THE COMING OF THE LORD
[p. 62] THE COMING OF THE LORD
The first thing, beloved friends, to have simply before us is the coming of the Lord. It is the great event that is before us; we are looking for no other. Jesus had said of John, “If ... he tarry till I come...”. When the book of Revelation was given to John that was fulfilled, because everything then was ready for Him to come; and therefore you have at the end of the book, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come”. All is ready. John was to tarry until everything was ready for Christ to come. To give you an illustration - all the trees were planted, they have grown much, but there are no additional trees. After the church is taken away all the great events in the opening of Revelation 5 take place. A great many have the Lord’s coming before them as an historical event; but I insist upon it that there is no great event before that occurs. I turn to 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 - “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him...”. We are gathered together to His name here on earth, but we are looking for the day when we shall be gathered to Him. I ask a man of intelligence, What event are you looking for in the history of the world? I am looking for a time of great prosperity. They expect a great future yet in the commercial world. True, but that will be subsequent to the church being taken away; then it comes out in Babylon. The event we have to look for is the coming of the Lord, as the Lord said in John 14, “I will come again”. That is the first thing, the event. That is prior to any formation of kingdoms, changes upon the earth, etc. If it does not come in my time I am out of it; but still I am looking for it. I have tried to show on previous [p. 63] occasions that between the first coming of the Lord, which every believer owns, and the second, there is that wonderful time - the Holy Spirit come down and the church formed. Now you come to the hope of the church - looking for His coming.
Now I turn to the verse I have read. What is your preparation for it? You could not in any sort of way be looking for Him but you must be shaping yourself. The wise virgins trimmed their lamps and went forth. They took a very distinct path here, because they were led by their expectations to come and meet Him. What marks the church at the close is that it is not only saying “Come”, but it is interested about everything that concerns Him. “Let him that heareth ... let him that is athirst ... whosoever will”. I press this, because I have heard people speak of the Lord’s coming as if it was an event that would settle everything; but if it is an event that I am looking for, I am preparing for it. There seems such a want of sensibility in speaking about it - looking for it and not looking for myself to be prepared in relation to that event. Are you really, honestly ready for it? Have you shaped yourself in relation to Him? I would not ask an ordinary friend to my house if I was in unsuited circumstances. Take Mary and Martha at Bethany; if they had been told, The Lord is coming today, would they not have put everything straight? Now this verse describes what expresses that. Our polity is in heaven. It is the experience of a heavenly man. In Ephesians there is nothing at all about the coming of the Lord, because you are in association with Him where He is. Philippians is a heavenly man on the earth. I say, what do you feel? I had great enjoyment with Him there; I know what it is to have association with Him now; but when I am down here, I feel, I wish He would come. I want to get rid of everything that is unsuited to Him, to enjoy Him thoroughly. I shall be like Him. That is a man who is prepared for the Lord’s coming. What do you want now? The Lord to come. I feel that down here I have this body of humiliation - I am not like Him; and you will not see Him till you are like Him. See 1 Corinthians 15: 23 - “Every man in his own order ...”.
I think we may say that no one has got a glorified body but the Lord. You speak of Moses and Elijah - it is Christ the first-fruits. He must have the pre-eminence. As soon as He rises from the throne and descends from heaven with a shout, every saint will be liberated from the body. 1 Thessalonians 4: 16 refers very distinctly to the church, because they - the Old Testament saints - without us cannot be made perfect. They are the children of the bridechamber, the guests. The second point then is that you are prepared. The real preparation is that I am enjoying Him in heaven - our conversation is in heaven, looking for Him, to be like Him. See 1 John 3: 2 - “Now are we children of God...”. We have got as far as to “be like him”. That is the third thing, to think of the prospect! You get beautiful illustrations of it in the Old Testament. “She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework”. Nothing gratifies affection so much as to be like its object. It is said that imitation is the greatest flattery. A child imitates its father because it loves him. I cannot conceive anything more gratifying to the heart when I think of the Lord - I shall be like Him. Would you like anything more? I pass on to another - “We shall see him”. I do not believe anyone has seen the Lord yet, not even Paul in the third heaven. Someone made it very clear to me once by saying, If I were in a room with no light in it you could not see me. Here is a very different thing - we shall see Him as He is. Nothing satisfies affection like sight. Peter takes that ground - “Whom having not seen, ye love...”. It is the wonderful climax - we shall see Him. What a prospect for the heart! As one has said, one does not like to turn away from it.
[p. 65] Now I turn to Revelation 19: 7. Now comes the marriage of the Lamb. I think we can safely say it is in the Father’s house, and it takes place consequent upon the rival being destroyed. The marriage is properly the declaration of union. See what a moment it is! Heaven is delighted at the destruction of the rival. We have the marriage of the Lamb before the Lord appears to the earth. The interval is, I think, three-and-a-half years. The apostate thing will be hated by the ten kings, they will burn her with fire, and then the bride will come out. Look at man’s elevation - how he is caught by some new discovery. Men are now raving about the phonograph. A sermon was lent me the other day called ‘The power of God’ - and what do you think the ‘power of God’ was? - Electricity! “I sit a queen, and I am not a widow”. That is the elevation of man. In 1 Timothy 4 you have man’s elevation; in chapter 6 “godliness... is great gain”.
