The Imminency
of the Redeemer’s Return
Chapter 5
"For yet a little while,
and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry"
In the previous chapter we
sought to do nothing more than prove that our Redeemer would return before the
Millennium, the date of His return, either the approximate or the precise date,
we did not touch upon. Nowhere in the Bible is the actual
time of the Second Advent made known, instead, it is presented as an event
which may occur at any hour; or, in other words, the Fact of the Saviors
appearing is invariably set forth in the language of Imminency, When we say
that the Redeemer’s Return is an imminent event, we do not mean it will occur
immediately, but that He may come back in our own lifetime, that He may come
back this year; yet, we cannot say that He will do so. The
Fact of the Second Advent is certain because expressly revealed in Holy Writ;
the Date of the Second Advent is uncertain because it has not been made known
by God. Here then we have a truth which is simple to grasp, yet one which is of
fundamental importance and great practical value. The majority of the errors
and heresies which have gathered around this subject are
directly traceable to the ignoring of this elementary consideration. For
example: if the Lord’s people had given due heed to the fact that Scripture
presents the Second Coming of Christ as something which may happen at any hour,
then the post-millennial teaching that our Lord will not come back again for
more than a thousand years, would never have obtained the hearing and
acceptance which it has received. Furthermore, if the
wondrous truth that our Redeemer might return today once took firm hold on our
hearts, it would revolutionize our lives and provide us with a spiritual
dynamic which is incalculable in its reach and incomparable in its value.
Without expatiating any further upon the general bearings of this aspect of our
theme, let us now proceed to show that—
1.
Our Lord Himself spoke of His Return in the language of Imminency.
In the Olivet discourse where
the Master replied to the inquiries of His disciples concerning the Sign of His
Coming and of the End of the Age, He said—"Watch therefore:
for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this that if the good
man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have
watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye
also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh. Who then
is a faithful and wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over His
household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that
servant, whom his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto
you, That He Shall make him ruler over all His goods. But and if that evil
servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming; and shall begin to
smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the Lord of
that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for
Him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and
appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 24:42-51.) This Scripture refers primarily to
our Lord’s Return to the earth, as is evident item the fact that He here styles
Himself "The Son of Man;" yet like all prophecy it has at least a
double bearing and therefore may properly be applied to His
secret Coming in the air.
An analysis of the above
passage reveals the following important truths. First: the "hour" of
our Lord’s Return is unknown to His people. Second; because we know not the
exact time of His appearing, we must be in an attitude of constant expectation and watchfulness. Third; the Lord will return
unexpectedly, even in such an hour as His own people "think not."
Fourth; the faithful and wise servant is he who shall give meat in due season
to those of the Lord’s household during the time of Christ’s absence, and the
one who is found so occupied at the time of His appearing shall be richly
rewarded. Fifth; the one who shall say in his heart "My Lord
delayeth His coming" is an "evil servant," and such an one shall
receive a portion of shame and suffering at our Lord’s Return.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins
intimates that the Lord Jesus desired His people to maintain an attitude of
constant readiness for the appearing of the Bridegroom. At the
beginning of the parable He pictures all of the "virgins" taking
their lamps and going forth to "meet" Him. The interpretation of this
part of the parable is very simple. In the early days after our Lord’s
departure from the earth, His followers detached themselves from all worldly
interests and set their affections on Christ—His return being their one hope
and great desire. But while the Bridegroom tarried the
expectation of His appearing disappeared, and spiritual sloth and sleep was the
inevitable consequence, and this condition prevailed until the midnight cry
arose—"Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." The
effect of this cry is seen in the arousing of both the wise and the foolish
virgins. The need of preparation and watchfulness is disclosed in the doom that
overtook those who had no oil in their vessels. The practical
application of the whole parable was made by the Lord Himself—"Watch
therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man
cometh (Matthew 25:18).
