ready for this event. It is not surprising that Satan has concentrated his attack on this truth. He knows that if he can undermine the confidence of people in this doc trine, that one of the greatest incen tives to the acceptance of Christ, as well as holiness of life on the part of the Christian, is destroyed. In spite of the fact that many churches have ap parently lost their anticipation of this event, it remains the blessed hope of the church. In a day when prospect for the future includes possible nu clear war, it is time the church recap tured the zeal for this truth, and pro claimed it to a world that desperately needs a bright hope for the future. In order for the church to gain the full benefit from the truth we must, first of all, understand the different phases of His coming. It was the fact that the disciples failed to understand the two phases of the coming of the Lord in the Old Testament that caused them to be de feated when Christ was crucified. In one passage they read of the Messiah who was to be “cut off.” In another portion He was pictured as reigning over all the nations. Christ reminded them of their blind-. ness when He declared in Luke 24:25, 26 “0 fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” The picture of Christ’s second com ing is just as blurred unless one realiz es that there are two phases of His second coming. In one place it speaks of the coming of Christ to take His saints to heaven. “ For this we say un to you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not pre vent them which are asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend from hea ven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: And the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: And so shall we ever be with
the Lord” (I Thess. 4:15-17). In an other He is declared to be King of kings coming to assume direction of the governments of earth. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in right eousness he doth judge and make war. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron: And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:11, 15, 16). The understanding of these truths has the same effect as turning the prop er knobs to bring a television screen in focus so a clear picture is seen. Pro phetic truth is a jumbled mass of facts until it is clarified by these truths. The blessed hope of the church is the mo mentary expectancy of the coming of Christ to take us to be with Himself. Nothing in the prophetic plan needs to occur before this wonderful event takes place. Following our departure, a period of great tribulation will begin on earth, which is God’s final answer to a world that has refused to acknowl edge Him as Lord. The conclusion of this period will be marked by the second phase of Christ’s return, His coming to earth for the establishment of the kingdom. There are many who accept the idea of the second coming and understand the rapture of the church and the rev elation of Christ at the establishment of the kingdom, who still do not enter into the full benefits of its transform ing reality. We need to live in such anticipation of the event, that it becomes a power ful force in shaping our lives. A man 1 may know much about the component parts of an automobile, but he does not gain full benefit of it until it is used to transport him to his destina tion. The hope of His coming should cause us to live in the light of the (continued on next page) 33
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