E. W. Bullinger

Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org

July, 1897 | Vol. IV July 1897 June 1898 | Main Index

Things to Come

The history of the world in regard to God's dealings with mankind—past, present, and future—is divided into four great periods. Each of these commences with blessing and closes with signal judgment.

(1) From Adam to the deluge of waters.
(2) From Abraham to the overthrow of Jerusalem.
(3) From Pentecost to the great and terrible day of the Lord.
(4) From the opening of the millennial reign of Christ over the earth to the judgment of the Great White Throne.

The great event that lies before us in this the third period of the world's history is the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. The events in connection with this, and clearly indicated in Scripture are: The manifestation of our Glorified Lord in the heavens, accompanied by all His saints in glorified bodies; the resurrection of the blessed dead, from Adam to the last saint who falls asleep in Jesus the moment before our Lord's return; the overthrow and judgment of the Antichrist and all the nations in confederacy with him; the conversion and restoration of Israel.

These events group themselves round one of the two divisions or phases of the Second Advent.

(1) Our Lord's descent for His saints.
(2) Our Lord's descent with His saints.

Here we have a human illustration of the two phases or divisions in the future Second Advent of our Lord.

1. Having left His throne in the heaven of heavens, He will descend into the air, accompanied by His mighty angels, and by the redeemed from Paradise, and will halt on the borders of this planet, either in the sidereal heavens, or in the atmosphere above this world. Then the trumpet of the first resurrection (not the trumpet of judgment) will sound, and the dead in Christ will be clothed in resurrection bodies, while all living members of Christ's body, then alive upon the earth, will in a moment be transformed into glorified bodies, and will be caught upwards to meet the Lord in the air. It appears that an interval of time will then take place before the second division in the Second Advent is manifested.

During which interval we can well imagine that the rewards for faithful service will be given, and the marriage supper, the feast of reunion, will be held. But where will this take place? Surely in the home of God's elect, the city for which Abraham and the patriarchs looked, the city which hath foundations, whose Builder and whose Maker is God (Heb 11:10,16). The new world of transcendent beauty described by the beloved disciple as he saw it coming down from God out of heaven (Rev 21), which is called "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife," evidently being the destined home of the Bride of the Lamb, the "Church of God," who as "a chaste virgin has been espoused to Christ" (2 Cor 11:2; Eph 5:25,32): the place to which our Lord alludes in St. John 14:2, "I go to prepare a place for you." This glorious home we may surely expect our Lord to bring with Him when He descends from the throne to the sidereal heavens. Thus on that day His redeemed church with gladness and rejoicing shall be brought, and they shall enter into the King's palace (Psa 45:15).

Within them will be the sweet harmony of heaven described in Revelation 4, 5. Outside on the earth there will be the awful scenes described in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6 to 11 and 13 to 18: "Distress of nations with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken." And then—

2. The second division of the advent will take place. The Lord will continue His onward march attended by His mighty angels and the hosts of the redeemed until His feet stand upon the Mount of Olives. Then He will overthrow His enemies, judge the living nations, and restore Israel. Thus I have endeavoured briefly to sketch the events which seem to distinguish two distinct phases of the Second Advent. The Second Advent is one advent from heaven to earth, but it embodies two divisions. Let us now examine how these two divisions are indicated in Scripture.

The advent of Christ is spoken of as immediate, without definite signs preceding it, and yet certain events are disclosed as necessarily preceding it.

1. Passages referring to the Second Advent as immediate without any definite signs preceding it are as follows:

• Luke 21:34, 35, "Unawares."
• Hebrews 10:37, "A little while."
• 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, "In a moment."
• Revelation 22:12, "I come quickly."
• Mark 13:31-37, "Coming suddenly."

2. Passages referring to the Second Advent with certain events necessarily preceding it:

• Zechariah 12: Judah as a nation returned to their land.
• Luke 21:29: The budding of the fig tree. The Jewish nation in their land.
• Matthew 25:14: "The Gospel of the kingdom preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations."
• 2 Thessalonians 2:2, 3: "The revelation of the Antichrist, the man of sin."

These and many other passages may be quoted. Surely these apparently opposing Scripture texts are at once harmonized when we accept the two distinctive divisions of our Lord's Second Advent. The first, which may happen at any time without any previous sign, an event for which all Christ's disciples in all periods of the Christian Church are to be always personally watching.