At the close of St. Mark’s
account of the Olivet discourse he records at greater length
than does St. Matthew our Lord’s command to his disciples to watch for His
return—Take ye heed, watch and pray; for ye know not when the time is. For the
Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave
authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter
to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house
cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or
in the morning: Lest coming suddenly He find you sleeping. And what I say unto
you I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:33-37). A careful reading of these
verses makes it apparent that the design of the Master was to impress upon His
disciples two things: first, that while it was certain He would return, yet it
was uncertain when He would appear; second, that in view of the
uncertainty of the exact hour of His second coming the Lord’s followers must
maintain an attitude of constant watchfulness, looking for Him to return at any
moment.
On another occasion the Lord
said to His disciples, "Let your loins be girded about, and
your lights burning: and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord,
when He will return from the wedding: that when He cometh and knocketh, they
may open unto Him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when
He cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that He shall gird
Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.
And if He shall come in the second watch, or come in the
third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants" (Luke
12:35-38). The comparison is a very impressive one. The believer is exhorted to
be like a faithful servant, standing on the threshold with loins girded and his
lamp lighted, peering through the darkness for the first sight of his returning
Master and listening eagerly with attentive ear for the first sounds of His approaching steps.
"For even thus shall it
be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be
upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it
away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. I tell you in that night there shall be two men in one bed: The
one shall be taken, and the other left. Two woman shall be grinding together:
the one shall be taken and the other left" (Luke 17:30-35). The force of
this passage is in full harmony with the others already considered. The Lord’s
appearing is to be unannounced and unexpected. It will occur while men are busy
at their daily vocations, and therefore it behooves us to
be constantly on the qui vive. In passing, we may observe how the last quoted
Scripture brings out the marvelous scientific accuracy of the Bible. We are
told in verse 31 above, that it shall be "day" (1n one part of the
earth) at the time Christ is "revealed," while in verse 34 we learn
it will be "night" (In another part of the earth), thus anticipating
a comparatively recent discovery of science and demonstrating
that the Lord Jesus was perfectly cognizant of the rotundity and rotation of
the earth!
"And take heed to
yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and
drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell
on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye
may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and
to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:34-36). Mark particularly, above,
the words, "lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting
(self-indulgence) and so that day come upon you
unawares." Daily, nay hourly, readiness is required of us. Language could
not be more explicit. Let those who speak so disparagingly of the "any
moment theory" weigh the words "at any time" and remember they
were uttered by the Lord Himself. The precise Date of the Second Advent has
been designedly withheld from us in order that we should maintain our attitude
of watchfulness and that we remain on the very tiptoe of
expectation.
Just here we must take note of
an objection that is brought against the position we are now advocating,
namely, In view of the tact that in the above quotations it is clear that our
Lord taught His disciples to look for His Return in their own lifetime, how can we harmonize this with His teaching in Matthew 13
where we found He foretold that certain conditions must arise before the end of
this age could arrive? How call we square the presentation of the Redeemer’s
Return in the language of imminency with the predictions that before He came
back the little mustard-seed must grow into a great tree and the whole of the
three measures of meal be completely leavened? At first
sight this appears a real difficulty, but further reflection will show it is
more apparent than actual.
When we examine the parables
of Matthew 13 in the presence of the above objection our first question must
be, What impression were these parables calculated to make upon
the minds of the apostles, or on Christians in apostolic days? That these
parables contain prophetic pictures which it has taken many centuries to fully
develop is evident to intelligent believers living now, but we insist that
these predictions were couched in such terms that there was nothing in their
surface and obvious signification which forbade the apostles and their converts
looking for the Redeemer to return in their own lifetime.
In other words, there was nothing direct in these parables which argued the
inevitable postponement of the Second Advent until a long interval of time had
lapsed after they were uttered by the Lord Jesus. In our exposition of Matthew
13 (see the previous chapter) we showed how, very early in the apostolic era,
these parables began to receive their fulfillment, and, as we would
now point out, they were fulfilled to such an extent that as a matter of fact
they presented no necessary obstacles to the first century saints who believed
in the Imminent appearing of the Savior.
