THE Christian life is a life of the present. This is a hard lesson to learn, but it is the one important one. It is not a far-away, by-and-by savior, friend, and helper that we need; it is a present helper, a present savior, a present friend, and all these Christ will be to those who trust Him. This means present self-denial, present humility, present trust, present duty. We never fail in the future; we can not change the past; we live only in the present. We need not borrow the trouble of the future if we use well the present. We need not hope for the future's blessing if we neglect the opportunities of to-day. But by present faith we may enjoy even in trouble God's ever-present blessings.
A Purely Biblical Question
By Editor
THE Sabbath question is preeminently Biblical. That is the genesis of it. The Sabbath is Bible-revealed. From that Book men learn of its institution, the laws of its observance, its benefit to the race. In the light of that Book it ought to be settled. Many have so settled it in their own life. They have found—and the finding has involved a cross—that the seventh day is the Sabbath; that Christ, the infallible, perfect Man, taught it, and as our example observed it. They believe this so, thoroly that they are willing to suffer pecuniary loss and ostracism rather than yield it. To relinquish it would be to them disloyalty to God. They hold no enmity toward those who do not agree with them. They concede them cheerfully the same right to differ which they demand for themselves. Now ought they to be compelled to keep another day, in deference to the opinion of another class who may be in the majority? Is it just? Is it right to coerce them? Would it be right for the seventh-day people to coerce the Sunday keeper, if they were in the majority? The question answers itself. Leave the Sabbath question to the Bible, the church, the conscience, the individual soul. The state has no right to meddle with it in any way.
A Perversion of Truth.
By Editor
Referring to the disciples plucking wheat on the Sabbath day, Dr. and Mrs. Wilbur F. Crafts, in the Christian Herald of June 19, begin their "Great-Truth's Review" with this: "That was a very plain Sunday dinner which the apostles of Jesus had," etc.
Now Dr. Crafts knows that it was not Sunday, knows it was the Sabbath, knows that the Sabbath was the seventh day, the day before the Roman Sunday. It is by such perversions as this that honest Christian souls are held to the counterfeit, man-made sabbath, and miss the glorious blessings of the genuine.
They end this "Great-Truth" note by the following:
"Thirty-four denominations of churches in a Federal Council agreed that 'new and stronger emphasis should be given in the pulpit, home, and sabbath-school to the observance of the first day of the week as the sacred day, home day, and rest day for every man, woman, and child.'"
The world and every church in it may agree in treating "the first day of the week as the sacred day," but it will not make it sacred. It will not remove God's blessing and sanctification from the seventh day, nor transfer them to the first day. He has not deputed the Federal Council to act for Him, nor are souls responsible to the judgment of that council. "Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man."
Our Saviour and Lord
By George W. Reaser
By George W. Reaser
Christ as Michael the Archangel
HE fall of man, and the restoration of harmony to the universe, necessitated the surrender of the life of Him who had created the world and placed man upon it. But as Satan's tactics in precipitating the fall of angels and of man had been to malign the character of God, so to save man from his fallen estate, it was necessary that his Creator take upon Himself such a nature that He could suffer the penalty for man's transgression, and thereby pay the debt; and to undermine Satan's charges against God, it was needful that there be a revelation of the character of God brought within the reach of man's comprehension; and it is written that "the [creative] Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth;" and again, that "God was IN Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself;" and yet again, that "no man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him."
The effects of the dire calamity of rebellion and sin were felt, not alone in our world, but with extreme keenness in heaven; and a plaintive minor chord was touched by the fall of angels and of man, which re-echoed throughout the universe. Thus not only did man need a manifestation of loyalty to God and a revelation of His character in his sphere, but it was also needful that there should first be full demonstration of loyalty on the part of one member of the Godhead to the government of heaven, on the plane of angels, and a revelation of the character of God to angelic beings in their sphere. Perhaps we can grasp the thought more readily in these words: To overthrow eventually and forever the charges of Satan, and to bind all intelligences in the universe to Jehovah, it was necessary that Christ, in due course, take the very nature and live on the plane of each of the two highest orders of His created beings, namely, angels and men. Thus, in laying aside His glory and in humbling Himself to reveal the Father by a full manifestation of His character in each of these spheres, Christ's first step in His humiliation in laying aside His divinity, in giving up the throne which He held conjointly with Jehovah, in surrendering the equality which was His with the Father, in yielding His office as Creator and His exalted position of being worshiped by the angels, was to become one of the angels.
