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The Necessity of the Redeemer's Return\par 2. The Hope of the Redeemer's Return\par 3. The Fact of the Redeemer's Return\par 4. The Time of the Redeemer's Return\par 5. The Imminency of the Redeemer's Return\par 6. The Signs of the Redeemer's Return\par 7. The Beneficiaries of the Redeemer's Return\par 8. The Churchward Results of the Redeemer's Return\par 9. The Worldward Results of the Redeemer's Return\par 10. The Consummation of the Redeemer's Return\par Conclusion\par Appendix\par \cf1\par \cf0{\field{\*\fldinst{HYPERLINK "http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Redeemers_Return/return.htm"}}{\fldrslt{\ul\cf2 http://www.pbministries.org/books/pink/Redeemers_Return/return.htm}}}\cf1\f0\fs24\par \cf0\par \par The Redeemer\rquote s Return\par \par Forward\par \par This book is designed mainly for those who are beginners in the study of prophetic and dispensational truth, though should it fall into the hands of those who are "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" and who have, perhaps for years, been giving earnest heed to the "more sure Word of prophecy," we trust that it will afford meat in due season and stimulate praise to God for the marvelous and blessed prospect which His Word sets before us.\par \par Many books have already appeared before the public presenting in clear and Scriptural language the various aspects of the subject of our Lord\rquote s Return, and we hesitated long before we decided to add one more to the number. The different chapters in this volume have been given by the writer in sermon and lecture form to numerous audiences both in this country and in England, and it is only the repLVALeated requests of many of those who have heard these addresses which has caused us to now set them down in writing, so that they may be preserved in a more permanent form and obtain a still wider hearing. They are sent forth with the prayer that the God of all grace will condescend to use them in blessing to His dear people and in the conversion of lost sinners even more widely than in their oral delivery.\par \par While it is true that many books which treat of the Redeemer\rquote s Return have been issued and widely circulated, yet, there are still great numbers of the Lord\rquote s people who know next to nothing about this precious theme. Notwithstanding the fact that the Second Coming of Christ occupies a prominent place in the Holy Scriptures, nothwithstanding the fact that this subject is a most practical one having, as it does, some bearing on every phase of our present and future life, and notwithstanding that it is calculated to awaken a deep interest in "things to come" and lead to definite heart-searching, nevertheless, the vast majority of our pulpits entirely ignore the subject and in consequence great numbers of our church-members are in almost total ignorance concerning those things which God\rquote s Word declares will shortly come to pass. It is with the earnest desire to reach a few of these that this book has been prepared and is now sent forth.\par \par We wish it to be clearly understood that there is nothing in these pages except that which we have ourselves first received. We lay no claim at all to originality. We have read diligently many works on prophetic themes and have sought to "prove all things" and to "hold fast that which is good." It is impossible for us now to do more than make this general acknowledgment of our indebtedness to other students of the Word. We have gleaned in many fields, gathering a fragrant flower here and there, and all that we now attempt is to arrange these in simple form, leaving our readers to admire the products of the labors of others intoLVAL which we have entered.\par \par The Redeemer\rquote s Return\par \par Preface\par \par It is a joy to us to present herewith a reprint of what we consider the greatest book ever written on the return of our Lord.\par \par This book will make sad all the A-Millennialists and the Post-Millennialists. However, the lovers of Pre-Millennialism, which is the truth of the Scripture, will he happy to see this book again in print.\par \par It is true that after writing this book Mr. Pink swerved in his doctrinal position and all the A-Millennialists make much of the fact that he, as they say, repudiated this book. It so happens that the writer was a personal friend of Mr. Pink and knew him well. He is one of the few individuals who is living today who knew Mr. Pink and he happens to know that had Mr. Pink lived he would have doubtlessly repudiated his "repudiation." He had been influenced by the writings of another individual, which caused him to temporarily turn from Pre-Millennialism. At the time of his death he was on the verge of turning back to embrace his original position as set forth in this book.\par \par We do not say that we agree fully with Mr. Pink in all his conclusions, yet with minor differences we believe this to be an outstanding book. Mr. Pink was interested in teaching babes in Christ the doctrine of Christ\rquote s return. This is our desire today that we might teach these glorious Pre-Millennial truths to all babes in Christ and thus we have reprinted the book.\par \par This book was originally produced in 1918 under the shadows of World War I. We did not change nor filter the text, but have reproduced the book as it was originally printed. The reader should take this into consideration in view of some statements found herein.\par \par May The Lord richly bless this book for His own glory.\par \par John R. Gilpin, Pastor\par Calvary Baptist Church\par Ashland, Kentucky\par \par \par \b Introduction\par \b0\par The Redeemer\rquote s Return! Here is a theme which iLVALn this day is regarded by many well-meaning people as an ideal of visionaries or as the pet hobby of certain cranks. So grievously has the study of Prophecy been ignored, so little place is given in the modern pulpit to the exposition of eschatology, and so generally is the daily reading of the Bible neglected by those in the pew, that it is an easy matter to persuade the average church-goer that the subject of the Second Coming of Christ is impractical and one that had better be left alone. Moreover, this subject has suffered so grievously at the hands of those who are the enemies of the Cross, that many Christians have been prejudiced against it. Satan has not been slow to avail himself of the wild and unscriptural teaching of such men as Irving and Joseph Smith, and more recently, Dowie and Pastor (?) Russell; nay, he has employed them to cast reproach on those who do seek to search and interpret the Prophetic Scriptures. Yet, notwithstanding, it is the imperative duty of every believer to seriously and prayerfully examine the Scriptures for himself and see what the Word of God has to say about Coming Events. In that Word we are plainly warned that in the "last days" (of this age) there should arise those who ridicule and mock at the very doctrine of which we are now speaking (see 2 Peter 3:3, 4). Therefore we need not be surprised if we hear and read of those who seek to cast reproach upon this blessed theme; instead, as the Dispensation draws to a close, we should expect just what we now hear and see on every side.\par \par The Redeemer\rquote s Return! Is there anything that can be compared with this momentous and stupendous prospect? Excepting the Cross of Calvary, the greatest event of all in the past history of the world was the Advent of God\rquote s Son to our earth. The Divine Incarnation was the theme of Old Testament prophecy. The very first promise ever given to fallen man was that the woman\rquote s Seed should come and bruise the Serpent\rquote s head (Gen. 3:15). When the Divine reLVALvelation was committed to writing, numerous passages recorded the promised descent of God\rquote s Son to this earth. The prophets of Israel made known the fact that the Coming One was to be of the stock of Abraham and a lineal descendant of David, and thus for fifteen centuries the Hope of Israel was the Messianic Hope. And, when the fullness of time was come God sent forth His Son born of a woman.\par \par It is impossible for us to fully estimate the tremendous importance of the first Advent of Christ to this earth, The Divine Incarnation is without a parallel in the annals of the human race. Heaven itself was stirred at the miraculous birth of the God-Man. Unto the angels was entrusted the honorous commission of announcing the birth of the Savior. Heathendom was affected, the good news being conveyed to Chaldea by means of a mysterious "star" which heralded the birth of the King of the Jews. The Coming of Christ to this world changed its chronology, for all civilized time is now by common consent dated from the Bethlehem manger. As the result of the first Advent a new era was inaugurated, a new prospect was set before the sons of men, the door of mercy was flung wide open, and command was given that the glad tidings should be made known to every creature.\par \par But wondrous and blessed as was the first Advent of our Lord in many respects, His Second Coming will be even more momentous. At His first appearing He was here in weakness and humiliation, but at His second He shall come in power and glory. When He was here before He was "despised and rejected of men," but when He comes back again every knee shall bow before Him and every tongue confess His Lordship. When He was here before He paid tribute to Caesar, but when He returns He shall reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. When He was here before His personal ministry was confined to the land of Palestine, but when He returns "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab. 2:14LVAL). Who can comprehend or enumerate the blessings which shall attend the Return of our Redeemer! Then will it be that the "dead in Christ" shall be raised from their graves and the living saints "changed," so that every believer will then be "conformed to the image of God\rquote s Son." Then it will be that the Lord\rquote s servants will be rewarded for their labors and those that wets despised and hated by the world shall be recognized and honored by the Christ of God. Then it will be that Israel shall repent of their sins, receive Christ as their Messiah and Savior, and be restored to the Holy Land. Then will the promise made to the patriarchs be literally and completely fulfilled. Then it will be that that old Serpent the Devil shall be removed from these scenes where he has wrought such havoc and produced such misery, to be chained for a thousand years in the Bottomless Pit. Then it will be that a groaning Creation shall be delivered from its present bondage, when the Curse which now rests upon all Nature shall be removed, and when the wilderness and the solitary place shall be made glad; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose (Isa. 35:1). And, best of all, then it shall be that Christ Himself shall enter into His blood-bought inheritance, when He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. Therefore, ought not such a subject, which presents such a glorious prospect, gladden our hearts and secure our most diligent attention!\par \par God does not desire His dear people to remain in ignorance of His future purposes concerning them, concerning His Son, and concerning this earth. Said the apostle as he was moved by the Holy Spirit, "We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts" (2 Pet. 1:19). If then we give diligent heed to the Prophetic Word, if we will prayerfully study that which God has been pleased to reveal unto us concerning tLVALhings to come, and if we will believe in our hearts all that the prophets have spoken, then shall we be like the Thessalonians of whom it could be said\emdash "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. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober" (1 Thess. 5:1-6).\par \par The Redeemer\rquote s Return! This was the great hope of the early Christians. In the first century of the Christian era it was the normal and regular thing to find that the expectation of a returning Savior filled the vision and hearts of His followers. The apostles themselves taught their converts to look for the appearing of Christ. Writing to the Thessalonian saints the apostle Paul reminded them how they had "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven" (1 Thess. 1:9, 10), Writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, the apostle James bade them be patient and stablish their hearts, basing his exhortation on the fact that "The Coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (James 5:8). Writing to "the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia "who were in heaviness through manifold temptations," the apostle Peter expressed the wish that the trial of their faith "might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:7). Writing to his "little children" (a term of endearment) the apostle John lovingly exhorted them to abide in Christ so that when He should appear they might have confidence and "not be ashamed before Him at His comLVALing" (1 John 2:28). Writing of the apostasy which was to come, the apostle Jude quoted the prophecy of Enoch, who declared, "Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all" (Jude 1:14,15). Thus we find that it was the uniform practice of the apostles to hold up a returning Savior before the children of God.\par \par Right at the close of the first century A. D. when the time had come for the Sacred Canon to be completed, our Lord Himself sent His angel to communicate a special message to each of the seven Churches which were in Asia, and in five of them, namely, in the Epistles addressed to the Churches in Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia (see Revelation 2:5, 16, 25; 3:3, 11) Christ makes distinct reference to His imminent appearing; while His last words to His loved disciple were, "Surely I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20).\par \par We have thus shown that this Age began with a ringing testimony to the truth of our Lord\rquote s Return. Each of the apostles of whose writings we have any inspired record, taught their converts to look for their Savior\rquote s appearing. Alas! that this testimony was not maintained. Alas! that this Blessed Hope should ever have become dim. Alas! that it should, for more than a thousand years, have been almost totally lost to the Lord\rquote s people. Yet so it was. The immediate successors of the apostles turned their attention to other things: as it was with the Pharisees in the days of our Lord, so these tithed anise and mint but "omitted the weightier matters." Instead of expounding the Prophetic Scriptures and setting before the Church its one great Hope, the early "Church fathers," for the most part, spent their time in wrangling among themselves. Even before the apostles themselves had left the earth, false teachers crept in and began to devour the flock, and within three centuries the whole professing Church had become Paganized. Then followed the Dark Ages\emdash aptly named, for the lamp of Prophecy hadLVAL ceased to shine and the prospect of the speedy return of the Morning Star had completely disappeared. As our Lord Himself had foretold, the virgins all slumbered and slept: no longer were His people looking for the Coming of the Bridegroom. (No doubt the parable of the Bridegroom in Matthew 25 refers primarily to the Jewish remnant in the tribulation period as its opening word "Then" indicates, but, like all prophecy, this has a double fulfillment and unquestionably applies to the Christian profession.)\par \par We need not remind our readers it was during this period known as the Dark Ages that the Roman Catholic Church sprang into prominence and power, holding sway over all Europe and binding burdens on the souls of men which were grievous to be borne. The Bible was withheld from the laity and the vain traditions of men were substituted for the living Oracles of God. Instead of proclaiming salvation by the finished work of Christ, the multitudes were taught that heaven could only be obtained by penance, legal works, priestly mediation, and purgatorial fires. Instead of teaching her people that the hope of the saints was the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, Rome taught that the hope of humanity lay in the subjugation of the entire world to the imperial rule of the Pope. Instead of exhorting believers to "look up" (Luke 21:28), the Roman Pontiff sought to dazzle the eyes of his devotees with the gorgeous ceremonialism of an earthly ritual.\par \par After a thousand years of spiritual darkness the Sun of Righteousness shone forth over Europe with healing in His beams. During the sixteenth century God raised up a number of mighty men who, by the power of His Spirit, were delivered from the iron shackles of the Papacy and made to rejoice in the freedom into which the Lord Jesus brings His people. Under God, these men brought about what is known as the great Reformation. During this Reformation the Holy Scriptures were restored to the people and given to them in their own native to.LVAL>ngues. The glorious doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, was sounded forth throughout Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the British Isles, and multitudes were "added unto the Lord." Many precious truths, which for long centuries had lain buried beneath the rubbish heap of human traditions, were recovered and given out to the masses. But the Reformation, glorious as it was, witnessed only a partial recovery of long lost truths. The Hope of the Church was not yet restored! The prospect of a soon returning Redeemer was not yet set before God\rquote s people again. Three more centuries passed by before the third part of our Lord\rquote s prophecy in the Parable of the Virgins received its fulfillment. It was not until the nineteenth century that the midnight cry arose "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him" (Matthew 25:6). Then it was that God raised up another baud of witnesses, sent forth by Him to herald the approach of His Son. The result has been that an ever increasing number of the saints have given studious attention to the prophetic portions of the Word, until, today, in every, section of Christendom, there are companies of believers who are eagerly waiting for the Shout of the Lord which shall call them away from this earth to be for ever with Him. It is our humble desire to unite with these witnesses of God in testifying that the Coming of the Lord "draweth nigh." The Signs of the times speak plainly to those who have ears to hear, and singly and collectively bear witness to the fact that this Dispensation of Grace is now almost ended. The prophecies of the New Testament show clearly that we are living in the "last days" of this Age, and by the help of the Spirit of Truth we would herein call attention to those Scriptures which make known to us the stupendous events which shall surely and shortly come to pass.\par \par \pard\cf1\fs23 Reformatted for e-Sword by David Cox\par dcox@davidcox.com.mx\par http:\\\\www.davidcox.com.mx\\e-swordmodules\par }   P' W c s (  11 Conclusion & Appendix:;B6 10 The Consummation of the Redeemer's Return`;j^ 09 The Worldward Results of the Redeemer's Return ;th 08 The Churchward Results of the Redeemer's Returnk;vj07 The Beneficiaries of the Redeemer's Return;l`06 The Signs of the Redeemer's Return;\P05 The Imminecy of the Redeemer's Returnp;bV04 The Time of the Redeemer's Returnp;ZN03 The Fact of the Redeemer's ReturnLR;ZN02 The Hope of the Redeemer's ReturnT7;ZN01 The Necessity of the Redeemer's Return;dX00 Redeemer's Return;:.LVAL;{\rtf1\ansi\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\b\f0\fs24 The Redeemer's Return\par by Arthur Pink\par \b0\par \b The Necessity of the Redeemer\rquote s Return\par Chapter 1\par \b0\par "We have also a more sure Word of Prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the Day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts"\par \par 2 Pet. 1:19\par \par Is there any real need for Christ to return? So far as God\rquote s children are concerned only one answer is possible to this question. There is. Christians of every shade of religious belief are agreed that there is an imperative need for our Lord to come back again. As to the precise character of that need, as to the particular urgency of that need, opinions may vary, but concerning the need itself this is universally admitted. Even post-millenarians teach that Christ must come back at the end of time to judge the wicked and reward the righteous. But we hope to show that the need for His return is much deeper and much wider than the reason put forth by the post-millenarians.\par \par Suppose Christ never returns\emdash then what? Has this alternative been weighed as it deserves? The present order of things cannot continue indefinitely; such a supposition is unthinkable. No one is satisfied with present conditions. Even those who despise the teachings of God\rquote s Word, hope for a better day, a Golden Age, an era of blessedness such as this earth has never yet witnessed. And pre-millenarians believe that this Golden Age can be ushered in by nothing short of the personal return of Christ Himself. Here then, in general, is the reason why we believe the Redeemer must come back again. We say "in general," for in the remainder of this chapter we shall seek to show there is at least a tenfold necessity for our Lord\rquote s Second Advent.\par \par I. The Redeemer\rquoteLVAL s Return Is Necessitated By The Declarations Of Old Testament Prophecy.\par \par It is very apparent to any one who has read thoughtfully through the Old Testament that the First Advent of our Lord did not exhaust the burden and scope of the numerous predictions which had been made concerning Him. Many of the things foretold of Israel\rquote s Messiah were not accomplished during the days when He tabernacled among men. Many of the promises found in God\rquote s Word connected with the Person of Christ still await their ratification. While it is true that the First Advent of the Lord Jesus literally and remarkably fulfilled many of the Old Testament prophecies concerning Him, yet, it is also true that many others were not then fulfilled, (1t is this very thing which has proven such a stumbling-block to the Jews and, humanly speaking, has been the reason why so many of them have failed to sea in "Jesus of Nazareth" the Messiah of Israel. But, as we shall show, those Messianic prophecies found in the Old Testament which were not fulfilled at His First Advent will be fulfilled at His Second.) To several of these we shall now call our readers\rquote attention.\par \par "And I will put enmity between thee (the "serpent") and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15). There is much in this remarkable verse which we cannot now consider in detail, yet we will endeavor to present an outline of its contents. This is not a single prophecy but a compound one and at least seven separate predictions are included in it:\emdash\par \par First, the woman is to have a seed: as we know, this pointed forward to our Lord\rquote s humanity. Second, He was to be peculiarly the woman\rquote s "seed," not the man\rquote s, hence we read, "When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4, Greek). Third, the woman\rquote s "Seed" was to bruise the Serpent: in other words, Satan was to be His particular antagoniLVALst. Fourth, He was to bruise the Serpent\rquote s head. Fifth, He Himself was to be bruised in the "heel" by the Serpent; and hence it is written, He was "bruised for our iniquities" (Isa. 53:5). Sixth, there was to be "enmity" between the Serpent and the one who gave birth to the "Seed," namely Israel (cf. Revelation 12:1-6). And then after making mention of the enmity between the Serpent and the woman, we read, Seventh, "And between thy seed\emdash the Serpent\rquote s "seed," i. e., the Son of Perdition\emdash and her "Seed." In other words, this age-long "enmity" was to head up in a conflict between the Antichrist and the true Christ. For our present purpose it is sufficient to single out the fourth and fifth of the above items, which, in their historical order, have been reversed.\par \par "Thou shalt bruise His heel." That old Serpent the Devil was to be permitted to attack and wound the only vulnerable part of our Lord\rquote s person\emdash His humanity, here intimated by the word "heel." How this portion of the prophecy was fulfilled our readers will know. No sooner was the Lord Jesus born in Bethlehem of Judaea than the "Dragon" sought to encompass His destruction (Rev. 12:4). Immediately following His baptism, which was the inauguration of His public ministry, He was tempted or "tried" by the Devil for forty days (Mark 1:13). On the eve of His crucifixion our Lord expressly declared, "This is your hour, and the Power of Darkness" (Luke 22:53). Thus was Satan allowed to bruise the "heel" of the woman\rquote s Seed.