The first parable need not
here detain us, for, the Sowing of the Seed was done by Christ
Himself while He was here in person on the earth. Concerning the parable of the
Tares it is sufficient to say that within the lifetime of the apostles
themselves, long before the end of the first century was reached, Satan had
succeeded in covertly introducing his children among the people of God. It is
true the parable teaches that the wheat and the tares were to grow together
until the harvest and that the harvest would not be until
the end of the age, but there is nothing in the parable which intimated that a
protracted interval lay between the sowing and the harvest, nay, there was
nothing in it which discouraged the belief that the crop might hasten rapidly
and the harvest occur in the lifetime of the apostles themselves.
The third
parable foretold that the little mustard-seed was to become a great tree and,
as we saw, it was the growth of Christianity (previously corrupted) which was
thus symbolized. But let it be carefully noted that nothing at all was said in the
parable as to how great the "tree" was to become. Furthermore, we
know that even in the days of the apostles Christianity had made marvelous
progress and had spread through extensive regions. At the
time our Lord uttered the parable His followers were but a mere handful and
there is nothing to indicate that up to the hour of His ascension His flock was
anything more than a "little" one. But contrast the conditions that
we read of in the Book of Acts. Mark the three thousand which were converted on
the day of Pentecost. Take note of such expressions as, "And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of
men and women" (Acts 5:14); "Then Philip went down to the city of
Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave
heed unto those things which Philip spake when they believed Philip preaching
the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they
were baptized, both men and women" (8:5, 6, 12);
"And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were
come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus, And the
hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto
the Lord. Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was
in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as
Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God,
was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose ot heart they would cleave
unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith:
and much people was added unto the Lord" (11:20-24).
Take into
consideration the churches which were planted in Galatia, Corinth,
Thessalonians, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, Babylon (1 Pet. 5:18), Smyrna,
Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea, and then it will be seen
that the predicted growth of the mustard-seed could present no obstacle to the
disciples’ continual expectancy of Christ’s appearing. And if it be further
objected that our parable foretold the corruption as well
as the growth of Christianity, the answer is that the apostolic Epistles record
the fulfillment of this part of the parable too. Read such passages as
Philippians 3:18, 19, where the apostle says, "For many walk, of whom I
have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies
of the Cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and
whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things;" and "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work" (2
Thess. 2:7) and from such Scriptures we may discover how extensively the meal
had been "leavened" in that early day. Thus the parables of the
mustard-seed and the Leaven had been so far fulfilled in the lifetime of the
apostles themselves that none could say the end of the age might not even then
be near at hand.
One other Scripture needs to
be noted in this connection ere we turn to our next point. It has often been
objected by post-millennialists that in view of our Lord’s declaration
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and than shall the end come"
(Matthew 24:14), that it was impossible for the apostles to be expecting Christ
to return in their own lifetime, But this objection is disposed of by several
passages recorded in the New Testament itself. In Acts 19:10 we read, "And
this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia
heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks."
And again, in Colossians 1:5, 6 we are told, "For the hope which is laid
up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the
Gospel: which is come unto you, as it is in all the world" and in verse 23
of the same chapter "be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which
ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven;
whereof I Paul am made a minister." From these
passages thou it is abundantly clear that no such formidable hindrance as
imagined by post-millennialists interposed between the apostles and the hope of
the imminent return of the Redeemer. Scripture thus affords positive evidence
that the Gospel had been so widely diffused by the apostles themselves that
nothing further necessarily and inevitably intervened between them and the realization of their hope.
Having thus, we trust,
satisfactorily, disused of the most plausible and forcible objection which can
be brought against the pre-millennial and imminent Return of our Lord, let us
now consider—
2.
The Apostles referred to in the language of Imminency.
"Knowing the time, that
now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than
when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let
us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of
light" (Rom. 13:11,12). The "salvation," to which the apostle
here refers is the completing and consummating of our salvation, when we shall,
in spirit and soul and body, be fully conformed to the image of God’s Son. The
time when this will be realized is the time of our Redeemer’s Return, for,
"when He shall appear we shall be like Him" (1 John
3:2). That time will be the believer’s "day," that "perfect
day" unto which the path of the just "shineth more and more"
(Prov. 4:18). The "night," spoken of above, is the present period
during which the Light of the world is absent. Observe that the apostle, under
the Holy Spirit, regarded the night as "far spent," and the day as
"at hand!"
