Jesus to make right that which is all wrong in this world today, and to bring in the peace for which man has so long been sighing, and for which he has so long been looking, I don’t think I would care to preach another sermon. I would have to admit that the whole thing is a failure, and that the gospel has not accomplished that which we had expected it to do, and that Christianity is nothing else but another religion, and a tremendous farce. But glory be to God, we have this assurance, we who know His program, that He who said He would come, will come, and will not tarry. His last promise which He left with His disciples was “I am coming again.” The last promise of the Bible i s : “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly.” ReF. 22:20 And so we can praise God that in the midst of all the darkening shadows of impending judgment and the ominous shadows of dark days ahead, when men’s hearts are failing them for fear of things which are coming to pass upon the earth, we can still believe for ourselves that everything is going to be all right, that God is still on the Throne, His program IS being carried out in this world, and that soon He will come and take away the veil, and explain all that which today remains so dark to us. But, we are not only happy that we can believe this for ourselves, and rejoice in the comfort which it brings to our own hearts, but also we do thank God for the blessed privilege and opportunity of being able to bring it to others, to broadcast this message to a lost world, the message of hope and cheer which the world needs so much today. What a glorious, wonderful message it is to bring to a world which today is floundering about in dismay, and in confusion, not knowing whither to turn, and the darker the days become, the more glorious this blessed hope shines in our lives. I come to you with a message of encouragement, and hope and assurance and cheer, that one of these days, just as surely as Jesus came and died on the Cross the first time, and arose from the grave, and ascended into heaven, He is coming again. He is coming again, to put a stop to all the wickedness and all the inequality, and iniquity of this present day, to put an end to man’s rule of failure and bungling, and to set up His glorious, millennial Kingdom. Yes, indeed, one of these days, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven w ith a shout, w ith the voice of the archangel, and w ith the trump o f 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 w ith the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another w ith these words." I Thessalonians 4:16-18 HE
famine of any kind, but all will have enough, and all shall be satisfied. But the Bible tells us also that in this wonder ful age, all of the religious controversy and strife and difference of opinion which has become such a reproach shall be forever ended. There will not be a large number of religions all contending one with another, but instead one great world religion will be the result. In Micah 4 we read concerning the worship in this wonderful age: “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house o f the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of his ways, and we will ivalk in his paths: fo r the law shall go forth o f Zion, and the word o f the Lord from Jerusalem.” Micah 4:2 In this same vein we read the following in Jeremiah 3 1 :34, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: fo r they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest o f them, saith the Lord: fo r I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 3 1 :34. And the Apostle Paul writing in the New Tes tament also speaks of this coming day, when all of the divisions, not only of Christianity, but also of all religions will be forever past, and all men shall be worshippers of the Lord Jesus, at least in out ward profession. Paul tells us that the day is com ing, when “A t the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory o f God the Father." Philippians 2:10-11 We have already touched upon the fact that during this age there will be universal peace. There will be no military training camps, no war planes, no battleships, no submarines; there will not even be any munitions factories, for in that day they shall “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Time would utterly fail us to quote passage after passage from Scripture, all of them with one accord and without contradiction speaking of that glorious age for which every true child of God must be looking. Truly as we look upon conditions in the world today, if we did not have this hope of Christ’s re turning, and we had to rely upon the power of the Church, and the testimony of Christians to bring about the cessation of hostilities and to bring in perfect righteousness, I for one would despair and give up hope entirely. Personally, if I did not be lieve in the imminent, personal return of the Lord
as
JUNE, 1968
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