\par \par But we also read, "It shall bruise thy head," that is, Christ shall bruise Satan\rquote s "head." The head is the seat and source of power, and in the Scripture we are now considering is placed in sharp antithesis with the "heel" of the woman\rquote s Seed. Stripped of its prophetic symbolism, it can only mean that Christ is to depose Satan and reduce him to a state of impotency. This interpretation is fully confirmed in Revelation 20 where we learn that a day is comiLVAL ng when the Devil shall be bound and cast into the Bottomless Pit to remain there securely confined throughout the Millennial Era. What we now desire to emphasize particularly is, that, this part of the Edenic prophecy was not fulfilled when our Lord was upon earth before, and has not yet been fulfilled. Therefore, if this prediction is to be realized our Lord must return to this earth and deprive the Devil of his power, for He alone is competent for such a task.\par \par Again; we read in Isaiah 9:6, 7, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall, be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." Here again we meet with a prophecy which has already received a partial fulfillment, but which has not yet been completely realized. Unto Israel a Child was "born," unto Israel a Son was "given;" but, during the days of His First Advent the "government" was not "upon His shoulder" for He Himself paid tribute to Caesar (Matthew 17:27), nor did He rule in "peace" for He declared "I came not to send peace, but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). Nor has He yet assumed the "government\rquote\rquote for He is not yet seated upon His own "throne" (see Revelation 3:21). Observe particularly that, above, it is repeated "of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end." His "government" and "peace" are inseparably connected. The latter part of this prophecy therefore looks forward to the time of His Second Advent, for "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" (Matthew 25:31). Then will it be that He shall inaugurate a Reign of Peace, for then it shall be (and not till then) that "He shall judge amoLVAL!ng many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Mic. 4:3). Thus we see that the declarations of the Prophetic Word require and necessitate the personal return of Christ to this earth, for only thus and only then will they be literally and completely fulfilled. Many other Old Testament predictions could be cited to the same effect, but one more must suffice.\par \par "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. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, the Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land" (Jer. 23:5-8). In the first place, observe, here, that unto David (Israel) God promised to raise up a King who should reign and prosper. Without a doubt this prophecy refers to our Lord Jesus Christ who was born "King of the Jews" (Matthew 2:2), for it was uttered shortly after the Jews were carried down into Babylon, since which they have had no human King. It needs no argument to prove that the terms of this prophecy were certainly not fulfilled at the time of our Lord\rquote s First Advent, for then, the Jews would not own Him, but demanded His death, and when Pilate inquired of them, "Shall I crucify your King?" (John 19:15), the leaders of the nation answered, "We have no king but Caesar." Furthermore, this prophecy was not fulfilled when our Lord took His seat at the right hand of the MLVAL"ajesty on high, for note, it says that Israel\rquote s King shall "execute judgment and justice in the earth," not "from the heavens." Again; we observe that it declares, "In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel (the ten tribes) shall dwell safely" which certainly did not come to pass during the days of our Lord\rquote s humiliation. No; this prophecy, like scores of other Messianic predictions recorded in the Old Testament looks forward to the time of our Lord\rquote s Second Advent to the earth, which Advent is imperative if the terms of this prophecy are to be realized.\par \par II. The Redeemer\rquote s Return Is Necessitated By His Own Affirmations.\par \par During the course of His public ministry our Lord made frequent reference to His Second Coming. When we consider how few of His discourses have been transmitted to us and how brief is the inspired record of His teachings as found in the New Testament Scriptures, we are deeply impressed with the importance of Our present inquiry as we note how much there is in the Gospel narratives which relates to our Redeemer\rquote s Return. Not only do we find main incidental references, but most of His "parables" treat of these things which have to do with His Second Advent, and, furthermore, several whole chapters in the Gospels are devoted to a fuller setting forth of the same great event. Unto our Lord\rquote s own teaching, then, upon His Second Coming we turn our attention. We cannot now review all that He said upon the subject, but must content ourselves with singling out two or three of His utterances thereon.\par \par In Matthew 24 and 25 we have two whole chapters occupied with this theme, and in them we find that again and again our Lord made mention of His Return\emdash "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" (24:27), which means that our Lord\rquote s Return to this earth will be visible, public, and attended with awe-inspiring glory. The same ideasLVAL# are presented in the 30th verse of the same chapter\emdash "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." Further down in the chapter, our Lord bids His people make preparation for His appearing because He may return at any moment. "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh" (vs. 44). In the next chapter, in the Parable of the Virgins the subject of the Bridegroom\rquote s Coming is again brought before us, while the closing verses furnish us with a detailed description of His judgment of the living nations which introduces the setting up of His Millennial Kingdom\emdash "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" (Matthew 25:31, 32).\par \par In the nineteenth of Luke we have the Parable of the Nobleman which is very plain and pointed: "He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And He called His ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated Him, and sent a message after Him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. 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" (Luke 19:12-15). The "Nobleman" is the Lord Jesus. The "journey into the far country" was His Ascension to heaven. The "Kingdom" which He went to "receive" is His Millennial Kingdom for which He taught His disciples to pray. The "return" is His Second Advent to this earth. The "servants" are believers. The "LVAL$money" (marg. "silver," which in Scripture symbolizes redemption) seems to typify the Gospel, which has been committed into our hands to proclaim to a lost world. The "occupying till He comes" is the faithful giving out of the Gospel and the daily witnessing for Him during the time of His absence. The "message" sent by "His citizens" refers to the continued rejection of Christ and His Gospel by the Jews during the days of the apostles and particularly under the ministry of Stephen. The rewarding of the servants at the time of His Return, is the allotting to them of places of honor in His Millennial Kingdom. That to which we would specially call attention is the fact that our Lord here expressly declares He will "return," come back again to this earth.\par \par Perhaps the most explicit of all the statements which the Lord Jesus made upon our present theme is that recorded in the opening verses of John 14. Our Lord was alone with His disciples. He was about to be separated from them. For three years they had companied with Him, but now the cross with all its sufferings and shame lay athwart His path. The realization of His approaching death had filled His followers with fear and anguish. Their hearts were heavy and sad. Turning to them in their grief, the Master speaks words of solace and cheer\emdash "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father\rquote s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3). These words of our Lord can have only one possible meaning: He was going away, but He would return again, return in person to receive His own unto Himself. Such was His positive and unconditional promise. Thus we see that the fulfillment of His promises, the keeping of His Word, necessitates the personal Return of our blessed Redeemer.\par \par The testimony of our Lord LVAL%given while He was here upon earth was confirmed, and rendered even more unequivocal, if that were possible, by His post-ascension utterances. Fifty years after He had returned to Heaven the Lord Jesus sent His angel to the beloved John on the Isle of Patmos to give unto him "The Revelation" and in it we hear our Lord saying, no less than six times, "Behold, I come quickly." This is His last promise, His final word to His people now on earth. He is coming back again. He Himself has said so. He said so repeatedly during the days of His earthly ministry. He said so in language about which there was no ambiguity whatsoever. He said so both to His friends and to His enemies. He said so again fifty years after His ascension to Heaven. And He cannot lie. He is Himself the "Truth"\emdash the truth incarnate. He is "The Faithful and True Witness," therefore He must keep His Word, fulfill His promises, and return in person.\par \par III. The Redeemer\rquote s Return Is Necessitated By The Ratification Of The Holy Spirit.\par \par While our Lord was here upon earth and on the eve of His crucifixion, He promised to send His disciples another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth. He further promised the apostles that, when the Spirit came to them, He would guide them "into all truth." Therefore, it is to the Divinely inspired writings of these apostles we must turn if we would learn all that God has been pleased to reveal concerning our present inquiry.\par \par As we read the Epistles of the New Testament it is highly important for us to keep in mind the fact that we have in them not the suppositions and speculations of their human writers but reliable and authoritative information communicated by the Holy Spirit Himself, for "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). As we turn to the Epistles we find that each writer made some contribution to our present theme: Peter and Paul, James, John, and Jude all referred to the prospect and certainty of the Return of our Redeemer.\par \par The LVAL&apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian saints, "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by Him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you. So that ye come, behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:4-8). To the Philippian saints he wrote, "For our citizenship 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" (Phil. 3:20, 21). To the Colossians he wrote, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4). To the Thessalonians he wrote, "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" (1 Thess. 2:19). To the Hebrews he wrote, "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" (9:28).\par \par The apostle James wrote, "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husband-man waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh" (5:7, 8).\par \par The apostle Peter wrote, "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 1:13). "And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1 Pet. 5:4).\par \par The apostle John wrote, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet aLVAL'ppear 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. And every man that hath this hope in Him putifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3:2, 3). And again, "For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh" (2 John 7, R.V.).\par \par The apostle Jude wrote, "Keep yourselves in the love of God. looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (vs. 21).\par \par Here then is an argument simple but conclusive. Each Epistle writer of the New Testament makes mention of the Redeemer\rquote s Return. These men were not hallucinated. They were not giving expression to impracticable ideals which would never be realized. Their writings were Divinely inspired. These holy men were "moved by the Holy Spirit" and recorded truth "not in the words which man\rquote s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth" (1 Cor. 2:13). The very fact, then, that the Holy Spirit of God has, through the apostles, testified again and again, ratifying the declarations of Old Testament prophecy and the affirmations of Christ Himself, necessitates and demands the personal Return of our Lord.\par \par IV. The Redeemer\rquote s Return Is Necessitated By The Humiliation Of The Cross.\par \par The degradation which the Lord Jesus endured when He was here upon earth before, requires that He shall come back again in power and glory in order to vindicate Himself. Is it reasonable to suppose that the last view which this world shall have of our blessed Lord before He takes His seat upon the Great White Throne to judge the wicked dead, shall be that of the "lowly Nazarene"? Surely not. Need we remind our readers of the depths of humiliation into which our Redeemer descended? Born in a manger, with the beasts of the field for His first companions, and a bed of straw for His cradle! Sharing the home of humble Jewish peasants and spending His youth and early manhood at the carpenteLVAL(r\rquote s bench! During His public ministry, so poor and so lightly esteemed that the common courtesies of hospitality were denied Him\emdash "He had not where to lay His head!" Despised and rejected of men; the butt of Pharisaic contempt and the center of Jewish ridiculer His life seemingly ending in defeat as He hung helpless upon the cross, enduring the shame of a criminal\rquote s execution and taunted by his heartless enemies! Is this the only sight which the earth is to have of the Lord of Glory? Is the Son of God to retire from this world in apparent defeat without any subsequent opportunity for vindicating Himself? Surely not. Is it not evident then that He who was here before in humiliation must yet come back to be glorified in His saints and to be admired in all them that believe? Does not the very fitness of things, do not the claims of equity and righteousness, insist, that He who was the willing Victim shall yet return as the triumphant Victor? Does not the Cross of Calvary necessitate that our Lord shall vet come back to our earth in order to substantiate His claims and ratify His promises?\par \par "For dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed Me: they pierced My hands and My feet. I may tell all My bones: they look and stare upon Me. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture" (Ps. 22:16-18); Such was the picture that was painted by prophecy. But this scene was not to be the finale. In this very same Psalm we read, "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord\rquote s: and He is the Governor among the nations" (vv. 27, 28).\par \par "And they that had laid hold on Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled" (Matthew 26:57). See our blessed Lord standing there before the Jewish Sanhedrin, arraigned before His own creatures! Mark Him as He offers no defense in response to the LVAL)false witnesses that testified against Him, and then ask, Is this to be the last thing? Is there to be no sequel to this? We do not have to seek far for an answer, for on this very occasion the Redeemer declared, "Nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64). And again, it is written, "Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him." Yes, the Crucified Savior is coming back again, coming back to vindicate Himself in a world where He once endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, and, coming back to rule and reign as He first appeared in order to suffer and die.\par \par V. The Redeemer\rquote s Return Is Necessitated By The Present Exaltation Of Satan.\par \par One of the greatest, mysteries in all God\rquote s creation is the Devil. For any reliable information concerning him we are shut up to the Holy Scriptures. It is in God\rquote s Word alone that we can learn anything about his origin, his personality, his fall, his sphere of operations, and his approaching doom. One thing which is there taught us about the great Adversary of God and man, and which observation and experience fully confirms, is, that he is a being possessing mighty power. It would appear from a study of the Bible, that Satan is the most powerful creature (not "Being") in all the Universe. He has access to the Heaven of heavens and appears before God day and night to accuse His saints (Rev. 12:10). In Old Testament prophecy he is denominated "The anointed Cherub" (Ezek. 28:14) and from other Scriptures we learn that the "cherubim" are the highest order among the celestial hierarchies. Satan is represented as being at the head of an organized kingdom of evil, with hosts of wicked spirits ever ready to perform the bidding of their mighty chief. He is likened to a "roaring lion"\emdash the King of the beasts\emdash going about seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8)LVAL*. When our Lord was here upon earth, Satan had the power to carry Him to a pinnacle of the Temple and to "shew unto Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time" (Luke 4:5). From the Epistle of Jude we learn that, "Michael the archangel, when contending with the Devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee" (Jude 1:9). Sufficient has been said to show that Satan is a creature wielding tremendous power.\par \par But not only does God\rquote s Word enlighten us upon the great power which our Enemy possesses, it also informs us about the sphere in which he works and makes known the location of his kingdom. In the very first mention in Scripture of that old Serpent, the Devil, he is seen in Eden having unbarred access to our first parents. In the next reference, we read of him coming before the Lord, as one who came "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it" (Job 1:7). This earth of ours is the scene of his present activities. Milton\rquote s conception of Satan now seated upon a throne in Hell is altogether lacking in Scriptural verification. The New Testament is in perfect agreement with the Old. In his conflict with our Lord, the Devil declared that all the kingdoms of the world had been delivered unto him (Luke 4:6) and Christ never repudiated or even challenged his claim, nay, He three times acknowledged that Satan is "The Prince of this world" (John 12:31, etc.). In 2 Corinthians 4:4 he is termed the "god of this age" (Greek), that is, the director of its false religions and the object worshipped by their devotees\emdash compare 1 Corinthians 10:20. While in 1 John 5:19, R.V. we are told, "The whole world lieth in the Evil One."\par \par We have thus seen that Satan is an exalted creature possessing and wielding prodigious power and that this world of ours is his present kingdom. For six thousand years he has been the avowed enemy of God and man. But are things going to continue LVAL+thus throughout all time? Is Satan to be allowed "free rein" for ever? Surely there will yet be an end made to his power and dominion. But what and who is going to depose him? Humanity is helpless before him. Man is unable to chain him. The Church, cannot dethrone him, or it would have done so long ago. Legislation is impotent, for human governments cannot Vote him out of the world. Who then shall Overthrow the Kingdom of Darkness? There is only one answer possible. There is only One sufficient for such a task, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the very tact of Satan\rquote s present exaltation and man\rquote s utter inability to overthrow him, demands and necessitates the personal Return of our Redeemer to vanquish the Devil and imprison him in the Bottomless Pit.\par \par VI. The Redeemer\rquote s Return Is Necessitated By The Present Disorganization Of Israel.\par \par Israel\emdash the mystery and miracle of history! Israel\emdash about whom more than half the Bible is concerned! Israel\emdash to whom God gave the Land of Palestine. Israel\emdash concerning whom it is written, "And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people, as He hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments. And to make thee high above all nations which He hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that thou mayest be a holy people unto the Lord thy God as He hath spoken" (Deut. 26:18, 19). Israel\emdash from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came!\par \par Of old, Israel was honored of God as was no other nation. To them were entrusted the Holy Oracles, to them was given the Holy Law, to them came the Holy One. But look at Israel today and what do we see? Ten of their Tribes "lost;" and those who compose the remaining two, more despised and hated than any other people upon earth. Instead of being a blessing to all people, Israel seems to be a curse. Instead of enjoying the inheritance of the Promised Land they are homeless wanderers, while Jerusalem is tLVAL,rodden down by the Gentiles. Instead of rejoicing in God their Savior Israel knows Him not, a "veil" being over their hearts.\par \par But God\rquote s purposes in connection with Israel have not yet been fully realized. A wonderful history lies behind them and a wonderful history stretches before them. True, their sorrow is not yet ended. True, a dark valley yet lies before them. True, they must yet pass through the time of Jacob\rquote s trouble (Jer. 30:7). True, God has not yet fully avenged the Crucifixion of His beloved Son. But, ere long He will have done so and then shall they be brought back again into favor with Him. Many are the promises which speak of Israel\rquote s restoration. In Isaiah 14:1, 2 we read, "For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were: and they shall rule over their oppressors." Again, in Jeremiah 16:14-16 we are told, "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers."\par \par But, how are the above promises to be realized? When shall these prophecies be fulfilled? The answer is, at the Second Advent of Christ. He declared, "For I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matthew 23:39). And a day is coming when Israel will say this. As it is written, "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of LVAL-Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of 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. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon" (Zech. 12:10,11). Then, and thus, shall Israel repent for their awful sin of rejecting and crucifying their own Messiah.\par \par "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, after this, I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David (Israel) which is fallen down: and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up" (Acts 15:14-16). And again, we read in Romans 11:26, "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Rom. 11:26). It is to be observed that in these two Scriptures Israel\rquote s restoration is linked to the Return of their Messiah. Here then is a further necessity for the Second Advent of Christ\emdash the present humiliation and disorganization of Israel and the promises of God to restore and rehabilitate them, requires that our Lord shall come back again to this earth.\par \par VII. The Redeemer\rquote s Return Is Necessitated By The Present Degradation And Desolation Of The World.\par \par Here is a reason which ought to carry conviction to every mind. If there is anything which imperatively needs our Redeemer to Return it is surely this poor sin-cursed world of ours! Look at it and what do we see? A world everywhere racked with suffering and out of joint. A world convulsed with misery entailed by the Fall. A world now in its very death-throes with hope almost completely gone. Everything that man could devise to better conditions and make this world a happier place has been tLVAL.ested and proven a failure. Every possible form of human government has been tried, each new one being as unsuccessful as the previous ones. Theocracy, democracy, and mobocracy (the French Revolution, and Russia today) have each been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Legislation, education and civilization have all been built upon, only to find in the day of testing that they were merely foundations of sand. Look where you will, on land or sea, in the air or beneath the waters, and you witness sin and death holding high carnival. The world is dying for want of a competent Ruler.