"And the God of peace
shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Rom. 16:20). The reference
here is to Genesis 3:15 where we have recorded Jehovah’s promise to our first
parents that the woman’s Seed should bruise the head of the Serpent. As believers
will, in the coming day, rule and reign "with Christ" (see Revelation
3:21; 19:14; 20:4) it is here said "The God of peace
shall bruise Satan under your feet." In the use of the word
"shortly" we learn that the apostle did not regard, the fulfillment
of this promise as something which lay in the far distant future, but rather as
that which was even then impending.
"I
thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by
Jesus Christ; That in everything 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" (1 Cor. 1:4-7). From this passage we learn: first, that these
Corinthian saints were "waiting" for the Coming
of the Lord Jesus, which proves they were looking for Him to return in their
generation; second, that the apostle commended them for their attitude, yea,
"thanked God always on their behalf;" third, that this expectation on
the part of these Corinthian believers was the very summum bonum of Christian
experience, inasmuch as it is said, they "came behind in no gift,"
and then as a climax it is added—"Waiting for the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."
"Let us consider one
another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so
much the more, as ye see the Day approaching" (Heb. 10:24, 25). The coming "Day" with its glories and blessedness
was that which filled the apostle’s vision. The promised "Day"—the
Day of Christ—which was to follow this dark night of sorrow when the Bridegroom
is absent, was the hope which stayed his heart. He could "see," by
faith, that day was approaching, and on the fact of its imminency he bases an
exhortation to those who are partakers of the heavenly calling
to conduct themselves in the present in a manner befitting those who are the
children of light. Again, in this same chapter the apostle says, "For yet
a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry" (vs.
37.) How clear it is from these words that the Holy Spirit desired the first
century believers to be ‘looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ"!
So real was the hope of the
Redeemer’s Return to the heart of the apostle Paul and so imminent did this
event appear to him that we find he included himself among those who might not
fall asleep but be among the living saints when the Assembling Shout
should be heard. Said he "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye"
(1 Cor. 15:51, 52). Again, "For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence
also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our (not
"your") vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious
body" (Phil. 3:19, 20). Once more, "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
(not "ye") 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). The enemies of the faith have seized
upon these very statements to show that the apostle Paul
was in error, that he wrote by unaided human wisdom, that he merely recorded in
his Epistles his own beliefs, and that in some of these he was clearly mistaken.
But such an objection is quite pointless to the saints who believe that
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God." We hope to show
further on in this chapter why the Holy Spirit moved the apostles to write of
the Second Advent of Christ as an event which might take
place in their own day.
The apostle Paul was not alone
in this regard: we find that the other apostles also regarded the Return of our
Lord as something which might occur at any time. The apostle James wrote,
"Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." (Jam. 5:8). There is no ambiguity
about this language: such a statement not only argued the pre-millennial Coming
of Christ, inasmuch as His Coming could not be said to have "drawn
nigh" if a whole Millennium intervened, but it also announced the
imminency of His return—something which might be expected at any time. The
apostle Peter declared, "But the end of things (all things connected with this present regime) is at hand: be ye
therefore sober, and Watch unto prayer" (1 Pet. 4:7). The apostle was
expecting the speedy winding up of this present economy and the introduction of
a new order of things when his Lord returned and took the government upon His
shoulder. The apostle John said, "Little children it is the last time: and
as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are
there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time" (1 John
2:18). The "last time" or "last hour" (Greek hora) must be
distinguished from "the last days" (2 Tim. 3:1) and "the last
day" (Greek hemera—John 6:39). The "last days" refer to the
closing decades of this present dispensation. The "last day" looks
forward to the Millennium when the saints shall participate in the "first resurrection"—it is the last Day of God’s dispensational
week, foreshadowed by the Sabbath. The "last hour" is connected with
the Antichrist. It is the "last hour" of Satan’s freedom for,
excepting the "little-season" referred to in Revelation 20, after this
dispensation Satan will be for ever banished from these scenes. This
dispensation then is Satan’s "last hour" as the "Prince of this
world" and it is during the closing moments of this
"last hour" that the Antichrist shall be revealed. The force then of
the apostle’s statement was to the effect that though the personal Antichrist
had not appeared up to the time when he wrote his. epistle, yet, the saints
must not conclude from this that the Second Coming of Christ was necessarily a
long way off. No; even then there were many Anti-christs by which they were to know it was the "last time." Thus we see that the
testimony of the apostles was uniform and explicit. They were looking for their
Lord to return at any time. Such ought to be our attitude too.
