THERE are many religious people, especially in England, who believe in the Pre-millennial personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ. They consider that they have ground to conclude from Scripture that His second advent will take place before the Millennium, and that he will personally reign with His saints over the earth during this period of a thousand years. One of the principal passages on which they base this opinion is to be found in the twentieth chapter of the book of Revelation, where it is stated that “the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God . . . lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” All we have to say meantime is that we believe their view is based upon a too literal rendering of the above and other passages of Scripture, that the judgment of the Westminster Divines of the seventeenth century, and of the vast majority of the most eminent theologians and ministers, manifestly taught of God, in subsequent times, is entirely against it, and that these authorities, all profoundly loyal to divine truth, hold that the Scriptures, rightly interpreted, teach the Church to expect Christ’s second personal advent only at “the end of the world,” the last day. For our own humble part, we never entertained any other view, and the more we have studied the question closely, the more we are convinced that the Premillennarians are entirely mistaken in their judgment, and are labouring, however sincerely, under a false expectation. We have fully weighed the circumstance that several eminent servants of Christ have held their opinion, but this does not in the least degree shake our conviction as to the truth upon the point.
We intend to enter more minutely into the above subject later on, if the Lord will, but meantime, it is our purpose, briefly and in a preliminary way, to call attention to several kinds of “comings” of the Lord Jesus Christ brought before us in the Scriptures. They may be grouped under three heads, personal, spiritual, and providential.
I.—His personal comings.
These are two in number. His first personal coming was at His incarnation and birth. “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and truth” (John i. 14). “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy i. 15). His second personal coming or advent is explicitly intimated in Scripture, though still future. At His ascension into heaven, “two men in white apparel” stood up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts i. 11). Jesus Himself, on various occasions during His public ministry, made the most explicit reference to His second personal advent (Matthew, chapters xxiv., xxv., etc.). So do the Apostles in their inspired epistles to the Churches. “Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him” (Rev. i. 7). His first advent was in circumstances of humiliation, with a view to the preparatory purchase of redemption for His people by His substitutionary obedience and blood; His second advent is in circumstances of glory, with a view to judge the world in righteousness, and to welcome the complete company of His redeemed to the eternal inheritance.
II.—His spiritual comings.
These are comings by His Word and Spirit, and ambassadors, and they are frequently and abundantly referred to in the Scriptures. Take the following explicit statement from Christ’s own personal lips: “If any man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John xiv. 23). Again, the Apostle John in the book of Revelation gives us the following words, as part of Christ’s message to the Laodiceans and others: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. iii. 20). Still again, the Apostle Paul writes, “Now then we are ambassadors of Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, Be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. v. 20).
The Lord Jesus Christ comes, in a spiritual sense, to the children of men, in His true ambassadors; in His Word, written and spoken; and in His Spirit, as a Spirit of conviction, enlightenment, renewal, and comfort. He comes thus to the individual soul at conversion and afterwards. God’s people know what it is to have “days of the Son of Man” in their personal experience. Similar days of Christ’s spiritual manifestation have also been felt on an extensive scale, at special times, in Churches, communities, and nations, from the day of Pentecost to the days of the First and Second Reforms, and from these periods to the present day. The Church is also warranted to look for Christ’s spiritual coming, in a special degree, at the beginning of the Millennium. The Holy Spirit will be poured forth in His convincing and converting influences upon all nations, and the whole earth will be filled with Christ’s glory. He shall reign with His saints by His Spirit and Word, and the kingdoms of this world shall be “the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ.” There will then be felt and seen upon earth by the power of the Holy Ghost, the glorifier of Christ, all that the Pre-millennarians can lawfully desire to experience and observe, in this time-state, consistent with Scripture, and God’s all-wise arrangements.
III.—His providential comings.
The Son of Man is described as “coming” in connection with events of temporal and common providence. He is Lord of all, and nothing can happen without Him. He manifests Himself, in one aspect of His character or another, in all that takes place.
First, He comes in signal manifestations of mercy or judgment towards communities and nations.
The Psalmist, speaking of the benign blessings of Messiah’s government over the nations, says, “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth” (Psalm lxxii. 6). Very frequently the inspired writers of the Old Testament speak of the King’s Son as manifesting Himself in strokes of chastisement and judgment, as well as in acts of mercy and deliverance. Jesus Himself, in His discourse on “the last things” (Matt. xxiv. 27, 28), appears to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem as a time of His coming. In the Book of Revelation, it is predicted that men shall “make war with the Lamb,” and that “the Lamb shall overcome them.” We do not think anyone need doubt that the nations at the present moment are experiencing a providential coming of the Son of Man in the terrible war that rages. He has risen out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and also, we trust, to destroy systems of error, wickedness, and cruelty, that bar the progress of His kingdom. The Son of Man has come as reprover and purifier, partly in judgment, and partly in mercy, in this awe-inspiring dispensation of unprecedented magnitude.
Secondly, He comes in the messenger of death.
This is one of His providential comings to the children of men in general, prior to His second personal advent. “It is appointed unto men once to die,” and as the glorious personal advent is still far distant, this appointment will hold good for the present and many future generations. The Son of Man will visit each one of us at the end of our earthly career. Though the fact of this “coming” is certain, the hour is uncertain, so far as human knowledge is concerned. The Lord only knows the end from the beginning. The call goes forth: “Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh.” This is a solemn message. May the Lord give ears to hear to those who have not hitherto heeded it! “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John iii. 35, 36).