"The highest angels seem alone in the Old Testament to have been employed in human service; always, however, in subordination to One who, called an angel, is the Lord Himself. He was the Angel of the covenant."— Pope.
Satan was created upon this plane, and, falsely conceiving that God was unjust, had fallen, and precipitated the first rebellion in the history of eternity. Christ, to prove Satan's assumed causes for rebellion groundless, must become an angel in nature, and by perfect loyalty to God, prove to the full satisfaction of angels, that Satan was unjust, disloyal, rebellious.
While living on this plane, on exactly the same level that Satan had lived on and enjoyed the favor of God for ages, He—Christ—must become the leader in the warfare against Satan, which He could not be as Fellow God, without giving the occasion for the accusation of an unjust warfare. As Satan had become so unalterably connected with rebellion that he could not be separated therefrom, he must be crushed. Who could, in justice, do this so well as the member of the Godhead who partook of the nature of angels? And again, the loyal angels must have a leader on their own plane, to wage the righteous warfare, forced by the hosts of evil, led by Satan, who were created exactly the same class of beings as the angels who remained loyal.
He Took the Nature of Angels
To repeat, the first step, then, in His humiliation, in laying aside His divine nature, was to put on the nature of angels, and thus it is that we have Jesus brought to view as "Michael the Archangel," "the Commander of the hosts of heaven," "the Captain of the host of the Lord," and as such, "the armies in heaven follow Him."
When He became an angel, He bore a fitting name, even as when, later, He became man, His name befitted the nature which He took by virtue of His birth into our human family. That name was "Emmanuel," "God with us." His name as an angel is "Michael," which signifies "the one who is like God." Whatever the name that He takes in crushing sin and rebellion, in redeeming the lost and in restoring harmony to the universe, that name must indicate that God is in Him and with Him, on the very plane and in the very nature of the class of beings to whom He is sent. By living the God-life on the plane of angels, of which Satan was one, altho fallen, He could neutralize the force of Satan's accusations.
Thus when He became an angel, the fact must not be lost sight of that He was God with the angels, yet living on their plane, possessing their natures; and this thought is preserved in the name that He bears as an angel.
Still the Preeminent One
But with whatever class of His created beings He identifies Himself, He is "the Preeminent One," but always because of preeminent character. As an angel He is Michael the Archangel; as a man, "the One altogether lovely, the chiefest among ten thousand."
In His office as Archangel, or Commander of the armies of heaven, He personally appeared in Joshua, to encourage the leader of Israel to believe that altho from a human standpoint the walls of Jericho were impregnable, yet the angelic hosts who fight under Michael against the powers of darkness would give the victory. The river Jordan, at its flood, had been crossed by Israel "on dry ground," the manna had ceased to fall, the time had come to "possess the goodly land." Joshua approached the walls of Jericho, apparently to inspect their strength. "He lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand; and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?" The reply from Michael was, "As captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." "Joshua fell on his face" to worship, and was reminded that the place where he stood was holy ground. Joshua 5: 13-15. With Michael and His "host" to fight the battle, the mighty walls crumbled to dust, Satan's minions were defeated, Israel possessed the city.
This same Captain, even Christ as Michael the Archangel, had been the unseen leader of Israel all the way from Egypt to the siege of Jericho. His position was in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. When there was special danger, the cloud removed from before, and stood between Israel and the threatening army of Pharaoh, a light by night to the one, darkness to the other.
Jehovah said of Him: "Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him, and obey His voice, . . . for My name is in Him." Ex. 23: 20, 21. In fulfilling this covenant of Heaven to bring Israel safely to the promised land, Michael is sometimes called "the Angel of the covenant."
It was Christ who appeared to Moses in the bush that flamed with fire yet was not consumed. In the record of that phenomenon, and of the interview that followed, we are told that "God called unto him out of the midst of the bush," and that "Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." Ex. 3: 1-6. Yet Stephen informs us that it was an Angel that spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai. Acts 7: 37, 38. As we have already noted, there is one Angel who bears the name which signifies "the one who is like God," or the one who is God's Angel, He is the Commander of the angels, the Protector of Israel, Michael the Archangel. God said of Him, "Mine Angel shall go before thee." Ex. 32: 34. "My presence shall go with thee." Ex. 33: 14.