"Let not my eyes with
tears be dim,
Let joy
their upward glance illume;
Look up, and watch, and wait
for Him—
Soon, soon the Lord will come.
Soon will that star-paved
milky way,
Soon will
that beauteous azure dome,
Glories, ne’er yet conceived
display —
Soon, soon the Lord will come.
Changed in the twinkling of an
eye,
I shall behold Him throned on
high,
And sing, ‘The Lord is come!’
One beam from His all-glorious
face
These
mortal garments will cousume,
Each sinful blemish will
efface—
Lord Jesus: quickly come!
What will it be with Thee to
dwell,
Oh, bliss—Oh, joy ineffable!
Lord Jesus, quickly
come!"
3.
Why was the fact of our Lord’s Return presented in the language of Imminency and the exact date withheld?
At first sight it may appear
strange that our Lord has not made known to us the precise date of His
appearing. He has caused many details concerning the Blessed Hope to be
recorded in the Word. He has made known many things which are to transpire at His second advent, and in view of the fact that
so much has been revealed it may strike us as peculiar that the very point upon
which human curiosity most desires enlightenment should have been left
undefined. We need hardly say that it was not ignorance on our Lord’s part
which caused Him to leave the hour of His second coming undetermined, though
some of His enemies have dared to charge this against Him,
basing their evil indictment upon Mark 13:32—"But of that day and that
hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son,
but the Father." These words need occasion no difficulty if we pay due
attention to the particular Gospel in which they are found, namely, Mark’s—the
Gospel of the Servant of Jehovah, The purpose of Mark’s Gospel is to present
the Lord Jesus as the perfect Servant, the obedient
Servant, the Servant whose meat it was to do the will of Him that sent Him,
and, "the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth" (John 15:15). Mark
13:32 does not call into question our Lord’s omniscience but asserts that, as a
Servant, He waited Another’s will. A little reflection will reveal the perfect
wisdom of our Lord in concealing the exact date of His
Return. One reason was that He desired to keep His people on the very tiptoe of
expectation, continually looking for Him.
Again, this question needs to
be pondered in the light of the Unity of Christ’s church. The tendency with all
of us is to regard believers as so many detached individuals,
instead of viewing the saints as "one body" (1 Cor. 12:13)
"members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). The church is not an
organization, it is a living organism, a "body" of which Christ is
the "head." Hence, the Imminency of the Redeemer’s return is to one
member precisely what it is to all the members, and therefore it is that first
century believers were just as truly and just as much interested
in the appearing of the Savior as are believers now living in the twentieth
century. The object of hope then is the object of hope now, for the Body is
one, and conversely, the object of hope now must necessarily have been the
object of hope then. Consequently, the early Christians, by virtue of the Unity
of the saints, were exhorted to walk in the light and blessing of a hope which
is common to the entire church.
