K IN G 'S BUSINESS PROPHECY SECT ION Edited, by Dr. Charles L. Feinberg, Dean, Talbot Theological Seminary
CHRIST’S LITE
EARTH
by Charles H. Stevens, D.D. /President Piedmont Bible College, Winston Salem, N.C.
I t t a k e s only a moment’s honest and sober reflection to conclude that the acceptance of a belief in the actual, literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth in the same body that He had when He was on earth nineteen hundred years ago would absolutely arrest and transform one’s whole life and outlook. Add to this a belief that He may come in your lifetime or mine! Think what this would do. Add to this the biblical concept of a moment- by-moment expectancy that He may come today. Paul re fers to such an attitude as “ the Blessed Hope.” This Blessed Hope constitutes the highlights upon the shadows and storms of New Testament persecution, privations and hardships. The New Testament radiancy everywhere in evidence grew out of two facts: first, that Christ had been here, lived, died and rose from the dead; second, that this same Jesus, though absent, would one day return in like manner as the disciples saw Him ascend into heaven. How thrilling the thought that He may come today, ush ering in climactic events that would out-rival the great moments of creation when the morning stars sang togeth er and all the sons of God shouted for joy, a moment so stupendous as to make all other events in the world’s history pale into insignificance. This moment will initiate the resurrection of the dead in Christ, the translation of the living saints, and the grand assembly of the blood- washed saints of all ages. Oh, child of God, dwell upon this; think what it will mean actually to see the face of Him, whom not having seen we love. Receive it, believe it; it is not a dream or conjecture; it is as true as though it had already happened. Life lived and viewed from such a stimulating hope caused the great Apostle to cry out, “ I reckon the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” The tonic of the Blessed Hope can well be the panacea for the present day anemic and mediocre Christianity. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” For the unsaved and the world, the sudden coming of the Son of God will mean that the world will be plunged into unprecedented, terrible, and indescribable suffering and sorrow and judgment “where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” There is no greater evangelistic incentive than the preaching of the imminent coming of Christ. The unsaved world is warned against its sudden ness and its consequence. Is it not strange that even Christians are reluctant to
believe in the literal return of the Son of God to this earth, and so few who profess to believe it actually love His appearing or live under the glow of such a hope? Christ Himself warned us concerning such unbelief, both on the part of the unsaved and of those who profess to believe. He tells us as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man. As it was in the days of Noah, they would be eating and drinking and marry ing and giving in marriage, buying and selling. Mankind is no more ready for or expecting the return of Christ than the antediluvians were ready for the judgment of the flood or the Sodomites for the falling of the fire and the brim stone from heaven. Human nature alters but little and in spiritual matters none. Only a divine miracle can effect a change. We have a great profession today, marvelous organiza tions, and increased efficiency along all lines, but oh, brother, do we believe the great verities of our faith, that the resurrection of Christ in a body of flesh and bones really transpired, that man is accountable before God, that the judgment is as sure as the rising of tomorrow’s sun? Suppose we believed it until it became an obsession, until it permeated our souls, we could never live careless, worldly lives, all things would be changed. Why then do men and women not believe? There is but one answer. The estranged human heart of mankind is given over to unbelief. THE FACT OF HIS LITERAL RETURN Old Testament prophecy itself necessitates the literal return to this earth of the Son of God. There are hundreds of passages in the Old Testament where side by side the two comings of our Lord are prophesied and depicted, where the two advents—the first and the second—are set forth. The Old Testament prophecies relating to our Lord’s first advent, already fulfilled in minute, accurate, and literal detail can well be the norm in ascertaining the manner in which the remaining unfulfilled prophecies relating to the second advent should be interpreted. The Old Testament said that He would be bom of a virgin; He was literally so bom. The Old Testament prophesied that He was to be bom in Bethlehem; He was literally bom in Bethlehem. The Old Testament said He would be bom of the seed of David; and so it was. Prophecies con cerning His first coming depicted in the 53rd chapter of (Continued on next page)
MARCH, 1961
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