The Triumphant Climax Of All History
Certain milestones in world history are outstanding. All of these point forward to one great and stupendous event the END of world history. God's people in the past have watched these milestones go by, seeing in them the fulfilling of God's promises of salvation. At last "the hopes of all the years" met at Bethlehem when the promised Messiah was born. What a milestone this was in the history of the world, for all the world was to be affected by it! And how the angels rejoiced as they announced his miraculous birth!
The subsequent life of Jesus was a revelation to
mankind of the character of God the Father. He taught by precept and parable
the things of the Kingdom He came to establish.
Finally, we come to that 'grand and awful' milestone
of Calvary. Here was demonstrated Satan's implacable hatred of the Son of God,
but also the fact that "God so loved the world that He gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have
everlasting life." (Jo. 3:16).
Then followed the resurrection, making known to man
God's acceptance of his son's sacrifice on our behalf for we are told (in
Rom. 4:25) that He "was raised for (because of) our justification"
this milestone then becomes one of great assurance to the believer, for as Paul
says, "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your
sins!" (1 Cor. 15:17).
Also in this deed, our Lord "spoiled
principalities and powers triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2:15). For
forty days then, the risen Saviour walked this earth, appearing repeatedly to
his disciples and "expounded to them in all the scriptures, the THINGS
CONCERNING HIMSELF." Then came the day when "He was taken up and a
cloud received Him out of their sight." (See Acts 1:9).
The Ascension was another great milestone indeed, for
the Saviour ascended to his Father and sat down on the throne with Him as the
Joint-ruler of the universe and also our High Priest. "Wherefore He is
able to save them to the uttermost that 28
come unto God by Him seeing
He ever lives to make intercession for them." (Heb. 7:25).
The next great milestone we
see is Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended so dramatically upon the waiting
and expectant disciples. They had been "continually in the temple"
(Luke 24:52-53) after having watched the Lord ascend, waiting for this promised
"endowment of power from on high."
As a result of the Holy
Spirit's coming, believers were empowered to witness boldly to the truths of
the gospel and to carry the good news to EVERY NATION. In this way, the church
was established to become the spiritual temple of God as we read in Ephesians
2.
Now we look forward to the conclusion of this gospel
work the end of the world, the harvest, the climax to world history the
Return of the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself spoke of this time as "the
harvest". Read his parable of the Wheat and the Tares in Matt. 13:24-30
and 36-43. Here He speaks of the wheat (the children of the kingdom) and the
tares (the children of the wicked One), growing together until the 'harvest'.
He climaxes his teaching with these words:
"As therefore the tares are gathered and burned
in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send
forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that
offend and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of their father."
This is in harmony with those
two passages of scripture found in2Thess. 1:7-10 and 1 Thess. 4:13-18 which
tell how the Lord "comes in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ;
who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his
power, when HE shall COME to be GLORIFIED in his saints."
Secondly, we learn the destiny of believers:
"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."
It is impossible for us fully to picture the scene
the myriads of angels, the trumpet blast, the exultant and commanding shout of
the Lord as He calls forth the dead. He is the Bridegroom who has returned for
his bride. The wedding feast is about to take place.
May we not in prospect, even now, rejoice in the
festivities and joys of that wondrous occasion? It is the grand climax of the
ages was it not "for the joy that was set before Him He endured the
cross?" Now, He enters into that joy!
Lawless Divisions Of Terms
Now, we will make bold to say that all efforts to distinguish these terms 'coming', 'revelation', 'day of Christ', and 'day of the Lord' have failed and are bound to fail. These terms are really interchangeable, and refer one and all to the great epochal event at the end of the world, when Christ will come to bless and reward His people, and to judge the world in righteousness. W.J. Grier
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