IV. KNOWLEDGE OF PROPHETIC DETAILS NOT NECESSARY

It has sometimes been thought that a minute investigation of the details of Scripture prophecy is needful in order to form any judgment as to the manner in which the Scripture presents the second coming of the Lord; and thus, if prophetic details are not understood, or if there is a difficulty in the mind respecting them, the simple subject of the Lord's coming is either left as one on which no judgment is formed, or else there is an acquiescence of an indefinite kind in the opinions of someone who is supposed (perhaps truly) to be more instructed in Scripture. But while all prophetic details, if rightly learned from the Word of God, have their value in this as in other respects, so far from a knowledge of such minute points being needful as a pre-requisite, a definite apprehension of the manner in which the Lord's second advent is taught in the Word of God, is the rather that which is indispensably necessary as the antecedent qualification; for thus a Christian mind may enter on the details of those prophecies which teach what shall be the future, whether of the Jews, the Gentiles, or the Church of God. This follows from that one event being the turning-point in the dispensational dealing of God. If, then, we have to learn anything as to the details of revealed truth, the primary point is, how our hope --the coming of the Lord Jesus-- is set before us.

For if a detailed acquaintance with prophetic expectations is needful before the Lord's coming can be understood, how would it have been possible for the apostles, or for the Lord Jesus himself, to have taught anything on the subject? How could they have used it as animating hope, leading to watchfulness, sustaining under trial, or purifying the believer? But they did so use it as a fact, the reality of which was apprehended in such a manner that the circumstances could be taught and enforced as to their moral bearings. A marked instance of this is given in the conclusion of 1 Thessalonians 4. The Apostle comforts the Thessalonian Christians concerning their departed brethren, teaching them (what they seem not to have fully known) that the whole “Church of the first-born” shall be gathered together at the coming of the Lord; the dead being raised, and the living changed. He then tells them how the Lord shall come: “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words”. [4] And this the most uninstructed Christian may do who simply accepts the words of the Apostle as being the truth of God. The scene presented is the very reverse of secrecy: the Lord comes with a shout; His call shall wake the dead; but besides this, the voice of the archangel shall be also heard; and, as if the notion of publicity were intended to be specially enforced, there shall be the sounding of the trump of God. This is just what Christ has promised in Matthew 24:31, when He comes with the clouds of heaven. To say that this triple sound shall not be heard by all, would be a mere addition to Holy Scripture of a kind that contradicts its testimony. We might as well say that “every eye shall see Him” means that He shall only be visible to some few. Above shall be heard the shout, the voice, and the trumpet: on earth the graves of all the sleeping family of faith shall be opened; the sleepers shall arise: and then those living shall with them be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. This, as thus set forth, ought to be our hope. It may have been needful to teach the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord must still be waited for; that the falling away and the revelation of the man of sin had first to take place; but even these things connect themselves with the same hope; for this Head of evil is he “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:8). “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed” (2 Thessalonians 1:6,7). Thus, at the revelation of Christ from heaven, there shall be rest for His Church, and the destruction of their oppressors. The date which the Spirit gives for both is the same. The Church is called to “patience of hope”, and not to mere excitement of speculative expectancy. “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” (2 Thessalonians 3:5).

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[4] The expression “we which are alive and remain” is what the Church may ever use; it has nothing to do with individual expectancy, but it is the language of corporate hope. “We shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52) is of precisely the same character: that portion of the one Church which is living at any given time may use it; for so long as we are alive we do, in fact, belong to the number of the living expectants in contrast to those who have fallen asleep. To suppose that he Apostle imagined when he wrote the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, that the coming of the Lord was so near that he would then be living, is to assume that before he wrote his second epistle he had received such light as to contradict his own previous teaching--a notion utterly subversive of the authority of the first epistle, and also contradictory to the teaching of that epistle itself (Chapter 5:1,2); contradictory also to the fact that he had taught the Thessalonians, when with them, some of the things which he enforces in the second epistle: “Remember ye not that when I was with you I told you these things”. He must, therefore, have had all this light before he wrote his first epistle. “We”, in corporate expressions, means that portion of the whole body to whom the term can apply. An Israelite will now say, “The Lord led us out of Egypt, and brought us through the Red Sea, and gave us the land which He sware unto our fathers”; but no one imagines that he applies this to himself, or to the generation of men now living.

