous, at least a part of them, will grow better.  Some day, with­out any warning, the trump of God will sound, Jesus will pass around the world as lightning, and those who are alive and

 

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THE SECOND COMING OF JESUS.

 

 

are ready for His coming, with all who died ready for His coming, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.  The Great Tribulation will then set in.  Tribulation such as men have never seen before will come upon the inhabitants of the earth.  Just how long these will continue, I am unable to say.  During The Great Tribulation the saints will be in the air preparing for the Marriage of the Lamb.  The Marriage and the Mar­riage Supper take place just before the close of The Tribula­tion.  During The Tribulation the Antichrist will be mani­fested.  At the close of The Tribulation Jesus rides down from heaven on a white horse, followed by the armies of heaven on white horses, captures the Antichrist, and casts him into the lake of fire.  He then lays hold on the devil and binds him in the pit for a thousand years.  During these thousand years Jesus reigns King over the whole earth, having His throne in Jerusalem.  The Millennium will be a time of great peace and prosperity to the inhabitants of the earth.  At the close of the thousand years Satan will be loosed for a little season, will go out upon the face of the earth, and will find many followers.  He will deceive many, and will cause them to come in battle array against Christ and His Throne.  After Satan and his fol­lowers have gathered about Jerusalem, fire falls upon them, and they are swept away.  Satan is cast into the lake of fire, and all the wicked are brought to judgment.  The wicked, having been judged and resurrected, are cast into the lake of fire.  All things that offend are taken out of the earth, and the earth is made new.  The Holy City, New Jerusalem, comes down and hangs over the earth.  This city will be the palace of the Queen.  Na­tions will be born, and the earth will abide forever.  “The earth abideth forever.”—Eccl. 1: 4.

     In the following pages we take up all these points in detail, giving the Scripture for the establishment of each.