In commenting on the wilderness experience, Isaiah said, "In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His presence saved them." Isa. 63: 9. This Mighty One traveled with Israel by night and by day, so that their enemies could not overthrow them. He who is "the Bread of Life" gave them daily manna for forty years; He renewed their clothing, so that it did not wax old; He stood upon the rock which Moses smote, and, typical of His being "the Water of Life," caused a stream of water to flow in the desert, to slake the thirst of famishing Israel.7
Christ as Michael the Archangel
(Continued from page 6)
To be sure of our ground that the Angel who led Israel through the wilderness to Canaan was Christ, let us bring Paul's inspired testimony to bear upon the question. He says: "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that went with them; and that Rock was Christ. . . . Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents." 1 Cor. 10: 1-4, 9, marginal reading of verse 3.
As Michael, occupying the plane on which Satan was created, He came down, and that, too, before the triumph of Calvary, and raised to life "the body of Moses" from the grave. Jude 9 with Luke 9: 27-31. Satan disputed His authority to unseal the grave, at least before He had obtained the keys of death and the grave by the triumph of Calvary; but Christ conquered, and Moses lived again. Thus as Michael, because of His loyalty to God, and with the certainty of the victory of the cross, He triumphed gloriously over Lucifer, who persistently refuses to "let his prisoners loose homeward." Isa. 14: 17, margin.
Gabriel declared to Daniel that in the unfolding of the prophetic history of the world there was none that held with him "in these things, but Michael your Prince." Dan. 8: 16; 10: 21.
But the most direct proof that Michael the Archangel is Christ is this: Jude says (verse 9) that it was Michael the Archangel who disputed with Satan about the body of Moses; Christ said that "all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth" (John 5: 28, 29); and Paul declares that "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." 1 Thess. 4: 16. Thus Jude identifies the Archangel as Michael, Paul asserts that it is the voice of the Archangel which calls the sleeping saints from their tombs, and Christ says that that life-giving voice is His own.
[The next article in the series is "Christ as Prophet and Leader."]
Speed on the Time
By John Greenleaf Whittier
From Whittier's "Clerical Oppressors"
Wo, then, to all who grind
Their brethren of a common Father down!
To all who plunder from the immortal mind
Its bright and glorious crown!
Wo to the priesthood! Wo
To those whose hire is with the price of blood,—
Perverting, darkening, changing, as they go,
The searching truths of God!
Their glory and their might
Shall perish; and their very names shall be
Vile before all the people, in the light
Of a world's liberty.
O, speed the moment on
When Wrong shall cease, and Liberty and
Love
And Truth and Right throughout the earth
be known
As in their home above.
Christ's Victory Through Pain and Death
By Mrs. E. G. White
By Mrs. E. G. White
CHARGED with an embassage of mercy, Christ came to the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He saw that rebellion had overspread His provinces, and that despite was done to God in every section and by every tenant of the earth. Man was in rebellion against God; but "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
When sin first entered the world, God had promised a deliverer. He had said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." When Jesus came to the world, His own nation despised Him, His friends denied Him, His brethren did not believe on Him. The unbelief with which He was met, was indeed a bruising of His heel. Christ, the world's Redeemer, was buffeted with temptation, but it had been written of Him, "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have set judgment in the earth." Through the very bruising of His heel by Satan, because of affliction, temptation, and sorrow, Christ was gaining the victory in behalf of the human family; for He triumphed over His enemy in not yielding to his temptation, and thus bruised the head of the serpent. He endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, and every pang of anguish He suffered, every temptation He resisted, as man's substitute and surety, was elevating the human family in the scale of moral worth, and was procuring for man deliverance from Satan's power and bondage. The character of Satan, through his efforts to overcome and destroy the Son of God, was developing before the universe, and was being made manifest in its true malignity before the unfallen worlds that had been created by Christ. Every time he stung the heel of Christ with his murderous fang, the serpent was making more sure his own discomfiture and ruin.
Then Satan Would Have Triumphed
Could Satan have caused the Son of the infinite God to become in the least degree a partaker of his own hellish attributes, then Satan would have wounded the head of Christ, and in hellish exultation he would have triumphed over Him, and the world would have remained his dominion, the human family his slaves. The synagog of Satan would have been victorious, and man would have perished, without God and without hope. Satan could cause pain to the Son of God, but he could not force Him to transgress the law of God. He could cause Him to suffer, but he could not defile Him. He did make the Saviour's life one of sorrow and affliction; but Jesus patiently endured grief, for He knew that through His conflict with the powers of darkness, the chains of Satan could be broken from the human family, and He would place them on vantage-ground before God. With His human arm Jesus encircled the human race, and with His divine arm He grasped the throne of the Infinite. To Him was given power to unite whoever would consent to be drawn to Him, to the Father's throne.