Mark how near to the believers in the early church is this glorious hope placed, as coming between them and the grave. Surely this is deeply significant, the Apostle Paul twice putting it within the possibility of his own life-time and that of those to whom he wrote: "We which are alive and remain" (1 Thess 4:15,16), and "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed" (1 Cor 15:51). Surely this points to the first division which Scripture seems clearly to indicate, while the second division is an after event in our Lord's onward progress from the air to the earth, after various signs and events have preceded it.

3. Predictions of the Second Advent of Christ include in the same verses events placed in close juxtaposition, and yet a space of years intervenes between them. Thus the first division and second division of Christ's advent may be separated also by an interval of years. Take, for instance, the following passages which speak of Christ's advent: Isaiah 9:6, 7, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders." Between the prediction of the "son given" and the "government placed upon his shoulders," which is evidently a reference to the millennial reign of Christ, an interval of more than 1,800 years has already elapsed.

Again, Isaiah 61:1-3, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." While reading this passage in the synagogue of Nazareth, our Lord paused and closed the book after the words, "the acceptable year of the Lord," for between this and the event indicated by the words that immediately follow there already lies an interval of more than 1,800 years.

Again, Zechariah 9:9, 10, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and He shall speak peace unto the heathen, and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." Here again the interval of more than 1,800 years comes in between the entering of Christ into Jerusalem, the cutting off of Israel, and the setting up of Christ's dominion in the millennial reign. Thus we learn this important truth in interpreting the prophetic word, viz., that

"Juxtaposition of announcement does not necessarily imply juxtaposition of fulfillment."

4. The comparison of various predictions of the Second Advent discloses different classes of events.

Compare, for instance, John 14:2 and 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 with Jude 14, 15, Zechariah 14:1-5, and 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9. The first two passages connect our Lord's Second Advent with the reception of His church and the resurrection of the blessed dead. There is no trace of punishment or judgment.

The last two passages connect our Lord's Second Advent with His descent with all His saints, who, therefore, must have previously joined Him in the air, and the overthrow and judgment of his adversaries. The first two passages have to do with a meeting in the air, the last three with a descent upon the earth.

Surely, then, the division of His advent to receive His church in the air is distinct from and precedes the second division, His descent with His church to the earth.

5. The divisions of the Apocalypse indicate two distinct divisions in our Lord's Second Advent.

This wonderful book, to the reading of which a special blessing is attached, gathers together and sums up all the truths of Holy Scripture, which have their beginnings in Genesis, and which, like threads, permeate the whole of God's Word.

The key to the interpretation of the Apocalypse is surely found in Revelation 1:19, "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and [literally] the things which are about to come to pass after these things."

Here we have the three divisions of the book, "The things which thou hast seen," referring to the vision of the glorified Lord in chapter 1; "the things which are," referring to the state of the professing church of Christ during the interval from Christ's ascension to His Second Advent, the present age, pictured by the description of the state of seven then existing churches, and

"The things which are about to come to pass after these things," referring to the stupendous events recorded in the following chapters to the end of the book, with the exception of part of the 12th chapter, which is historical and, therefore, retrospective. Thus the third division of the book gives us a graphic account of the awful judgments which will be poured out on the Jewish and the Gentile world during that period called the Day of the Lord, the interval between the two divisions of our Lord's Second Advent. Before these judgments are poured out what do we find? In the 4th and 5th chapters, the door of heaven is opened, and St. John gazes within. What does he see? He sees the King Eternal on the throne of majesty and power.

He sees the second person in the blessed Trinity as a Lamb that had been slain and the seven Spirits before the throne. He sees twenty-four elders crowned as kings and priests. He gazes on the four living ones, the cherubim of glory in and about the throne. Emblematical of the Church of the redeemed. He listens to their song as the song of redemption, and thus he gazes on the Church clad in resurrection bodies with Christ in the Paradise of God. Thus the resurrection of 1 Thessalonians 4 has taken place. Thus the first division of the advent is over, and now the judgments of wrath are poured out on a guilty world until the final act in the solemn drama of this age takes place and chapter 19:11 is fulfilled. And the Son of God descends from the air to the earth accompanied by all His saints. "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns, and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself, and He was clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean; and out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule 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." Here is the second division of the second advent. And here it is very significant to notice that passages concerned with the ascent of the saints to meet the Lord in the air do not suggest their immediate return to the earth, while those which deal with His glorious appearing and descent to the earth represent Him as followed out of heaven by the saints without any hint of the time or way in which the latter ascended thither. Compare, for instance, 1 Thessalonians 4:17 and Revelation 19:14.

