Earlier text: How Will Christ Come to You?THE OBJECT OF CHRIST'S COMING.
By F. M. Wilcox
IN past numbers the object of Christ's return to the earth has been suggested. This is a subject that demands broader consideration. Of His first and second advents and of the relations existing between the two we have a statement in Heb. 9:28: "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." He came the first time without sin so far as His own perfect character was concerned, but He came as a sin offering. He came to suffer in our stead, that He might bring us unto God. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that through faith in His atoning sacrifice the merits of His righteousness might be accounted unto us. The world was in sin and rebellion against the government of God. It had cast off its allegiance to the banner of Prince Emmanuel, and was under the colors of the great rebel leader. In consequence of this rebellion the whole race of mankind was doomed to utter destruction. Christ in His infinite love proposed to undertake the great mission of reconciliation. He would offer Himself as a substitute to die in man's stead, bridging the gulf between the holiness of God and guilty man, and opening the way whereby lost and fallen humanity might become reconciled to the government of heaven. O the mystery of such unfathomable love! O the breadth, and depth, and height of such mercy! The sacrifice is made, and Christ is offered up, and now through all the ages the work of reconciliation—of reconciling man, not God—is going on. Christ will come to complete the work so well and faithfully begun, to take all those who have availed themselves of His sacrifice and mediation to Himself, and reign over them as their Prince and King and Governor. But not alone this, the beautiful heritage bestowed upon man at the creation—which, in consequence of man's transgression, has suffered the effect of the curse, so that from the Eden of beauty in the beginning it has been transformed into this sin-cursed, weather-beaten, and storm-scarred earth—is to have a part in the plan of restoration. And so, when Christ returns to earth He comes to establish His kingdom. Says Paul in his second letter to Timothy: "I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word." Synonymous with the return of Christ there is to be set up a kingdom. Says our Lord Himself, in the Gospel according to Matthew: "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." But what does the kingdom embrace? First there must be a king. This will be the Lord Jesus Christ, no longer clad in robes of humility, no longer reviled and oppressed of men, but crowned King of kings and Lord of lords. Secondly, there must be subjects over which the kingly rule shall extend. These are supplied by the glorified ones who are redeemed from this earth at the second coming of our Lord. And these glorified ones will be divided into two classes: (a) Those who are resurrected at the appearing of the Lord; and (b) those who are translated at the end of the world without seeing death. Says the apostle: "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, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Speaking of the same event he says again, in his first epistle to the Thessalonians: "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." We see from these two scriptures that there are two classes plainly brought to view,—those who are resurrected at the coming of the Lord, and those who are alive and translated without seeing death. These are the two classes which compose the inhabitants of the kingdom of Christ. Thirdly, there must be a territory. We can not conceive of a kingdom as existing in no definite locality. Hence, somewhere in the universe of God must be the boundaries and limitations of the kingdom inhabited by the redeemed throng. That territory, the Bible reveals, will be this earth itself. Originally it was bestowed upon man as his everlasting heritage. The command to Adam was to multiply and fill the earth. Had sin not entered, just as long as Adam and his posterity had lived this earth would have been their home; but now sin has obtruded itself. It has turned aside the purposes of the Omnipotent One, but O, glorious assurance, if sin for a little time can turn aside God's eternal purpose, it never can thwart that purpose. Every purpose of God will carry in the end. Every arrow of the Spirit will find its mark. Every saying of the Lord will prove true. We learn from the third chapter of Peter's second epistle that the purifying fires of the last day will purge this old earth and bring it back to the same vernal state of beauty that it possessed when it came from the hands of its Maker in the beginning. A father may give to his little son a golden ball. That son, in his childish playfulness and sportive glee may mutilate and soil the beautiful globe. It becomes contaminated and polluted. The father, in his love, takes the ball and places it in the crucible, and from the fires of purification it once more rolls forth as bright and beautiful as when it was first made from the precious golden metal. So God will take this ball of an earth and place it in His great crucible,6 and let the fires of the last day purge away its dross and sin and defilement. Sin is then eradicated, the thorns and thistles are despoiled, the barren desert becomes as fertile as a garden, the ragged, rocky peaks melt away and constitute as formerly the bone-work of the earth, and are clothed with beautiful verdure of ever-living green, and this forevermore shall constitute the home of the redeemed host. Every kingdom has its capital, its chief city, and this requisite is supplied in the New Jerusalem, which, as John says, comes down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:1. And in this glorious city, with its streets of gold, its gates of pearl, and its walls of precious stones, Jesus will reign supreme, God among men, once more and that forever. And His kingdom is a kingdom of love, and not of force. He will wield His scepter in love, and all the ransomed host shall render willing and loving obedience to His divine rule. And every heaving breast shall be calmed, and every tearful eye shall be dried; for God Himself shall wipe away all tears. O the contrast between that kingdom of peace and the kingdoms of men to-day! O the blessedness of such a reign, one that permits no comparison with the most glorious reigns that this earth ever saw! May God grant, dear reader, that you and I shall enter in there as subjects. But to be subjects of the kingdom of glory then, we must be subjects of the kingdom of peace now. Christ is now seeking to set up His kingdom in every heart, and every soul in whose heart Christ is enthroned as Prince in this world, will enjoy the blessed privilege of being a subject of the kingdom of our Lord in the ages to come. SIN IS SIN IN ALL.
