Christ's second coming fulfilled ...

Front matter

RiST'S SECOND mm m:arion: morris

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Glass

Preface

''The weary centuries watch in vain The clouds of heaven for Him."

— Whit tier.

Generation after generation has looked to the future for the fulfillment of prophecies that have evidently been fulfilled, losing thereby much of the harmony, beauty and comfort in which the Scriptures abound. Hence come the many speculations concerning:

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, THE END OF THE WORLD, THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW

EARTH, DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION.

It has been truly said that, ''He who sets one great truth afloat in the world serves his generation." Although the author may not be able to do this, he hopes at least to make more real to the reader some of the great truths of the Bible which are already afloat.

PREFACE

We believe that the Son of Man came the second time, as He declared He would come, ''in the glory of His Father with His angels," and that He rendered ''unto every man according to his deeds/' Also that some of them who stood by and heard Jesus speak these words lived to see them fulfilled; and that Jesus did not teach that the passing away of heaven over our heads and earth under our feet would be simultaneous with His second coming, the judgment, and the ead of the world.

As we understand it, the heaven and earth that was destined to pass away and to be superseded by a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, was the old covenant with its priesthood and sacrifices and the earthy ungodly men of that generation, who believed neither the writings of Moses nor the words of Jesus. The old covenant was only a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things." It had, however, long been a heaven, though an imperfect one, to the true Israelite. But all these things were destined to give way to the new and perfect covenant in which iniquity is forgiven, and sin is forgotten, and there would be forthcoming "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession."

PREFACE

It was the end of types, examples and shadowy things. It was the consummation of all things that the prophets, apostles, and Jesus himself, had, foretold of His coming, the judgment, and the end of the world.

THE END OF THE WORLD

''Then shall the end come' ; ''The end of all things is at hand''; "The last day"; "The last hour" ; and other Scriptural sayings of similar import, do not refer to the destruction, the end and desolation of this planet. Doubtless the physical heaven over our heads and the earth beneath our feet will pass away when they have served the purpose for which they were created. Probably this is the meaning of the words of Jesus, "Heaven and earth shall pass away," but the passing away of these is not simultaneous with the second coming of Christ, the day of judgment, and the end of the world.

God has given man a visible manifestation of the divine plan of redemption, of which the second coming of Christ wias the consummation.

M. M.

Winchester, Ind., January, 1917.

Contents

PA RT O N E CHRIST'S SECOND COMING FULFILLED

CHAPTER I. Not Peace but a Sword

Page

The Second Coming Foretold 15

Christ's Work 16

Christ's Method 16

Kingdom of Peace 18

Signs of the Kingdom Fulfilled lb

Christ Coming into the New Kingdom 20

Character of the New Kingdom 20

The Establishment of the New Kingdom and

the Overthrow of the Old Powers 22

The Overflowed World 23

Chapter II

The Destruction of an Ungodly Race and the Establishment of the Inner Kingdom.