The Return of our Lord might
not have been revealed at all, but in that case a most powerful dynamic to
godly living would have been withheld from the church. The Imminency of the
Redeemer’s second advent was revealed as an incentive to watchfulness
and preparedness. If then the fact of our Lord’s return had not been presented
in the New Testament as something which might occur at any time, but, instead,
had been expressly postponed and fixed to happen in some particular and distant
century, then all believers who lived in the centuries preceding that one would
have been robbed of the comfort which is to be found in the assurance that Christ may return at any hour and would have lost the
purifying effects which such a prospect is calculated to produce. As it has
been well remarked, "It is not that He desires each succeeding generation
to believe that He will certainly return in their time, for He does not desire
our faith and our practice to be founded on an error, as, in that case, the
faith and practice of all generations except the last would be. But it is a necessary element of the doctrine concerning the second
coming of Christ, that it should be possible at any time, that no generation
should consider it improbable in theirs" (Archbishop Trench).
Here then is the simple but
sufficient answer to our question. The second coming of Christ
is presented in the language of imminency because of the far-reaching effects
it is designed to exert on those who lay hold of the promise, "Surely I
come quickly." The imminent return of the Redeemer is a practical hope. It
is the commanding motive of the New Testament. The Holy Spirit has linked it
with every precept and practice of Christian character and conduct. As another
has so well expressed it: "It arms admonitions, it
points appeals, it strengthens arguments, it enforces commands, it intensifies
entreaties, it arouses courage, it rebukes fear, it quickens affection, it
kindles hope, it inflames zeal, it separates from the world, it consecrates to
God, it dries tears, it conquers death" (Brookes). To amplify this
statement in detail —
The hope of our Lord’s second
advent produces loyalty and faithfulness to Christ, "Who then is that
faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over His household,
to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom
his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth, I say unto you, that He will make him ruler over all that He hath. But
and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming; and shall
begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be
drunken; The Lord of that Servant will come in a day when he looketh not for
Him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint
him his portion with the unbelievers" (Luke 12:42-46).
The moral purpose of this parable (see context of above quotation) is apparent.
While the steward maintained an attitude of watchfulness he was faithful and
sober, but when he said in his heart "my Lord delayeth His coming" he
began to beat his fellow-servants and to eat and drink and be drunken. Watching
for the Lord then is an incentive to loyalty and fidelity, while unwatchfulness results in worldliness of heart, carelessness
of walk and carnality of life.
The Return of our Lord is
presented as a motive to brotherly love—"And the Lord make you to increase
and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even
as we do toward you: To the end He may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness
before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all
His saints" (1 Thess. 3:12, 13). In view of the fact that our Lord may
return at any hour, how awful are divisions between the Lord’s own people. Soon
shall each of us appear before the Bema of Christ where every wrong will be
righted and every misunderstanding cleared up. The Lord is
at hand, therefore let us sink our petty differences, forgive one another even
as God hath for Christ’s sake forgiven us, and increase and abound in love one
toward another.
The perennial hope of Christ’s
second advent is used as a call to a godly walk—"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). How clear it is from these words that the Blessed Hope is
intended to cheek the spirit of self-pleasing and
self-seeking in the believer and to promote holiness in the daffy life. As says
the apostle John, "He that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself even as
He is pure" (1 John 3:3).
The return of our Lord is
designed to comfort bereaved hearts—"For 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 (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" (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Those to whom the apostle
was writing were sorrowing over the loss of loved ones. But observe, he does
not seek to solace by telling them that shortly they would die and join the
departed in heaven. No; he held up before them the prospect of a returning
Savior who would bring back the sleeping saints with Him.
The
promise of the Redeemer’s return is calculated to develop the grace of
patience—"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath
long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain. Be ye
also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh" (Jam. 5:7, 8). These words were addressed to
saints who were poor in this world’s goods and who were groaning beneath the
oppression of unrighteous employers. How timely is this word of exhortation to
many a twentieth—century saint! How many of God’s poor are now crying unto the
Lord for deliverance from pecuniary difficulties, from tyranny and injustice!
These cries have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts, and just as He intervened of old on behalf of Israel in Egypt, so will He
speedily come and remove His people from their present cruel task-masters. In
the meantime, the word is, "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the
coming of the Lord."