\par \par On all sides iniquity is abounding more and more. Crime is increasing, morality is decreasing; godlessness and lawlessness are growing apace; while over all, hangs the dreadful pall of world-war. In the physical world, despite all our enlightenment, modern discoveries and the organized activities of medical science, disease is carrying off an ever increasing multitude year by year. The educational world is mainly under the control of infidels and agnostics, raider whose leadership the rising generation is taught that the faith once for all delivered to the saints is an idle superstition. or at best a religious garment which we have now outgrown. In the economic world greed and dishonesty are rapidly eating out the very vitals of commercial stability, while the fight between, capital and labor threatens a revolution such as this world has not witnessed since the days when the streets of Paris ran with blood. In the political realm there is so much chicanery, and "graft" and "party" principles are so selfishly pursued, that the self-respecting man is becoming loath to get mixed up with such filth and rottenness. Each "party" is as corrupt as the other, and the believer in Christ who is subject to God\rquote s Word will not hesitate to separate himself from that which offers his Lord no place and has no concern for His glory. In the moral realm, decay and putrefaction are witnessed upon all sides. Temperance RLVAL/eform Societies, Purity-campaigns and Civic-righteousness Leagues are powerless to stem the tide of evil. The Drink-Bill of every civilized (?) nation is growing heavier every year. Immorality, both among the masses and those in high places, prevails to such a fearful extent, that our large cities are modem Sodoms and Gomorrahs. In the religious world, we gaze upon an apostate Christendom. Our Theological Seminaries, with very rare exceptions, are teaching Darwinianism and Higher Criticism, while our pulpits are busily occupied with \lquote echoing" these God-dishonoring and Scripture-denying heresies, and on all sides the Gospel is supplanted by political harangues or moral essays. The majority of our churches are more than half empty, while the mid-week prayer meeting is .almost entirely a thing of the past. The few faithful servants of God that are left on earth are boycotted, maligned and persecuted. The Lord\rquote s Day has become a day of pleasure-seeking and now, Sabbath-desecration, in the form of seven days a week work on the farms and in the munition factories, has been legalized by every nation that is now at war. And, as we have said, over all hangs the dreadful pall of this World War! Literally millions of men in the prime of their manhood have already been slaughtered, while millions more have been maimed for life in the vain effort to destroy militarism and establish a lasting peace. Innumerable homes have been plunged into grief, and there is no guarantee or even prospect but what millions more will suffer a like fate.\par \par Today the world stands helpless before the inrushing tide of evil which threatens to decimate almost half of the human race, and in its impotency a grief-stricken humanity is everywhere lifting up piteous hands to Heaven as it cries for a Deliverer. True, the cry may not always be articulated,\emdash yet it is audible nevertheless. True, the world, as a whole, is blind to its spiritual wretchedness and apostate condition. True, the carnal mind is still enmityLVAL0 against God, yet, intelligent men realize that the present order of things is a complete failure and are ready and longing for a New Order. The world cries for deliverance, what shall be Heaven\rquote s response? Again we say that only one answer is possible. While the Holy Scriptures reveal the fact that the severest of God\rquote s judgments have not yet been poured upon this world, which has so long lived in pleasure and wantonness; while the Holy Scriptures reveal the fact that the darkest hour of the night of earth\rquote s sufferings and sorrows has not yet arrived; yet, they also teach, that at the close of this night, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2). "Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean, shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there: but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isa. 35:4-10). That will be Heaven\rquote s response to earth\rquote s agonized cry! Therefore we say that the present degradation and desolation of the world necessitates our Redeemer\rquote s Return to take the government upon His shouldLVAL1er and to rule and reign in righteousness, for then, and not till then, will every world problem find its solution.\par \par VIII. The Redeemer\rquote s return is necessitated by the lamentation of all creation.\par \par The effects of the Fall have been far-reaching\emdash "By one man sin entered the world" (Rom. 5:12). Not only was the entire human family involved but the whole "Kosmos" was affected. When Adam and Eve sinned, God not only pronounced sentence upon them and the Serpent but He cursed the ground as well\emdash "And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it, Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life: thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee" (Gen. 3:17, 18). These words suggest a solemn and far-reaching line of thought\emdash Sin not only brings punishment to the actual transgressor but it also involves others in its terrible consequences. The punishment which was meted out to the antediluvians was not limited to the human family, it fell upon the lower orders of creation as well\emdash all were swept away by the flood! The judgments which God sent upon the haughty Pharaoh extended to the fishes in the rivers and the cattle in the fields as well as to all his subjects! When the Angel of Death passed through the land of the Nile, he slew all the first-born of beasts as well as the first-born of the Egyptians (Ex. 12:12). When Jehovah\rquote s wrath visited the land of Palestine in the days of Israel\rquote s apostasy it descended upon the animal kingdom as well as the human for we read "How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate" (Joel 1:18). And again, "How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because theLVAL2y said, He shall not see our last end" (Jer. 12:4).\par \par To what extent the entire universe has suffered the evil consequences of sin it is impossible to say, but certain it is that they are not limited to our earth. Adam was not the first offender, for before his fall Satan also had apostatized from his Maker. What other worlds were affected by Satan\rquote s fall Scripture does not inform us, yet we may infer from these principles which are revealed in God\rquote s Word that the awful consequences of Satan\rquote s rebellion were far-reaching in their scope. Astronomical observation reveals the fact that there are numbers of far-distant worlds upon which no life exists, while Scripture speaks of "wandering stars." The moon is a ruined planet where Death holds absolute sway and death is the wages of sin. If then Adam\rquote s transgression brought down upon the earth which he inhabited a curse from God, may we not soberly conclude that the fall of the highest of all God\rquote s creatures brought down a Divine curse upon those worlds over which he may have exercised a delegated rulership? Be this as it may, Scripture does reveal the fact that the consequences of sin have reached far beyond the four corners of our earth. We read "The heavens are not clean in His sight" (Job 15:15), and again, in Romans 8:22 we are told, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now."\par \par In the last mentioned Scripture we learn that the whole creation is in pain and misery. Surely this is abnormal. Surely things were not like this at the beginning, nor were they; and sorely things will not continue thus for ever, nor will they. We quote now the entire passage in which the above statement is found\emdash "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to usward. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the Sons of God. For the creation was subjected to vanityLVAL3, 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" (Rom. 8:18-21, R.V.). The order of thought here appears to be as follows:\emdash The whole of God\rquote s creation, which is directly concerned and connected with our earth, (the "whole creation" can not be taken absolutely for the unfallen angels must be excluded) suffered the consequences of Adam\rquote s sin, being brought under the bondage of corruption as the direct result. But this "bondage" is not to last for ever. A hope is set before creation: a promise has been given that it shall be "delivered" and in expectation of the fulfillment of this promise and the realization of this hope creation now "waits." The "hope" of creation is linked with "the manifestation of the sons of God" and "the liberty of their glory." The sons of God will be manifested or revealed with their Redeemer at the time of His Return for it is written "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4). It is at the Second Coming of Christ, His return in "glory" that His people shall enter into the liberty of their glory. Then will it be that creation shall be delivered from its present bondage of corruption. Thus we learn that though the whole creation has suffered in consequence of sin, yet shall it soon share in the glorious benefits of the Death of Christ who came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. How clear then is the need of our Redeemer\rquote s Return! None but creation\rquote s Creator (John 1:3) can emancipate it from its sufferings. Hence we say that the present lamentations of Creation necessitate and demand the personal Return of our Lord.\par \par IX. The Redeemer\rquote s return is necessitated by the supplications of the church.\par \par While our Lord was here upon earth He gave His disciples a pattern prayer saying, "After this manner therefoLVAL4re pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven. Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come" (Matthew 6:9, 10). The Redeemer taught His saints to look forward to the future, to be occupied with God\rquote s interests and purposes, and to pray for the coming of His Kingdom, i. e., the Millennial Kingdom. Thus we learn that our hope has to do, not with the present kingdoms of this world, but with the coming Kingdom of God, which hope will be realized at the return of the Redeemer Himself. It is clear from a number of Scriptures that the coming of God\rquote s Kingdom synchronizes with the Return of Christ (see Luke 19:12; Revelation 11:15, etc.). The Hope of the Church centers in Christ and has to do with the future rather than with the present, for "hope" always looks forward. Therefore it is that the prayers of the Church must conform to and correspond with its hope.\par \par The last promise ever made by our Lord, made some fifty, or sixty years after His ascension, given to the beloved John on the Isle of Patmos but recorded for the encouragement and joy of all His people throughout the Christian dispensation, was "Surely I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20). The response to this promise is the prayer inspired by the Holy Spirit, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." As this dispensation draws to its dose and as the Return of Christ is daily coming nearer, the Holy Spirit is causing many to make this prayer their own. As the result of the recovery of the "Blessed Hope" which throughout the Dark Ages was lost to the Church, and as the result of the proclamation which is now being sounded forth far and wide, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him," companies of God\rquote s saints all over the earth are now daily crying, "Even so Come Lord Jesus." And our God is a prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God! He who has inspired this hope within the bosom of the Church, He who has taught so many of its members to long and pray for the Return of their Savior must satisfy that longing and answer that prayer. TherefLVAL5ore we say that the expectations and supplications of the Church of God which He purchased with His own Blood necessitate the personal Return of our Redeemer.\par \par X. The Redeemer\rquote s Return Is Necessitated By The Expectation Of The Dead In Christ.\par \par This argument may be summarized thus:\emdash The Intermediate state into which the souls of the redeemed pass at death is not the perfect state, it is but an \lquote unclothed" (2 Cor. 5:1-3) condition. Like their brethren who are still upon earth, those now in Paradise are "waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23). A countless multitude of those who fell asleep in Jesus are yet in the disembodied state, and in that state they are "waiting," waiting for the time when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and when this mortal shall put on immortality. Those, who while on earth, looked and longed for the Return of their Redeemer, and who are still waiting that blest event shall not wait thus for ever, as it is written, "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" (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). In the last Book of the Bible, where the veil that separates between the present and the future and between this world and the next is pulled aside, we find a Scripture that bears closely upon the point now under consideration. We refer to Revelation 6:9, 10\emdash "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" This passage, stripped of its symbolism, signifies that martyred believers now in the InLVAL6termediate state are waiting with eager expectation the time when God shall avenge their death, which time is reached immediately before our Lord returns to this earth. That which we wish to specially emphasize is the fact that souls now in Paradise are here represented as crying "How long?" Thus we learn that those "present with the Lord," as well as believers still "in the body," are eagerly expecting and waiting for the time of their Redeemer\rquote s Return. The answer made to these disembodied "souls" is very striking: "And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled" (Rev. 6:11).\par \par The "dead in Christ" are waiting in hope, waiting for the fulfillment of that promise, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body" (1 Cor. 15:42-44). Is their hope nothing more than an idle dream? Are they to wait thus for ever? No, blessed be God. His Word declares that at the time of our Redeemer\rquote s Return, "Them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (1 Thess. 4:14). Therefore we say that the present unclothed condition of the dead in Christ with their expectation of the Resurrection morn requires and necessitates the personal Return of our Lord.\par \par To sum up. At least ten reasons require that Christ shall come back again\emdash the declarations of Old Testament prophecy; the affirmations of our Lord Himself; the ratification of the Holy Spirit through the writers of the New Testament Epistles; the humiliation of the Cross, requiring a corresponding vindication of Christ in power and glory; the present disorganization of Israel; the exaltation of Satan and the powerlessness of man to depose him;  LVAL the degradation and desolation of the world; the lamentations of a Creation waiting to be delivered from its bondage of corruption; the supplications of the Church crying "Even so, come, Lord Jesus;" and the expectation of the dead in Christ waiting for their glorification, singly and collectively necessitate and demand the personal Return of our Redeemer.\par \par \pard\cf1\fs23\par } LVAL;8{\rtf1\ansi\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\b\f0\fs24 The Redeemer's Return\par by Arthur Pink\par \b0\par \b The Hope of the Redeemer\rquote s Return\par Chapter 2\par \b0\par "Looking for that Blessed Hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ"\par \par Titus 2:13\par \par In 1 Corinthians 13:13 we learn there are three cardinal Christian graces namely, faith, hope and love. Concerning the first and third of these, believers generally are well informed, but regarding the second, many of the Lord\rquote s people have the vaguest conceptions. When Christians are questioned upon the subject of Faith they are, for the most part, able to answer promptly and intelligently; but interrogate the average church-member about the believer\rquote s Hope, and his replies are indistinct and uncertain. Let Christian Love come up for discussion and we all feel that we are upon solid ground, but when asked to pursue the theme of Christian Hope many step cautiously and hesitatingly.\par \par That there is the greatest confusion of thought and belief among Christians concerning their Hope may readily be proven by questioning a number regarding the nature of their hope. Ask the average church-goer what his hope is, and he will say, Salvation\emdash he hopes to be saved when he comes to die. Ask another and he will tell you that Death is his hope, for it is then that he will be released from all the sufferings of the flesh. Ask a third and he would say that Heaven was his hope. Perhaps this last reply would better express the common and popular belief than either of the others. But to say that our hope is future happiness, is to say no more than any heathen would say. There are several Scriptures which distinguish between Heaven and the believer\rquote s Hope, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant meLVAL9rcy hath begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you" (1 Pet. 1:3, 4). Here the "living hope" unto which we have been begotten is separated in thought from the "inheritance" which is "reserved in heaven" for us. Though closely connected, Heaven and the believer\rquote s Hope are certainly not synonymous as is clear from Colossians 1:5 where they are again distinguished\emdash "For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel." Heaven is not here said to be the believer\rquote s hope, for the hope is "laid up" for him "in heaven." What then is our Hope?\par \par It is strange that there should be such ignorance and confusion upon this subject for Hope is made almost as prominent in the New Testament as is either Faith or Love. The Church epistles have much to say upon the subject. In the epistle to the Romans when setting forth the consequences or results of justification, the apostle wrote, "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (5:1). And again in 8:24, 25\emdash For in hope were we saved: but hope that is seen is not hope: for who hopeth for that which he seeth? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (R.V.). To the Corinthians Paul wrote, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. 15:19). To the Galatians he wrote, "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith" (5:5). For the Ephesians he prayed that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened, and that they might know "what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints" (Eph. 1:18), and in setting forth the sevenfolLVAL:d Unity of the Spirit he declared, "There is one body and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all" (4:4-6), and there can no more be two different hopes than there can be two Lords, or two faiths.\par \par To the Thessalonian saints the apostle Paul wrote, "Sorrow not, even as others which have no hope" (1 Thess. 4:13), and again, "Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace" (2 Thess. 2:16). Unto Titus he wrote "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13). And unto the Hebrews he said, "And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end. That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil" (6:11, 18, 19).\par \par The apostle Peter found cause for rejoicing in that God had "according to His abundant mercy, begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pet. 1:3). and again, he exhorted his readers to "Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1 Pet. 3:15).\par \par The apostle John wrote, "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. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as LVAL;He is pure" (1 John 3:2, 3); Thus we see that the New Testament abounds in passages which speak of the believer\rquote s "hope."\par \par In all ages God\rquote s people have had a hope set before them, and that hope has always centered in Christ. In Eden God gave to Adam the promise that the woman\rquote s Seed should come and bruise the Serpent\rquote s head and the anticipation of the fulfillment of this promise constituted the hope of the saints in those far-off days. Said Jacob, "I have waited for Thy salvation, O Lord" (Gen. 49:18). The Hope that God set before Abram was that his "Seed" should be a blessing unto all nations, which hope, as we learn from Galatians 3:16, had particular reference to Christ. The Hope which God set before Moses was expressed as follows, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him" (Deut. 18:18). For the fulfillment of this prophecy see John 12:49; 14:10, etc. The Hope which God set before David was stated as follows, "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy Seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish His Kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will stablish the throne of His Kingdom for ever" (2 Sam. 7:12, 13). And later, through His prophets, God again and again set before Israel the Hope of the appearing of their Messiah. This leads us to inquire now into \emdash\par \par I. The character of our hope.\par \par As there is so much confusion and uncertainty respecting this branch of our subject, and in order to clear away the rubbish which human devisings have gathered around it, we will deal first with the negative side of the character of our Hope.\par \par 1. Our Hope is not the Conversion of the World.\par \par We pray that these pages may be read by many who will be startled by the above statement. A world which shall eventually be saved LVAL<by the preaching of the Gospel has been the expectation of almost all Christendom. That the Gospel shall yet triumph over the world, the flesh, and the Devil is the belief of the great majority of those who profess to be the Lord\rquote s people. In the seminaries, in the pulpits, in the Christian literature of the day, and in the great missionary gatherings where placards bearing the words "The world for Christ" are prominently displayed, has this theory been zealously heralded. It is supposed that anything short of a converted "world" is a concept dishonoring and derogatory to the Gospel. We are told the Gospel cannot fail because it is the power of God, and though the Church has failed, yet, a day is surely coming when this captivating ideal shall be realized. To believe other than this, is to be dubbed a "pessimist," yea, it is to be looked upon as a hinderer and traitor to the cause of Christ. But what are the plain facts?\par \par The Lord Jesus Christ preached the Gospel, preached it faithfully, lovingly, zealously and untiringly. But with what results? Was the world "converted" under His preaching? Should it he said this question is not a fair one because He preached only locally, we accept the correction, but ask further, Was Palestine converted under His preaching? We have only to glance at the four Gospels to find an answer. In the sermon on the Mount, our Lord declared that the "many" were on the broad road that leadeth to destruction and that only a "few" were on the narrow path that leadeth unto life. In the Parable of the Sower He announced that out of four castings of the flood seed from His hand three of them fell upon unfruitful ground. Again, we are told, "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:10, 11). No, the Gospel as preached by the Son of God Himself held out no promise of a world converted by the proclamation of it, for after three and a half years\rquote ministry such as thLVAL=is world has never witnessed before or since, there was but a handful who responded to the gracious appeals of the Gospel from His lips\emdash there were but one hundred and twenty all told that Waited in the upper room for the coming of the Holy Spirit which He had promised to send to His followers (Acts 1:15).\par \par How was it in the days of the apostles? During the first generation of the Church\rquote s history, wonderful things happened which were well calculated to convert the world if anything could. Eleven men who had been trained by our Lord Himself were now sent forth to herald the glad tidings of salvation. The Holy Spirit was poured forth upon them, and in addition to the Eleven, Saul of Tarsus was miraculously saved and sent forth as the apostle to the Gentiles. But what success attended their efforts? How were they received by the world? Again we have but to turn to the New Testament Scriptures to find our answer. Like their Master, they, too, were despised and rejected of men. The apostles were everywhere spoken against and regarded as the offscouring of the earth. Some of them were cast into prison, others were slain by the sword. One suffered death by crucifixion and the last of the little band was banished to the Isle of Patmos. True it is that their labors were not entirely in vain. True it is that God honored His own Word and numbers were saved, and here and there churches were organized. But the multitudes, the great masses, both of Jews and Gentiles, remained unmoved and unconverted. The actual conditions, in the days of the apostles then, gave no promise of a world converted by the Gospel.