The Second Advent
By Dr. John IVlcNicol Principal of the Toronto Bible Training College
N ote . —Under the title, “The Signs of the Second Advent,” Dr. McNicol attracted marked attention by his address, delivered June 18 last, at Niagara- on-the-Lake. We are pleased to be able to present it to the readers of T he K ing ' s B usiness .—E ditor .
and our Lord began to instruct His disciples in the mysteries of the king dom or the principles of its inward and spiritual manifestation. A little later a new stage in His teaching ap pears when He directs the thought of the disciples to the secret of His own person, and follows it up with the pre diction of His death and resurrection, thus instructing them as to how He came into the world, and how He was going to leave it. Then they are ready for the last stage of His teach ing, that He was coming again in glory to establish His Kingdom. This was evidently in their minds at the time and they desired to know the signs which would indicate the ap proach of this transcendent event. I The occasion of the disciples’ ques tion was a prediction Jesus had made that same day as they were coming out from the temple. A time would come when this magnificent and co lossal structure, the pride of the Jews, a pride in which the disciples also
E have not been left in ignorance or uncertainty as to the signs which will herald the return of our Lord. He Himself has
foretold them in His discourse re corded in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew’s Gospel. This discourse was spoken on the Mount of Olives in reply to the question of the disci ples, “Tell us, when shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the end of the age?” It is obvious that Jesus had already been instructing His disciples about His second coming. Nothing had been said about it in the context, yet the subject was in their minds. In the early days of our Lord’s ministry the main theme of His teaching was the kingdom of heaven, which He proclaimed as at hand. But the Jews were not ready for the kingdom; they did not recognize their King. The kingdom, therefore, in its outward, material manifestation was postponed,
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