| THE QUESTION whether our Lord has returned or will return is of
utmost importance to every true Christian. Let God's Word answer it. In the twenty-fourth
chapter of Matthew this question is dealt with especially, and so let us examine carefully
that chapter, and, in doing so, honestly face the facts. Let us by God's grace come to His
Word in reverence and with an open mind; not to prove some theory we rnay have, but with a
sincere desire to know the truth. Surely, that is the heart desire of every real
Christian. May God bless our study to His praise and to our edification. It is well to bear in mind that when Christ Jesus comes as King, He will come in power and great glory, and will speak with authority as God's true representative, and all must obey Him (Acts 3:23). Many who have been or are heads of some church or other organization have deceived themselves and others into thinking that they are God's special representatives; therefore, to all intents and purposes, they are the Christ, and that when they speak, it is as it were God speaking and all must obey. It is a strong delusion, and while it may not be the very delusion Christ warned of when He said, "Many shall be coming in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ!' " it is, surely, a strong delusion we Christians should be aware of. Furthermore, we should not be satisfied with a "proof" text as conclusive proof that a certain theory is correct, but make sure the context justifies the application. In verse 3, we read: "Now at His sitting on the mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be? Tell us what is the sign of Thy presence and of the conclusion (sunteleia) of the eon?' " Notice, the disciples did not ask for many signs of His presence and for many signs of the conclusion of the age, but for one sign indicating both His presence and the conclusion of the con (Mat. 24:3). Let us follow the words of our Lord in answer to this question. "Answering, Jesus said to them, 'Beware that no one should be deceiving you. For many shall be coming in My name, saying, "I am the Christ!" and shall be deceiving many. Yet you shall be about to be hearing battles, and tidings of battles. See that you are not alarmed, for it must be occurring, but not as yet is the consummation (telos)'," concerning which you are questioning (verses 4-6). He warned them not to believe anyone who would come and say, "I am the Christ." because the time of His presence would not yet have arrived. He let them understand that He would not return in a short time after His departure. This He did for their peace of mind. He further said: "For roused shall be nation against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and quakes in places. Yet all these are the beginning of pangs" (verse 7,8). "Then [during these sorrows] shall they be giving you up to affliction, and they shall be killing you, and you shall be hated by all of the nations because of My name. And then many shall be snared, and they shall be giving one another up and hating one another" (verses 9,10). This prophecy seems on the verge of fulfillment, and if we would understand His words, we do well to bear in mind He was "not commissioned except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Mat. 15:24); "for the sake of the truth of God, to confirm the patriarchal promises" ( Rom. 15: 8 ); and that, therefore the words of verse 9,10 have reference to Israel and not to the members of the body of Christ. "And many false prophets shall be roused, and shall be deceiving many" (verse 11). It has hitherto been explained by some that verse 11 refers to the Catholics and Protestants, but the context clearly shows that it refers to a time just before His return. It is known by all that the Catholics and Protestants have not and do not prophesy other than what they have known and taught, and that they are stable in their doctrines, false or true. Only some Adventists and Spiritists and the International Bible Students Association did foretell or declare His presence, but the facts show their declarations have not been true, and no one can deny it. Remember the year 1914. What expectations were attached to that year, but in vain. Remember the years 1918, 1921, and especially the year 1925 A.D. None of these prophecies were fulfilled. Read what the Word of God says about such prophets: "And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him" (Deut. 18:21,22, Authorized Version). And then the Master goes on to say: "And, because of the multiplication of lawlessness, the love of many shall be cooling. Yet he who endures to the consummation, he shall be saved. And this evangel of the kingdom shall be heralded in the whole inhabited earth for a testimony to all the nations, and then the consummation shall be arriving" (verse 12-14). From John the Baptist until some time before our Lord's crucifixion, and from Pentecost until the close of the period covered by the book of Acts, the evangel of the kingdom was heralded to Israel accompanied by the mighty signs and powers of the kingdom, but despite the signs and powers Israel rejected the kingdom, crucified our Lord and persecuted His followers. Paul then, as recorded in Acts 28:25-28, officially ended the heralding to Israel of their kingdom and confined himself to his evangel of conciliation and the call of the body church. As a consequence, the commission of Matthew 24:14 has stood in abeyance and will stand in abeyance until just before our Lord's return to Israel, when those who shall then be chosen of Israel shall proclaim it to all the inhabited earth, accompanied by the signs and powers of the kingdom. It is true that many great church organizattons and some lesser organizations of our days have mistakenly thought that the proclamation of the kingdom was the commission given to the church today, and so have with great zeal proclaimed