\par \par How is it in our own day? "Ah!" it will be said, "times have changed since then: Christ and His apostles lived in the days of paganism and barbarism, but under the enlightenment of our modern civilization this twentieth century is far otherwise." Yes, but all is not gold that glitters. We do not deny, we praise God for the fact, that today there are far more Christians upon earLVAL>th than there were in the first century. But there are far more sinners tool What we are discussing now is the Conversion of the world. Has the growth of the Church of God kept pace with the increase of the earth\rquote s population? We trow not. Today there are probably 1,000,000,000 souls on earth who have never even heard the name of Christ! How then can we talk about a converted world when upwards of two-thirds of humanity is destitute of the Gospel? Moreover, what of Christendom itself? How much of that which bears the name of Christ is truly Christian? What proportion of those who term themselves the children of God are really entitled to that name? More than half of professing Christendom is found within the pales of the Greek and Roman Catholic Churches! And what of Protestantism itself? What of the evangelical churches filled with their worldly, pleasure-loving, theater-going, Sabbath-desecrating, prayer-meeting-neglecting members? No; my reader, be not deceived with appearances or high-sounding phrases. God\rquote s flock is only a "little flock" (Luke 12:32). There is but a "remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 11:5).\par \par Has the Gospel failed? Have God\rquote s purposes been defeated? Certainly not. The Gospel was never designed to convert the world. God never purposed to regenerate all humanity in this dispensation, any more than He did under the Mosaic economy, when He suffered the nations to walk in their own ways. God\rquote s purpose for this Age is clearly defined in Acts 15:14\emdash "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentries, to take out of them a people for His name." In full harmony with this the apostle Paul declared. "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). Clearly then, the Hope of the Church is not the Conversion of the World. Having dwelt at some length upon the general, let us now come to the particular\emdash\par \par 2. Our Hope is not the Salvation of the Soul.\par \par In the NewLVAL? Testament the word "Salvation" has a threefold scope\emdash past, present and future, which, respectively, has reference to our deliverance from the penalty, the power, and the presence of sin. When we say above, that our Hope is not the Salvation of the soul, we mean that it is not our deliverance from the wrath to come which is the prospect God sets before His people. To certain of our readers it may appear almost a wearisome waste of time for us to discuss these points, but for the sake of the class for which this work is specially designed we would ask them to bear with us in patience. In these days when the Bible is so grievously neglected both in the pulpit and in the pew, we cannot afford to take anything for granted. Multitudes of those in our churches are ignorant of the most elementary truths of the Christian faith. Experience shows that comparatively few people are clear about even the A. B. C. of the Gospel. Talk to the average church-member, and only too often it will be found that he has nothing more than a vague and uncertain hope about his personal salvation. He is "trying to live up to the light that he has," he is "doing his best," and he hopes that, somehow, everything will come out right in the end. He does not dare to say I know I have passed from death unto life, but he hopes to go to Heaven at the last.\par \par Nowhere does Scripture present the Salvation of the soul as the believer\rquote s hope. Salvation from the guilt, the penalty, the wages, of sin is something for which believers thank God even now. Said our Lord to His disciples, "Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20). The present-tense aspect of our salvation is presented in many Scriptures\emdash "Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that heareth My word and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). How simple and definite this is! Eternal life is something which every believer in Christ alreadyLVAL@ possesses, and for him there is no possibility of future condemnation in the sense of having to endure God\rquote s wrath. Again we read, "Beloved now are we the sons of God" (1 John 3:2). We do not have to obey God\rquote s commandments, walk worthy, and serve the Lord, in order to become God\rquote s children, we are to do these things because we are, already, members of the household of faith. The salvation or redemption of our bodies is future, for it will not be until our Savior\rquote s return that He "shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body" (Phil. 3:21). But the salvation of the soul, deliverance from the wrath to come, is an accomplished fact for every sinner, that has received the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior. All such have been accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). All such have been "made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (Col. 1:12). All such have been "perfected for ever" (Heb. 10:14) so far as their standing before God is concerned.\par \par As another has said, "Salvation is not away off yonder at the gates of Heaven; salvation is at the cross. The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared, and it brings salvation all the way down to where the sinner is\emdash right there. You know our Lord\rquote s own picture of it. It is the illustration of the good Samaritan. You know how beautifully that shadows out this blessed truth; that just as the good Samaritan went down the Jericho road and ministered to the wretch who lay there half dead, pouring oil into his wounds right there where he lay, lust so the grace of God, that brings salvation, has come to the sinner in the place where he lies in his sins. No matter how great a sinner he may be, if he can be persuaded to turn the eye of faith toward the cross, there salvation comes" (Dr. C. I. Scofield). Again\emdash\par \par 3. Our Hope is not Death.\par \par Of all the extravagant and absurd interpretations of Scripture which have found a LVALAplace among sober expositors is the belief that Death is the Hope which God has set before the believer. How it ever came to find acceptance it is difficult to say. It is true that there are a number of passages which speak of the Lord returning suddenly and unexpectedly, but to make the words "At such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" and "Behold I come as a thief in the night" mean that death may steal in upon the believer without warning is to reduce the Word of God to meaningless jargon and is to make sane exposition impossible. Scripture says what it means, and means what it says. True there are Parables in the Bible; true there are stone passages which are highly symbolical; but where this is the case the context usually gives clear intimation to that effect, and where it does not, the plain and literal force should always be given to the language of Holy Writ. In Scripture "death" means death, and the coming again of the Son of man means His coming, and the two expressions are not synonymous. As we have said, the Return of Christ and death (sometimes) each, alike, come suddenly and unexpectedly, but there all analogy between them ends.\par \par It is passingly strange that Bible teachers should have confounded Death with the Second Coming of Christ. The former is spoken of as an "Enemy" (1 Cor. 15:26), whereas the latter is termed "that blessed hope" (Titus 2:13), and surely these two terms cannot refer to the same thing. At the Return of our Lord we shall be made like Him (1 John 3:2), but believers are not made like Him at death, for death introduces them into a disembodied state. That "death" is not the believer\rquote s Hope is clear from many Scriptures. In 1 Peter 1:3 the apostle returns thanks because we have been begotten again "unto a living hope." The saint of God has a living hope in a dying scene: a glorious prospect beyond this vale of tears. In 2 Timothy 4:8 the apostle Paul reminds us that there is laid up a crown of righteousness unto all them that love Christ\rquLVALBote s "appearing," which is further proof that death is not the Second Coming of Christ, for who is there that "loves" death? Death is my going to Christ, but His Return is Christ coming to me. Death is a cause of sadness and sorrow, but the Return of the Lord is a cause of joy and comfort\emdash "Wherefore comfort one another with these words" 1 Thess. 4:18, see context). Death lays the body in the dust, but at the Return of our Redeemer His people arise from the dust\emdash "the dead in Christ shall rise first" (1 Thess. 4:17). Death is the "wages of sin," which means that death is the penalty of sin, but so completely has that penalty been borne by our Savior that we read, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Hint shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:28). Death was certainly not the hope of the early Christians as is clear from 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10 where we read, "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven"\emdash these Thessalonian saints were looking for Christ not death. Finally; death cannot be our Hope, for death will not be the portion of all believers as is clear from the language of 1 Corinthians 15:51, "We shall not all sleep." What then is our Hope? We answer \emdash\par \par 4. Our Hope is the personal Return of our Redeemer.\par \par "Jesus Christ our hope" (1 Tim. 1:1). Jesus Christ is the believer\rquote s "all in all" (Col. 3:11). He is "our peace" (Eph. 2:14) He is "our life" (Col. 3:14). He is "made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30). And, we repeat, He is "our Hope." But hope always looks forward. Hope has to do with the future. "We are saved in hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (Rom. 8:24,25). This means that what we hope for is that which we do not yet possess. In ScrLVALCipture, "hope" is something more than desire or longing: it is a joyous expectation, a definite assurance. Faith is that which lays holds of God\rquote s promises; hope is that spiritual grace which sustains the heart until the promise is "received." As another has said "Man was not made for the present, and the present was not intended to satisfy man. It is for the future, not the present, that man exists" (W. Trotter).\par \par The Hope of the believer is clearly set forth in Titus 2:13\emdash "Looking for that blessed hope and appearing of the glory, of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ" (R. V.). Our Hope is the personal Return of Christ when He shall come back again to receive us unto Himself. Our Hope is to be taken out of this scene of sin and suffering and sorrow to be where Christ is (John 14:1-13). Our Hope is to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and be for ever "with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:16, 17). Our Hope is to be "made like" Him, and this hope will be realized when "we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). This is the "one hope" of our calling" (Eph. 4:4). This is the only Hope for everything else has failed.\par \par The hope of Philosophy has failed. Philosophy was the beautiful ideal of the ancients. When Greece and Rome were the leading nations of the earth, the goal of every ambitious young man\rquote s desire was to become a philosopher. Philosophers were respected and honored by all. Philosophy set out to solve the riddle of the universal and to explain the rationale of all creation. It was expected that philosophy would find a solution to every problem and devise a remedy for every ill. But what were its fruits? "The world by wisdom knew not God" (1 Cor. 1:21). When the apostle Paul came to Athens\emdash one of the principal centers of philosophic culture\emdash he found an altar erected to "The Unknown God" (Acts 17:23). The only place the word "philosophy" is found in the Scriptures is in Colossians 2:8, where we read "Beware lest any man spoil you through philLVALDosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Philosophy proved a will-o\rquote -the-wisp. Never was philosophy so thoroughly systematized and so ably expounded as it was in the days of Socrates, and never was society more corrupt. The ruins of ancient Greece bear witness to the failure and inadequacy of philosophy.\par \par The hope of Legislation has failed. It was the dream of the celebrated Plato that he could establish an ideal Republic by compiling and enforcing a perfect code of laws. But a perfect Code of Law was compiled a thousand years before Plato was born. God Himself gave to Israel a Code of Law on Mount Sinai\emdash with what results? No sooner was that Law given than it was broken. The children of Israel declared, "All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient" (Ex. 24:7), but their words were an empty boast. The truth is that imperfect creatures cannot keep a perfect law, nor can imperfect men be induced to administer and enforce it. There is not a land in all the world where all the statutes of the State, or nearly all, are rigidly enforced. What then is the use of electing worthy and able legislators and for them to enact righteous laws if their successors refuse to enforce them? The present universal failure to do this testifies to the impotency of Law while it is left in human hands.\par \par The hope of human Government has failed. The Roman Empire experimented for many centuries and tried no less than seven different forms of government, but each in turn failed to accomplish the desired effects, and the last state of that Empire was worse than the first. Everything from absolute monarchy to absolute Socialism has already been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Revolting at the tyrannical yokes imposed upon their subjects by the European rulers, our forefathers in this country sought to establish a free Republic, a democratic form of government, a government managed by the people and for the peopLVALEle. What have been its fruits? Are economic conditions in the United States better than those in England or Italy? Are relations between Capital and Labor more amicable and satisfactory? Is there less political corruption in high places, and fairer representation of the oppressed? Are moral conditions better here: have we, proportionately, fewer thieves, fewer drunkards, fewer murderers? Is there more contentment and satisfaction among the masses? We fear not. When we witness the methods employed in the average political campaign, when we read through the reports of the police courts, when we behold the strikes and lock-outs in every part of the country, when we peer beneath the surface and gaze upon the moral state of the masses, and when we hear the angry cries of the poor laborer and his half-starved family, we discover that the only hope for America as well as Europe is that our Lord shall come back again and take the government upon His shoulder.\par \par The hope of Civilization has failed. How much all of us have heard of \lquote the march and progress of Civilization\rquote during the past two generations! What an Utopia it was going to create! The masses were to be educated and reformed, injustices were to cease, war was to be abolished, and all mankind welded into one great Brotherhood living together in peace and good will. Civilization was to be the agency for ushering in the long-looked-for Millennium. Any one who dared to challenge the claims made on behalf of the enlightenment of our twentieth century, or called into question the transformation which the upward march of Civilization was supposed to be effecting, was regarded as an \lquote old fogey\rquote who was not abreast of the times, or, as a \lquote pessimist\rquote whose vision was blinded by prejudice. Was not "Evolution" an established fact of science and did not the fundamental principle of Evolution\emdash progress and advancement from the lower to the higher\emdash apply to nations and the human race as a whole; if so, LVALFwe should soon discover that we had outgrown all the barbarities of the past. War was now no longer to be thought of, for those cultured nations within the magic pale of civilization would henceforth settle their differences amicably by means of arbitration. It was true that the great Powers continued building enormous armies and navies, but these, we were told, would merely be used to enforce Peace, But oh! what a madman\rquote s dream it has all proven. The Hope of Civilization, like every other hope which has not been founded upon the sure and certain Word of God, has also proved to be nothing more than an entrancing mirage, a tragic delusion. The great World War, with all its unmentionable horrors, its inhumanities, its barbaric ruthlessness, has rudely wakened a lethargic humanity to the utter insufficiency of all merely human expediencies, and has demonstrated as clearly as anything has ever been demonstrated that "Civilization" is nothing more than a high-sounding but empty title.\par \par We repeat again, the ONLY hope of the Church is the personal Return of the Redeemer to remove His people from these scenes of misery and bloodshed to be for ever with Himself; and the ONLY hope for this poor sin-cursed and Satan-dominated world is the Second Advent of the Son of Man to rule and reign over the earth in righteousness and peace. This is the world\rquote s LAST hope, for every other hope has failed it! We turn now to consider \emdash\par \par II. The authorization of our hope.\par \par The insufficiency and failure of the various hopes of the world reviewed above, serve only to furnish a background upon which, by way of contrast, may shine forth more prominently and gloriously the certainty and sufficiency of our hope. Every hope of man which originates in his own mind and heart is doomed to end in disappointment. If men refuse the light which is furnished by Divine revelation then they must expect to remain in darkness, and, as our Lord said, "If therefore the light that is in thee be darkLVALGness how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6:23). The value of a hope lies in the authorization of it, what then are the grounds for our hope?\par \par What warrant have we for expecting the Return of the Redeemer? After all that has been said in the previous pages and in view of the various Scriptures therein cited, a lengthy reply to this question is not necessary. In brief, it may be said, the inspired and infallible Word of Him who cannot lie is our warrant and authorization for looking for that Blessed Hope. But, briefly, to particularize.\par \par 1. We have the Promise of the Lord Jesus Himself.\par \par We have already quoted from John 14 in other connections but we now refer to it again. On the eve of His crucifixion our Savior turned to His disciples and said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am there ye may be also" (John 14:23). Here is an assertion about which there is no ambiguity whatever. Here is a promise that is positive and unequivocal. Here is a word of comfort from the lips of Truth incarnate. The Lord who has gone away from this earth to prepare a place for His people is coming back again for them, coming back in person, coming to receive them to Himself that they may be with Him for evermore.\par \par 2. We have the word of God\rquote s messengers at the time of His Son\rquote s Ascension.\par \par These words are recorded in the first chapter of the Acts which presents a Scene of unusual interest and importance. Our Lord\rquote s sojourn upon earth was now to terminate. The time of His departure was at hand. The great purpose of the Divine incarnation had been accomplished. The cross and the empty sepulcher lay behind, and now the Savior of sinners was to be exalted to the right hand of the Majesty on high. Together with a few of His disciples He went as far as Bethany, and lifting up His hands He blessed them, and while in the act of blessing them He was "parted froLVALHm them, and went up into heaven" (Luke 24:50,51). And a cloud received Him out of their sight, and then we are told, "While they looked stedfastly toward heaven as He went up, two men stood by them in white apparel: 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" (Acts 1:10, 11). Here again is a statement that is clear and simple. Here again is a promise that is plain and positive. The Lord Jesus has gone up into heaven, but He is not to remain there for ever. The "same Jesus" which ascended is to descend: the "same Jesus" which was seen retiring from this earth shall yet be seen returning to this earth. The absent One is coming back, coming back in person in "like manner" as He went away.\par \par 3. We have the inspired testimony of the apostles.\par \par We have already shown in a previous chapter that each of the apostles bore witness to the Second Coming of Christ. Their testimony is clear, full, and uniform. At this point we shall select but a single passage, a familiar one, from the epistles of the apostle Paul. In 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 we read, "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (i. e., "go before") them which are asleep. 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."\par \par The aboLVALIve passage is the most comprehensive statement upon the Redeemer\rquote s Return which is to be found in the apostolic writings. The importance of the communication contained therein is intimated by the prefatory clause\emdash "This we say unto you by the word of the Lord," an expression which is always reserved for those passages of Divine revelation which are of peculiar importance or solemnity. Here again we learn that Christ is going to return in person\emdash "The Lord Himself." Here again we have a positive promise\emdash "The Lord Himself shall descend." And here again, the Second Coming of Christ is presented as the "blessed hope" of the Church\emdash "comfort one another with these words." We reserve further comment upon this passage for a later chapter.\par \par 4. Finally, We have the Promise of the Lord, given from the Throne.\par \par We have previously pointed out that, some fifty or sixty years after His ascension to the right hand of God, Christ sent His angel to the beloved John on the Isle of Patmos saying, "Surely I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20). This was our Lord\rquote s last promise to His people, as though to intimate that He would have them continually occupied with His imminent Return. Perhaps this will be the best place to meet an objection that is frequently made by those who seek to find flaws in the Word of God. It is said that the Lord Jesus here made a mistake. He declared that He was coming quickly and more than eighteen centuries have passed since then and yet He has not returned!\par \par The explanation of this supposed difficulty is very simple. When the Lord Jesus said, "Surely I come quickly," He spoke from Heaven, and Heaven\rquote s measurement of time is very different from earth\rquote s. Never once while He was here upon earth did the Savior say or even hint that He would return "quickly." On the contrary He gave plain intimation that after His departure a lengthy interval would have to pass ere He came back again. In the Parable of the Nobleman He spoke oLVALJf Himself as One taking a journey into "a far country" (Luke 19:12). On another occasion He represented an evil servant saying, during the time of His absence, "My Lord delayeth His coming" (Matthew 24:28). While in the Parable of the Talents He openly declared that "After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them" (Matthew 25:19). What we would here press upon the attention of our readers is, that, each of these utterances were made by our Lord during the time when He was still upon earth and therefore they must be considered from earth\rquote s viewpoint; but when the Lord Jesus said "Surely I come quickly" He spoke from Heaven and concerning Heaven\rquote s measurement of time we need to bear in mind that word "Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day"\par (2 Pet. 3:8). In the light of the last quoted Scripture it is easy to understand Revelation 22:20\emdash if our Lord returns before the present century terminates He will have been away but two days!