Coming Troubles And The Second Advent

But this result will not be at once developed. The subjugation of the world is a matter of time. When Christ comes, the powers will league themselves against him. This is evident from Rev. 19v19: " I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war AGAINST him that sat on the horse, and against his army. " This is after his descent from heaven (see verse 11). It may be thought incredible that nations should be so infatuated as to attempt to oppose the movements of omnipotence. The answer is, that what has been may be again. The Egyptians did not succumb before the unmistakable evidence of divine working, but madly pursued Israel after they left Egypt, and came to perdition in the Red Sea. It is not at all improbable that the powers on the Continent may look upon Christ as some new Mahomet-some fanatical caliph bent upon the project of universal conquest. Under this impression they will combine to put him down; but their misguided efforts will recoil upon their own heads to their destruction:-

" The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but God shall rebuke them: and they shall flee afar off; and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind; and like thistledown before the whirlwind. Behold at eventide trouble; and before the morning HE IS NOT " (Isa. 17v13, 14).

" He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure " (Psa. 2v4, 5).

" The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen; he shall fill the places with dead bodies. He shall wound the heads over many countries " (Psa. 110v5,6).

" It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. They shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison (viz. the grave: Zech. 9v11); and confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously " (Isa 24v21­23).

" The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall be thunder upon them (then the sequel). The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed (or Christ) " (I Sam. 2v10).

Also, let Zeph. 3v8, and Haggai 2v6, 22, be consulted, as well as other Scriptures, which may be found on search. Thus the attempt on the part of the " constituted " powers to resist the new­risen Eastern monarch, will result in their utter discomfiture. Their audacity will meet with terrible retribution. The entire system of human government which they represent will be shivered to atoms, and the invincible autocracy of the Greater than Solomon will be asserted and universally established.

This, however, will not be accomplished in an instant. God could annihilate the power of the enemy in a moment, and at once clear the ground for the erection of His own power in the earth; but there would then be no scope for the intended punishment of this wicked world, and no depth in the moral effect upon " the remnant. " God could at once have destroyed the Egyptians and liberated the captive Israelites; but then the lesson which was intended to be wrought for all time would not have been graven sufficiently deep; the Jews would have carried away but an indistinct idea of the greatness and omnipotence of Jehovah; and the historical name of God, which is one of the buttresses of our faith, would have been ill­remembered. The divine workings are always characterised by comprehensiveness of aim, and it is only ignorance of the purpose that engenders contempt for the means. In the collision, then, which will take place at the end, between the powers of this world and Christ, the man whom God hath appointed to judge the world in righteousness, man will be allowed to go his utmost length, and to put forth his power in the vain attempt to vanquish unsuspected omnipotence. This will give time for the moral operation of the judgments which will be brought to bear in their suppression:-

" WHEN thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness " (Isa. 26v9).

" All nations shall come and worship before thee; FOR THY JUDGMENTS ARE MADE MANIFEST " (Rev. 15v4).

Many laborious campaigns will probably take place before complete subjugation is effected. The governments of the earth will struggle with desperation to preserve the human regime from threatened annihilation. They will fight to the last, and will hope till expiring hope goes out in the complete triumph of the Lamb, " who shall overcome them. " During the interval which will thus be occupied, a righteous and submissive people will be developed by means of the judgment manifested who will be glad to hail the inauguration of the new government, which will be universally established upon the ruins of " the kingdoms of this world. "

What will be the position of Christ's own people at this crisis, those who now and in all ages " look for his appearing, " being " like unto men that wait for their Lord " ? It is clear that they are not left among the nations during this dreadful time of trouble, they are with " the Lamb, " as is evident from Rev. 17v14: " These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are WITH him are called, and chosen, and faithful. " Who are " they that are with him " ? The answer appears in the next testimony: " The Lord my God shall come, and all THE SAINTS with thee " (Zech. 14v5).

The saints co­operate with Christ in executing the judgments written. This honour is in reserve for them all. It will be their privilege " to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have ALL HIS SAINTS " (Psalm 149v7­9). This " honour " will be sustained at the time contemplated in the words of Daniel, chap. 7v22: " JUDGEMENT was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. " Paul reminds the Corinthians of this approaching elevation of the saints to the judgment­seat: " Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life " ? (I Cor. 6v2, 3). It is also seen by John in vision, as recorded in Rev. 20v4: " I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. "