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tion for them from the sinful. The living righteous shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and the dead in Christ shall be resurrected and their bodies fash ioned like unto His own glorious body, and they shall be forever with the Lord. The earthly and heavenly saints will be united and glorified and will stand faultless before the presence o f His glory with exceeding joy. The un godly will be banished into eternal night from all good ness, beauty, righteousness, and love, and sent into the place prepared for the devil and his angels. There are three significant truths suggested by our texts: First, there is a divine declaration o f a coming separation; second, the separation will be made according to our attitude toward the Lord and its consequent char acter; third, this attitude and character will be considered independently o f circumstances. - G od D eclares a S eparation First, there is the divine declaration o f a coming sep aration. This separation is occasioned by the Lord Jesus Christ. Even when He was on earth, He was the great Separator o f mankind. He sifted, separated, and sun dered men. He was set, as Simeon said, “ for the fall and rising again o f many in Israel.” “ Think not,” said Christ, “ that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword” (Matt. 10:34). O f course, the word does not mean a carnal sword, but rather the sword of the Spirit which divides the human race and marks the godly and the ungodly. That separation continues to this day. There are many places where families can live together in peace even though separated in politics, where they can not live in peace because o f the religion o f the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan reveals his enmity against God through in spiring hatred in professed religionists against the fol lowers o f the Lord Jesus Christ. In the days of His flesh, He set father against son, and son against father, mother [Continued on page 304]
and doctrines o f demons; a denial of the deity o f Christ; a repudiation o f the virgin birth, blood atonement, physical resurrection and return o f the L o rd ; a church that would have a form o f godliness and deny the power thereof (1 Tim. 4 :1 -3 ; 2 Tim. 3 :1 -5 ). In the world, He said, there would be wars, international conflicts, famines, pestilences, persecutions, distress o f nations, and great perplexity, men’s hearts failing them because o f fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, and signs o f very little repentance. T he R eign of C hrist In the third place, Christ said that in the day o f His revelation He will take unto Himself His rightful authority and reign and reveal Himself as Messiah o f the Jews and God’s chosen King (Matt. 25:31-34). This will be the realization o f the prophecy uttered by John in Revelation 11 :15: “ The kingdoms o f this world are become the king doms o f our Lord, and o f his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” T he S uddenness of H is C oming In the fourth place, the Lord Jesus Christ said that His coming will be as sudden and unmistakable as the lightning flash which shines from one part o f the heaven to the other: “ For as the lightning cometh out o f the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming o f the Son o f man be” (Matt. 24 :27 ). U nprepared P eople In the next place, the Lord plainly declared that His coming will overtake an unprepared people. “ Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son o f man cometh” (Matt. 24 :44 ). The major portion o f the world will be immersed in secular pursuits and worldly pleasures, heedless o f the things which pertain to eternal peace (Matt. 24 :37 -39 ); just “ as it was in the days o f Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son o f man” (Lk. 1 7 :26). These unprepared ones will then call upon the rocks and the mountains to hide them, “ and then shall all the tribes o f the earth mourn” because o f His coming (Matt. 24 :30 ; Rev. 6:16, 17). In that day, the greatest prayer meeting the world has ever known will be held by unbelievers, and their prayers will not be directed to Jehovah, but to the rocks and mountains to hide them from the wrath o f Him whom they have rejected as their personal Saviour. A G reat S eparation ' In the sixth place, the Saviour makes clear that the day o f His coming will be a day o f discrimination, divi sion, and separation. Just as Noah and his family were saved from judgment—were saved by their faith—build ing the ark and entering it, so those who are ready by grace to welcome our Lord’s appearing, or His return to earth, shall pass with Him into the light and life o f the Father’s presence. And just as the wicked o f Noah’s day were destroyed in the flood o f God’s judgment, so will the wicked in the day o f Christ’s coming pass into outer dark ness, where there is weeping and gnashing o f teeth. This divine discrimination will separate the closest o f friends and will sunder the most intimate o f human relationships. Again notice that this division o f humanity is effected not by human authority, but by divine decree. Some o f us perhaps would like to have a hand in the separation, but our Lord forbids subtraction. Let us listen to His teach ings in Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43. He forbade any human being to have anything to do with the separation, knowing that men would err in their judgments and dis criminations. Thus, by the grace o f God, the twofold coming o f Christ will be a great reunion for all saints, and a separa
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