The Glorious Hope
Key
Text
"I go to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again, and receive you unto myself."
John 14:1-3 |
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One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed
in the Bible is that of Christ's second coming, to complete
the great work of redemption. To God's pilgrim people, so long
left to sojourn in the "region and shadow of death,"
a precious, joy-inspiring hope is given in the promise of His
appearing, who is "the resurrection and the life,"
to "bring home again his banished."
When the Saviour was about to be separated from his disciples,
he comforted them in their sorrow with the assurance that he
would come again: "Let not your heart be troubled."
"In my Father's house are many mansions." "I
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself."
John 14:1-3. "The Son of man shall come in his glory, and
all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations."
Matt. 25:31, 32.
The coming of the Lord has been in all ages the hope of his
true followers. The Saviour's parting promise upon Olivet, that
he would come again, lighted up the future for his disciples,
filling their hearts with joy and hope, that sorrow could not
quench, nor trials dim. Amid suffering and persecution, "the
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ"
was the "blessed hope." When the Thessalonian Christians
were filled with grief as they buried their loved ones, who
had hoped to live to witness the coming of the Lord, Paul, their
teacher, pointed them to the resurrection, to take place at
the Saviour's advent. Then the dead in Christ should rise, and
together with the living be caught up to meet the Lord in the
air. "And so," he said, "shall we ever be with
the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."
1 Thess. 4:16-18.
 On
rocky Patmos the beloved disciple hears the promise, "Surely,
I come quickly," and his longing response voices the prayer
of the church in all her pilgrimage, "Even so, come, Lord
Jesus." Rev. 22:20.
Prophecy not only foretells the manner and object of Christ's
coming, but presents tokens by which men are to know when it
is near. In this section we will look at 20 signs that the Lord's
return is near, "even at the door". Back
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