Coming Troubles And The Second Advent

THE SUBJECT of this lecture is one that has no charm for the generality of mankind. Men do not like to think of coming judgment. It is not congenial to their tastes. The expectation of them, still more the enunciation of them, is regarded as indicative of a low­born and vulgar fanaticism. Refinement is supposed to be shown by the more popular idea that the world will gradually hush into millennial tranquillity without disturbance to the present order.

It is possible to give a perfectly reasonable hypothesis of this state of public sentiment. But it is not particularly worth the time necessary. It will be a better plan to show that a belief in coming troubles, as the precursors of Christ's approaching manifestation on earth in power and great glory, is the inevitable consequence of practical faith in the Bible as the revealed will of God. Any imputation therefore, arising from such a belief, is against the Bible, and not against the subject of the belief; for there is a marked difference between gratuitous fancy, and intelligent conviction arising from credence accorded to authority.

In former lectures, we have seen that it is the purpose of God to send Jesus Christ to the earth again for the purpose of destroying all kingdoms that exist, and setting up a kingdom of His own that will be universal and never ending. Our attention is now directed to the circumstances attendant upon this prodigious change in the world's history. Will the change from the kingdom of men to the kingdom of God be instantaneous, or the slow result of a universal process? Will Christ steal upon the earth in a time of peace, and quietly destroy the powers of the earth, with their armies, in a single night, as in the case of the Assyrians in the days of old? Or, will he be manifested when wars are rife, and trouble abroad? The testimony is very explicit on this point:-

At that time, " there shall be a time of trouble, SUCH AS NEVER WAS SINCE THERE WAS A NATION EVEN TO THAT SAME TIME " (Dan. 12v 1).

" Upon the earth shall be distress of nations with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming upon the earth " (Luke 21v 25,26).

" Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day, from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth " (Jer. 25v 32, 33).

These testimonies answer the question. They show that the change which will introduce the kingdom of God on earth will be accompanied by troubles on a scale without parallel in history; that the whole world will be involved in political difficulties, and suffer from the many evils incident to such a condition. But we shall find that another element of trouble will characterize the times of the second advent-that God Himself will operate in visible judgment upon the nations of the earth- that natural perplexities will be supplemented by miraculous retributions. The testimonies to this effect are numerous and emphatic; and as the entire argument hinges upon them, they deserve the most thoughtful consideration. We read in Jeremiah 25v30, 31:-

" Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, the Lord shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation. He shall give a shout as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord hath A CONTROVERSY with the nations; he WILL PLEAD WITH all flesh, he will give them that are wicked to the sword. "

Here is a direct pleading with " all flesh, " on the part of the Almighty, and the extirpation of the wicked from among men. History supplies no record of such an awful transaction. The time of its accomplishment will appear from the next testimony:--

" Behold the name of the Lord COMETH FROM FAR, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy; his lips are full of INDIGNATION, and his tongue as a devouring fire; and his breath as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity " (Isa. 30v 27, 28).

Who is " the name of the Lord " personified in this quotation from Isaiah? We hear the answer when we listen to him who said, " I am come in my Father's name " (John 5v 43), and of whom it is written, " There is NONE OTHER NAME given under heaven among men, whereby we must be saved " ; viz., Jesus the Christ, the anointed of God, who is to us Emmanuel-God­with­us-the Word made flesh-a name of God provided for the investiture of the naked sons of men. The prophecy represents him as " coming FROM FAR. " What is the meaning of this? We find it explained in Christ's parable to his disciples, which is recorded in Luke 19v12­27:- " A certain nobleman went into a FAR COUNTRY to receive for himself a kingdom, and to RETURN. " Hence, Jesus (the nobleman), returning from heaven (the far country), is " The name of the Lord coming from far. "

Now in what character is he revealed, according to the prophecy? " His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire. " Or take Paul's representation: " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire TAKING VENGEANCE on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; " which is in agreement with the statement in Isaiah 11v 4: " He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth: and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. " Finally, we contemplate the picture symbolically elaborated in Rev. 19v11­16:-

" And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a NAME WRITTEN that no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his NAME is called the WORD OF GOD. And their armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean; and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture, and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. "