\par \par "Surely I come quickly." These are the words of our ascended Lord. This is His promise, sent from the very Throne of Heaven. This is His final word to His people before they hear His "shout" calling them to be with Himself. This, then, is the warrant, the ground, the authorization of our Hope. Let us now consider \emdash\par \par III. The blessedness of our hope.\par \par It is both interesting and profitable to notice the several adjectives which are used in connection with the believer\rquote s Hope. In 2 Thessalonians 2:16 it is termed a "good hope." In Hebrews 6:19 it is described as a hope "both sure and stedfast." In 1 Peter 1:3 it is denominated "a living hope." In Ephesians 4:4 it is styled the "one hope" of our calling. While in Titus 2:13 it is spoken of as "that blessed hope." The blessedness of our Hope is that which is now particularly to engage our attention. In what respects is our hope a "blessed\rquote ? oLVALKne? We answer \emdash\par \par 1. Because of its bearing upon Israel.\par \par Israel\rquote s future blessings wait for the Return of their Messiah. When He was here before He was despised and rejected by His brethren according to the flesh but when He comes back again to this earth they shall welcome and worship Him. That prophecy of Zechariah\rquote s \lquote which received a partial fulfillment when He was here before, is yet to receive a further and complete fulfillment, in the days of His Second Advent. This is clear from the words which immediately follow these which had reference to His entry into Jerusalem a few days before His crucifixion\emdash "Rejoice greatly. O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvations; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 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 to the ends of the earth" (Zech. 9:9, 10). And note further the closing verses of the same chapter\emdash "And the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of His people; for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land. For how great is His goodness, and how great His beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids" (vv. 16, 17). The real "Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem" is yet future. Our Lord is to enter the royal city again and at the time of His return He shall enter it as King in fact and in full manifestation of that fact. Then it is that Zion\rquote s King shall come to her "having salvation," and then it is that Israel shall marvel at His grace and at His excellency; and then it will be that the daughter of Jerusalem shall be exalted and be once more owned and blessed by Jehovah. It is on the return of Christ to this earth that Israel shall enLVALLter into the enjoyment of that inheritance which was given unto their fathers, and under the reign of their Messiah shall become a blessing to all nations. Again; the Redeemer\rquote s Return is a blessed Hope.\par \par 2. Because of its bearing upon the Gentiles.\par \par This aspect of our subject has not received the attention which it deserves. It has been assumed by some that the present dispensation is the time when God is blessing the Gentiles and that in the Millennium the Jews will be the special objects of God\rquote s favor. It is true that in the Millennium Israel shall enter into the enjoyment of their inheritance and that at that time they shall occupy the chief position, governmentally, among the nations, but it is a mistake to suppose that the Gentiles will receive less notice from God then than they do now. During this age God is merely taking out of the Gentiles a people for His name, and hence it is that the vast majority of them are still living amid the darkness of heathendom. But it will not always be thus. The restoration of Israel to God\rquote s favor will result in wide blessing to the Gentiles.\par \par In the eleventh chapter of Romans, where the apostle is showing that Israel\rquote s present \lquote "blindness" is not to continue forever, he declares, "I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them (Israel) be the riches of the world (i.e., the enrichment of the Gentiles by the Gospel) and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? (that is, How much more will Israel\rquote s latter-day blessing enrich the Gentiles). For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?" (vv. 11, 12, 15). How clear it is from these verses that, universal blessings for mankind are not to be brought about by the indefinite prolongationLVALM of this present dispensation and the preaching of the Gospel, but by the restoration of Israel, after Christendom has been cut off for its non-continuance in God\rquote s goodness. As another has said, "The end of apostate Judaism was judgment: the end of apostate Gentile Christianity will be judgment also. But just as blessing came to us when judgment fell upon the Jew, so when judgment falls upon Christendom, blessing will be restored to Israel, and Israel\rquote s restoration will bring still fuller blessing to the world than any it has had during the present dispensation; it will be as life from the dead\rquote !" (W. Trotter).\par \par The words of Simeon recorded in Acts 15 are in perfect agreement with the teaching of Romans 11\emdash "Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, after this, I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David (i. e., Israel), which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things" (vv. 14-17). It is to be noted that here again the "seeking of the Lord" by the "residue of men and all the Gentiles" is subsequent to the restoration of Israel.\par \par There are many prophecies in the Old Testament which speak of the Millennial blessedness of the Gentiles. We single out one or two without commenting extensively upon them. "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it" (Isa. 40:5). "O sing unto the Lord a new song; for He hath done marvelous things: His right hand, and His holy arm, hath gotten Him the victory, The Lord hath made known His salvation: His righteousness hath He openly shewed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered His mercy and His truth toward the house of ILVALNsrael: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God" (Ps. 98:1-3). Once more the order is the same: God\rquote s righteousness is displayed before the "heathen" and His salvation is made known to the ends of the earth following God\rquote s dealing in mercy with Israel.\par \par One more quotation must suffice: "And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the Lord your God, and none else: and My people shall never be ashamed. And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh" (Joel 2:27, 28). Like all prophecy, this one receives a double fulfillment. It is to be observed that when Peter quoted from Joel on the Day of Pentecost he did not say, "And now is fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet," but "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel" (Acts 2:16), because the words of Joel quoted above will not be fulfilled until the Millennium, then and not till then, will God\rquote s Spirit be poured out upon "all flesh"\emdash for that glad day, the earth waits the Second Advent of our Lord. Thus we see that the Return of Christ to this earth to usher in the Millennium will be attended with gracious and wide blessing to the Gentiles, for then it will be that "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9). Again, the Return of the Redeemer is a Blessed Hope \emdash\par \par 3. Because of its bearing upon the Church.\par \par Concerning this point we shall here merely generalize, for this precious aspect of our subject will come up for consideration again in a later chapter. In a word, we may say that, the Hope of the Church lies in the future and not in the present, is heavenly and not earthly. To His disciples our Lord said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John 16:30). This is the present portion of the Church which is His body: this is all that the believer is to expect from the world in which he is now living. We are not to be surprised if the LVALOworld "hates" us, because it first hated our Divine Master. Said the apostle, "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Yea, we are assured that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." The Lord\rquote s path to the Throne was via the Cross, and we are called to "follow His steps." The Hope of the Church then lies not in this world, but above it; not in the present, but in the future.\par \par At first sight it may appear strange, especially to unbelievers, that the Christian should speak of his hope. In contrast to the wicked who have "no peace," the saint has a satisfying portion. The believer has already drunk of that "living water" of which those who drink shall "never thirst." The believer is already in possession of "eternal life," but he has not yet entered into the full and unhindered enjoyment of it\emdash that is still before him as the object of his hope. In one sense then, the Christian is satisfied, in another sense he is not. The believer already knows One, yea, is now indwelt by One who can satisfy him. He knows Christ, possesses Christ, enjoys Christ; but, as yet, he has not seen Christ; It is by faith (not feelings) that we know and enjoy Christ, but the more we know and enjoy Him thus, the more we long to behold Him\emdash "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul"\rquote (1 Pet. 1:8, 9).\par \par "Yes, my brethren, believing in Christ, whom we have not seen, we love Him; we rejoice in Him with unspeakable joy; we receive the salvation of our souls. But to see Christ\emdash to have the salvation which He wrought out on the cross applied to our bodies as well as to our souls\emdash to have it perfected in our experience even as it respects our souls\emdash to have it consummated thus in all who are fellow-partakers with us of ChristLVALP\emdash to be with Him, and with them, in our Father\rquote s house\emdash to behold His glory which the Father has given Him\emdash to appear with Him in glory when He appears\emdash to reign with Him over a ransomed and redeemed and happy creation\emdash to fulfill our part in the universal harmony of all in heaven and all in earth, when all shall bow the knee to Jesus, when every tongue shall own Him Lord, and all voices shall join to, celebrate His praise\emdash this, and far more than this\emdash far more than heart can conceive or tongue explain, is what we wait for; and, above all, we wait for Him whose return shall introduce us to all this perfect blessedness\emdash we \lquote wait for God\rquote s Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.\rquote He Is Our Hope. We know Him now by faith as our Savior, our Lord, our life, our peace, our joy, our all. And He Is Our Hope. He is plainly said to be so in 1 Timothy 1:1\emdash\lquote Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ Our Hope.\rquote And what He is thus in so many plain words expressly declared to be in this passage, He is shown to be by the uniform, unvarying testimony of Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Revelation" ("Plain Papers on Prophetic Subjects\rquote by W. Trotter). Again, the Redeemer\rquote s Return is a "Blessed Hope" \emdash\par \par 4. Because of its bearing upon Christ Himself.\par \par Our Lord Himself is waiting that blest moment when He shall rise from the Father\rquote s Throne, descend to the air and catch up His loved and redeemed ones to be forever with Himself. What other meaning can possibly be given to that remarkable word recorded in Revelation 1:9\emdash "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ."\par \par And again we read, "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God. FromLVALQ henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool" (Heb. 10:12, 13). Yes, for well nigh two thousand years, our Lord has patiently waited for the last predestined member to be added to the Church which is His body. Nay, may we not go further, and reverently say, from all eternity the Lord Jesus has been waiting to possess that people given to Him by the Father before the foundation of the world! It was for this "joy" that was set before Him that He despised the cross and endured its shame (Heb. 12:2). It was for this "one pearl" which He esteemed of "great price" \emdash oh! wondrous thought\emdash that He went and sold all that He had to buy it (Matthew 13:46). It is for this blood-purchased people that He has been interceding on high since the day of His ascension. And at His Second Advent the time of waiting, the long interval of His "patience," will be ended. Then it will be that He shall come to receive us unto Himself. Then it will be that He shall present the Church to Himself "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5:27). Then it will be that "He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied" (Isa. 58:11). O blessed Hope. Well may we cry "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." For Him, too, as well as for us, this is "that blessed hope."\par \par And now, dear reader, What is your hope? What is it that is occupying your heart and filling your vision? Is it the prospect of a speedily returning Redeemer? If you are truly the Lord\rquote s then do you not yearn to see Him face to face? Do you not long to fall at His feet and say "my Lord and my God"? Surely you do, for you cannot be fully satisfied in this world. How could you be? How can you find satisfaction-in a world from which your Savior is absent? "Earth is a wilderness, not merely (no, nor chiefly) because of its trials and its hardships, its sorrows and its pangs, its disappointments and reverses, but because He is not here. Heaven would not be hea(LVAL8ven to the saint if Jesus were not there. He, His presence (as that which introduces us to it), His coming is our hope\emdash the hope of the Christian, the hope of the Church. May our hearts cherish it as we have never done! May its brightness so attract us that earth\rquote s fairest, loveliest, most enchanting scenes may be weariness itself to our hearts, as detaining us from the object of our hopes! May that object so animate us that earth\rquote s heaviest afflictions\emdash the narrowest, most rugged, and most thorny portions of the narrow way\emdash may be welcome to us, as the path that leads us onward to the goal of our expectations, the home of our hearts, the Jesus whose presence makes it what it is, whose love made Him tread a narrower and a darker path than this, and whose smile of ineffable satisfaction shall crown the faith that has trusted Him, the love that has followed Him, and the patience of hope which has waited for Him, throughout this dreary Journey, along this narrow way, amid the darkness and solitude of this long and dismal night" (W. Trotter).\par \par \pard\cf1\fs23\par } LVAL;S{\rtf1\ansi\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\b\f0\fs24 The Redeemer's Return\par by Arthur Pink\par \b0\par \b The Fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return\par Chapter 3\par \b0\par "I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I am there ye may be also"\par \par John 14:3\par \par It has been pointed out by another that the New Testament is concerned mainly with the presentation of three great facts: first, that the Son of God has been to the earth but has gone away; second, that the Holy Spirit has come down to this earth and is still here; third, that the Son of God is coming back again to this earth. To quote\emdash "These are the three great subjects unfolded in the New Testament Scriptures; and we shall find that each of them has a double bearing: it has a bearing upon the world, and a bearing upon the church; upon the world as a whole, and upon each unconverted man, woman, and child in particular; upon the church as a whole, and upon each individual member thereof, in particular. It is impossible for any one to avoid the bearing of these three grand facts upon his own personal condition and future destiny" ("Papers on the Lord\rquote s Coming" by C. H. M.) A few words now on each of these facts.\par \par First; the Son of God has been to this earth but has gone away. Here is a fact marvelous in its nature and far-reaching in its effects. This world has been visited by its Creator. The very feet of the Lord of Glory have trod this earth on which we now dwell. From heaven\rquote s throne there descended the Only-begotten of the Father, and for upwards of thirty years tie tabernacled here among men. His appearing was not attended with regal pomp and outward splendor. His glory was veiled and His Divine prerogatives were laid aside. He who was in the form of God took upon Himself the form of a servant. He who thought it not robbery to be equal with God,LVALT was made in the likeness of men. He who had received the worship of angels was born in a manger. What an infinite stoop! What amazing condescension! What matchless grace! Were it not that we had grown so familiar with the recital of these things, were it not that our cold hearts had lost their sense of wonderment, we should be overwhelmed with adoring gratitude. Were it not that we were so occupied with the things of this world and our own interests we should prostrate ourselves before God in worship and cry, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing" (Rev. 5:12). Here then is the first great fact presented in the New Testament\emdash the Son of God came clown to this earth.\par \par How was He received? What welcome did He meet with? What effect did the coming of the "Mighty God" (Isa. 9:6) have upon the world? What effect would we suppose it to have had? Should we expect to learn that the birth of the God-man was hailed as the most wondrous and blessed event in all history? Should we expect to find the rulers of the earth casting their scepters at His feet? Should we expect to find Him an Object of universal worship? Such expectations would but betray our ignorance of the depths of human depravity. Of sinners it is written "They did not like to retain God in their knowledge" (Rom. 1:28). And why? Because "the carnal mind is enmity against God" (Rom. 8:7)\emdash such it was demonstrated to be when God was manifested in the flesh. "There was no room for them in the inn" (Luke 2:7) sums up the whole tragic story. The Christ of God was not wanted. His ineffable holiness condemned the vile wickedness of sinners. He came here to "heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised," but the world hated Him, "hated" Him "without a cause" (John 15:25). Men said, "This is the heir; come, let us kill him" (Mark 12:7), and no ordinary dLVALUeath would suffice and appease the hatred of their wicked hearts. He must die the death of a criminal, He must be crucified\emdash a form of punishment reserved for slaves who were guilty of the vilest crimes (Josephus). By wicked hands He was "crucified and slain" (Acts 2:20).\par \par "Where sin abounded grace did much more abound" (Rom. 5:20). Marvelous are the ways of God. He maketh even the "wrath of man" to praise Him (Ps. 76:10). Those wicked hands of men which nailed to the Cross the Lord of Glory, were but fulfilling, unknown to themselves, the eternal purposes of Jehovah. The Lord Jesus was "delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). These words bring before us the Divine side of that mysterious transaction. As He hung there on the Cross the Lord Jesus suffered not only at the hands of man, but He was also smitten by the hand of God (Isa. 58:4, 10) because it was then and there that He "bare our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). On the Cross, our blessed Savior who knew no sin was "made sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:21). It was because He hung there as the Sin-Bearer that Jehovah said, "Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My Fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered" (Zech. 13:7). Thus, the Death of Christ must be viewed from two great standpoints. From the side of the world His death was a deliberate, cold-blooded murder; from the side of God it was a satisfaction rendered unto His justice and holiness which had been outraged by sin. From the side of the world, the Cross was the climacteric display of its sin and guilt; from the Divine side it was God\rquote s provision to remove the sin and guilt of all who believe. From man\rquote s side, the world has yet to account to God for the death of His Son. Therefore it is that God has a "controversy" with the nations. My reader, you are living in a world over which hangs the judgment of God! And the day of His vengeance draws near. LVALVGod has yet to reckon with a world that is stained with the blood of His beloved Son and soon will His fearful wrath be poured out upon it. How rarely, in these days, is this side of the Cross pressed upon men\rquote s consciences and hearts. The Death of the Lamb of God secured our salvation, but it consummated the world\rquote s guilt. Christ is absent. Why? Because the world rejected Him. Yet, if the world disowned Him, the heavens received Him. If men despised Him, God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him the name which is above every name. We shall consider now, though, more briefly, the second great fact.\par \par God the Holy Spirit has come down to this earth and is still here. This, also, is an amazing and stupendous fact. God did not abandon the world to which in love He sent His Son, even though that love was requited by the crucifixion of the Holy One. How strictly just it would have been had God then and there entirely deserte this rebellious race of ours! He "spared not" the angels that sinned but "cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (2 Pet. 2:4), why then should He continue to deal in mercy with a race that had committed a crime which far surpassed in wickedness any sin of which the angels could have been guilty? Ah! God\rquote s ways are "past finding out." Where sin abounded grace did much more abound. The day of God\rquote s wrath was postponed. A world guilty of murdering God\rquote s beloved Son was granted a reprieve. In marvelous long-sufferance God gave the world an opportunity, a protracted opportunity, to repent and thus reap the benefits of the Death Divine.\par \par The Holy Spirit has come down to this earth. Here is an amazing fact of stupendous magnitude. There is a Divine person on earth today. He has been here, now, for eighteen centuries unseen, unknown, and unappreciated by the world, yet here, nevertheless. Like the absence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit has a double bearinLVALWg\emdash a bearing upon the world, and a bearing upon the Church. His relation to the world is a solemn and an awful one. The Holy Spirit is here to convict the world of its terrible crime in rejecting and crucifying the Son of God. This is clear from the language of John 16\emdash "When He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe not on Me. Of righteousness bemuse I go to My Father, and ye see Me no more; Of judgment because the prince of this world is judged" (vv. 8-11). These verses do not refer to the work of the Holy Spirit in individual sinners, but speaks of the consequences of His presence on earth toward the world. It is true that by His gracious operations the Holy Spirit brings sinners to repentance, but this is not the subject of the above verses: there, as we have said, we have set forth the relation of the Holy Spirit toward the "world" in general. The above quotation brings before us the significance of the Spirit\rquote s presence on earth rather than defines the character of His work. In the sense that He is now here, the Holy Spirit would not be present at all if the Lord Jesus had not been cast out by the world. The Holy Spirit is here to fill the place of an absent Christ. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the demonstration of the fact that Christ is absent. Therefore it is that His presence here "reproves the world," reproves the world "of the cause" of Christ\rquote s absence, reproves the "world" of its awful crime in putting to death the Lord of Glory. He reproves the world of "sin." Furthermore the presence here of the Holy Spirit reproves the world of "righteousness," of righteousness because Christ has gone to the Father and the world sees Him no more, nor will it see Him until He returns in judgment. The "righteousness" of which the Spirit reproves or convicts the world is the righteousness of God the Father in His exaltation to His own right hand of the One cast out by the world. Finally, the presence hLVALXere of the Holy Spirit convicts the world of "judgment" because Satan, the prince of this world, is already judged, though the sentence has not yet been executed. So much then for the world-ward bearing of the fact of the Holy Spirit\rquote s presence on earth.