A Perfect Saviour
Jesus became the world's Redeemer, rendering perfect obedience to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall, and threw the kingdoms of this world back into favor with God, uniting the earth, that had been divorced by sin from God, to the continent of heaven. It was in the very sight of Heaven that Satan led on the Jewish priests and rulers, and made them his agents to stir up the passions of the murderous mob against the Prince of Life. It was in the hearing of Heaven that the hoarse cry was raised against the Majesty of Heaven, "Crucify Him; crucify Him." It was in the sight of Heaven that they scourged Him, that they plaited the crown of thorns, that they mocked and derided Him. But in these very scenes it was made manifest to angels and principalities what is the power of Satan over the human mind. It was made plain that under the dominion of the deceiver men became liars and murderers. The railings of the multitude reached the ears of God and holy angels. The hoarse cries, that sounded like the bellowing of wild beasts, made their record for time and eternity. Those who instigated the suffering that Jesus endured as a malefactor, will yet behold Him in all His glory. They will see that He whom they derided and rejected and crucified, that He whom they set aside for a robber and a murderer, is none other than the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords.
In Death a Victor
In the scenes that transpired at the judgment-hall, and at Calvary, we see what the human heart is capable of when under the influence of Satan. Christ submitted to crucifixion, altho the heavenly host could have delivered Him. The angels suffered with Christ. God Himself was crucified with Christ; for Christ was one with the Father. Those who reject Christ, those who will not have this Man to rule over them, choose to place themselves under the rule of Satan, to do his work as his bond-slaves. Yet for them Christ yielded up His life on Calvary.
In the death of Christ on Calvary's cross, the temple seemed to be destroyed, the head seemed to have been bruised; but this was not so. Satan, in the very act of grasping his prey, demolished his own throne. Satan, evil angels, and evil men united in a desperate companionship, and thought to claim the victory; but it was in the death of Christ, in the cruel suffering and crucifixion, that the Son of God accomplished the very work for which He was ordained from before the foundation of the world. He died a victim to jealousy and hate, a victim to false religious zeal. But in His dying agony He was victor over the powers of earth and hell. He reinstated man in the position from which Satan had hurled him through temptation and sin, and, by His own perfect obedience to the law of God, placed him on vantage-ground. In His death He broke the spell that had held millions in slavery, under perfect subjection to Satan's rule and jurisdiction.
Jesus measured weapons with the prince of darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the agony was so great that He sweat as it were great drops of blood. It forced from His pale and quivering lips a cry of agonizing prayer, when He besought His Father, saying, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." Three times He raised this prayer to God, but at last added the submissive words, "Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
To Mark His Form Eternally
On the cross He received the wounds that will mark His form through the ceaseless ages of eternity; but these very wounds will be His glory, the insignia of His triumph over him who bruised His heel; for He shall bruise the serpent's head. On the cross He cried, "It is finished," and bowed His head and died. He descended into the grave; but after three days a mighty angel, clothed with the panoply of heaven, parted the darkness from His track, and caused the Roman guard to fall as dead men at his feet. The angel rolled back the stone from the sepulcher, and the Roman seal was broken, and Christ came forth from the prison of death, and, over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, proclaimed Himself "the resurrection and the life." Through Him it was announced that every son and daughter of Adam might be emancipated from their bondage to Satan, to sin and transgression; for, as man's substitute and surety, Jesus had won the victory. The world and its inhabitants were His inheritance, purchased at infinite cost, and every soul who believed in His name, might be an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. When Christ rose from the dead, the victory was proclaimed in triumph by the loftiest order of heavenly intelligence, and joy, inexpressible joy, filled the courts of God.
To a Wild Flower
By Delwin Rees Buckner
Which I Thoughtlessly Pulled to Pieces One Day
By Delwin Rees Buckner
One May morn, when the world seemed dreamy fair,
I glimpsed a gay flower courtesying to the sun;
But, drowned in thought, I plucked off, one by one,
Its waxen wings, and left it beauty-bare,
To wither 'neath the noontide's tiger glare.
Then, cut by conscience for the deed I'd done—
To've torn to threads what God Himself had spun—
I begged His pardon in an earnest prayer.
Poor flowerlet, martyred by my ruthless hand!
Its bowl of nectar, mixed with dew or rain,
Might well have given fullest, unfeigned joy
To bee or butterfly or beetle; and
Its fragrance might have soothed a couch of pain;
Its purity, reclaimed a wayward boy.
Berisso, Argentina.