III. THE VISIBLE COMING IN CLOUDS. ACTS 1:9

When the apostles, forty days after the Lord's resurrection, accompanied Him to the Mount of Olives, and when they had received from Him His charge that they were to be witnesses for Him “unto the uttermost part of the earth”, His ascension took place; “while they beheld He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). But while they were thus left, He was mindful of them; the two in white apparel, who appeared to them, directed them onward to the day of His coming again: “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”. These words, with the previous mention of the cloud by which the apostles had seen Him received out of their sight, appear to be intended to lead them, and to lead us, to consider the definite promises and prophecies which had been given of His coming in the clouds of heaven. They might remember Daniel 7:13: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him; and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom”, etc. This scene is not actually the second advent of Christ, but that which is seen in heaven as immediately preceding it; when a certain power of blasphemy upon earth, which up to that time has persecuted the saints of the most High, is judged, and when Christ is coming forth to take the kingdom. It is to this scene in Daniel that our Lord refers, in the various places in which He speaks of His own future coming “with the clouds of heaven”: these clouds were the accompaniment of His appearing in glory so soon as He has received the investiture of this kingdom.

Our Lord, in His discourse on the Mount of Olives, in speaking of what should be “immediately after the tribulation of those days”, specifies the darkening of the sun and moon, etc.: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30). This, then, was the expectation of the Church declared by the Lord Himself before He suffered, of which the apostles were again reminded when He had been taken up from them into heaven. When our Lord stood before the High Priest, and when he said to Him “I adjure thee, by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Son of God, Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said; nevertheless, I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” [2] (Matthew 26:64). Who is there that cannot see how plain is the reference to the manifestation of the glory of Christ? The chief priests and scribes had not heard the discourse on the Mount of Olives, but they felt no doubt that our Lord claimed to be the person spoken of as “the Son of man” in Daniel 7, who would (He said) come forth, when He should be seen in glory by those who had rejected Him. “Ye shall see” has to do, not with the persons then addressed, but with Israel in unbelief looked at corporately.

In the revelation given to the beloved disciple in Patmos, we again find the same accompaniments of the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus: “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him [3] (Revelation 1:7); and to this promise the response is, “Even so; Amen”. Thus, if we see the coming of Christ spoken of in connection with judgment on persecuting Gentile power, or in relation to Israel, when His believing people are addressed as to their hope, this event is spoken of in similar language. There is no hope set before the Church prior to the appearing of the Lord in the clouds of heaven: this is taught us in almost every way that can be conceived; because the Lord knew that our minds would be liable to the same inattention, and there would be in the Church the same dimness of apprehension, which He found in His disciples who were around Him when He was on earth. Are we looking on to this appearing of the Lord in visible glory, after iniquity and oppression have reached their height, and immediately after the unequalled tribulation, or have we formed some other hope in our minds? It is to this coming in the clouds of heaven that the apostles were directed when Jesus ascended; it is to the testimony to this coming that the Apostle John responds, “Even so; Amen”.

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[2] Our Lord, in this brief answer, refers to several Scriptures; besides Daniel 7:13, He alludes to Psalm 80:17, “Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. So will not we go back from thee,” etc. Here the Son of man, at the right hand of God, is spoken of as the only hope and deliverer for Israel. Psalm 110:1 (“The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool”) points out the place into which the rejected Messiah should be received, until He comes forth to set His feet on those whom Jehovah will have set as His footstool, when He gives Him the commission, “Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies”.

[3] It is scarcely needful to point out the use made in this passage of Zechariah 12:10: “I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born”. How clearly does the connection of this passage, taken with its context, show that the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven is that which leads to the national conversion of Israel: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness”. Just as clearly does the use of Daniel 7, in connection with the Lord's coming, shew that He shall then reign as receiving a kingdom on earth; for there are then those to whom shall be given (with Him and under Him) “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven” (verse 27). 