it, but with no effect. Apart from the fact that they had not and never will have any authority to proclaim it, how could they expect the people to hear them when they would not hear the early disciples, whose heralding was accompanied by all the signs and powers of the kingdom. While it is true that the lawlessness and false predictions of these organizations has resulted in the love of many of their members waxing cold, and has brought much persecution upon those who, deluded by these organizations, have antagonized the "powers that be," and also upon those who by holding faithfully to the Word of God have come into disfavor with these organizations; nevertheless, these conditions are not the fulfillment of the Master's words. These conditions persist among the gentiles, while our Lord's words were addressed to Israel and concern only Israel, and manifestly their application is still future. The fulfillment of verses 15-29, while very near at hand, is still future, and these verses have their application at the conclusion of the eon in relation to Israel. Jesus, having spoken this astounding prophecy, then said: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Mankind in heaven, and then shall grieve all the tribes of the land, and they shall see the Son of Mankind coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory. And He shall be dispatching His messengers with a loud sounding trumpet, and they shall be assembling His chosen from the four winds, from the extremities of the heavens to their extremities. Now from the fig tree learn a parable. Whenever its bough should already be becoming tender, and the leaves sprouting out, you know that summer is near. Thus you, also, whenever you may be perceiving all these things, know that He is near -- at the doors. Verily. I am saying to you that under no circumstances may this generation be passing by till all these things should be occurring" (verses 30-34). The statements made in verses 30 and 31 are very important to all. Here He states (1) the time when the sign of His coming and of the consummation of the age, which the apostles were asking for, shall appear; (2) what shall be the signs; (3) when He shall descend from heaven; (4) in what manner He shall come; and (5) what is the first thing He shall perform upon His arrival. In verse 30, our Lord describes the time when He shall descend from heaven. saying that after the great tribulation all the tribes of the land shall see Him coming from heaven with power and great glory. That no man could doubt the time when our Lord will return or descend from heaven, He gave an illustration from the fig tree and from all trees, saying: "Whenever its bough should already be becoming tender, and the leaves sprouting out, you know that summer is near." Then, note very carefully His statement in verse 33: "Whenever you may be perceiving all these things (including the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, and the great tribulation such as has not oceurred from the beginning of the world), know that He is near -- at the doors. Verily, I am saying to you that under no circumstances may this generation be passing by till all these things should be occurring" (verses 32-34). Surely, no one will be so bold as to say "all these things" have occurred! They should, yes, they would have occurred had Israel believed on their Messiah, but now, upon the authority of the Master's own words, He is not present. Who dare deny His words? The time of His coming is after the great tribulation. His blessed coming for the church which is His body and to Israel is still future! The sign of the coming of the Son of Man will be Christ Himself coming with power and great glory. When God promised to send a Saviour to the world, He said, "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Iramanuel" (Isa. 7:14, Authorized Version). When the Saviour was born, then the angel said to the shepherds: "And this is the sign to you: you will be finding a Babe, swaddled and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). When our Lord returns the second time, all the tribes of the land shall see Him coming with power and great glory. This shall be the most wonderful sign to all people. This coming of our Lord with power and great glory will also be the sign of the consummation of the age. With the coming of our Lord in power, this evil age will end. By using the illustration of the putting forth of the leaves of trees, our Lord desired to teach His followers that when they see Israel's national revival, then they should expect that His coming is very near, but not yet here. "Now concerning that day and hour no one is aware, neither the messengers of the heavens nor the Son; except the Father only" (verse 36). "Be watching, then for you are not aware what day your Lord is coming" (verses 42-44). "Now what I am saying to you I am saying to all: 'Watch!' " (Mark 13:32-37). Some have taught that our Lord would and even has returned to the earth, unobserved and unknown by anyone. Our Lord Himself and His disciples taught differently. They testified that our Lord would come again, suddenly and unexpectedly, with power and great glory to be visible to all. Our Lord and the apostle informed us, that when the Son of Man comes again, He will come as a thief. A thief comes unexpectedly, in the night. How utterly obscure are His words to them when they believe our Lord has already returned! If so, then His words are an admonition for which there is no further need, or they are watching for something to happen that has already taken place years ago ! How meaningless! A similar statement is found in Luke 17:20-30, when our Lord was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come. He answered, saying: "The kingdom of God is not coming with scrutiny." He warned His disciples, saying: "Then, if anyone should be saying, 'Lo! Here is