The Scars of Harsh Words
"HARSH words are like drops of vitriol; they burn all that they touch, and leave everywhere little scars."
Heathen and Christian Idols
"A COLLECTOR in Paris has among his curiosities a Chinese god marked 'Heathen Idol,' and alongside it a gold piece marked 'Christian Idol.'"
Freedom from Opium
A CHINAMAN who had been thirty-nine years the slave to opium, gave it up entirely. When asked how he did it he said, "I used my two knees."—Christian Missionary.
The Coming of Our Lord
By George W. Rine
Who Will Welcome His Coming? and Why?
F Jesus is not to me the chief among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely, it is because I do not know Him as my personal Saviour. But if Jesus has delivered me from the cruel bondage of Egypt, if He has plucked me as a brand from the burning, and set me upon a rock, and put a new song in my mouth, and established my goings—then He is to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, the Alpha and Omega of all things. Mark the witness of the Holy Spirit: "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious." 1 Peter 2: 7. No, if I personally know Jesus and the power of His resurrection, then I simply can not love father or mother, brother or sister, more than I love my Lord. "Unto you therefore which believe He is precious."
"Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven." Aye, but our transgressions are forgiven through the precious blood of Christ. Adoption into the family of God is a blessed thing; but before we could receive the "spirit of adoption," it was necessary that Jesus should first be born of a woman, made under the law, and taste death for every man. Justification is a blessed boon; but we are justified in Jesus. Perfection—who shall not say that this is precious? But we are "complete in Him." Resurrection from spiritual death—is that not glorious? But we "are risen with Him." Eternal salvation is the paragon of all blessings, for it implies all others; but there is no "other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
If all these be good and precious, how ineffably precious must He be in whom, and by whom, and through whom are all these blessed things! Surely then, "unto you therefore which believe He is precious."
Every heart that has been purged from sin by the precious blood of the Lamb, rapturously acclaims with the beloved apostle, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, . . . to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever." And with the blood-washed Paul he exclaims, "Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." And, like Paul, he is willing to suffer the loss of all things and count them but refuse, if thereby he "may win Christ." Should his Lord address to him the same searching question He put to Peter, "Lovest thou Me?" with Peter he would reply from the depth of his love-filled soul, "Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee."
Is not love the one irresistible magnet that draws and holds hearts together? If then Jesus is enshrined in the heart of believers, if He is the object par excellence of their affection, they must, in keeping with the everlasting verities, cherish an undying longing to see Him as He is, to dwell in the visible glory of His presence forever. We are so constituted that we desire, above all things else, to live and associate with those whom we esteem and love. The Creator constituted us social beings; hence we instinctively crave loving social intercourse. And tho Jesus is the Son of God, He also is the Son of Man—the one absolutely ideal Man, the paragon of humanity. Hence to the pure in heart Jesus is a crown of glory, a royal diadem. How true, then, that "the glory of heaven will be in seeing Jesus." The late Dr. T. L. Cuyler spoke truly when he averred that if we should ever weep in heaven, it will be tears of joy at seeing Jesus. Perhaps in that higher "upper room" also He may show to us His hands and feet, and we may exclaim as did happy Thomas, "My Lord and my God."
But how only may the church militant hope ever to be brought into the personal presence of her Beloved, and thus become the church triumphant? There is one way and only one—her Lord must come again. The Bridegroom must come to receive His bride. It is when He comes that He will take her to those mansions in His Father’s house which He long ago went to prepare for her.
This is not a theory; it is a fact. Mark now the testimony of the chief of our Lord’s apostles: "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. These words can not be misunderstood. They are as luminous as the midday sun. No room here for debate or even for a difference of opinion. There is not a syllable in the whole range of Holy Writ which even hints that the believer will enter the presence of His Lord at death. Mark you, even the dead in Christ must be raised to life before they can "ever be with the Lord." No wonder, then, that Paul immediately adds this exquisitely fitting admonition: "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Verse 18. In his letter to the Colossian church the same apostle bears the following witness: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." Chapter 3: 4. Paul here utters an impertinence, aye, an egregious error, if the mossy old theory were true that Christian believers are brought into the literal presence of Christ through the medium of death. How natural, then, that Bible-guided believers should pray and work for their Lord’s return, and hail Him with acclamations of joy when He comes in the glory of His kingdom!
