The Second Advent of Christ

Soon the world will witness the literal, personal, viable, audible and unimaginably glorious return of the Lord of hosts to this earth. Jesus Christ will come again. This always has been, always will be, the blessed hope of God’s people.

Belief in the precious promise of Christ’s personal return is the cornerstone of our message. If we do not believe in the coming of our Lord we cannot believe in the Advent Movement. If Christ is not coming again, our global commitment and global assignment are senseless and meaningless.

We would need no publishing houses, for there would be no worthwhile message to publish. The blind would never escape from their darkness, the lame would never hope to ” leap as an hart,” the dumb would forever remain mute, the deaf could never expect to hear, and those who go down into the grave would never live again. If we yield our faith in the blessed hope of Christ’s personal return, we destroy ourselves.

The darkest human experience seems to be death. Paul instructed, ” I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep… for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so then also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him… 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.” (1 Thess. 4:13-16). From gloomy, hopeless Patmos comes the blazing hope of John: ” Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him.” (Rev. 1:7). The distress of his personal experience in that lonely penitentiary only made him cry out plaintively, ” Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Suffering is a minister of God to make us disenchanted with this world and long for the freedom of the world to come. Through trials our characters are refined and polished. The trials of this life only make us homesick for heaven. We long for Christ to come and put an end to all the misery with which we are surrounded.

” Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward… for yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” (Heb. 10:35-37). How do we know that Christ will return to this earth? We know because He said He would.

” Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 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).

When the anxious disciples stood straining their necks and eyes, peering into the sky on the day Christ ascended to His Father so long ago, two angels repeated the promise Jesus had only recently enunciated. Said they, ” This same Jesus… shall come in like manner as ye have seen Him go.” (Acts 1:11).

The disciples had understood Christ when He spoke to them, but now there is a new word emphasized that causes them to hurry down from Olivet and get about His work. They journeyed far without script or purse, they endured cold and heat, hunger and thirst, jailings, torture, and death. They were fired by the promise that this same Jesus shall come. They had no delusions about death being the Second Coming of their beloved Christ. They expected the same Jesus! Should Rome have abolished oppression and granted them perpetual amnesty, this would not have been the Second Coming of Christ to them. They never held the notion that better politics, the cessation of hostilities, improved human relations, or any other social event could be interpreted as the Second Coming of Christ.

They looked for the same Jesus to come. The same Jesus who had ordained them, who preached with His voice full of tears calling the lost to salvation. The same Jesus meek and mild, gentle and kind; the same Jesus with the easy smile and kingly bearing. The same Jesus who cleansed lepers, healed disease, silenced storms, dispatched demons, touched children, raised the dead, saved sinners, and died for the lost, will come. The same Saviour who had destroyed the works of the devil, burst the bonds of the tomb, and led the captives from captivity will return for His people. He who sits at the Father’s right hand pleading for us, who answers prayers and sends his winged ministers on errands of mercy, who loves as no other can love, and who delays His return only because He is ot willing that any should perish – this same Jesus will come again.

Christ’s coming shall be utterly visible and public, for ” every eye shall see Him.” (Rev. 1:7). It shall be extremely audible, for He shall descend with a shout and with the trumpet’s peal. (1 Thess. 4:16). The earth shall be rent, mountains shall stagger out of their places, casting down their ponderous peaks before Him. The seas shall wail and whine and roar, cities shall be thrown down in cataclysmic dissolution. Men who mocked and scoffed and put off salvation shall run screaming in terror, craving death. (Rev. 6:14-17). He comes because He said He would. He comes in triumph, in power and great glory, attended by a bright and matchless retinue of dazzling angels, with the perfect pageantry conceived in a divine mind that shall thrill and amaze not only the inhabitants of the earth, but also those unnumbered worlds beyond, who celebrate with Christ the end of the reign of sin.

What should be our attitude who receive this unalterable promise from God’s word? Said John, ” 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 He is pure.” (1 John 3:2, 3).

How comprehensive is the counsel. If the great truth of Christ’s Second Coming is brought home to the heart through His grace, then there is the responsibility both solemn and sensible to do something about it. Everyone that hath this hope purifieth himself. Here is rationale enough for health reform, dress reform, clean morals, the sanctity of marriage, love of one another (for there is no guile or vermin more revolting than hatred), and all the other high and lofty ideals that are held in common by sanctified hearts. So let all contaminating human rationalizing be put aside! Let human philosophy and vain deceit that call for laxity on all moral issues be generally discounted, though it be couched in high-flown polysyllabic rhetoric. Everyone that hath this hope purifieth himself. ” Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” (Matt. 5:8). ” Go to your rest at night with every sin confessed. Thus we did when in 1844 we expected to meet our Lord. And now this great event is nearer than when we first believed.” Test. Vol. 9, p. 48.

All around us are the harbingers of the end. War and violence and crime and immorality are so common as to require no documentation in this brief article. Spiritism and fascination with religious paganism are unfolding the Revelation. We feel the incessant fear, the perplexity, the horrors of society, while at the same time learning to live complacently with our own savagery. This is a terrible damnation that is overtaking us. We ought to reread Matthew 24, Luke 21, 2 Timothy 3, 2 Peter 3, and all the other related warnings and counsels so graciously given that the day of the Lord come not upon us as an overwhelming surprise. To become careless and indifferent is to become immoral.

Recently I spent several weeks in Siavonga, Kaoma and Mongu. The people in all those lands knew almost immediately that I was a Christian of the Reformed SDA Church. My speech betrayed me, my dress signified it, my choice of food and the many customs that I did not heed all marked me as a Christian. It must be so with the spiritual pilgrim who waits on his inheritance. His dress, his manners, his food, and all his living must indicate to those about him that he belongs to another commonwealth and that he is happy about his prospects.

In vision, Sis. White saw those who were waiting on the Lord’s return. She wrote, ” The waiting ones were represented to me as looking upward. They were encouraging one another by repeating these words: the first and second watches are past. We are in the third watch, waiting and watching for the Master’s return. There remains but a little period of watching now… The coming of the morning… is right upon us.” Test. Vol. 2, p. 192-4. ” All heaven is astir. The judge of all the earth is soon to arise and vindicate His insulted authority.” Test. Vol. 5, p. 451.

Not long ago, in June 2002, I flew across the continent of Africa in a plane. I was a bit disquieted by the announcement that we would be ten and one-half hours in space. After hours of flight, at 5 a.m., I spied a tiny light. Soon there was another light, then another. The lights became more and more frequent. Our destination was Amsterdam. We must have been approaching it, for more and more lights appeared. In a little while the edge of the city was ablaze beneath. The journey was almost over. More and more lights were telling me so. I rejoiced in the message of the lights. Soon I would be safely among loved ones in joyous reunion.

The closer we get to our destination, the more the signs will appear. For those who follow the light there is sufficient evidence that we are almost home. This is the time to be absorbed with our blessed hope until it affects every aspect of our lives. Our Lord will come!
AMEN.