II. THE QUESTION STATED. MATTHEW 24

There were with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Olives, a few days before He suffered, a portion of that Church which He desired to instruct: whatever He then said to Peter, Andrew, James, and John, was not addressed to them for themselves merely, but to them as a portion of that one body to which, amongst other endowments, there had been given corporate hopes; that is, expectations not confined to individuals merely, not mere promises to be fulfilled to persons then living, but a hope belonging to a body as such, the visible accomplishment of which should take place in the days of certain of that body living in some one age. And thus the Lord Jesus in that prophetic discourse applies the term “ye” and “you”, not to the four disciples who had questioned Him as individuals, but to the Church of the first-born as one body, and having one hope, of which those four were representatives. Thus when He says, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation” (Matthew 24:15), “If they shall say unto you, Behold, He is in the desert, go not forth; behold, He is in the secret chambers, believe it not; for as the lightning”, etc. (verses 26,27), He specially, of course, regards those to whom His words would be applicable from the age in which they should live, and from their location and circumstances. But lest any should say that these things related to persons then living, merely as individuals, or lest in any other way they should avoid the force of the corporate “ye”, our Lord in the same discourse adds, “What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:37).

Now the questions put to the Lord Jesus by the disciples, and His reply to them, had to do with His coming in glory. They say, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world [age]?” [1] (Matthew 24:3) If, then, we would be rightly instructed as to these things, we are called on to take heed to His reply. In His answer, He first tells His disciples of many and various intervening events; deceivers should arise; there should be commotions amongst the nations-- persecutions of the faithful servants of Christ--and the preaching of the Gospel should be carried out as a witness amongst all nations: all this must precede the end, and, in fact, must continue up to the end. The words, “the end is not yet” (verse 6)... and “then shall the end come” (verse 14), are of especial importance and weight as to this.

Whatever be the moral bearing of the hope of the coming of our Lord, He regarded it as being in no wise impaired by the knowledge which He himself gave of events that would intervene; for He taught such preceding events in answer to the inquiry of the disciples. If, then, we were to say that a belief in intervening events interferes with the hope of the coming of the Lord, or contradicts it, we must have adopted some incorrect opinion respecting it. The point now to be noticed is, not whether certain predicted events have now been accomplished, but whether the knowledge of such intervening events dims the hope of the second appearing of Christ. I shall have occasion subsequently to notice some of the particulars of this prophetic discourse: it is evident, on simply reading the inspired record of what our Lord then taught, that it sets before the believing people of Christ the hope that He shall himself come “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory”; and then “He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the one end of heaven to the other”; that before this coming there “shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be”; and that the parable of the fig tree is given us that we may learn how to watch and to wait. We have, in fact, to expect the Lord as He has promised to come, and in no other way.

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[1] It is certainly a question whether we might not have made more use of 'age' in our version [for aión]:...'age' may sound to us inadequate now; but it is quite possible that, so used, it would little by little have expanded, and acquired a larger, deeper meaning than it now possesses.”--Abp. Trench; Synonyms of the N. Test. Part the Second. 1863, p.32. 

I. OBEDIENCE TO REVEALED TRUTH

The only means that we have of learning anything respecting the coming of our Lord, is from the teaching of Holy Scripture inspired by the Holy Ghost. Had the Scripture been silent we should have known nothing on the subject; on any points as to which Scripture is silent we do know nothing; but where the Scripture has spoken, we have as learners to receive what it teaches us; and if we shut our ears to this revelation, we are setters aside of the truth of God; or if we substitute our own speculations (however unconsciously) we are adding to what God has revealed.

