Five of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ have
left in their epistles instruction for the Church in all ages. Amongst other
subjects of which they all treat, more or less, is that of the coming of the
Lord, and the facts or moral features which precede that event. Thus the
Apostle John (1 John 2:18) says,
“Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists; whereby we know it is the last
time”. This one passage shows us that the Church had then been taught
concerning the coming of Antichrist; that the Apostle knew that they had
received this teaching; and that it was right that Christians should understand
that this is a thing that concerns the Church: in the beginning of the next
chapter he speaks of the hope of our being like Christ when He shall be
manifested: that is our hope; and because it is our hope, we may contemplate
the rise and working of Antichrist, or of anything else that the Scripture says
shall take place first. Opposers of simple Scripture teaching sometimes ask, “For
which are you waiting, Christ or Antichrist?” The answer might be, “Which does
the apostle teach us shall be first, the coming of Antichrist, or the
revelation of Christ?” for if we take these things in their Scriptural order,
we shall not go wrong. We wait for Christ, and therefore we can take heed to
the warnings concerning the rise of Antichrist; “These things have I written
unto you concerning them that seduce you”; and we can seek to be so instructed
from God's Word as not to be entangled with the snares of the many Antichrists,
or those of Antichrist himself, the denier of the Father and the Son. Will any
one, with the Scripture before him, say that he there learns that the rise of
Antichrist shall not precede the coming of Christ? Will he say that the
warnings of the inspired Apostle have no application?
The Apostle James (Chapter 5) speaks of the evil characteristics of “the last days”; in
contrast to which he ways, “Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of
the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth,
and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain.
Be ye also patient, establish your hearts; for the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh” (7, 8). This, then, shows what the kind of waiting for the Lord's coming
was which this Apostle taught: it was that in which “long patience” was needed.
The expression, “the coming of the Lord draweth nigh”, is not one to be
measured by mere interval of time, but rather with the intelligence of its
absolute certainty, even though the intervening period might seem great. [5]
It was not only
revealed to the Apostle Paul that there would be evil days, both in the Church
and in the world, before Christ's second advent, but he was also inspired by
the Holy Ghost to communicate this as being profitable and needful warning. Not
only do we find the prophetic statements in the Thessalonians to this effect,
but also in other places. For instance: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that
in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits and doctrines of devils”, etc. (1 Timothy 4:1). Until these things had
been accomplished, the coming of the Lord could not take place. So, too, in the
Second Epistle to Timothy, containing, as it does, what may be called the dying
testimony of the Apostle: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times
shall come” (3:1). “Evil men and
seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (13). “The
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own
lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables” (4:3,4). The servant of the Lord, in
contrast to all this, had to look to the crown of life, which the Lord, the
righteous Judge, shall give in that day unto all that love His appearing. Thus
the hope of the Lord's coming is in perfect harmony with the knowledge of
intervening events. Indeed, if this had not been the case, not a single future
occurrence, not a single direction which involves the knowledge of interval of
time, could the Lord have given to His people. If a moral effect were thus to
be wrought, it would be by the withholding of truth, and not by its
communication. All the teaching of St. Paul's Epistles for the continuous
guidance of the Church, assumes, as an admitted truth, that there would be
those living on the earth, prior to the Lord's coming, who should be so guided.
Jude, in his one
short epistle, gives a solemn testimony as to the condition in which the coming
of the Lord (as prophesied of old by Enoch) should find the world and the
Church. He does not communicate these things in order to discourage Christians,
but rather that they might see proof of the faithfulness of God, and of the
mercy of His warnings: “But, beloved, remember the words which were spoken
before of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you that
there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own
ungodly lusts” (17,18).
The Lord Jesus had
declared to Peter “by what death he should glorify God” (John 21:19): thus that Apostle himself
knew, and other Christians also knew, that the coming of the Lord could not
take place until after He had thus suffered martyrdom. If our hope of the
second advent be the same as theirs, we may at once see that absolute certainty
of previous events does not interfere with it. Now the Apostle Peter was
desirous that the hope of those coming after him should be the same as that
which he had himself cherished and taught. He not only thought it meet while in
this tabernacle to stir up believers by putting them in remembrance, but he
says, in relation to his approaching death, which the Lord had shown him, “Moreover,
I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things
always in remembrance” (2 Peter 1:15). The scene on the Mount of
Transfiguration had been a showing forth of the glory of Christ at His coming,
and to this Peter directed the minds of Christians, teaching them that they
ought to give heed to the prophetic word while waiting for the dawning of the
day. What, then, were Christians to expect during the interval before the
coming of Christ? “There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall
bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction: and many shall follow their pernicious ways, by
reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of”; and so on throughout
the second chapter. These were to be the expectations of those whose hope was
like that of the Church as then taught. In warning of the heed which should be
paid to the words spoken before by the holy prophets, and to the commandments
of apostles, he draws their attention to one special point: “Knowing this
first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own
lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming; for since the fathers
fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the
creation?” (3:3,4). Thus the
moral power of the hope of the coming of Christ was not marred in the apostles'
days from their possessing a certain knowledge of events that would intervene:
the apostles authoritatively taught this doctrine as being of importance to the
Church; and if any doctrine of the second advent is now taught which cannot be
held with such knowledge of events, or which would deny that such knowledge
could be held compatibly with the maintenance of the hope, then we may be sure
that such doctrine is not in accordance with Holy Scripture, and that, in fact,
it sets aside its solemn teaching. The promise of His coming must be held as
the promise was made, and not in some manner wholly different. At the
Pentecostal preaching of the Gospel, the apostles of the Lord well knew that
they were not setting forth that which was to bring in universal blessing; they
knew that although the promise of the return of the Lord Jesus to reign was a
portion of their testimony, it would not be as yet; and thus part of the
exhortation of Peter was founded on that knowledge: “Save yourselves from this
untoward generation” (Acts 2:40).
Thus a definite interval was part of the original doctrine.
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[5] We also learn in the Epistle of James how to act
and to speak in relation to present plans. In reproving those who plan what
they will do, he tells them that what they ought to say is, “If the Lord will,
we shall live, and do this or that” (4:15).
He does not make instantaneous looking for the coming of the Lord the reason
why such things should not be said or done. He does not say (as some now do),
in speaking of things presently before them, “Unless the Lord come first”.