By Women's Voice
Don't send my boy where your girl can't go,
And say, "There's no danger for boys, you know,
Because they all have their wild oats to sow."
There's no more excuse for my boy to be low
Than your girl. Then please do not tell him so.
Don't send my boy where your girl can't go;
For a boy or a girl, sin is sin, you know.
And my baby boy's hands are clean and white,
And his heart as pure, as your girl's to-night.
—Women's Voice. THE MARRIAGE IN CANA OF GALILEE.
By Ellen G. White
THE wine created by Christ at this time was the best wine those present had ever tasted. But it was entirely free from all fermentation. Christ Himself had forbidden the use of fermented drink, saying: "Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations; and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses." Fermented liquor confuses the senses and perverts the powers of the being. God is dishonored when men have not sufficient respect for themselves to practise strict temperance. Fermented wine is not a natural production. The Lord never made it, and with its production He has nothing to do. Paul advised Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach's sake and oft infirmities, but he meant the unfermented juice of the grape. He did not advise Timothy to take what the Lord had prohibited. The use of fermented wine caused Nadab and Abihu to confuse the sacred and the common, and death was their penalty. After this, severe restrictions were placed on those connected with the sacred service. They were prohibited when they came before the Lord, from touching wine or using grapes in any way, that they might avoid the result of becoming familiar with fermented liquor. When food or drink which bewilders the brain is placed in the mouth, the destroyer sees his opportunity to enter and dethrone the reason. Some who claim to be Christians feel at liberty to use intoxicating drink, and in this particular they claim to be in harmony with Christ. But Christ did not set the example they claim to imitate. Be assured that He did not make intoxicating wine on the occasion of His first miracle. He gave to those present a drink which it is safe to give to all humanity,—the pure juice of the grape. Christ never placed a glass of fermented liquor to His lips or to the lips of His disciples. Drunkenness was rare in Palestine, but Christ looked down the ages, and saw in every generation what the use of wine would do for the users, therefore at this feast He set a right example. Christ did not give publicity to His action, and at first only a few knew of the embarrassment of the governor. But after the new wine was brought in, great astonishment was expressed by the guests regarding its superiority over the wine first placed before them. The miracle became known, and the very work Christ desired to see done was accomplished. The faith of the disciples was confirmed. This miracle was to them a convincing testimony that their Master was the world's Redeemer. Christ's future work shows the influence of this miracle. "When He was come into Galilee," we read, "the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast; for they also went unto the feast. So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where He made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judea into Galilee, he went unto Him, and besought Him that He would come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. The nobleman saith unto Him, Sir, come down ere my child die. Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son liveth. Then inquired he of them the hour when he began to amend. And they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same hour in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house. This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out of Judea unto Galilee." Jesus did not touch the water in the jars. He simply looked upon it, and at once it became like wine fresh from the cluster. Only a few days before, Christ had refused to work a miracle to satisfy His hunger. He was weak and emaciated; for He had been without food for forty days and forty nights; but He would not command the stones to become bread to satisfy His appetite. To the suggestion of the enemy He answered, "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." Neither would He accept a challenge to imperil His life by casting Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple to prove that He was the Son of God. In answer to the challenge, He said, "It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." But on the occasion of the wedding feast He performed a miracle, to show that marriage is not forbidden by God. The divine love emanating from Christ never destroys human love, but includes it. By it human love is refined and purified, elevated and ennobled. Human love can never bear its precious fruit until it is united with the divine nature, and trained to go heavenward. Jesus wants to see happy marriages, happy firesides. The warmth of true friendship and the pure love that bind the hearts of husband and wife are a foretaste of heaven. God has ordained that there should be perfect love and harmony between those who enter into the marriage relation. Let bride and bridegroom, in the presence of the heavenly universe, pledge themselves to love each other as God has ordained they should. Let no draught of unkindness chill the atmosphere of love which should surround them. The wife is to respect and reverence her husband, and the husband is to love and cherish his wife. As the priest of the household, the husband and father should bind his wife and children to his heart. The wife should feel that the large affections of her husband sustain her before her children are born, and after their birth he should co-operate with her in the management of the little ones, who should be wisely, firmly, tenderly, lovingly educated. The family relationship should be sanctifying in its influence. Christian homes, established and conducted in accordance with God's plan, are a wonderful help in forming Christian character. Families here should be a symbol of the great family above. Parents and children should unite in offering loving service to Him who alone can keep human love pure and noble. "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church, for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." If this instruction were heeded by those who enter into the marriage relation, the home life would be pure and elevated, garrisoned by holy love. God made from man a woman, to be a companion and helpmeet for him, to be one with him, to cheer, encourage, and bless him. And he in his turn is to be her strong helper. All who enter the matrimonial life with a holy purpose, the husband to obtain the pure affection of a woman's heart, the wife to soften and improve her husband's character, and give it completeness, fulfil God's purpose for them. Christ came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil its every specification. He came to pull down and destroy the works of oppression that the enemy had raised up everywhere. It was in perfect harmony with His character and work to make known the fact that marriage is a holy institution. He came not to destroy this institution, but to restore it to its original sanctity. He came to restore the moral image of God in man, and He began His work by sanctioning the marriage relation. Thus He who made the first holy pair, and who created for them a paradise, put His seal upon the institution first celebrated in Eden, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Prayer at Dawn and Eve
By James Martineau
PRAYER at dawn leads to labor, and at eve to rest.—Jas. Martineau. THE SABBATH A SIGN OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT.
By G. E. Fifield
BUT the creation Sabbath is even more emphatically Christian than has yet been made clear. It is the sign of the everlasting covenant, by which covenant Christ in all ages has saved all who have put their trust in Him. In order that this may be made plain, we must first see clearly what that covenant is, and with whom it is made. When man sinned, he lost the power to keep from sinning. Life is the power to act. But sin is death, and death is the absence of all power. The sinner is the slave to sin. Sin is the master, and he the servant. It was thus through sin in the beginning that the race died spiritually, or lost the power to live in harmony with God's spiritual law. That it has no such power the Bible positively declares. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Jer. 13:23. "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him." John 6:44. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. Thus, left to themselves, mankind are hopelessly lost. But to all who realize this and long for salvation, the Lord says, If you will submit your wills to Me, and just as you are, drop into My everlasting arms, I, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, will make you perfect to do My will, working in you that which is well pleasing in My sight. God would have made this covenant with Israel, at the foot of Sinai, as soon as they learned their own helplessness, if they had grasped the promises by faith, and submitted their lives to Him. He did confirm this covenant with every individual who accepted Him, and yielded his life to His keeping. By this covenant, He wrought His ideals in David, taking him from the sheep-cote, and making him musician, poet, king, and type of the King of kings. And the Lord says: "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Is. 55:1. "Incline your ear, and come unto Me, hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David." Is. 55:3. The thoughtless, wicked man is an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, and a stranger to both the covenants of promise. See Eph. 2:11, 12. When the Spirit of God arrests his attention, and speaks His law to his soul, to convict him of sin, he first tries to make himself better. This is the first covenant, the covenant of works. The Lord lets him try until he finds how helpless and hopeless he is in himself. When he finds this out, and the hunger of the soul leads him to Christ, and causes him to accept Christ as a personal Saviour, then the Lord seals with him His everlasting, or new covenant, and to that man who thus enters this new experience, the old covenant is done away in Christ. He is no longer a stranger and an alien from the commonwealth of Israel, but a fellow citizen with the saints, and of the household of God. Eph. 2:19. Every one whose attention is arrested from the ways of sin by the Divine Spirit, and who yields himself to God, is an Israelite, all others are Gentiles. Paul declares that not to the literal seed, but to this spiritual Israel, pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the services of God, and the promises. See Rom. 9:4-8; Gal. 3:29. In the eleventh chapter of Romans, Paul