Christ!' or 'Here!' you should not be believing it. For roused shall be false christs and false prophets, and they shall be giving great signs and miracles, so as to deceive, if possible, even the chosen. Lo! I have declared it to you before. If, then, they should be saying to you, 'Lo! in the wilderness is He!' you may not be coming out, 'Lo! in the storeroom!' you should not be believing it. For even as the lightning is coming out from the east and is appearing as far as the west, thus shall be the presence of the Son of Mankind" (Mat. 24:23-28). Note the repeated warnings to believe not those who say Christ is present! Nowhere are we warned against those who say He is not yet present. When He returns, the fact will be so manifest no one will then say He is not present. His second advent (coming) will be sudden and visible as lightning. The Lord also compared His coming with the flood in the day of Noah and with the destruction of Sodom in the time of Lot. The flood came down upon the face of the earth suddenly (beside Noah and his family, no one expected it). How unexpected was the fire sent upon the people of Sodom! Likewise, Jesus Christ will return unexpectedly a second time. The Word of God speaks of our Lord's return everywhere as a sudden event. Faithful ones, by studying the Word of God and observing the events in the world, will know that the time of our Lord is near, and, therefore, they will be glad and more zealous in His service. What does it mean when it states that our Lord will come in the clouds of heaven? What are the clouds of heaven? In Acts 1: 9-11, we read that when our Lord was talking to the apostles, "He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him up from their eyes. And, as they were looking intently into heaven at His going, lo! two men stand beside them in white attire, who said also, 'Men! GaliIeans! Why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus Who is being taken up [in the cloud] from you into heaven shall come thus, in the manner [He shall come down in a cloud of heaven] in which you gaze at Him going into heaven." With a bright cloud, in the glory of His Father, our Lord Jesus shall descend from heaven at His second advent. If we claim that the important events in the Old Testament were to foreshadow the greater things to come, how much more glorious would the heavenly cloud be, and how much more wonderful would the glory of our Lord be, when He shall be coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory! Our Lord Jesus will be revealed "at the unveiling of the Lord Jesus from heaven with His powerful messengers, in flaming fire dealing out vengeance to those who are not acquainted with God" (2 Thes. 1:7,8). "Now immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not be giving her beams, and the stars shall be falling from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (see Hebrews 12:26). And then shall appear [one] sign of the Son of Mankind in heaven" (verses 29,30). Then, all the tribes of the land shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Seeing this, all the tribes of the land shall mourn. Will all the tribes of the land see our Lord descending from heaven approaching to the earth? The Bible, which is the only true source of the Christian faith, asserts that those who pierced Him will, while some seem to deny it. When our Lord was coming out of the temple, He told the Jews, "You may by no means be perceiving Me thenceforth, till you should be saying, 'Blessed is He Who is coming in the name of the Lord!' " (Mat. 23:39). There our Lord hinted to the Jews that at some time they shall recognize their mistake, and seeing Him coming in the glory of God, shall say, Really, He is blessed. He testified that all the tribes of the land shall see Him coming in a cloud of heaven with power and great glory, because He will reveal Hinmelf to Israel, and no one can stop Him from doing so. (See Acts 7:55,56; 26:16; 1 Cor. 15:9; 9:1; Num. 22:23-33; 1 Chron. 21:16-20; Mat. 28:2-4.) Let us not be found among those who deny that our Lord will return in flesh. John states that such are deceivers and antichrists. His words are: "Many.deceivers entered into the world who not confessing Jesus anointed coming in flesh; this is the deceiver and the antichrist" {2 John 7, Diaglott interlinear). THE RAPTURE--A PRIOR EXPECTATION OF THE SAINTS Much confusion might be avoided if all recognized the fact that the Scriptures
draw a sharp line of demarcation between Concerning His coming to the earth as Israel's Messiah-King, it is stated: "Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesies to these also, saying, 'Lo! the Lord came among ten thousands of His saints, to do judging against all' " (Jude 14,15). See to it that we are not of the Hymeneus class, concerning whom Paul said, "Who swerve as to the truth, saying that the resurrection has already occurred, and are subverting the faith of some." This doctrine, Paul states in 2 Timothy 2:17,18, was as gangrene. It might be interesting to note that the two aspects of our Lord's return were illustrated by the two aspects of His ascension. It is evident that He made a secret ascension before the visible ascension from Mount Olivet. He told Mary not to touch Him, as He had not yet ascended. After making that secret ascension formally to present the offering He had given, as typified in the Hebrew services and ceremonies, He did not object to the women holding Him by the feet, as if fearful of losing Him again, or to Thomas' handling Him, to be sure it was really He. Before the first.ascension, He could not come into contact with any thing of sinful flesh. Witness the care of the High Priest before entering the Most Holy. So shall our Lord return first to "meet the saints" in the air; and subsequently to Israel at the Mount of Olives. |
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