The hope of our Lords return
is the antidote for worry—"Let your forebearance be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. In nothing be anxious" (Phil. 4:5, 6,
R. V.). Brethren in Christ, why be so fearful about meeting next year’s
liabilities? Why be anxiously scheming and fretting about the future? Why be
worrying about the morrow? Tomorrow you may be in heaven. Before tomorrow dawns
the assembling Shout may be given. At any hour thy Savior may come. The Lord is
at hand and His appearing will mean the end of all your
trials and troubles. Look not then at your dangers and difficulties, but for
your Redeemer. In nothing be anxious.
The prospect of a speedily
returning Savior is employed to stimulate sobriety and vigilance—"Knowing
the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now
is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day
is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on
the armor of light"
(Rom. 13:11, 12). As we have
shown in a previous chapter the "salvation" here spoken of is that
mentioned in Hebrews 9:28 ("unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation") which
salvation is brought to us at Christ’s second advent. Note, particularly, that
this salvation is not presented as a distant hope, to be realized at some
remote period, but is set forth as that which is nigh at hand. Ere closing this
chapter one other question claims our attention—
4. Why is it that our Lord has tarried till now?
Why has not the Redeemer
returned long ere this? At first sight perhaps this inquiry might appear almost
irreverent and some may feel inclined to remind us that "secret things
belong unto the Lord." In response we would say, It is not in any spirit of idle curiosity nor is it to indulge an inquisitive
speculation that we take up this question, but simply because we believe that a
humble examination of it will prove profitable to our souls, inasmuch as the
answer to our inquiry demonstrates the wisdom and grace of Him with whom we
have to do.
Of old,
the mother of Sisera cried concerning her son, "Why is his chariot so long
in coming? Why tarry the wheels of his chariot?" (Judg. 5:28). We might
well appropriate these words to our present inquiry. On the eve of His death,
the Lord Jesus 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," but eighteen centuries have run
their weary course since then and He has not yet returned! Is not this deeply
mysterious? A world in which iniquity abounds more and more; an Israel without
a home and without a king; a church rent by divisions and, like Samson, shorn
of its power; a groaning creation and a war-stricken earth, all unite in crying
with the souls under the altar "How long, O Lord!"
(Rev. 6:10).
Why then such delay? Why has
the millennial era of blessedness been thus postponed? Why has not the Redeemer
returned to enter into His blood-bought inheritance long ere this? Stupendous
questions surely. Questions which sometime or other exercise
the hearts of all the saints of God. Is it possible to discover a satisfactory
answer? A complete answer—No; for now we "know in part." But an
answer—yes, an answer that will at least enable us to see, even though it be
through a glass darkly, something of the meaning of our Lord’s delay. Why this
protracted interval since the time of His departure? Why has He not returned
long ere this? We answer—
First, because God would give
man full opportunity to develop his schemes and thereby demonstrate the world’s
need of a competent Ruler.
Man cannot
complain that God has not allowed him full opportunity to experiment and test
his own plans. Man has been permitted to do his utmost in ruling and
regenerating the world. God, as it were, has put the reins of government into
his hands, and withdrawn for a season. Why? To show whether man was sufficient
for these things. To show whether or not man was capable of governing himself.
To show whether man was competent to grapple successfully
with the powers of evil which war upon his soul.
Throughout the ages man’s
efforts have been directed toward ruling and regenerating the world. Man has
been given full scope. With what results? With the result
that the incurable hatred of the human heart to God and the utter depravity of
human nature have been fully displayed. How has man used the freedom, the
opportunities, the privileges, the relents with which his Maker has endowed
him? To what profit has he turned them? Have they been used with the purpose of
glorifying God or of deifying himself? To ask the question is quite enough.
Loud have been man’s boasts. Lofty have been his claims.
Pretentious his vauntings. Such terms as improvement, advancement,
enlightenment, evolution, civilization, have been his favorite slogans. But the
wisdom of this world is foolishness with God, and the folly of the world’s
wisdom and the vanity of man’s claims are now displayed before our eyes What
has ‘civilization’ effected? With all our so-called enlightenment
and progress unto what have we attained? Let the records of our Law-courts tell
us. Let the columns of the daily newspapers make response. Let the economic,
political and moral conditions of the clay make answer. Let the world war with
all its inhumanities, its barbarities, its fiendish atrocities, give reply. And
mark, it cannot be said that these things are clue to man’s ignorance and
inexperience. Man is not just starting out to make history.
