Is Jesus coming soon?

We believe that time is very near. Everything bespeaks the imminence of the Lord’s return. The knowledge of what His first appearing has effected, and His second appearing is maintaining, will enable us, without a particle of distrust or fear, to wait for His future appearing.

A recent writer speaks of the next ten years with great apprehension, and well he may. The world is surely and swiftly drifting down the rapids. Soon the headlong plunge must be made. The signs of the times, the things Scripture leads us to expect, are multiplying on every hand. The coming of the Lord is very, very nigh. How welcome will be His summoning shout!

— John, as the representative of the Church, answers the Lord’s declaration. Doubtless his words formed the expression of his own desire. The aged Seer had witnessed visions and sights; had been the spectator and actor in scenes overwhelmingly grand, but on the fulfilment of this great fact they all repose: the personal return of the Lord. This was announced by the coming One Himself, and the heart of the aged apostle is thrilled. But led and controlled by the ever-present Holy Ghost he not only gives expression to his own feelings, but voices those of the whole Church, “Amen; come, Lord Jesus.” The Yea and Amen, Greek and Hebrew affirmatives, are united in the introduction to the book (Rev. 1:7). Here they are separated. The Lord assures us of the certainty of His Coming, “Yea, I come.” The Church rejoices in the immutability of His word, “Amen; come.” Can this word fail? Impossible. Will the Lord not keep His tryst with His people? Surely. “Quickly” He comes. Ah! it seems long. But according to divine reckoning the Lord has not been away quite two full days (2 Peter 3:8). “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise.” The persecutions and sorrows of Israel, the sins and griefs of a stricken earth, and the hopelessness and distractions of the professing Church call aloud for a Deliverer. All is the merest patchwork in political government and social legislation. A strong governing hand is needed, and this need will soon be met in Christ Jesus. But we have a personal interest in Him Who is Coming. For us He died, for us He lives, and for us He comes. “Amen; come, Lord Jesus,” is the ardent exclamation of the Church of God.

“I come quickly” is the announcement of the Lord’s speedy return from Heaven. It is three times repeated in the last chapter of the book (Rev. 22:7, 12, 20). How can “quickly” be reconciled with a lengthened delay of nigh two thousand years? Ah! we have to adjust our modes of reckoning, and measure time as the Lord does. “Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). About two days thus measures the period between the two Advents, His first and second.

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 knows 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?

But there is another point which is important, and that is not merely that the thing promised is sure. The Lord considers it important that the saints should be always expecting it as a present thing, and wishing for it as a present thing - I say expecting it as a present thing, uncertain when it will come. Thus He speaks in Luke 12:35-40: "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately … And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants … Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not." And again, verses 43, 44: "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath." Here surely they are told to be expecting always. Now, would the certainty that it must be two or three thousand years off not affect this state of mind? I say also, wishing for it as a present thing, as it is written, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And … He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus," Rev. 22:17, 20.

(Vv. 8-10). The Apostle has exposed the foolish arguments of the scoffing materialist who, willingly ignorant of the word of God, takes occasion by the delay in the fulfilment of God's promise to deny that the Lord is coming. He now entreats the beloved of the Lord not to be ignorant of the reason for this delay. First, let the believer remember that what may seem a long delay in our eyes is but a brief moment with the Lord, for “one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. Secondly, let us never forget that the promise of His coming is “His promise”, and that His word cannot fail. Thirdly, there is a reason for the delay. It is not that the Lord is slack in the fulfilment of His promise, but that He is longsuffering, “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. In His grace God gives space for repentance before the judgment falls; in his unbelief man takes occasion by the delay to deny that judgment will ever come.

These inspired threatenings of judgment found an almost immediate fulfilment in the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus. History informs us that most Christians took warning and left the city before it was invested by the Roman armies, while the unbelieving mass were entrapped and such miseries came upon them as all their weepings and howlings could not avert. Yet while a fulfilment it was not the fulfilment of these words. "Ye have heaped treasure together," it says, "for the last days." That means, not merely the last few years of that sad chapter of Jerusalem's history, but the days just preceding the coming of the Lord.

You will notice how James corroborates his fellow-apostles, Paul, Peter and John. All four of them present the coming of the Lord as imminent, as the immediate hope of the believer. They say to us such things as, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand." "The end of all things is at hand." "Little children, it is the last time." "The coming of the Lord draws nigh." And yet nearly nineteen centuries have passed since these words were written. Were they mistaken? By no means. Yet it is not easy to get their exact view-point, and so understand their words.

III. In these last cases the idea of trial and persecution was before the apostle's mind, and the Lord's coming is named in order to strengthen the tried ones against the evil around. But the same hope is also presented to stay the heart against suffering arising from quite different causes. In such a practical epistle as James, no matter of mere curious speculation would enter. Yet here the hope of the Lord's return is brought in to comfort the poor brethren, who were groaning under oppression. "Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord" (James 5:7). If James had meant "unto death," he would have said so. It is manifest that he could not mean the end of the world. He intended, therefore, to point to the Lord's coming as an event that might happen before death, and in the prospect of which they were to find their comfort. This is obvious, also, from the way in which he continues — "Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draws nigh" (vv. 7, 8). Mark how accurate and tender the words of comfort here spoken. The blessed hope is presented, not once, but twice, for the healing of their wounded spirits, and yet they are warned against impatience. Long waiting may be needed, but they are not to lose the hope because of its delay; for, though in man's estimate it might tarry, according to God's Word, it "draws nigh."

The fixing of dates as to the coming of the Lord is a pernicious thing, and those who do it are presumptuous people. The Lord Himself said, "But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, nor the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" (Mark 13:32). Yes, says some one, but we know the year. Indeed? Then why did the Lord add, "Watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is" (verse 33), and again, "for ye know not when the Master of the house comes, at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning" (verse 35)? To the apostles who have given us the Word of God by the Holy Spirit's inspiration, the Lord said, "It is not for you to know the times and the seasons, which the Father has put in His own power" (Acts 1). If this knowledge was withheld from them in the Father's wisdom, where is there any indication in the Word that it would be revealed to us? These sayings of the Lord have to do with His coming in glory, and they surely abide true in regard to it. The church period has intervened, it will close with the Rapture, but not a word or a hint is given in relation to the Rapture that the time of it may be known. Days, months, years and numbers are given in the Scriptures, but they have their relation to Israel and the earth, and are all in abeyance until the heavenly company is secured and caught up, then the clock of prophecy will start again, and God's calendar will justify itself. Meanwhile we must accept the words of the Lord, and wait and watch and work.