Not Destruction as of Old ^ 26

The Destruction of Them that Obey Not God. . 26

The Disannulling of the Old Covenant 28

The Consuming Fire of God's Jealousy 29

Page

His Coming and Judgment 31

The Dawn of the Christian Era 34

God's Deliverance 35

CHAPTER III. The Period of Transition

The Fate of the Holy City that Had Become

Unholy 37

Confirming the Word by Signs 39

The Gospel Preached to the Whole World 40

Then Shall the End Come 42

His Coming Expected by His Disciples 43

Disciples and Prophets Not Mistaken 44

The Time for the New Kingdom Had Come. . . 46

CHAPTER IV. The Triumph of Christianity

The Gospels Indicate a Single Event 49

The Confusion of Other Beliefs 52

A More Hopeful View 53

The New Covenant Maketh a New Heaven and

a New Earth 56

Although Sin May Increase for a Time God's

Word Shall Triumph 58

The Children of God to Become a World

Power 60

Not a New Gospel nor a New Faith but a

Clearer Vision 62

CHAPTER V. Christ Came in the Generation then Living

Page The Assurance of His Coming in that Generation 65

The Need of His Coming at that Time 66

Assurance that the Time Was at Hand 67

The Blood of the Righteous as Additional Evidence 74

The Certainty of His Coming and the Fulfillment of the Predictions 75

The Meaning of the Symbol 78

The Church of the Lord a Living Evidence. . . 79

CHAPTER VI. Wonderful Christ

The New Covenant and the New Life 81

Through Christ Man Reaches God 84

The Work of Christianity 84

The New Heaven and the New Earth 85

CHAPTER I. The Resurrection of the Inward Man

Page

Christ the First to Rise 87

Twice Born and Once Risen Christ 88

The Resurrection of the "Inward Man" 89

The Voice of the Son of God 89

The Physical Resurrection the Ojective of the

Spiritual 91

The Resurrection of the Dead Absolutely Essential 93

The Resurrection of the Dead Most Beautiful 94

The Resurrection of the Dead Is Restful 95

The Resurrection of the Dead a Perennial Feast

and Fountain 95

CHAPTER II. No Resurrection for the Outward Man

"The Things Which Are Seen Are Temporal" 96 Christ Is the Way and the Plan of Redemption Is Found in Him 98

That Which Is Born of the Flesh Is Flesh 98

The Resurrection Seen in Nature .101

Paul's Explanation of the Resurrection 102

Irreconcilable from a Literal Viewpoint 105

Paul's Desire 105

The Destiny of the Outward Man 106

CHAPTER III. The Sources of Death and the Resurrection

Page

The Death of Adam lOV

The Christ Life a Deathless Life 108

Christ's Love for Man 109

Transforming Power of Jesus 110

Only Two Human Souls Created Ill

The Old Creation Natural and Earthy Ill

The New Creation Spiritual and Godlike 112

Mortal and Immortal 114

Sin and Death 115

Physical Death No Detriment 116

Soul Death the Only Evil 117

Life Is Begotten of the Belief in the Son of

Man 119

Life Outside of Christ Is Doomed 120

CHAPTER IV. Christ the Saviour of the Inner Man

Christ's Mission and Character 121

The Man of Sorrows 123

The Meaning of Death 124

The New Body 125

The Two Bridegrooms and the Two Brides 126

The Inward Body 126

The Natural Man and the Spiritual Man 127

The Inner Temple Man's Greatest Treasure. .128 The Death of the Outward Man Is of Little

Concern 129

Death and the Resurrection of the Inner

Man 131

Chapter I Not Peace But A Sword

The Second Coming Foretold.

"Tell us when shall these things be ? And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?'' (Matt. 24: 3.) The answer, "Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away till all these things be accomplished/' (Matt. 24 :34.) God said to Abraham : "I will make of thee a great nation and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." And after many generations, "at the end of the ages", "in the evening of the world", came the promised seed, — the long expected Messiah, "who was foreknown, indeed, before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at the end of the times for your sake." (I Peter i : 20.)

Christ's Work.

Christ left the glory which He had with the Father, taking the form of a servant, and while in this lowly form, — persecuted, hated, scoffed at and scorned by the authorities of the Jewish church, — He accomplished that which has taken deeper and deeper hold upon the minds of men as the centuries have passed. He came and sowed the good seed. The enemy sowed the tares, and the mixture was allowed to grow until the harvest, then the Son of Man came the second time, not a little child heraled by the angels, but a King ''with power and great glory and all the angels with Him" to execute His word, for ''this generation," said He, "shall not pass away till all these things be accomplished."

Christ's Method.

John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and Saducees, "Ye offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come ?" . . and, "even now the ax lieth at the root of the trees." "Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." Again he declared that the Messiah who baptizes with the Holy Ghost baptizes also with fire ; "and He will gather His wheat into the garner but the chaff He wil burn up with unquenchable fire/'

"Think not," said Christ, "that I came to send peace on the earth : I came not to send peace but a sword." (Matt. lo: 34.) Again He asserted "I came to cast fire upon the earth ; and what do I desire if it is already kindled ?" . . "Think ye that I am come to give peace in the earth ? I tell you, Nay, but rather division." (Luke 12:49-51.)

By reference to Isaiah we find the following : "He will have indignation against His enemies. For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and His chariots shall be like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fierceness, and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will Jehovah execute judgment, and by His sword, upon all flesh ; and the slain of Jehovah shall be many." (Isaiah 66: 14-16.)

St. Paul stated: "If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved: for the Lord will execute His word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short." (Rom. 9:27-28.) "You that are afflicted," also said Paul, "rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus : who shall suffer punishment even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of His might/' (H Thess. i : 7-19.)

''When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall come," said Jesus, ''what will He do unto those husbandmen?" They say unto Him, "He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen." (Mat. 21:40-41.) And Jesus having reference to this event said, "These are days of vengeance that all things that are written may be fulfilled." (Luke 21 : 22.)

Kingdom of Peace,

To my mind these Scriptures clearly show that the reign of peace could not begin until after His Second Coming, and the "ax", the "sword" and the "fire" had accomplished their work, and all things which were written and prophesied had been fulfilled.

"Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and earthquakes in diverse places. But all these are the beginning of travail." (Matt. 24: 7-9.)

Signs of the New Kingdom Fulfilled. We quote the following- paragraph from Peloubet's Select Notes. ''Wars and Rumors of Wars." "Josephus gives an account of the troublous times before the fall of Jerusalem. The peace that prevailed over the world during Christ's life was soon broken. Rome had troublous times. Four Roman emperors were murdered in swift succession. But especially in Palestine the war fiend ran riot. The Jews themselves were divided into contending factions, who slew each other by the thousands. The neighboring nations joined one party or the other. Then the Jews revolted against the Romans, and the Roman armies overran the whole country. Blood flowed Hke water." ''Earthquakes" : "Perhaps no period in the world's history has ever been so marked by these convulsions as that which intervenes between the Crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem." "Famines" : "A great famine, prophesied in Acts ii 126, ocurred A. D. 49, and another of the reign of Claudius, and mentioned by Josephus. A pestilence, A. D. 65, in a single autumn, carried off 30,000 persons at Rome. These are the beginnings of sorrows ; of travail, of that labor-pain of the world out of which the Kingdom of God is to be born."

Christ Coming Into the New Kingdom.

''So Christ also, having been once ofTered to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto salvation." (Heb. 9 :28.)

'That He may send the Christ," said Peter, "who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus ; whom the heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, whereof God spake by the mouth of His holy prophets that have been of old." (Acts 3: 20-21.) "But He," said Paul, "when He offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet." (Heb. 10 : 12-13.) And in the same generation in which "He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever," He came the second time and fulfilled the words of the One Hundred and Tenth Psalm and made His enemies His footstool.

Character of the New Kingdom.

The nobleman who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, as soon as he had gained possession of it, returned and reckoned with his "servants unto whom he had given the money, and ordered his enemies slain before him.'' (Luke 19.)

The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire ; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matt. 13: 41-42.) Then all the prophecies relating to the judgments of God were fulfilled, ''and the world in the church comes to be exchanged for the church in the world," and the religion of letter and type to be superseded by that of spirit and life.

He came the second time to consummate the plan of redemption. "When these things begin to come to pass/' said Christ, ''look up and lift up your heads because your redemption draweth nigh." (Luke 21 : 28.) "Now is salvation nearer to us than when we first believed." (Rom. 13 : 11.) "Salvation from our enemies and from the hand af all that hate us." (Luke 1:7.)

Again Paul says, "Waiting for our adoption, to- wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8 : 23), having reference to the body of believers — the Church.

The Establishment of the New Kingdom and the Overthrow of the Old Powers.

He came with power and great glory to vindicate His people, and cause the overthrow of the wicked, and to estabHsh the kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy forevermore on the earth, and in earth, — in earthen vessels.

Peter says, ''Whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not/' (H Peter 2:3.)

This great event was the fulfillment of a prophecy more than three thousand years old. It came down through the ages undimmed by time. But it was the Son of Man who first clearly announced the coming retribution, for to proclaim the ''day of vengeance'' was a part of the message that God sent Him to proclaim. (Isa. 61 : 2.) How clearly He proclaimed it may be seen in the Synoptic Gospels.

That Jesus and His diciples did not have reference to the passing away of the actual heavens above us and the earth beneath, in connection with His second coming, the Bible, as we understand it, clearly proves. We neither know how long this sphere has been rolling in its orbit, nor how long it will continue thus to roll. The Bible is as silent in respect to its ending as it is with regard to its beginning.

But not so with the heaven and earth to which Jesus and His disciples referred. As we understand it, they had reference to the old covenant, and the destruction and dispersion of ungodly men. While the old covenant was w^axing old and nigh unto vanishing away, the New Covenant was prepared to supersede it and to be established at the final passing away of the old. The new Israel was also forming and ready to come into their promised inheritance, and like the Israel of old, gradually to take possession of the land, so that, as the old heaven and earth passed away, the new heaven and the new earth superseded them.

The Overflozved World.

In the third chapter of II Peter the apostle declares that a world perished in the waters of a flood, and in reply to the mockers of the last days w^ho asked, ''Where is the promise of his coming?'' he says, 'