.I (lnclt1nbent OJ St. Jmnes's, Ryde, Isle oj Wigllt.) - The Gospel ...

740 The Gospel Magazine
"BEHOLD, THE LORD COMETH."
LET us consider the subject of the Lord's Second Coming under five
different heads : How, When, Where is He coming? Why is He
coming? and For whom is He coming? and may the Spirit assist us
in our study.
First, How is He coming? "Quickly,"" suddenly," " as the lightning"
(Rev. iii. 11, xxii. 20; Matt. xxiv. 27; Mark xiii. 36). What a
comfort, dear fellow-believer! It helps us wonderfully throughout each
day to know that at any moment He may come. And besides the
knowledge being a comfort to us, it is also a stimulus. We believe
that our day of earthly service will suddenly close, so we are stirred
up to be in living earnest as .to the salvation of our fellow-men. The
knowledge of His thus coming should affect every action, every thought
-all we read and write, all we say and do. If it did so, how different
our lives would be !
Again, When is He coming? "In such an hour as ye think not" ;
" As a snare shall [that day] come" (Matt. xxiv. 44; Luke xxi. 35). The
Lord is coming suddenly and quickly, yet not altogether unexpectedly
to His own people who love and serve and watch for Him. But the
Godless and the careless will in no way be thinking of Him or of His
near approach. Yet His coming means the final separation. "In
that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken"­
to be with the Lord because a believer-" and the other left"-because
an unbeliever. "Two shall be grinding together; the one shall be
taken, and the other left. Two shall be in the field; the one shall be
taken, and the other left." He will come to all alike, whether working
or sleeping, and" one shall be taken, and the other left."
Where is He coming? In the clouds; in the air. And it is to Him
" in the air" that we who are believers shall ascend (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17 ;
see also 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). Oh! sweet, stupendous thought! No
matter whether we are quick or dead when He comes; at the moment
that" the trumpet shall sound," "the dead shall be raised" and the
living" shallbe changed." A new power will be infused into dead and
living Christians, enabling them instantaneously to ascend " to meet
the Lord in the air."
Hence, Why is He coming? That His own people may be with Him
for ever (1 Thess. iv. 16, 17; Rev. vii. 16, 17; xxi. 3, 4; xxii. 3-5).
One can not attempt to picture this bliss. How grandly the Word of
God describes it, on well-nigh the last page-Rev. xxi. 22-27. (See also
previous quotations.) I remember my dear mother used very frequently
to remark that the negative rather than the positive side of
C future glory is given because our finite minds can better grasp the
former than the latter. The positive side is beyond mortal man to
conceive. We derive great joy from dwelling on the thought that" He
That shall come will come, and will not tarry" when the fulness of the
time has come. We are waiting for His coming, longing for His call.
He bas called us in grace already if we are believers. We have heard