We are now living in the twentieth century of the Christian era. Man then
cannot—complain that God has not given him plenty of time to mature his plans.
No; God has given ample time, time enough to show that he is an utter failure,
time enough to demonstrate that he is totally incapable of governing himself,
time enough to prove that if relief comes at all it must
come from outside of himself.
Here then is the first part of
our answer. Christ’s return has been delayed in order to provide opportunity
for man’s plans to fully develop. God waits till harvest-time. He has been
waiting for the harvest time of man’s schemes and efforts. He has been waiting patiently with sickle in hand, and as soon as the
crops of human industry have fully matured, the word will go forth—"Thrust
in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest
of the earth is ripe" (Rev. 14:15).
Why has not our Lord returned
long ere this?—We answer—Second, in order that God might
fully display His long-sufferance.
"But, beloved, be not
ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years,
and a thousand yeas as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise as
some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet.
3:8, 9). All through these nineteen centuries the Lord has been saying,
"Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you
rest." Ever since the Savior left the earth, God has been dealing with the
world in mercy instead of visiting it with judgment. God’s patience toward our
wicked race has been truly marvelous. Wonderful it is that
the vials of His wrath have not been emptied upon the nations long ere this,
What long-sufferance Jehovah hath shown in bearing with such rebels thee twenty
centuries! Why is it that the Day of Salvation has lasted until it now exceeds
in length every dispensation that has preceded it? Why is it that the door of
mercy still stands open wide and God is yet be, seeking sinners to be
reconciled to Himself? Why is it that Christ has not long,
long ago returned in flaming fire to take vengeance an them that know not God
and obey not His Gospel? Why is it that He is not avon now seated upon the
Throne of His Glory and saying to His enemies, "Depart from Me, ye cursed,
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels"? Why? Ah!
why? Because the Lord God is longsuffering to usward, not willing
that any should perish. Suppose that Christ had returned five, ten, twenty,
fifty years ago, then, in such case, how many who read these lines rejoicing
that they have been accepted in the Beloved, would have perished in their sins!
Join, then, with the writer in returning thanks for the marvelous
longsufferance of our gracious God.
Why has not the Lord returned
long ere this? We answer—
Third, in order that God might
fully test the faith of His own people.
This has
ever been His way. Why those years of waiting before Abraham received Isaac?
Why that protracted bondage in Egypt, when the chosen people groaned beneath the
burdens imposed on them by their cruel task-masters? Why those four centuries
of silence between the ministries of Malachi and John the Baptist? Why a four
thousand years interval from the giving of the promise of the woman’s Seed until its realization? Why?—to test the faith of His people,
to demonstrate the reality of their confidence in Him. So in this dispensation.
Why has our Lord tarried so long in the Father’s house? Why these eighteen
centuries for His church to journey through the wilderness of the world? Why is
it that the first, the second, and the third "watch" has passed and
yet our Lord has not come? Why did God permit the Blessed
Hope to be recovered almost a hundred years ago, and still the Bridegroom
tarries? Why this earnest expectation on the part of His own for three
generations past and even now the heavens are silent? Why tarry the wheels of
His chariot? Why?—because God would fully test the faith of His people. Why is
He pleased to do this? To the praise of the glory of His grace. Perhaps to
demonstrate to the angels, to whom we are "made a
spectacle" (1 Cor. 4:9), that God has a people who by His grace can trust
Him even amid the darkness of a profound mystery! Wonderful are the ways of our
God. Scoffers may cry, "Where is the promise of His coming?" Evil
servants may exclaim "my Lord delayeth His coming," and our own
wicked hearts may sometimes be tempted to murmur against the long delay, nevertheless, it shall yet be seen that He "doeth all
things well."