teaches that by accepting Christ, the Gentile is grafted into the Israelitish stock, contrary to nature, so becoming an Israelite, and so all Israel, i. e., all the real Israel, the spiritual Israel, shall be saved. As we have seen, man can not save himself. In infinite love, God stoops over the battlements of heaven, holding down this everlasting covenant to every soul who will accept it. It is by His creative power, manifest through this covenant, and by this alone, that a soul can be saved, and made righteous. Hence, David prays, "Create in me a clean heart, O God." And Paul says, "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works," and "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." But since God is no respecter of persons, since salvation is only by His creative power, why does He not save all men? It is because He cannot save us against our wills, for that would be to make us machines, and so destroy all character. He does create anew and save by that covenant all who submit their lives to Him. Dear reader, if you would be an Israelite, indeed, and be saved with all Israel at last, submit yourself wholly to God, accept this covenant by faith, and rejoice in the glorious fact that God has taken the contract to work out His divine ideal in your life; and in that He, seeing the end from the beginning, beholds you, even now in the glory of Christ's righteousness. So much for the covenant. Now for the original proposition that the Sabbath is the sign of this covenant. This is plainly stated in the Word. "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." Ex. 31:13. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever." Ex. 31:16, 17. No one will deny that the Lord is speaking here to the same Israel to whom He gave the law and the covenants, and the promises. But we have seen that Paul plainly and positively declares that this was not to the national Israel, but to all who accept Christ. That this also refers to the same perpetual or everlasting covenant, of which we have spoken, is evident; for there is but one perpetual, or everlasting, covenant, and through this, and through this only, men are saved and sanctified. The Sabbath is here declared to be the sign between God and the human soul, that God is performing this work of sanctification. On God's part, it is a sign of His creative power, by which He creates us anew, or sanctifies us. Both here and in the fourth commandment, and indeed throughout the Bible, the Sabbath is ever presented as a memorial of creation, and a sign of God's creative power. On our part, it is the sign of our soul's submission to Him, which permits Him to sanctify us. This is no theory, it is a fact. Many a man who cares nothing for God or religion would not outwardly, openly, lie, steal, kill or commit adultery. They could not do these things openly, and evade the law of the land, and live in good society. Many a man who cares nothing for God, would think it foolish and not in good taste to swear, bow down to idols, or openly proclaim himself a worshiper of another god. These commandments, therefore, do not outwardly mark the man, and distinguish between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not. But when a man conscientiously keeps the Sabbath as he understands it, he does this openly and purposely to recognize God's authority over his conscience, and to submit his soul to Him. Hence, it is a sign of the soul's submission to God. But the Lord says to every one who submits his soul to Him, "I will make with you My everlasting covenant, to sanctify you, and to make you perfect to do My will," by My creative power. Therefore, the Sabbath, which is a sign on God's part of His creative power, and on our part, of our submission to that power, is, as is plainly declared, a sign of that perpetual or everlasting covenant. But with whomsoever the Lord makes that covenant, He dwells as a living, sanctifying power. So, if we willingly submit ourselves to Him, and take up this His appointed sign of such submission, He says that it shall be to us a sign between Me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord which doth sanctify you. God's infinite Word is set to receive all who submit their wills to Him. When the Gentiles took hold of God's covenant, they accepted the Sabbath as a sign of that covenant. God's Word in this was plain, and His promise precious. "Also the sons of the stranger [Gentile], that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant, even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." Isa. 56:6, 7. This promise is good to-day. The only reason the observance of God's blessed Sabbath has not always been a true sign. He meant it to be, to distinguish between those who are His and those who are not, because of the great apostasy which brought the survival institution, the sun festival. Men's minds have been clouded and darkened by this apostasy, and many have sincerely accepted Christ as their Saviour, who have not seen the true relation of the Sabbath to that everlasting covenant of salvation. But, thank God, the truth that has been crushed to earth shall rise again. God's final church will be without spot or wrinkle. Pagan contaminations will be purged away by persecution, and the heart fully subdued to Christ by love, until "in their mouth will be found no guile." In this church, the true Sabbath will have been fully restored to its true place as the sign of the everlasting covenant. G. E. FIFIELD.