Can the return of Christ truly be said to be imminent?

Let the Christian reader, then, have it settled in his heart, on the clear authority of holy Scripture, that the grand and specific hope for him ever to cherish is the coming of Christ for His people. This hope may be realized this very night. There is nothing whatever to wait for — no events to transpire amongst the nations — nothing to occur in the history of Israel — nothing in God's government of the world — nothing, in short, in any shape or form whatsoever, to intervene between the heart of the true believer and his heavenly hope. Christ may come for His people tonight. There is actually nothing to hinder. No one can tell when He will come; but we can joyfully say that, at any moment, He may come. And, blessed be His name, when He does come for us, it will not be with the accompanying circumstances of terror, wrath, and judgment. It will not be with blackness and darkness and tempest. These things will accompany "the day of the Lord," as the Apostle Peter plainly tells the Jews in his first great sermon, on the day of Pentecost, in which he quotes the following words from the solemn prophecy of Joel, "And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath: blood and fire and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before" — what? the coming of the Lord for His people? Nay; but before "that great and notable day of the Lord come."

No – absolutely nothing. The rapture can occur any moment. In the verse quoted in question 1 Paul says ‘we which are alive … shall be caught up”. This shows that, even in the first century Christians expected – and were to expect – the Lord’s coming at any moment, and certainly within their life time.

There is nothing awaiting fulfilment before Christ comes for His saints. He may come at any moment.

But, now, what about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? When may it take place? It may occur before the clock strikes twelve tonight, before this meeting ends. I am not here to fix the day; if I did so, I should profess to be wiser than Holy Scripture. The day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. “Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father” (Mark 13:32). I am no fanatic, but waiting and watching for my Lord’s return at any moment, through grace. When may the Lord return for His people? This very night. How will it affect YOU?

It may perhaps tend to make this, if possible, more evident, if we show that there is nothing, as far as the Scriptures reveal, between us and the return of the Lord — that He may return at any moment to receive His waiting people. If, indeed, there were a single event which must necessarily, to our knowledge, intervene between us and His return, His coming would not be our immediate hope. In that case, we should look first for the predicted event or events, and after that we might be able to expect the coming of the Lord. Two or three scriptures will show that it is our privilege to look at any time for the return of the Lord.

There are men who tell us that many things must happen before the Lord comes back, but the Bible does not tell us this. The clear and simple teaching of the Scripture is that we may expect the Lord to come for us at any moment.

This is the bright hope of the Christian. There is no event revealed in scripture that must take place before the Rapture of the saints. They should, therefore, be expecting the return of the Lord at any moment to fetch all His saints away together. John 14:1-3; 1 Thess. 1:9-10.

This is the bright hope of the Christian. There is no event revealed in scripture that must take place before the Rapture of the saints. They should, therefore, be expecting the return of the Lord at any moment to fetch all His saints away together. John 14: 1-3; 1 Thess. 1: 9, 10.

Leaving for the moment the difficulty already stated, but only to be able to solve it the more completely, we may inquire, Is there anything between the saint, as far as the Scriptures teach, and the return of the Lord? May the Christian, in other words, momentarily expect, be constantly waiting for, Christ? The teaching of our blessed Lord has been alluded to in the last paper; but we may once more recall the fact that, both in the parable of the virgins, and in that of the talents, no other conclusion could have been drawn from His words; for the virgins who fall asleep are the same who are awakened by the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom;" and the servants who receive the talents are the same who are reckoned with on His return. Collect, indeed, all the Scriptures in which He speaks of His coming, and it cannot be doubted for a moment that He intended His auditors to infer the possibility of His coming back at any, even the most unexpected, moment. (See Mark 13:34-37; Luke 12:35-37; John 21:20-21, etc.)

Leaving for the moment the difficulty already stated, but only to be able to solve it the more completely, we may inquire, Is there anything between the saint, as far as the Scriptures teach, and the return of the Lord? May the Christian, in other words, momentarily expect, be constantly waiting for, Christ? The teaching of our blessed Lord has been alluded to in the last paper; but we may once more recall the fact that, both in the parable of the virgins, and in that of the talents, no other conclusion could have been drawn from His words; for the virgins who fall asleep are the same who are awakened by the cry, "Behold, the Bridegroom;" and the servants who receive the talents are the same who are reckoned with on His return. Collect, indeed, all the Scriptures in which He speaks of His coming, and it cannot be doubted for a moment that He intended His auditors to infer the possibility of His coming back at any, even the most unexpected, moment. (See Mark 13:34-37; Luke 12:35‑37; John 21:20-21, etc.)