But some may ask, If there are three divisions in the Second Advent of our Lord, why were they not foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures, and more clearly indicated?

Now, if we search the Old Testament Scriptures on this subject, we find they are full of the advent of Christ in power and glory, so much so indeed that the Jews overlooked the predictions which speak of His coming in weakness and humiliation. Thus the disciples before our Lord's death and ascension dwelt only in thought and conversation on the second division in His second advent, bound up as it is with the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel. But the first division in our Lord's second advent, they did not then understand, for it was bound up in a "mystery" (or secret) not yet revealed to them or to Old Testament saints—"The Mystery of the Church." The prophets in the Old Testament almost invariably foretell only the coming of Messiah Himself, and though one of them declares, "The Lord my God shall come, and all His saints with Thee" (Zech 14:5), yet there is nothing here to indicate who these saints are. In the first three Gospels the two parts of the second advent are blended together, but in the fourth Gospel, though the mystery is not distinctly revealed, yet the return of the Lord for His saints is held out as a hope to cheer the hearts of His disciples. "In My Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you (paralhyomai umiaV) alongside of Myself" (John 14:3).

In the closing verses of St. John's Gospel our Lord first foretells Peter's death (21:18); then being asked what should become of John replies, "If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?" (v 22). Now this could not mean that John might live till the end of the age. Neither could it mean that John might go to be with Christ at his death. In this case how would he have differed from Peter or any of the others? On a solemn occasion Jesus tells His disciples that He will come to take them to Himself. Shortly afterwards He bids them not be surprised if one of them tarries till He comes. Thus our Lord taught His disciples that His advent for them, the first division, might occur during the life-time of one of them. So the disciples understood it, although they made the mistake of converting a statement that John might tarry into a prediction that he would tarry. In Acts 1:10, 11, the advent of our Lord for salvation and not for judgment is alluded to.

But it is in the Epistles that the "Mystery of the advent for the saints" is first distinctly revealed. The earliest of the Epistles is the first of those addressed to the Thessalonians. The apostle rejoices in their work of faith, their labour of love, and patience of hope. They were a church energised into full activity, and pressing missionary enterprise into all the surrounding country. What was the secret of their thus being ensamples to all that believe? They "were waiting for His Son from heaven." They looked for the immediate return of their Lord without any premonitory sign to herald its approach and they carried it to such an extent, that they began to neglect their daily duties. This the apostle rebukes, although he commends most heartily their waiting and expectant attitude. He also corrects an error in 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3 (vide Revised Version), in showing them that "the Day of the Lord," the period of awful troubles immediately preceding the second division of His advent was not "then present," because he tells them the man of sin must first be revealed—but this sign follows the first division of the Advent while it must precede the second.

In the Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Hebrews, "the salvation" to be wrought at Christ's Advent is the change wrought in believers, when the first division of Christ's Advent takes place. How is this salvation spoken of? As a distant hope? No, but as a living hope which might be fulfilled at any moment, and in the near prospect of which vigilance and sobriety are urged as befitting the child of God.

And so through all the epistles. Thus I have endeavoured to answer the question: "Are there two distinct phases or divisions in the Second Advent of our Lord?"

1. His descent from the throne to the air [or sidereal heavens] for the salvation of His Church, the redemption of their bodies, their reward and feast of reunion in the Heavenly Jerusalem, the City of God.

2. His further descent, after an interval, from the sidereal heavens with His saints to the earth for the overthrow of Antichrist's awful confederacy of nations and the restoration and the redemption of Israel.

Who can contemplate this view of Christ's Second Advent without seeing that it forms the strongest incentive to holiness of life, watchfulness of demeanour, and active service for the Master at home and abroad.

Surely there is a danger amongst professing Christians to dwell on the glorious picture of the coming kingdom, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and also to dwell too much on the notable signs in heaven and on earth which will precede it, and thus to overlook the heart-searching and separating truth, that the first division of Christ's Advent may occur at any moment, that there is no formidable barrier of unfulfilled prophecy lying between us as believers and the consummation of this glorious hope.

"For he which hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3:2,3).

"Watch ye, therefore, for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning; lest, coming suddenly He find you sleeping; and what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch" (Mark 13:35-37).

"He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus" (Rev 22:20,21).

July, 1897 | Vol. IV July 1897 June 1898 | Main Index  

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