REFLECTIONS

About Christ's Second Coming

Matthew 24:15-18

“God’s elect are always special objects of God’s care (vv. 22,24). Those whom God has chosen to salvation by Christ are those whom God especially loves in this world. They are the jewels among mankind. He cares more for them than for kings on their thrones if kings are not converted. He hears their prayers. He orders all the events of the nations and the consequences of wars for their good and their sanctification. He keeps them by His Spirit. He allows neither man nor devil to pluck them out of His hand. Whatever tribulation comes on the world, God’s elect are safe. May we never rest till we know that we are of this blessed number! When Paul saw their faith, hope and love of the Thessalonians, then he knew their election of God (1 Thess. 1:4).

In Luke 21:24 a period is foretold during which Jerusalem was to be given over into the hands of Gentile rulers and the Jews were to have no dominion over their ancient city. A fixed period is likewise foretold which was the time in which the Gentiles were to enjoy privileges and occupy a position something like that of Israel in ancient days. Both days are one day to end. Jerusalem is once more to be restored to its ancient inhabitants. The Gentiles because of their hardness and unbelief are to be stripped of their privileges and endure the judgment of God. Their dominion shall crumble away and their vaunted institutions shall fall to pieces. The Jews shall be restored.” (Written in the 1800’s).

“Whenever the second advent of Christ takes place, it shall be a very sudden event (v. 27). This is a practical truth that we should ever keep in our minds. That our Lord Jesus will come again in person we know from Scriptures. That He will come in a time of tribulation we know. But the precise period, the year, the month, the day, the hour are all hidden things. We only know that it will be a very sudden event. Our plain duty then is to live always prepared for His return. Let us walk by faith, not by sight. Let us believe in Christ, serve Christ, follow Christ and love Christ. So living, whenever Christ may return, we will be ready for Him.”

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Matthew 24:29-35

“In this part of the prophecy our Lord deals with His own second coming to judge the world. When the Lord Jesus returns to this world, He shall come with peculiar glory and majesty (v. 30). Before His presence the very planets shall be darkened and shaken (v. 29).

The second personal coming of our Lord shall be as different as possible from the first. He came the first time as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was born in a manger in Bethlehem in lowliness and humiliation. He took on Him the form of a servant and was despised and rejected by men. He was betrayed into the hands of wicked men, condemned by an unjust judgment, mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns and at last crucified between two thieves. He shall come the second time as the King of all the earth and with all royal majesty. The princes and great men of this world shall by themselves stand before His throne to receive an eternal sentence. Before Him every mouth shall be stopped and every knee bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. May we all remember this. Whatever ungodly men may do now, there will be no scoffing, no jesting at Christ, no infidelity at the last day. The servants of Jesus may well wait patiently. Their Master shall one day be acknowledged as King of kings by the whole world.

These verses teach us that when Christ returns He will first take care of His believing people (v. 31). In the Day of Judgment true Christians shall be perfectly safe. Not a hair of their heads shall fall to the ground. Not one bone of Christ’s mystical body shall be broken. There was an ark for Noah in the days of the flood. There was a Zoar for Lot when Sodom was destroyed. There shall be a hiding place for all believers in Jesus when the wrath of God at last bursts on this wicked world. Those mighty angels who rejoiced in heaven when each sinner repented shall gladly catch up the people of Christ to meet Him in the air. Believers may look forward to that awful day without fear.”

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Matthew 24:29-35

“Some understand ‘this generation’ to mean true believers (v. 34), but I understand it to mean that until Christ returns, the Jews will always remain a separate people. The continued existence of the Jews as a distinct nation is undeniably a great miracle. It is one of the evidences of the truth of the Bible that the infidel can never overthrow. For most of their history since A.D. 70 they have been without a land, without a king, without a government, scattered and dispersed over the world. The Jews are never absorbed among the people of the countries where they live like people of other nations, but live alone. Nothing can account for this but the finger of God. The Jewish nation stands before the world as a crushing answer to infidelity and a living book of evidence that the Bible is true. But we ought not to regard the Jewish people only as a witness the Bible is true. We should see them as a continual pledge that the Lord Jesus is coming again. Like the Lord’s Supper, they witness to the reality of the second advent as well as the first.” (Written in the 1800’s).

“Our Lord’s predictions will certainly be fulfilled (v. 35). Our Lord knew well the natural unbelief of human nature. He knew that scoffers would arise in the last days saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?’ (2 Peter 3:4). He knew that when He came faith would be rare on the earth. He saw how many would contemptuously reject the solemn predictions He had just been delivering as improbable, unlikely, and absurd. He warns us against all such skeptical thoughts with a caution of peculiar solemnity. He tells us that, whatever man may say or think, His words shall be fulfilled in their season and shall not pass away unaccomplished. May we all lay to heart this warning. We live in an unbelieving age. Few believed the report of our Lord’s first coming and few believe the report of His second. Let us beware of this infection and believe to the saving of our souls. We are not reading cunningly devised fables, but deep and momentous truths. May God give us a heart to believe them.”

-J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) from Daily Readings from all four Gospels  Published by Evangelical Press  England  2001  Devotions for October 23-25.

REFLECTIONS

  "THE MOST IMPORTANT SUBJECT" Part 2

“Men ought always to pray.”-Luke 18:1

“I have carefully looked over the lives of God’s saints in the Bible. I cannot find one of whose history is much told us, from Genesis to Revelation, who was not a man of prayer. I find it mentioned as a characteristic of the godly that they “call on the Father,” that they “call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.” I find it recorded as a characteristic of the wicked that they “call not upon the LORD” (1 Pe 1:17, 1 Co 1:2; Psa 14:4).

I have read the lives of many eminent Christians who have been on earth since the Bible days. Some of them, I see, were rich, and some poor. Some were learned and some unlearned. Some of them were Episcopalians, some Presbyterians, some Baptists, some Independents. Some were Calvinists and some Arminians. Some have loved to use a liturgy, and some to use none. But one thing, I see, they all had in common. They have all been men of prayer…

I do not deny that a man can pray without heart and without sincerity. I do not pretend for a moment to say that the mere fact of a person praying proves everything about his soul. As in every other part of religion, so also in this: there is plenty of deception and hypocrisy.

But this I do say-that not praying is clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured, it is all vain talk if he does not pray.

I say furthermore that of all the evidences of real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books, make fine speeches, seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet and pours out his soul before God in secret unless he is in earnest. The Lord Himself has set His stamp on prayer as the best proof of a true conversion. When he sent Ananias to Saul in Damascus, He gave him no other evidence of [Saul’s] change of heart than this: “Behold, he prayeth” (Acts 9:11).

I know that the elect of God are chosen to salvation from all eternity. I do not forget that the Holy Spirit, Who calls them in due time, in many instances leads them by very slow degrees to acquaintance with Christ…I cannot call any one justified until he believes. I dare not say that any one believes until he prays…The first act of faith will be to speak to God. Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to life. How a man can live and not breathe is past my comprehension, and how a man can believe and not pray is past my comprehension too.”

-J.C. Ryle  (1816-1900) from Practical Religion  Banner of Truth Trust  www.banneroftruth.org