\par \par Like the fact of our Lord\rquote s rejection by the world, the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth also has a bearing upon the Church\emdash a blessed bearing. God has overruled the issues of this second great fact. Though the presence here of the Holy Spirit condemns the world, it involves infinite blessing for the Church. Churchward, the Holy Spirit is here to take the place of our absent Savior. He is here to "quicken" (John 8:6) as Christ quickened (John 5:21). He is here to "teach" (John 14:26) as Christ taught (Matthew 7-29). He is here to "comfort" (John 16:7) as Christ comforted (John 14:1). In short, the Holy Spirit is here to do for God\rquote s people what Christ would have done for them had He remained on the earth. The consequences, then, of the presence here of God the Holy Spirit are unspeakably solemn as regards the world, but infinitely precious as regards the saints.\par \par We are now prepared to consider the third great fact which is presented to our notice in the New Testament scriptures, that fact which forms the subject of this chapter\emdash the fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return. And\emdash\par \par 1. The Statement of this Fact.\par \par To state in the fewest possible words the broad fact itself\emdash the Lord Jesus is coming back again. As we have seen, He has gone away from this world. He ascended on high. But heaven is not to retain Him forever. Scripture declares that He is to vacate His Father\rquote s throne where He is now seated, that He will descend to the air and receive His people unto Himself, and, that subsequently, He will return to the earth to set up His Millennial Kingdom.\par \par The fact of our Lord\rquote s Return is set forth in the New Testament as clearly and as fully asLVALY either of the other two facts to which we have referred. The fact and truth of the second advent of Christ occupies a commanding position in the New Testament. In our Lord\rquote s tender farewell address to His disciples (John 14-16) the prospect and promise of His Return was the first subject to which He directed their attention (John 14:1-13). After He had left His disciples, yea, while in the very act of ascending, He sent two of His angels to tell them "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). In the first Epistle which the apostle Paul was inspired to write, namely, the "Thessalonian," he referred in every chapter to the Redeemer\rquote s Return. In his instructions to the Corinthians concerning their celebration of the Lord\rquote s Supper, he wrote, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord\rquote s death till He come" (1 Cor. 11:26). As we have already stated in another connection, the first promise that was given to fallen man was that the woman\rquote s Seed should come and bruise the Serpent\rquote s head\emdash a prophecy which will not receive its fulfillment until the time of the Lord\rquote s Return. The last recorded words of our blessed Savior, found in the closing chapter of the Bible, were "Surely I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20). Thus we see that at the beginning and also at the end of the Sacred Volume, the Blessed Hope is given prominence, while between these two utterances of God Himself are literally hundreds of verses which bear directly upon this precious theme. The same Book which tells us that our Lord came to this earth and went away; the same Book which tells us that God the Spirit is now present on the earth, also declares that the Lord Jesus is coming back again, and, as another has said, "If we admit one fact we must admit all: if we deny one, we must deny all; inasmuch as all rest upon precisely the same authority. They stand or fall together."\parLVALZ \par The fact of our Lord\rquote s\rquote Return is stated in the most positive, emphatic, and unequivocal language. "I will come again" (John 14:3). He did not say "I may come again," or "I intend to come again," but "I will come again." Moved by the Holy Spirit the apostle Paul wrote, "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven" etc. (1 Thess. 4:16). The apostle did not say "We shall go to the Lord," or "The Lord will send for us" but "The Lord Himself shall descend." The fact of our Lord\rquote s Return is not set forth in mysterious and obscure figures of speech, but is stated in language so plain and simple that he who runs may read and is expressed in terms of finality, beyond which there is no appeal. "For yet a little while and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (Heb. 10:37). And again, "Surely I come quickly ( Revelation 22:20).\par \par 2. The Interpretation of this Fact.\par \par This third great fact which is presented to our notice in the New Testament must be interpreted on precisely the same lines and by the same canons as the other two Facts, i. e., the Scriptures which set forth the Second Advent of Christ must be received just as we receive those statements which tell us of His first advent and of the descent to earth of the Holy Spirit. Those verses which treat of the Redeemer\rquote s Return must be taken at their face value: they must be received by faith just as they read: they must be understood literally. We press this point upon our readers because there have been many teachers who have sought to spiritualize the Scriptural references to our Lord\rquote s second coming and who have treated them as though their language must be regarded as figurative and symbolical. Just as the Lord Jesus came to the earth the first time in person so will lie come the second time. Our Redeemer is to return bodily and visibly. The language of Holy Writ gives as much reason for believing in a literal and personal return of Christ as it did for His First Advent. "Occupy tillLVAL[ I come." "If I will that he tarry till I come." "Ye do shew the Lord\rquote s death till He come" "Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven." These are representative passages, and no one reading them for the first time without theological bias would ever think that they meant anything else than a literal, personal Advent. And yet the plain language of the Word has been twisted and distorted and made to teach almost anything and everything other than its obvious signification. We shall not weary our readers by examining and refuting at length every forced and fanciful interpretation which has been indulged in by various commentators; such a task is unnecessary and would be unprofitable. Those theories which have gained the most adherents may be grouped into three classes.\par \par First; there, is a class of commentators who regard the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost as the fulfillment of Christ\rquote s promise to return. This view is based upon our Lord\rquote s Word in John 14 where, after declaring to His disciples that He would give them "Another Comforter" who would abide with them forever, He immediately added, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you" (vs. 18). But to regard me descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost as the accomplishment of Christ\rquote s promise "I will come again" is to confuse the Persons of the Holy Trinity. A sufficient refutation of this error is found in the fact that the Epistles which were all of them written alter Pentecost contain numerous references to and promises concerning the personal return of Christ.\par \par Second; another class of commentators regard the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman armies in A.D. 70 as the fulfillment of our Lord\rquote s promise to come back to the earth and, untenable as this theory is, strange to say, it has met with a very wide acceptation among Christian theologians. This theory is based upon a careless exposition of Matthew 24. AtLVAL\ the beginning of this chapter we learn that His disciples asked our Lord three questions: First, "Tell us, when shall these things be?" The "these things" look back to the previous verse where Christ had foretold the destruction of the temple. Second, "And what shall be the sign of Thy coming?" Third, "And of the end of the age?" Now in order to understand our Lord\rquote s complete answer to these three questions it is necessary to pay close attention to the parallel passages found in Mark 13 and Luke 21. A careful comparison of these chapters will make plain the different answers which our Lord returned to His disciples\rquote questions. In His answers tie made a clear distinction between the destruction of Jerusalem and His subsequent personal return, though we must remember that as "history repeats itself" some of the signs which heralded the approach of each event were common to both. When speaking of the former He said, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh" (Luke 21:20); but when referring to the latter He declared, "And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men\rquote s hearts failing them with fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory, And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh" (Luke 21:25-28). That the destruction of Jerusalem did not exhaust the predictions made by our Lord with reference to His own return is evident from the fact that in the book of Revelation\emdash written at least twenty years after the destruction of Jerusalem\emdash He promises, no less than six times, to "come again."\par \par Third; another class of commentators regard the death of the believer as the fulfillmentLVAL] of our Lord\rquote s promise to come back again and receive His own unto Himself. This error has already been refuted in an earlier chapter so that nothing further needs now to be said concerning it.\par \par In Acts 3:18 we have enunciated a principle which supplies a sure and certain key to prophetic interpretation\emdash "But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled." The important words here are "so fulfilled." How had the Old Testament prophecies concerning the "sufferings" of Christ been "fulfilled"? The answer is literally. And, in like manner, will be accomplished those unfulfilled prophecies which speak of the coming "glory" of Christ. Just as those predictions which made it known that Christ should be sold for "thirty pieces of silver," that His hands and His feet should be "pierced," that He should be given "vinegar, mingled with gall" to drink,\emdash just as these were fulfilled to the letter, so the Scriptures which declare that He shall descend from heaven with a shout," that "every eye shall see Him" when He comes back to earth, that He shall return in power and great glory and shall be accompanied by "ten thousands of His saints"\emdash just so shall these predictions be fulfilled to the very letter.\par \par 3. The twofold bearing of this Fact.\par \par We come now to a point concerning which it behooves believers, particularly young believers and beginners in the study of prophecy, to be quite clear upon. Like the other two great Facts which we have reviewed\emdash the First Advent of our Lord to this earth and His going away, and the presence now of the Holy Spirit upon this earth\emdash this third great fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return also has a double bearing, a bearing upon the Church and a bearing upon the world. The Second Coming of Christ will occur in two stages. Just as a man living in New York might take a railroad journey to California, and while enroute break his journey at ChiLVAL^cago, so Christ will break His journey from heaven to earth. He is now in heaven; He will return to the earth. His ultimate destination is the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4), but He first breaks His journey in the air (1 Thess. 4:16). It is highly important to the understanding of unfulfilled prophecy that these two stages in the Return of Christ should be clearly distinguished; failure to do so will inevitably result in the utmost confusion. There are not yet to be two Returnings of Christ, but one Return in two stages.\par \par The two stages in the Return of Christ are clearly distinguished in the New Testament. We now call attention to some of the leading differences between them. 1. The first stage will be in grace, the second will be in judgment. 2. The first stage will reach no farther than the air, the second will reach to the earth itself. 3. The first stage is when the Redeemer returns to catch up the saints unto Himself, the second is when He returns to the earth to rule it with a iron. 4. The first stage will be secret unseen by the world, the second will be public and seen by every eye. 5. The stage is Christ returning as "The Morning Star" (Rev. 22:16), the second is His appearing as "The Sun of Righteousness" (Mal. 4:2). 6. At the first stage He comes for His saints (John 14:3), at the second He returns with His saints (Jude 1:4), 7. The first stage, His secret coming for His saints, it not the subject of a single Old Testament prophecy, the second stage, when He returns to the earth, is referred to in numerous Old Testament predictions. 8. The first stage of Christ\rquote s Return will be followed by God\rquote s Judgments being poured forth on the earth, the second will be followed by God\rquote s blessings being poured upon the earth, and by the Holy Spirit being poured out upon all flesh. 9. The first stage will be followed by Satan coming down to this earth in great wrath (Rev. 12:9), the second will be followed by Satan being removed from the earth for a thousand years (Rev. 20:2,LVAL_ 3). 10. Between the present hour and the first stage of Christ\rquote s Return nothing intervenes, no prophecy needs first to be fulfilled, for our Lord may return at any moment; but before the second stage of Christ\rquote s Return can occur many prophecies must first be fulfilled. 11. Concerning the first stage of our Lord\rquote s Return we "wait for God\rquote s Son from heaven" (1 Thess. 1:10), whereas the second stage is distinguished as "the coming of the Son of Man." 12. The first stage was typified by the translation of Enoch to heaven (Heb. 11:5), the second was foreshadowed by Elijah who has yet to return to this earth to herald the judgments of the great and terrible day of the Lord (Mal. 4:5). 13. The first stage is our Lord\rquote s Coming as our Savior (Heb. 9:28), the second is His return to earth as King (Rev. 19:11, 16). 14. The first stage will be followed by the saints coming before the "judgment-seat" (Bema) of Christ to be judged according to their works and rewarded for their service (2 Cor. 5:10), the second will be followed by the "Throne of glory" upon which shall set the Son of Man who will judge the nations that are upon earth at the beginning of His millennial reign and apportion them their positions in His Kingdom (Matthew 25:31-46). Here then is the double bearing of the Fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return\emdash it respects first His own people and then the whole world.\par \par These two stages in the Redeemer\rquote s Return are in strict accord with the order of events which transpired at His First Advent. At the first coming of the Lord Jesus there was a secret or private manifestation of Himself, and subsequently a public revelation. The newly-born Savior was actually seen by very few. The shepherds in the field, the wise men from the East. Anna and Simeon in the temple saw the Redeemer in the days of His infancy, but Herod and Pilate, the scribes and the Pharisees\emdash the unbelieving civic and religious heads\emdash saw Him not! After His return from Egypt LVAL`on the death of Herod, He retired to Nazareth and it was not until an interval of nearly thirty years had passed that He was publicly manifested. Thus will it be at His second coming. First there will be the secret manifestation (in the air) unto His own people, and then after an interval of seven years or more He will be publicly revealed to the world.\par \par 4. The Fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return was typified in the lives of Joseph and Solomon.\par \par In the Old Testament there are numerous references to the Second Coming of Christ, references both direct and typical, but in every instance it was His return to the earth which was in view. The secret coming of Christ into the air, to catch up the saints to Himself, was an event quite unknown to the Old Testament prophets, an event kept secret until revealed by God to the apostle Paul who, when writing to the Corinthians upon this particular aspect of our subject, said, "Behold, I show you a mystery (In Scripture the word "mystery" signifies "a previously hidden truth, now Divinely revealed, but in which a supernatural element still remains despite the revelation." \emdash Scofield.); We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump! for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed" (1 Cor. 15:51, 52).\par \par Many of the Old Testament characters were remarkable types of Christ: In Adam we see Christ\rquote s headship; in Abel, Christ put to death by His own brethren according to the flesh; in Enoch, Christ\rquote s ascension to heaven; in Noah, Christ providing a "refuge" for His own; in Melchizedek, Christ\rquote s Kingship; in Abraham, Christ\rquote s Nazariteship; in Isaac, Christ the willing Sacrifice; in Jacob, Christ toiling for a "bride;" in Moses, Christ the faithful Servant; in Aaron, Christ the great High Priest; in Joshua, Christ conducting His people into their inheritance. And so we might continue right through thLVALae Old Testament.\par \par Foremost among the typical personages of the Old Testament is Joseph. In almost every detail of his life we see Christ typified. The son of his father\rquote s love, yet the object of his brethren\rquote s bitter, hatred. His very name meaning "adding" as Christ is adding to the inhabitants of Heaven by the seed which issues from His travail. Sent by his father to inquire after his brethren\rquote s welfare, he is despised and rejected by them. They plot against his life and sell him into the hands of strangers. While yet in his youth he was carried down into Egypt. In Egypt he entered into the degradation of slavery and rendered faithful service to his master. He was sorely tempted yet sinned not, but though innocent he was falsely accused and cast into prison. While in prison\emdash the place of shame\emdash he was associated with two others, one of whom\emdash the butler\emdash heard from his lips a message of cheer telling of his restoration to the king\rquote s favor, the other the baker\emdash receiving the sentence of death. So, when the Lord Jesus hung upon the Cross\emdash the place of shame\emdash two malefactors were crucified with Him one of whom heard from His lips a message of cheer telling of his restoration to God\rquote s favor, while the other died in his sins. Surely such perfect typification of Christ, such numerous points of analogy are not so many coincidences, but are a Divine delineation of the person and work of the Redeemer\emdash a picture drawn by the hand of the Holy Spirit Himself. If then the type is perfect, if the picture be complete, ought we not to look for something in it which foreshadowed our Lord\rquote s exaltation and coming glory? Assuredly. Nor do we look in vain\emdash The sequel to Joseph\rquote s humiliation clearly pointed forward to the Return of our Lord to this earth in power and majesty.\par \par Above, we followed the typical history of Joseph to the point where he, through no fault of his own, was sentenced to suffer thLVALbe shame of being cast into an Egyptian prison. But at this point of Joseph\rquote s life there was a dramatic change. Joseph\rquote s history did not terminate in shame and suffering but in power and glory. From the dungeon he was exalted to Egypt\rquote s throne! And, mark, his sovereignty was foretold years before he entered into the enjoyment of it. As a boy he dreamed of seeing the other sheaves all bowing down before his, which signified that his brethren would yet pay homage to him. So the prophetic Scriptures bear witness to the coining sovereignty of our Lord over this earth many centuries before He actually takes the scepter in His hands. After his elevation to the Throne of Egypt Joseph\rquote s sovereignty was publicly recognized and acknowledged, for all men were compelled to "bow the knee" before him (Gen. 41:48), and thus will it be with our Savior when He takes unto Himself His power and sits upon the Throne of His Glory. To complete the picture, we find that after Joseph\rquote s exaltation his brethren were reconciled to him, and then in wondrous grace they are given a land in which to dwell\emdash the land of Goshen, the best in all Egypt; so when Christ returns to earth His brethren according to the flesh\emdash Israel\emdash shall be reconciled to Him and receive from Him the land of Palestine in which to dwell throughout His beneficent reign. Thus, as Joseph was exalted to power and glory after the period of his humiliation was ended, so shall our blessed Redeemer yet return to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.\par \par In the glorious reign of Solomon which followed the checkered career of David we have another striking type of the position which the Redeemer shall occupy during the Millennium. This is one of the composite types of Scripture. There are a number such where two or more objects or persons were necessary in order to give a complete picture. For example: in the great Levitical offerings (Lev. 1-6) we find five\emdash the Burnt, the Meal, the Peace, LVALcthe Sin, and the Trespass offerings\emdash were required to give a complete foreshadowing of the person and work of the Redeemer. In the Tabernacle, no less than seven pieces of furniture in addition to its structure and materials, were needed to set forth fully the varied glories of Christ. So it was with reference to living persons. Enoch and Noah, Moses and Aaron, Elijah and Elisha supplemented each other in their typical characteristics. Thus it was with David and Solomon\emdash the latter was the complement of the former and the two must be studied together in order to secure a complete picture David was a type of Christ in His humiliation, Solomon foreshadowed Christ in His glorification. David pointed to Christ at His First Advent, Solomon looked forward to Christ at His Second Advent.\par \par In many particulars David typified the humiliation of his "greater son." He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. He is described as "of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon," thus reminding us of Him who "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man," and who to the believer is the Fairest among ten thousand and the altogether Lovely One. By occupation he was a "shepherd," and during his shepherd life he repeatedly entered into conflict with wild beasts. He was pre-eminently a man of prayer and is the only one in all Scripture termed a "man after God\rquote s own heart." He was the tree who slew Goliath\emdash the opposer of God\rquote s people and type of Satan, foreshadowing the conflict between the Serpent and the woman\rquote s Seed who, by His death, delivered God\rquote s people from the toils of their great Enemy. When his arch-enemy Saul was in his power he acted in great mercy by sparing his life, just as in Gethsemane our blessed Lord refused to summon the angels to destroy His foes and as on the Cross lie prayed for the forgiveness of His murderers. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, suffering chiefly from those of His own household.\par \par After LVALdDavid came Solomon who foreshadowed the glory and the millennial reign of Christ. The word "Solomon" means "Peaceable" and thus his name suggests the Kingdom of Christ over which He shall rule as the "Prince of Peace." He was "anointed" some time before he was crowned: so the Lord Jesus was "anointed with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 10:38) at His baptism but is yet awaiting the day of His coronation. Gentiles took part in the crowning of Solomon (1 Kings 1:38, 39). typifying the universal homage which Christ shall receive during the Millennium. At the time of his coronation, Solomon was followed by an army of soldiers (the Cherethites and the Pelethites) (1 Kings 1:38), just as our returning King shall be accompanied by "the armies in heaven" (Rev. 19:14). Solomon was not only King of Israel but, like the One he foreshadowed, he was King of Kings (see 1 Kings 4:21, 24). During his reign "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon" (1 Kings 4:25): so it will be with Israel again during the Millennium (see Jeremiah 23:6). Solomon was the builder of Israel\rquote s Temple, so also we read of Christ that He will "return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down" (Acts 15:16); and again, "Behold the Man whose name is the Branch; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the temple of the Lord" (Zech. 6:12). At the dedication of the Temple, Solomon was the one who offered up the sacrifices to God (1 Kings 8:36), thus foreshadowing the One who shall be "a priest upon His throne" (Zech. 6:18). Solomon\rquote s fame spread abroad far and wide so that "all the earth sought to Solomon" (1 Kings 10:23) and came up to Jerusalem to pay him homage, and thus will it be with David\rquote s "son" and Lord\emdash "It shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts" (Zech. 14:LVALe16). During Solomon\rquote s reign, for the first and last time until the Millennium, all Palestine rested in peace. The glory and majesty of Solomon\rquote s reign has never been equaled before or since\emdash "King Solomon exceeded all the Kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom" (1 Kings 10:28); "And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any King before him in Israel" (1 Chron. 