Second Coming of Christ # 8

Second Coming of Christ # 8

Some time ago the President touched a golden key in the White House and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the acres of machinery at the great Seattle exposition, on the other side of the country, were in motion, and countless flags began to fly in the breeze; and that's the way the Lord will come.

Just that quick! Quicker than a clock can tick! Quicker than lightning can flash! Ten minutes before the President touched the golden key it looked as if the machinery would never start, but when the right moment arrived it was going. "Therefore, be ye ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." God's clock is never behind the smallest fraction of a second!

All signs point to the great event, some of which seemed to me to be:

A. Radical tendency to depart from the Christian life.
B. Prophecies fulfilled - the gospel has been preached in every nation.
C. The world-wide expectancy of His coming.
D. Revival among the Jews. They are flocking to Jerusalem.
E. The political unrest.
F. Extreme views on questions of government.
G. Concentration of wealth in the hands of a few.

5. If we have a part in that meeting it will mean that we shall be here in this world with the Lord during the Millennium - a thousand years - with the devil chained and cast out - not a saloon, gambling hell or brothel in the world, and everything just as we want it. Hear this: "And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loose a little season."

"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection."

"Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:3-6).

6. To have part in that meeting will be to meet those who have gone on before - fathers and mothers and other loved ones. Think of how glorious and blessed that will be, and there will  doubtless be infinite surprises that the Lord will have in store for us, "For it hath not entered into the heart of man the things that the Lord hath prepared for them that love Him."

7. Think of how glorious it will be to live for a thousand years in this world with our blessed Master and be closely associated with Him: with bodies that will not wear out or grow old, always in perfect health, and with facilities for enjoyment a thousand times higher than we posses now. The millennium will be the greatest time ever known, for it will be the golden age of man. Poverty, sickness, war and pestilence will be unknown. There will be no devil to cause human suffering and woe.

Then think of the delight of coming back into this world, where we have had so much trouble and hardship and poverty and sickness, to live under such glorious circumstances.

8. It will also mean something like that with us in the millennium, perhaps, only vastly more glorious when we come back to have a good time here.

9. If we have a part in that meeting we shall escape the great Tribulation which is to come upon all the earth as soon as the members of the Body of Christ are taken out of the world. The Body of Christ is now the salt of the earth, and the light of the world. It is the army which God now holds in check the principalities and powers of evil. It is therefore evident that when this army is taken out of the world, the devil will have unhindered sway, and will immediately begin to make this world as much like hell as he wants it to be. In speaking of this awful time, Jesus said: "Then shall be great Tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there shall no flesh be saved; but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened" (Matthew 24:21-22).

And here is what Daniel says of it:

"And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered (members of the Lord's body), every one that shall be found written in the book" (Dan. 12:1).

Human imagination is incapable of picturing the awfulness of this great tribulation, that is surely coming on the world, and may begin this very day - yes, even this very hour! Think of it! It is to be the worst time the world has ever known, or ever will know. A worse time than the flood; a worse time than the bondage of Egypt, and a worse time than the destruction of Jerusalem, when women and children were torn in pieces, and the very name of mercy was unknown.

~Billy Sunday~

(continued with # 9)