Now that the rival is gone, it calls forth a burst of delight; consequent upon that, the marriage of the Lamb takes place. Those who are His body on the earth are declared indissolubly united with Himself. The marriage ceremony was formerly performed before a select company of witnesses; the bride was declared to be the wife. A person that understands something of the nature of the union now, really longs for that day when he will be completely suited to Him. Another thing concurrent with this is, “His wife hath made herself ready”. You look at the church about to accompany Christ to earth, about to take her place there in company with Him who is coming to reign in righteousness. We will be the expositors of grace, but we come to reign with Christ in righteousness. Hence it says, “his wife hath made herself ready”. It is what you get in 2 Corinthians 5, the judgment-seat passed. Every person will take his place in relation to Christ, in coming to reign with Him, according as [p. 66] he has acted righteously on the earth. If you have done fifty acts of righteousness and I have done twenty-five, you will take a place that I will not have. That will be the great value of passing the judgment-seat. It is not to find out how defective I have been; it is to explain everything historically by the Spirit of God - ‘that is what you have been’. Like two columns; one is your defectiveness, the other, the grace of God running down by the side of it. “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation”. “His wife hath made herself ready” to come to the Lord. I have come to the fulness of the prospect. Even a natural prospect has an effect on you, but you cannot think what a moral effect a divine prospect will have.
There is one thing more I will dwell upon a little, in Revelation 21. You may think for a moment it has nothing to do with the Lord’s coming, but it is important for us now to understand, here on the earth, what our future will be in relation to the Lord. I believe the Lord’s prayer in John 17 is fulfilled in this chapter. We have looked at our present; I now turn to our future. Everything made ours; I shall be arrayed in white linen and take my place in company with Him on the earth. See verse 9 - “And there came unto me one of the seven angels”, etc. He had shown him Babylon, and now he shows him the bride, the Lamb’s wife, coming to administer with Christ upon the earth. There are seven traits belonging to the city and every assembly now; if you find its defect, that defect is lacking in one of these traits: I believe it has a most inspiring effect upon a person when he thinks, what is the future? The world shall see that we are one; every desire He had in His heart will be fulfilled; the Head will move every part of the body.
The first trait is in chapter 21: 11 - it comes down “shining”. Well, every one of us knows that that ought to characterise the church. Everything is [p. 67] broken up except the heart; if you have got heart you are the bride. John begins the Revelation by showing the utter failure of the church as on the earth, but ends the Revelation by showing how the heart has not gone away. The remnant has three great marks: (1) it makes no pretension among men - it assumes nothing; (2) it is true to God’s thought; (3) it is deeply interested in all that concerns the Lord’s people on the earth. If you take Jacob as a type of the remnant, he is an old man, leaning on a stick - no pretension about him! I am a complete stranger; Rachel has died and I have not a single thing in this poor world, but am I thinking of anything? Yes, I am blessing the sons of Joseph - occupied in the interest of others. I am as confident that the resources of God are upon the earth to maintain the interests of Christ, as that they were here in the palmiest days of christianity. I am like the man with the colours - when they were in danger he tore them from the staff and thrust them into his breast, saying, You will take me before you take them. What are you doing? You are not a recluse; are you doing all you can to animate your fellows? The first thing then is light; the second (next verse) “walls”. Walls have a double purpose: they are protective, and they are exclusive. I never knew a man even in natural life that was worth much unless he was exclusive. A namby-pamby person is nobody. Where do you get that stated? In verse 27.
The third thing (same verse) is “gates”, pearls. There is entrance for everybody - the twelve tribes of Israel. It is all a figure, of course; some people are so occupied with that that they keep to the figure. I have heard of a man calculating how much it would take to build the city. A city is used as a figure to describe this wonderful company. To give you an illustration, you have all seen a review - all the red coats on one side of the hill, and the black coats here and there mixing with them. The red coats we may [p. 68] call the church and the black coats the Old Testament saints. They see it, but are not of it.
The fourth thing (verse 21) is the street of gold - divine righteousness. That ought to mark the assembly of God here on earth.
The fifth (verse 22) “no temple” - no shrine, nothing to conceal.
The sixth (verse 23) no sun - no artificial light is required.
The seventh (chapter 22: 1) “a river of water of life”. These things are all future; I only bring them before you to complete the picture. As I was saying the other day to a brother who told me he was fond of pictures - if you only had that picture before your heart!
What are you looking for - some distinction here? No; for the greatest event that will affect everything - I am looking for the coming of the Lord. Then we have the preparation, “His wife hath made herself ready”. We should be found down here upon the earth according to the heavenly perfection of the New Jerusalem - not the final state, but what we shall be here during the millennium.
I end with looking to the Lord that your hearts may be drawn to Himself. This is a subject you can pray about; it opens out a field of immense scope. It is not calculating what effect it will have upon me. Be occupied with it, and let it produce its own effect. I shall not only be like Him, and see Him, but be everlastingly united to Him, finding my place with Him in righteousness. Wondrous satisfaction!