Coming Troubles And The Second Advent

Having seen that " the name of the Lord coming from far, burning with his anger, " answers to the approaching advent of Christ to take vengeance, it will be profitable to cite other testimonies to show that this doctrine of coming judgment is the uniform teaching of the Spirit in the Word, and not a mere inference from some isolated expressions. We read in Isaiah 66v15, 16:-

" Behold the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots, like a whirlwind, to render HIS ANGER with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the Lord plead with all flesh; and THE SLAIN OF THE LORD SHALL BE MANY. "

Again, Psalm 1v3­6:-

" Our God shall come and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness; for God is judge himself. "

Further, in Malachi 4v1, 2:-

" Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, all that do wickedly, SHALL BE STUBBLE; and the day that cometh shall BURN THEM UP, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings. "

To a similar purport, Jer. 30v23, 24:-

" Behold the whirlwind of the Lord shall go forth with fury-a continuing whirlwind; it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return until he hath done it, and until he hath performed the intents of his heart; IN THE LATTER DAYS YE SHALL CONSIDER IT. "

Again, Psalm 21v9:-

" Thou shalt make them [his enemies] as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger; the Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath; and the fire shall devour them. "

" Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest; this shall be the portion of their cup " (Psa. 11v 6).

" And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the Lord " (Ezekiel 39v 6).

" 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. They shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried. They shall be dung upon the ground " (Jer 25v 33).

Surveying these testimonies as a whole, we find that they reveal two separate stages in the " coming troubles. " First, there is " distress of nations " - " evil going forth from nation to nation " -and " men's hearts failing them for fear, " etc.-which may be designated as the natural stage; and second, a divine manifestation in the person of the Son of Man (who is " the name of the Lord " ) accompanied by sweeping judgments of fire and sword which will destroy large masses of mankind: which may be considered as the supernatural. The former precedes the latter. Hence, as the first indication of the approach of the end, we must look for times of trouble and commotion on the earth.

When natural trouble has advanced to a certain point, the Lord Jesus will be revealed no longer as " the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, " - " a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, " but as " the Lion of the tribe of Judah, treading the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, " - taking vengeance on this unbelieving generation. The vengeance in relation to mankind as a whole will be destruction to the majority, and discipline to the remnant. Multitudes will perish by war and pestilence; multitudes more will fall victims to the fire which will descend, after the manner of the judgments upon Sodom and Gomorrah, and the flames that consumed the military companies that went to bring Elijah from the top of the mount. " The slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth. "

The earth's population will be greatly thinned; its reprobate elements expurgated, leaving a residue composed of the meek and submissive, and well­disposed of mankind, who will constitute the willing subjects of Messiah's kingdom, referred to in Isaiah 2v3; Jeremiah 3v17; Micah 4v2; and Zechariah 14v16, as the nations which shall go up " to the house of the God of Jacob, " at Jerusalem, to learn of His ways, and walk in His paths, walking no more after the imagination of their evil hearts.