If there are points which the Scripture does not clearly reveal, there may be differences of opinion; but where the Word of God definitely speaks, there we have simply to listen and to learn. We have not to inquire the use of what has been revealed before we consent to be learners; but taking the place of those willing to be taught, we have afterwards to seek Divine instruction as to the use of whatever the Spirit of God thus sets before us. We have first to know revealed truth as given by God for purposes that must be wise, and afterwards we may grow in the apprehension of its practical and moral bearing.

Before the first advent of Christ there had been the revelation concerning Him in promise and prophecy, and this, too, in very minute details: the family from which He should spring was foretold; His birth-place; the period in which He should come (as measured from a decree to restore and to build Jerusalem); His miracles, His teaching, His rejection, His crucifixion, death, and burial; His vicarious sacrifice; His resurrection; His ascension to the right hand of God the Father, and His tarriance seated there until His enemies shall be made His footstool. All these leading incidents connected with His coming (as well as many that are more minute) were given in ancient prophecy; but so little were they heeded, that the claims of Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah were denied because they were really in accordance with what the Scripture had foretold. “We know this man whence He is; but when Christ cometh no man knoweth whence He is” (John 7:27.) This may be a warning to us as to the use which we make of those prophecies which deal with our hopes. The severe truth of God's revealed Word will clash harshly (if judged according to natural feelings) with everything that is tinctured with religious sentimentalism or with speculation, however refined, and however seemingly spiritual.

To those who hold as conclusive the words of the lord Jesus, and the teaching of the Holy Ghost through apostles and prophets, I wish to address the inquiry, How is the second coming of Christ set forth in Holy Scripture? and why?

THE HOPE OF CHRIST'S SECOND COMING: HOW IS IT TAUGHT IN SCRIPTURE? AND WHY? - Preface to the Second Edition

Revelation 1:7

Why Read This Paper

This is one of the classic works, originally published in 1864, against a view that was then called the “secret rapture of the church.” It was written by a churchman and scholar well acquainted with the circumstances of this view's origin and early dissemination in the Nineteenth Century. Today the “secret rapture” view is called pretribulationism. It teaches that Jesus will remove the church from the earth before the Great Tribulation begins. Unfortunately, most who hold to premillennialism today accept this view. Historically, that was not the case. Read the answers that Tregelles gives against the arguments used, and still used, to support pretribulationism.

Description

Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813-1875) was a Nineteenth Century scholar of the highest order. His works include, The Englishman's Greek Concordance, The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance, and an English translation of Gesenius' Hebrew Lexicon. His book, The Hope of Christ's Second Coming, is short, and we here present the entire book. It discusses the origin of pretribulationism, answers its arguments, and presents the biblical teaching of the Second Advent of Christ from a premillennial standpoint.

Preface to the Second Edition

For some years past this valuable Book--the first edition of which was issued in the year 1864--has been out of print; and it now appears to be a duty, in response to the request of many who greatly value it, to issue a second edition. This is the more needful as the errors of a prophetic teaching which it was written to meet, have suffered no decadence, but, on the contrary, have developed ampler proportions, and extended over a wider sphere of influence than could have been supposed possible at first by those who, like Dr Tregelles, were acquainted with the circumstances of their origin and early dissemination. It is not, however, surprising when we remember that every day is bringing us nearer to the “end of the age”--the period when right prophetic instruction will be most needed by the people of God, and when also the delusive power of the great Adversary shall be most put forth. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith” (1 Timothy 4:1.) “For that day shall not come except there come the apostasy (Greek, apostasia) first, and that Man of Sin be revealed, the Son of Perdition...whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish” (2 Thessalonians 2:3,9,10.)

The duty of preparing these pages for the press has been committed to me; and it is with feelings of the deepest gratitude to God, and, under Him, to the human instrument, that I have undertaken it. For this pamphlet was the means first used, now eighteen years ago, to deliver my mind from the influence of much false prophetic teaching, and to guide me to the Scriptures for instruction upon these subjects.

This Edition is a reprint of the former one. An Appendix has been added, containing a few notes on points upon which it seemed desirable to enlarge because of more recent developments of the original errors. For these notes the Editor alone is responsible.

Cecil Yates Biss.

London, W.

October, 1886.