The Overcomer Trust

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“Behold, the Bridegroom Comes” (Matt. 25 v6).

F.J.Huegel.


“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him . . .”  (Matt 25 v31- 32).


Astonishment has been expressed at the silence of so many preachers on the fulfilment of prophecy concerning the return of the Saviour. The symptoms set out not only in Luke 21 v25-27, but also in countless other passages of Scripture, are now clearly visible. The events spoken of in relation to the Saviour’s return are now upon us. To cut out the great utterances of Christ, all His parables and teachings regarding His return and the end of the age, to rule out all that the New Testament has to say about this subject because it is not popular, would be wicked. “Be patient . . . until the Lord’s coming . . . because the Lord’s coming is near” (James 5 v7-8).

Jesus promise is that He will come again and that His coming will be when things are at their worst. “They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds” (Matt. 24 v30-31). “Therefore keep watch” (Matt. 24 v42).

The great promise of Christ is that He will take things in hand in catastrophic fashion and bring about a great winding up of world history. The Scriptures are clear, Christ will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory to establish His Kingdom, the saints are to be caught up and there will be a time of great tribulation, though the order of these events is not clear.

When we view Jesus in the light of His incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension, if He does not come again and wind things up according to His express promises, He is not the Son of God. There is something in the very nature of things, apart from what Christ says of His return, which demands that the Saviour of the world come again. His love is so great that He cannot do otherwise. The moral obligations assumed on Calvary by this One who by His vicarious suffering took away the sins of the world, are such that He must appear again. The very government of God, His only begotten Son being the One by whom He made the world, demands such a reckoning as Christ said His appearing would bring about.

Paul speaks of a cosmic groaning for this appearing, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration . . . Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8 v19-23). Christ’s incarnation, death, resurrection and ascension are a pledge of something infinitely more wonderful.

We await the redemption of our bodies, and expect Christ to make good the promises regarding His return and the final winding up of world affairs. We await the overthrow of the great Satanic system so evident in the life of the world to-day. We await the “new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3 v13), we are expecting “every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2 v10-11). Nothing but the glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, can satisfy the world’s groaning.

I have often wondered why there is so little eager expectation on the part of the Church for the Saviour’s appearing. Why is there such apathy, even hostility, when Christ’s return is mentioned? Why do we find such unbelief amongst Christians in this matter? Why do we so seldom hear a sermon dealing with this question? Why are we not consumed with the fervent desire which John expresses in the prayer which closes the Book of Revelation, “Come, Lord Jesus”? Some claim that the doctrine of the return of our Lord cuts the nerve of Christian endeavour and missionary activity. We had better not stand around dreaming of Christ’s appearing, but rather go to work winning souls for Him and establishing a Christian order in the world. But we are told in the New Testament that this doctrine instead of cutting the nerve of Christian endeavour, puts nerve and fire into it, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself” (1 John 3 v3). The apostles, after being told to stay in Jerusalem to receive power from on high, were informed by the messengers of God that, “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back” (Acts 1 v11). The remedy for a dreamy attitude was to be an eager expectancy for their Lord’s second advent. Was there ever, in the history of the Church, such burning Christian endeavour and such impassioned missionary activity as in the days of the first Christians? They were all lovers of Christ’s appearing. Take Paul who most clearly formulated the doctrine of the Redeemer’s return and most fervently preached it. Do we find that it crippled him as a missionary or that it cut the nerve of his Christian activities? Our greatest evangelists have all held the doctrine. Did it cripple them, or fire them with a great purpose? The Master Himself likened the Kingdom to a man travelling to a far country, who called his servants and delivered to them his goods. After a long time the lord returned and reckoned with them. Each one was rewarded according to his faithfulness in multiplying his master’s goods. In this parable of the talents the hope of the master’s return is the spur. 

We must earnestly labour for the extension of Christ’s Kingdom and every time a soul genuinely embraces Christ as Saviour and Lord, His Kingdom is increased. But no one who will make an unbiased study of Christ’s teachings would affirm that that is to be confused with what is to be achieved upon our Lord’s appearing. Such sublime declarations as we find in Matthew 24 and 25 go far beyond this kind of coming of the Kingdom. 