29:25). Thus we see that the peaceful, international, and glorious reign of Solomon, following the death of David, typified the millennial reign of the Redeemer.\par \par 5. The Fact of the Redeemers Return was foreshadowed in the Ritual on the annual day of Israel\rquote s Atonement.\par \par The order of events on the Day of Atonement are described in Leviticus 16, a chapter which is exceedingly rich in its typical signification. The Day of Atonement had to do with the putting away of Israel\rquote s sins, therefore, its dispensational application refers mainly to Israel though, as we shall see, the Church was also typically represented. We shall not now attempt anything more than a bare outline of the happenings of that most memorable, day on Israel\rquote s sacred calendar. The order of its ritual was as follows:\par \par First, Aaron washed in water and then attired himself in the holy linen garments. It is to be noted that Aaron was provided with two sets of garments\emdash those which were "for glory and for beauty" (Ex. 28:2), and the plain linen garments which were used when he offered sacrifice to God: the change from the latter into the former is referred to in Leviticus 16:23, 24, it was the plain, linen garments which were worn by the high priest on the Day of Atonement, because, clad thus in robes of spotless white he prefigured the sinlessness of the One who came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.\par \par Second, Aaron offered "a bullock of the sin-offering" to "make an atonement for himself and forLVALf his house" (vs. 6). Our Great High Priest was without sin, He "knew no sin," yet He became so identified with His people that God "made Him to be sin for us" (2 Cor. 5:20), hence in the type Aaron makes atonement not only for his "house" but for "himself" as well. But observe particularly "and for his house." That is where the Church is seen, the Church which by Peter is termed "a spiritual house, a holy priesthood" (1 Pet. 2:5 \emdash cf. Hebrews 8:6).\par \par Third, Aaron took two goats and presented them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle where he cast lots upon them "one lot for the Lord, and the other lot for the scapegoat" (vv. 7,8). The two goats bring before us the two great sides of Christ\rquote s cross-work, namely, the Divine and the human. The death of the Lord Jesus not only provided a salvation for lost sinners but it also vindicated and glorified God Himself. On the Cross Christ met the claims of God\rquote s justice, satisfied the demands of His holiness, vindicated His governmental rights and publicly exemplified His righteousness. "One lot for the Lord" then, is what God obtained in the death of His beloved Son.\par \par Fourth, the goat of the sin-offering was killed and its blood brought within the veil and sprinkled both upon and before the mercy-seat (vs. 15). The mercy-seat was God\rquote s "throne" in Israel. Observe that the blood was sprinkled but once upon the mercy-seat and seven times before it (vv. 14,15). Once was sufficient to meet all the claims of God, for that which the blood of the goat typified\emdash the "precious blood" of Christ\emdash was of infinite value in the sight of heaven, but seven times it needed to be sprinkled to meet our deep, deep need in order to provide tot us a perfect standing ground before God!\par \par Fifth, after making atonement for the holy place and the altar\emdash showing there is that, even in our communion with and worship of God, which needs cleansing\emdash Aaron laid both his hands on the head of the second, liLVALgve goat, and confessed over him "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, and putting them upon the head of the goat" and sending him away into the wilderness, into "a land not inhabited" (vv. 21, 22). Just as the first goat represented the great troth of propitiation, the Divine side of Christ\rquote s cross-work, the satisfying and glorifying of God, so this second goat represented the other great truth of substitution, the manward side of Christ\rquote s cross-work, the acting of the Lord Jesus as the Surety of His people and bearing away their sins "as far as the east is from the west." The laying on of the priest\rquote s lands upon the head of the innocent goat signified an act of identification, the counterpart of which now enables us to say by faith "I was crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20\emdash Greek). The confession of Israel\rquote s iniquities over its head, intimated the transference of guilt, pointing forward, as it did, to Christ bearing "our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Pet. 2:24). The thrice repeated "all" evidenced the completeness of the atonement there made, and thus it was with the Antitype "who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity" (Titus 2:14). The sending away of the goat bearing Israel\rquote s sins into "a land not inhabited," typified the complete removal of sin; and blessed be God our sins have all been completely taken away so that it is written "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1).\par \par Sixth, after atonement had been effected, the high priest came out of the Holy of Holies, attired himself in his robes of beauty and glory and returned to the waiting Congregation in the outer court (vv. 23, 24). It is in this last act of Aaron that we arrive at the point which is specially germane to our present study. The Antitype, our great High Priest, has already made atonement and has passed through the veil into the Holy of Holies on high \lqLVALhuote now to appear in the presence of God for us," but soon He shall divest Himself of the sacrificial garments and attired in robes of glory and beauty He shall come forth to His waiting people whose sins and iniquities shall be remembered "no more for ever." It is to this coming forth of our High Priest that Hebrews 9:28 (speaking in the very language of the above type) refers\emdash "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 (our sins gone) unto salvation." Thus we see that the Ritual of Israel\rquote s annual Day of Atonement foreshadowed not only the cross-work of Christ and His present session at God\rquote s right hand but that it also typified and looked forward to His return in glory.\par \par 6. The fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return is illustrated in the Gospel narratives.\par \par We refer now to the incident of Christ walking over the water to the aid of His storm-tossed disciples, the dispensational significance of which has already been pointed out by several writers. Immediately after our Lord had fed the five thousand, He retired into a mountain while His disciples went down unto the sea, and entering into a ship, they essayed to journey to Capernaum. But as they rowed "the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew." It was dark, and Jesus was not come to them, and all the progress they had made after hours of hard rowing was "twenty-five or thirty furlongs." Then it was that Jesus drew nigh, and with a gracious "It is I; be not afraid" He stilled their fears. The statement that follows is a remarkable one\emdash "Then they willingly received Him into the ship: and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went" (John 6:15-21). At the risk of being considered "fanciful" we shall attempt to expound the typical and dispensational bearings of the above incident.\par \par Christ on the mount, praying, points to His present position on high where He is interceding for us at the right LVALihand of God. The restless, tossing sea, aptly figures the world\rquote s unrest in its opposition to God. The ship in the midst of the sea represents the Church which is in the world but not of it. The storm beating down upon the ship caused by the "great wind" that blew, prefigures the attacks and assaults upon the Church by the "Prince of the power of the air," seeking to destroy it during the time of Christ\rquote s absence. The rowing of the disciples and their failure to make headway against the storm, shows the powerlessness of the Church to improve the world as such. Nineteen centuries of Gospel preaching and Christian witnessing have failed to effect any real change in the world at large. The unrest of the world still continues, its hostility while not so open is yet just as real, and Christ is "hated" as bitterly as ever. The Church may pull at its oars, but it cannot still the sea\emdash the storm will not be hushed until the Lord Jesus appears! All that the disciples could do was to keep the ship from sinking, and in that they were successful. There again our type is perfect. The world may be hostile to the Church and Satan may fling his angry winds and waves against it, but as its Founder declared, His church is built upon the Rock and "the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it," and blessed be God they have not. After almost two thousand years of human and Satanic opposition, after every conceivable weapon has been employed to encompass its destruction, Christ\rquote s Church still survives. And in the midst of the storm; at the darkest hour, in the fourth watch, Christ came to the deliverance of His disciples. So it will be at His Second Advent: He will come back to and for the Church which He ransomed with His own blood. He came to His disciples and, be it noted, He appeared not with a word of reproach but with a message of cheer\emdash "It is I; be not afraid." Thus will it be at the Redeemer\rquote s Return: He will descend from heaven with a shout of welcome, bringing joy and gLVALjladness to the hearts of His own. Observe the blessed sequel\emdash "and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went." The typical meaning of this is obvious: when our Lord comes back again the Church\rquote s conflicts will be over, its journey is then completed, its voyage ended, its destined harbor is safely reached. "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."\par \par "For the coming of the Bridegroom,\par Whom, the\rquote yet unseen, we love;\par For the King of saints returning\par In His glory from above;\par \par For the shout that shakes the prison,\par For the trumpet loud and clear,\par For the voice of the archangel,\par The Church is waiting here.\par \par For the light beyond the darkness,\par When the reign of sin is done;\par When the storm has ceased its raging,\par And the haven has been won;\par \par For the joy beyond the sorrow,\par Joy of the eternal year,\par For the resurrection splendor,\par We are waiting, waiting here."\par \par 7. The Fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return had a spectacular setting forth on the Mount of Transfiguration.\par \par The Transfiguration of Christ is perhaps as familiar as any of the leading events recorded in the four Gospels, yet is it less understood than the other great crises in His blessed life. The purpose and meaning of the Transfiguration is defined in the closing verse of Matthew 16\emdash "Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." This is the verse which has puzzled many Bible readers, yet its meaning is simple if we pay heed to its exact wording. Observe that Christ did not here say, "There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till the Son of man come in His Kingdom." but "until they see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." The word "See" furnishes the key to the above declaration. Observe further, that our Lord said to the disciples, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till theyLVALk see the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom."\par \par The above verse is the closing one of Matthew 16 and it is exceedingly unfortunate that a chapter division has been made to immediately follow it and thus obscure its real meaning to many readers. What follows in the next chapter is the fulfillment of Christ\rquote s promise to the disciples as is clear from its opening statement\emdash "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them"\emdash the "And" connecting Matthew 17 with chapter 16, the "after six days" dating from the promise given the disciples, and the "some" finding its fulfillment in "Peter, James, and John." Here then is the key to the significance of the Transfiguration scene\emdash it was the disciples, seeing "the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom:" it was a pattern and sample of the glory in which our Lord shall return to the Mount of Olives; it was a visible representation, a spectacular setting forth of each of the leading elements which shall be found in Christ\rquote s Millennial Kingdom. To particularize.\par \par "And after six days"\emdash "about an eight days after" (Luke). Every detail in the description of this remarkable event is worthy of our closest study. A careless and flippant reader might ask, "Why are we told that our Lord was transfigured just six days after He had given His promise to the disciples?\emdash What does it matter to us whether it was six or sixteen days?" But the reverent student of Holy Scripture has learnt that everything in God\rquote s Word has a meaning and value. "Six days after," then it was a seventh-day scene, a Sabbatical scene, in a word\emdash a Millennial scene. Some students will differ from us upon this point, but we record it as our belief that the above words furnish Scriptural verification of a view which was commonly held by the ancients, by the Rabbis and by the Church "Fathers," namely, that in line with the statement found iLVALln 2 Peter 8:8\emdash "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years"\emdash the seven days of Genesis one are to be regarded as a definition of the duration of earth\rquote s history, i. e., six thousand years of toil and labor followed by a thousand years of rest and peace, the Sabbath-day thus pointing forward to the Millennium.\par \par "And His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light" (Matthew 17:2). With this statement should be compared Peter\rquote s inspired commentary\emdash "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we make known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent Glory (i. e., the Shekinah Glory), This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this Voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount" (2 Pet. 1:16-18). During the days of Christ\rquote s humiliation when He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, we are told, "His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isa. 52:14), but here on the Mount of Transfiguration "His face did shine as the sun." The disciples were favored with a glimpse of Christ in His resurrection glory! It is thus He now appears in Heaven as is evident from the blinding effects of Christ\rquote s glory as manifested to Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road. And it is thus He will appear when He shall return to this earth, arising as "The Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:2).\par \par "And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him" (vs. 3). From the fact that Moses (representative of the Law) and Elijah (standing for the Prophets) were with Christ at this time we may learn that the Old Testament saints shall have their part and place with Christ in His Millennial Kingdom. There is also another fact revealed here\emdash precioLVALmus thought!\emdash when our Lord returns to the earth He will be accompanied by two classes of saints here represented by Moses and Elijah namely, those who have passed through death and those who have been "changed" and raptured to heaven without seeing death. The three disciples\emdash Peter, James, and John\emdash may be regarded as representatives of the Church, not, of course, the Church in its Divine unity, but in individual capacity.\par \par "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" (vs. 5). The mention of the "bright cloud" here is deeply significant, the more so as it was out of it that the Voice of God was heard speaking. This was the "Cloud" which had been withdrawn from Israel centuries before but which now suddenly appeared again. This was the "Cloud" in which Jehovah appeared of old\emdash the Cloud of the Shekinah glory. It was the "Cloud" which filled the Tabernacle\emdash "Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the Glory of the Lord filled the Tabernacle" (Ex. 40:34). This was the "Cloud" which guided Israel throughout their wilderness wanderings\emdash "And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went forward in all their journeys: but if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up" (Ex. 40:36, 37). This was the "Cloud" in which Jehovah appeared in the Holy of Holies upon the mercy-seat (Lev. 16:2). This was the "Cloud" which, filled the Temple of Solomon (1 Kings 8:10). Little wonder then that the disciples "fell on their faces and were sore afraid" (vs. 7)! The appearing of the Shekinah "Cloud" on the mount of transfiguration was the intimation that it shall be visible to Israel again in the Millennial Kingdom. That it will be is further evident from the prophecy of Isaiah 4:5\emdash "And the Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and LVALnupon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for above all the glory shall be a defense"\emdash the context here, shows that this has reference to the Millennium. See further Ezekiel 43.\par \par "And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only" (vs. 8). This touch to the picture is a very beautiful one. It tells us that in the Millennium our blessed Lord shall be exalted high above all, that He shall occupy the position of pre-eminency, that all human glories shall pale and disappear before His. As it is written, "And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isa. 2:17).\par \par The hour when the Transfiguration occurred is significant. From Luke\rquote s account we gather that it happened at night, for we read, "But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep\rquote\rquote (Luke 9:82). Thus will it be at the close of the long, dark night of Israel\rquote s dispersion\emdash they shall look up and behold their Messiah returning in power and glory, accompanied by ten thousands of His saints who shall be on such terms of holy familiarity with Him (compare "Moses and Elijah talking with Him") that the world shall marvel at that wondrous grace which made them "joint-heirs with Christ."\par \par The Transfiguration also revealed the blessedness of that time when Christ shall set up His millennial Kingdom. "Lord, it is good for us to be here" (vs. 4) was the exclamation that fell from the lips of the astonished Peter. Thus will it be in the Millennium. "Lord, it is good for us to be here" will well express the contentment and the joy of those who will be upon earth in those days. O! what a time that will be. Satan removed, the Antichrist destroyed, and all that opposes the Gospel swept from the face of the earth. Israel penitent and restored, the heathen nations then completely evangelized, and creation itself delivered frLVALoom its bondage of corruption. The saints "with Christ," wearing their glorified bodies and participating in His reign over an earth full of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Christ Himself on the throne, the Holy Spirit poured out upon all flesh, and outwardly, God\rquote s will done upon the earth, as it is in heaven. Yes, then indeed, shall it be said, "Lord, it is good to be here."\par \par Striking indeed was the vision vouchsafed to the three favored disciples. Remarkably full was that manifestation of the glory of Messiah\rquote s coming Kingdom. But the sequel to the Transfiguration was equally wonderful in its typical signification, and was needed to complete this spectacular setting forth of the Redeemer\rquote s Return to the earth.\par \par "And when they were come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him, and saying, Lord have mercy on my son: for he is a lunatic, and sore vexed: for oftentimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. "And Jesus rebuked the demon: and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour" (vv. 14, 15, 18). What a sight was this which confronted our Lord and His disciples as they came down from the "holy mount"! What a picture of Israel in particular and of the world in general! Thus will it be at the time of our Lord\rquote s Return to this earth. The first thing which the Savior did after He had given the disciples a vision of His glory in the coming Kingdom, was to cast out a demon; and the first thing He will do when He returns to the earth, will be to cast out the Devil and secure him for a thousand years in the Bottomless Pit (Rev. 20:2, 3). God hasten that blessed day!\par \par Thus we see that the Fact of the Redeemer\rquote s Return not only occupies a prominent position in the didactic instruction of the Church Epistles, but that it was also the subject of Old Testament prophecy and typology, was pictorially illustrated in the miracles recorded in the Gospels, and received a spectacLVALular setting forth in the wonderful scene which was enacted upon the Mount of Transfiguration.\par \par \pard\cf1\fs23\par } LVAL;q{\rtf1\ansi\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\sl240\slmult1\lang2058\b\f0\fs24 The Redeemer's Return\par by Arthur Pink\par \b0\par \b The Time of the Redeemer\rquote s Return\par Chapter 4\par \b0\par "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory"\par \par Matthew 24:29, 30\par \par Having shown the Necessity of Christ\rquote s Return, having dwelt upon the Hope of His appearing, having pondered some of the bearings and types of the Fact of His Advent, we are now ready to discuss the Time of His Return and to consider the question\emdash When is our Lord coming back again? By the "Time" of the Redeemer\rquote s Return we do not mean the date, but the position which this great event occupies in God\rquote s dispensational program. Concerning this phase of our subject there is wide difference of opinion. Two positions have been taken and the advocates of each appeal to the Scriptures in support of their conflicting views. These two positions are known as Pre-millennialism and Post-millennialism. The word "millennium" means a thousand years, and "pre" means before and "post" means after. One school of theologians believe and teach that the Lord Jesus will return before the Millennium, another school insists that He will not come back again until the close of the Millennium, in fact not until the end of the world, the end of time itself. As the point at issue between these schools is of great importance and as this book may fall into the hands of a number of people who are bewildered by this contradictory testimony and who are anxious to know whLVALrat the Scriptures really say upon the matter, we have decided to devote a separate chapter to the examination of the question\emdash Will Christ return before or after the Millennium?\par \par When is our Lord coming back again? In seeking a satisfactory and authoritative answer to this question our first need is a candid mind, an unprejudiced heart, a teachable spirit. It is impossible for us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord while we cling to our own pre-conceptions. The initial requirement in every student of Holy Scriptures is that he shall bow to the authority of the Word and submissively receive at its face value all that God has revealed. We need to approach the Sacred Volume in the attitude of learners, willing to have our own ideas of Truth corrected, and prepared to have our beliefs formed and molded by the teaching of Holy Writ. Such an assertion may perhaps appear a platitude, yet we are fully assured that it is a timely reminder. One of the main hindrances which prevents many of God\rquote s children apprehending Divine truth is that they read the Bible through the eyes of others; they read it with opinions already firmly formed, they read it with prejudicial interest. This is largely true with reference to the subject of our present inquiry. People have been taught by some "Doctor of Divinity," or Seminary professor that the world is growing better, that the Gospel will eventually win all men to Christ, and that the Millennium is to be ushered in by the efforts of the church. It is difficult for those who have been taught thus to set aside the effects of such teaching and come to the study of the Bible to find out exactly what it says concerning these things. Yet we must do so if we would learn God\rquote s mind on the matter. It is "What saith the Scriptures?" not What does our church teach? not What does our Creed or Catechism say? not what did my godly parents tell me? but\emdash What saith the Scriptures? We repeat, in seeking an answer to the question\emdash When wLVALsill our Lord return? Before or after the Millennium? we need to approach the Bible with an open mind, willing to be instructed by the One who inspired it, and coming to it in the spirit of the child Samuel saying, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth."\par \par What is the Time of our Lord\rquote s Return? As stated above, two general answers are returned to this question. One class of theologians argue that our Lord will not come back again until after the Millennium; another class declare that He will return before the Millennium. In order to be fair to each of these schools we will first give a brief description of their respective positions.\par \par I. Post and Pre-Millennialism defined.\par \par 1. The position of Post-millennialism.\par \par Post-millennialists teach that the great purpose of the Divine incarnation was that the Lord Jesus through His death and resurrection should found and establish a spiritual Kingdom. They tell us that the Jews who expected their Messiah to set up a material and visible Kingdom on the earth were mistaken. They insist that the only Kingdom Christ has or will ever have is an unseen, spiritual and heavenly Kingdom, the subjects of which are the members of His Church, in whose hearts Christ now rules. They declare that the Redeemer is even now reigning, reigning as King over this earth and that He will continue thus to reign, unseen, until He has overcome all enmity and opposition and won His very enemies unto Himself. The instrument by which He is to achieve this glorious victory is the church, and the Church, we are told, is here to civilize as well as evangelize the earth. Post-millennialists teach that while the Church is an institution and organization separate from the State, yet it is interested in the welfare of the State and that it is the duty of Christ\rquote s followers to take part in polities and see to it that the best men securable are elected to office and that they must be encouraged to frame and enforce laws which make for civil righteLVALtousness.\par \par In present-day conditions post-millenarians see the fulfilling of their hopes and the promise of a speedy success crowning their efforts. They regard the multiplication of educational advantages, \lquote the discoveries and inventions of modern science, the improvements in hygenic and sanitary conditions, the growing demand for nation-wide prohibition, the increasing number of hospitals and agencies to relieve suffering, the modern trend toward inter-denominationalism and religious, unionism, as so many heralds of the near approach of the Millennium. They believe that the utilization and perfecting of such agencies will usher in the Golden Age, an age of world peace and prosperity, an age when all will know the Lord from the least to the greatest. It is not until the close of this Millennium that they look for Christ to return: then it is they expect Him to come back and \lquote wind up\rquote all things, judge the human race and settle the eternal destiny of every individual of it. Post-millenarians believe in a general resurrection and a general judgment at the end of time. Such in brief and in general is the position and belief held by post-millennialists. We turn now to\par \par 2. The position of Pre-millennialism.\par \par At every point the teaching of pre-millenarians is diametrically opposed to that of the post-millennialists. Pre-millenarians regard the Jewish expectation of a literal, visible, material Kingdom as being set up in the earth by their Messiah as a hope authorized by the Word of God because clearly revealed and expressly foretold by the Old Testament prophets. They believe this Messianic Kingdom is now in abeyance but will yet be established. They do not hold that Christ is now reigning as King, on the contrary, they look upon Him as at present exercising His high-priesthood, and they do not expect Him to enter into the office of His Kingship until He returns to the earth and sits upon the throne of His father David.\par \par Pre-millennialists do not LVALubelieve that it is the mission of the Church to civilize the world, but instead, they are deeply impressed that the great duty and business of the Church is to evangelize the nations. While recognizing that civilization is a byproduct of evangelism, yet they insist that their marching orders are contained in Christ\rquote s mandate\emdash Go, preach the Gospel to every creature. Believing this, and realizing that a full obedience to their Lord\rquote s command will require all their strength, time and talents, they (or, at least, an increasing number of them) look upon politics, social-reform movements, humanitarian efforts, etc. as outside of their own jurisdiction, as something which is an integral part of that world from which their Master was cast out, the "friendship" of which is expressly declared to be "Enmity with God" (James 4:4). While they rest with unshaken confidence upon the Divine promise that God\rquote s Word shall not return unto Him void but that it shall accomplish that which He pleases and prosper in the thing whereto He sends it, and while they go forth preaching the Gospel in the assurance that the Holy Spirit will use and bless it to the conversion of many of those that hear it, yet pre-millennialists can find no promise anywhere in the New Testament that the world as a whole shall improve during the time of Christ\rquote s absence from it; on the contrary, they read that "In the last days perilous times shall come" and that "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse" (2 Tim. 3:1, 13).\par \par Pre-millennialists do not believe there can be any Millennium until Christ returns to the earth, takes its government upon His shoulder and reigns in power over it. They do not believe that there can be any real improvement in moral and spiritual conditions down here while Satan is free, and realizing the utter impotency of man to cope with his powerful Enemy they recognize that the only hope for this poor world is the Second Advent of Christ to it and His removal of Satan from iLVALvt. They believe that before this can happen Christ will first come for His Church and instead of interposing a thousand years between the present and this blessed event, they are looking for Him to return at any moment. Such in brief and in general is the belief and position of pre-millennialism.\par \par Now it is very evident that both of these positions cannot be sound and tenable, that one of them must be false and unscriptural. Post-millennialism and pre-millennialism cannot both be right, one of them is most certainly wrong. Which of them is in error? Again we would urge upon our readers the need of drawing near to God and praying Him for a teachable spirit and asking Him to enable them to approach the examination of this issue with an unprejudiced mind and an open heart.\par \par II. Post and Pre-Millennialism Examined\par \par 1. An examination of Post-millennialism.\par \par Post-millennialists teach that the only Kingdom over which Christ will ever reign is a spiritual and celestial one. They say that those Jews who expected their Messiah to set up a visible and material Kingdom on the earth are mistaken, that they erred in the interpretation of their prophetic Scriptures and cherished a carnal and unworthy hope. Let us examine this assertion in the light of God\rquote s Word. In Psalm 132:11 we read: "The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn from it: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne."\par \par This was one of many Messianic prophecies scattered throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. it is a prophecy which has never yet been fulfilled. When our Lord Jesus was here upon earth He did not sit upon any "throne," instead of occupying a Throne He was nailed to a cross. True, He is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, but this is not the fulfillment of what Jehovah "swore in truth." David never occupied a heavenly throne; his throne was an earthly one, he reigned in Jerusalem; and God has declared that the Lord Jesus shall sit upon DavLVALwid\rquote s throne. This Old Testament prophecy was confirmed in New Testament times. In Luke one we learn that an angel appeared unto Mary and said, "Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the "Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:30-33).\par \par The above is not a single prophecy but a compound one. It is made up of five separate items. Mary, the "virgin," was to conceive and bring forth a son; her son\rquote s name was to be called "Jesus"; Jesus was to become great and recognized as the Son of God; the Lord promised to give unto Him the "throne of David," and over the "House of Jacob" He was to reign forever. Utterly unlikely as it appeared to human wisdom at the time, part of this prophecy has already been fulfilled\emdash literally fulfilled. There was a literal birth, Mary\rquote s son was literally named "Jesus," and a literal "greatness" has become His portion; by what sleight of hand then can the exegetical knife be run through this prophecy and a literal "Throne of David" and a literal reign over the "House of Jacob" be denied?\par \par Post-millennialists teach that Christ is reigning as King today and that He will continue to reign thus, unseen, until He has subdued and won all His enemies. But the first part of this assertion is altogether lacking in scriptural authority. Nowhere in the New Testament are we told that Christ has already begun His Kingly reign, and nowhere in the Epistles is He denominated the "King of the Church." It is true that Christ is now seated upon a "throne," but not upon His own Throne. Christ is seated on the Throne of His Father, but His own Throne and the Father\rquote s Throne are clearly distinguished in Scripture \emdash "To him that overcometh will ILVALx grant to sit with Me in My Throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His Throne" (Rev. 3:21).It is not until after He has vacated His Father\rquote s throne and returns to this earth that He will occupy His own throne as is clear from Matthew 25:31 \emdash "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."\par \par Post-millennialists teach that the world is to be conquered by the Church. Their favorite slogan is "The world for Christ." It is supposed that in order to capture the world the Church must make concessions to and compromises with the world. Post-millennialists insist that it is the bounden duty of all Christians to help forward every movement which makes for civic and social righteousness. But of such it may be said, yea, it has been said by the Holy Spirit Himself \emdash "For they being ignorant of God\rquote s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God" (Rom. 10:3). The New Testament knows no righteousness apart from the Cross and places no value upon a reformation which is divorced from regeneration. Post-millennialists argue that believers ought to take part in politics and that it is their business to look after the regulation of legislation. But politics give Christ no place and where Christ has no place His followers must have none. The Lord Jesus has left us an example that we should follow His steps, but we search the records of His earthly life in vain to discover any mention of Him taking any part in the politics of Palestine in His day.\par \par Post-millennialists teach that the Gospel is yet to convert the world and that before Christ returns to earth all men will know Him from the least unto the greatest. A captivating concept surely, but upon what is it based? Certainly not upon the declarations of the New Testament. We are commanded to preach the Gospel to every creature, but nowheLVALyre is there a promise that the time will come when every creature will believe the Gospel. The Lord Jesus taught that "As the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:37). What were the conditions in Noah\rquote s days? Did all men then receive the messages of God\rquote s servants? Nay verily: On another occasion Christ said, "Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be when the Son of Man is revealed" (Luke 17:28-30)\emdash do these words present the picture of our Lord returning to a world which has been won by the Gospel? Nay verily. Our Lord very plainly intimated that He did not expect to return to a world where Christianity had universally triumphed: "When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).\par \par Post-millennialists teach that our Lord will not return until the close of the Millennium and that then there will be a general resurrection of the dead, followed by a general judgment, at which every member of the human race will stand before the great Judge to have his eternal destiny decided. Such a conception is anti-scriptural in every part of it. In the nineteenth chapter Of Revelation we see heaven opened and the Lord Jesus coming forth seated on a white horse and with Him are the "armies which are in heaven." Accompanied by His saints the King of kings and Lord of lords returns to this earth as is evident from the next verse for there we are told that He shall "smite the nations and rule them with a rod of iron." In Revelation 19 Christ is seen making a footstool of His enemies preparatory to the inauguration of His reign of blessing, and in the next chapter we read, "And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, thatLVALz old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled" (Rev. 20:1-3). In the verses that follow we are told that those who have part in the first resurrection shall reign with Christ throughout the thousand years. Thus we learn that Christ leaves heaven and returns to the earth before the Millennium commences. The concept of a general resurrection and a general judgment is equally unscriptural as we shall show later.\par \par 2. An examination of Pre-millennialism.\par \par Pre-millennialists, as their name indicates, are looking for their Redeemer to return before the Millennium begins, looking for Him to introduce and usher in the Millennium itself. To them a Millennium without Christ is unthinkable. From their cradles they have been taught to pray, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven," and they cannot conceive of a Kingdom without a King. The Millennium is the time when men\rquote s desire for a Golden Age will be realized, but that Golden Age cannot dawn until the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings. The Millennium is the time when the sword shall be made into a ploughshare and the spear into a pruning-hook, when for a thousand years there shall be no war, but earth-wide peace will only be made possible by the return and personal presence of the Prince of Peace.\par \par Pre-millennialists believe that in the Millennium Christ will set up on the earth a visible, material Kingdom, that He will occupy the literal throne of David and reign from Jerusalem as the King of the Jews. They base their belief upon many plain declarations in Scripture to that effect. Isaiah predicted it\emdash "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the Kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gatLVAL{hered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously." Ezekiel foretold it\emdash "And He said unto me, Son of man, the place of My throne, and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and My holy name shall the House of Israel no more defile by their abominations that they have committed" (Ezek. 43:7),while at the close of his prophecy he says of Jerusalem in the Millennium, "And the name of the city from that day shall be, The Lord is there" Zephaniah heralded it\emdash "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy: the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee\rquote (Zeph. 3:14-17). Zechariah announced it, "Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be My people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent Me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah His portion in the holy land and shall choose Jerusalem again" (Zech. 2:10-12, and see further 8:8, 23 and 14:16).\par \par Pre-millennialists believe that the Messianic reign and Kingdom of the Lord Jesus are yet future. They believe that Christ Himself so taught. In the Parable of the Nobleman, He declared, "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 the 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" (Luke 19:12, LVAL|15). Here we learn that Christ\rquote s return and His reception of the "Kingdom" are inseparably connected together. Not only do the Scriptures plainly refute the assertion that Christ is now reigning, but existing conditions cannot be made to square with this belief. How absurd it is to say that Christ is now reigning over the earth when His authority is despised and rejected by the whole of the unbelieving world! No Christ-rejector can be termed a follower of the Lamb, and if he is not a "follower" then he is not subject to the will and rule of the Lord Jesus, and if he is not subject to Christ, then in no sense is Christ his "King." Moreover, the conditions which prevail upon earth today repudiate the idea that Christ is even now reigning over it. The scepter which the first man lost has never been restored, the "Curse" has not yet been removed, and Satan is still at large! But all things will be changed when the Lord Jesus takes the government upon His shoulder and reigns in power and righteousness.\par \par Pre-millennialists believe that it is God\rquote s purpose in this Age to take out of the nations "a people for His name" (Acts 15:14). To effect this the Gospel has been given and the Holy Spirit has come down to this earth. As the Gospel is preached, as many as are ordained to eternal life believe (Acts 18:48), for though "many be called," there are "but few chosen" (Matthew 20:16). God\rquote s purpose in this dispensation is an Elective one, and let it be said with emphasis, God\rquote s purpose has not failed, is not failing, will not fail\emdash "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isa. 46:9, 10). The Gospel is not a failure, the Holy Spirit has not failed in His mission, it is theologians who have failed\emdash failed to understand the purpose of God and LVAL}to read aright His present program.\par \par III. Post-Millennialism Refuted..\par \par The post-millennial position rests largely upon a mistranslation. In Matthew 13:89 we read "The harvest is the end of the world," and again in Matthew 24:8\emdash "And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Now the Greek word which is used in the above passages is entirely different from the one found in John 3:16\emdash "God so loved the Kosmos." In the verses quoted above the word is not "Kosmos" but aion and ought to have been rendered "age"\emdash "the harvest is the end of the age." In the marginal rendering of the R. V. Matthew 13:39 reads "The harvest is the consummation of the age." Both of the Greek words which are translated "world" in the King James Version occur in Hebrews 9:26\emdash "For then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the Kosmos: but now once in the end of the aion hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Here it is evident that "aion" cannot mean "world." The Lord Jesus was offered as a sacrifice for sin more than eighteen hundred years ago, and the end of the "world" has not come yet. It was at the consummation or end of the Mosaic age that our Lord appeared and died upon the cross in order to effect our salvation. So, in the above instances read, "The harvest is the end of the age," the present age and not the end of time, for just as the Mosaic age was followed by the Christian age, so the present Dispensation shall be followed by the Millennium. That the "harvest" referred to by our Lord in the Parable of the Tares takes place at the end of this age rather than at the end of the "world," is further seen by a comparison of Joel 3:13-17 and Revelation 14:14-20 which refer to the same "harvest" and where this harvest is definitely placed at the commencement and not at the consummation of Messiah\rqLVAL~uote s reign. That our Lord will return before the Millennium rather than at its close is clear from many considerations.\par \par 1. The condition of the world when our Lord returns proves that His Second Advent cannot be post-millennial.\par \par God\rquote s Word makes known the exact conditions which are to obtain here immediately preceding the Redeemer\rquote s Return. The Holy Spirit has given a number of graphic portrayals of the world as it will exist when our Lord comes back to it. One of these pictures is to be found in Isaiah 2\emdash "For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan. And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up. And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols He shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which they made each one for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." Do these verses picture a world ready to receive a returning Christ? No; they tell us that in "the Day of the Lord"\emdash that which immediately follows the present "Day of Salvation"\emdash men will be "proud and lofty"; it intimates that idolatry shall prevail universally; it tells us that instead of men coming forward to welcome the Lord Jesus, they shall flee from Him in teLVALrror.\par \par Another passage which describes the conditions which are to prevail on earth at the time of our Lord\rquote s Return is found in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9\emdash "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." Observe that here we are expressly told that our Lord comes back again to take vengeance on "them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel." It is utterly impossible to make this statement harmonize with the concept of Christ returning to a world which had previously been won to Him by the Gospel.\par \par Again, in 2 Peter 3:3, 4 we read, "Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of." Observe that the apostle is describing conditions that are to obtain in "the last days," i. e., the last days of this present dispensation. Here again we learn then, that instead of this Age closing with the universal acceptation of the Gospel, instead of the last days witnessing a world reconciled to God, instead of the Christian era dosing with earth-wide prayer for the Coming of the King, we are told that, "there shall come in the last days scoffers," a class of people who have no concern for God\rquote s glory but who walk after their own lusts; and further, we are told that these "scoffers" shall mock at those who are looking for the appearing of our Savior and that the "ignorance" of these scoffers is due to a wilful and deliberate rejection of God\rquote s LVALrevealed truth.\par \par Putting together the above pictures we learn that in the days which precede Christ\rquote s Second Advent the earth will be filled with proud idolaters, with those that know not God and obey not the Gospel, and with those who mock and scoff at the prospect of a speedily returning Redeemer. Further; we learn that the actual return of Christ is introduced not by Gospel successes but by Divine judgments. Thus we say that the condition of the world when our Lord comes back to it proves that His Second Advent occurs not at the close of an era of Millennial blessedness, but at the end of a dispensation wherein God has dealt with infinite long-sufferance with a race of rebels, and that at His coming He takes "vengeance" on His enemies ere setting up His Messianic Kingdom.\par \par 2. The Teaching of Matthew 13 proves that no era of Millennial blessing precedes Christ\rquote s Second Advent.\par \par In Matthew 13 we have the record of seven parables\emdash the number of completeness\emdash which our Lord uttered consecutively. These parables are prophetic in their significance and scope. They deal with conditions which are to obtain here during the time of our Lord\rquote s absence. They are concerned with the visible profession of Christianity and they look forward to the closing scenes of the present dispensation. As there is much in them upon which we cannot now comment at length we shall content ourselves with singling out only that which bears upon our present inquiry.\par \par The chapter opens with the well-known Parable of the Sower who went forth to sow. It pictures the broad-cast sowing of the good Seed by the Savior Himself, and in His interpretation of the parable we learn that the "Seed" is the Word of God. The parable sets before us the beginning of the Christian dispensation