Why Their Hearts Were Troubled
During the three and a half years of Jesus’ ministry on earth, His disciples were His constant companions. As a result, they became devotedly attached to Him. He had done everything for them; accordingly, He became everything to them. Their hearts glowed with love to Him. The instinctive language of each soul (barring Judas) was, "My Beloved is mine, and I am His." The arduous labor they underwent with Him was rendered easy and delightful by the love they bore Him. It was with eager footsteps that they followed Him, and with minds all alert with expectancy that they listened to every syllable that fell from His sacred lips. They could conceive of no higher joy, no sweeter satisfaction, than that afforded by intimate personal fellowship with the Master.
But at an unexpected hour, a shadow stole over their sun-filled lives. It was in that "upper room," after their Lord, by washing their feet, had condescended to act the part of a bond-servant to them, after He had blessed and imparted to them the emblems of His own sacrificial body (so soon to be offered in expiation for their and our sins), that He said: "Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek Me; and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye can not come; so now I say to you." Peter, the spokesman of the disciples, impatiently asked Him, "Lord, whither goest Thou?" Back came the seemingly cruel answer, "Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards." John 13: 33, 36. Peter now addresses a second question to the Master—a question throbbing with painful apprehension: "Lord, why can not I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake."9
In His love and pity, Jesus at once seeks to assuage the deep sorrow of the disciples by assuring them that He was going away not for His own sake, but for theirs. "I go to prepare a place for you," He tells them. He continues, "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: 2, 3.
Again we see that the same great fact is here enunciated by the Master Himself—the fact that His redeemed children can never hope to see their Lord and forever dwell in His visible presence except through the medium of His second personal coming. Small wonder, then, that they should so eagerly anticipate the fulfilment of the promise, "I will come again." "We would see Jesus," expresses the instinctive yearning of every devoted Christian soul. But they know that this deepest of all longings will be realized only "when He shall appear." How natural therefore that the Spirit of God should designate the hope of Jesus' coming as being to believers "that blessed hope." Titus 2: 13.
Complete Salvation Contingent on His Coming
The Scriptures reveal three aspects of salvation. When at the home of Zaccheus, Jesus assured him that "this day is salvation come to this house." That our Lord here means salvation from the guilt or condemnation of sin, is so obvious that argument or exposition is not needed. Paul had in mind the same phase of salvation when he said to the Philippian jailer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." The second aspect may properly be called progressive salvation; as when Paul admonishes the Philippian brethren to work out their "own salvation with fear and trembling." It is clear that this second phase of salvation is identical with growth in grace and in all the virtues of a divinely saved life.
But there is a third and most essential phase of salvation which can not be realized until Jesus fulfils His promise that He will come again. It is salvation from temptation to sin, and therefore from the possibility of sinning; it is salvation from mortality, and therefore from the possibility of dying. Of course salvation from mortality implies salvation from sorrow, sickness, pain. That this third and crowning aspect of salvation will be realized at the coming of Jesus, is explicitly taught in the following Bible passages: "So Christ also, having been once offered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for Him, unto salvation." Heb. 9: 28, A.R.V. In verses 3 to 5 of the first chapter of his first epistle, Peter refers to the "inheritance" of God's people as being "reserved in heaven" for those who are kept by the power of God, through faith, "unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." Read further verses 12 to 14 of Luke 14, and mark that the divine Teacher Himself declares that the ultimate recompense or reward promised to the faithful will be received at the "resurrection of the just." But we saw, in a previous article of this series, by adducing numerous Scripture passages, that the resurrection of the just or righteous is incident to the coming of Jesus. (See 1 Thess. 4: 16-18; 1 Cor. 15: 20-23, 51-55; Rev. 22: 12.)
In the light of these exceeding great and precious promises to be fulfilled at the glorious appearing of the Lord, it is not at all strange that the Holy Spirit should admonish believers to live "soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world, looking for that BLESSED HOPE, and the GLORIOUS APPEARING OF THE GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST." Titus 2: 11-13. How fitting, too, it is that the beloved disciple, as he closes his wondrous apocalyptic book, should breathe out that ardent yet simple prayer, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."
The crowning hope of the church, then, is the personal return of her Lord.
The prophet Isaiah preannounced that when the Lord God should finally "swallow up death in victory," and "wipe away tears from off all faces," "it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Isa. 25: 8, 9. Ah, it will be with these words of lyric joy, with this burst of jubilant gladness, that all the redeemed children of God will acclaim His beloved Son when He comes in power and great glory! For "He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe . . . in that day." 2 Thess. 1: 10.
Mark well that it is all those who believe in that day that will admire, glorify, and therefore welcome the returning Christ. All those who love Jesus now, and believe His Word, will, in the words of Paul, "love His appearing."