“For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark . . . That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left . . . Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matt. 24 v37-42). “That day will close upon you unexpectedly like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21 v34-35). “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth nations with be in anguish and perplexity . . .” (Luke 21 v25). “Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened . . . At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory” (Matt 24 v29-31).

But you say you do not like this cataclysmic view of Christ’s coming? What has that to do with the facts? The truth of the matter is that these breath-taking teachings of the Saviour regarding the way He is to wind up the age fit perfectly into the picture the Scripture paints. The Majesty of this heaven sent Christ who is to be the final judge of all, by whom the worlds were made, this Christ who is God Incarnate, who on the cross blotted out the sins of the world, who arose triumphant from the grave and ascended into heaven, finds expression in the Redeemer’s promises regarding His return. Any unreality or abnormality is when we try to make this unique Christ, who sums up the purpose of the ages in a great divine consummation, fit into our puny human concepts and keep in step with our rationalistic ideas. 

Our hostility to this teaching of our Lord is found in our pride and sin. We do not like this idea of our Saviour’s sudden appearing as a thief in the night. We are not sure that we want the judge of the nations to suddenly come upon us. The truth of the matter is that the doctrine of the return of our Lord has a testing quality to it which is repugnant to us. There is so much about our lives, our ambitions and our ways which clash with the Saviour’s purposes. Such an upsetting of the natural order, as Christ’s Return will entail, is not going to sit well with us if our surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord is characterised mostly by its reservations. Hence the doubts, hence the hostility to this teaching.

Here we have the real cause of the Church’s apathy to this teaching. You may turn a deaf ear, you may shrug your shoulder, you may sneer, you may throw up your hands in horror and cry ‘fanaticism’, but that will not remove from the pages of the New Testament one of the cardinal doctrines of the Christian faith. It will not alter the fact that in the closing days of the Saviour’s ministry He focused all the genius of His matchless understanding upon this very doctrine, and said over and over “Keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come”.

At the deepest source of the Church’s coldness to the Saviour’s return is pride - pride which will not permit her to accept what is so offensive to the natural mind. How humbling and how repugnant to the man who, though he believes in Christ, still has his heart set on earthly things and who glories in the achievements of our boasted civilization. How repugnant the idea that all this which appears so great is reserved for fire on the day of judgment. Indeed unless we are desperately in love with Christ, and are willing to put a high price only on the fruits of the Spirit, we are not going to love His appearing and cry as John did, “Come, Lord Jesus”. Perhaps it all goes back to our lack of love. If we love the Lord Jesus more than ourselves, more than the pursuits of pride, we will long for His appearing. Any glorying in the attainments of our age or in what we possess, rather than in the Cross of Christ is bound to take the edge off this blessed hope. The early Church was alight with the hope of the Saviour’s return, not because it was misinformed or lacking in understanding, as we are told to-day, but because it was a persecuted Church which was bankrupt as regards the world, a Church rich in the love of Christ, a Church which treasured nothing but His Cross.

We are told to-day that the early Church was mistaken in the hope of a speedy return of her Lord. Paul was mistaken. Some go so far as to question even the Saviour’s understanding. What if the early Church was mistaken about a speedy return of her Lord? It was only her intense love and burning desire, something laudable in itself, which caused her to err, if it is an error to yearn for the Saviour’s return and therefore to think He is coming soon. It was only natural that they should long for a speedy return of the Lord. The absence of one so dear was pain no words could express.

What is really shocking is not the expectation of those early Christians and their all consuming desires for the quick return of Christ, but rather our modern attitude of indifference and unbelief. How we should ponder the words of Peter, “Dear friends, . . . you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this ‘coming’ He promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation’. But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed . . . By those waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment . . . But do not forget this one thing, dear friends, with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise . . . He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish . . . But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear . . . and the earth and everything in it will be destroyed . . . what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming . . . in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heavens and a new earth, the home of righteousness” (2 Peter 3 v1-13).



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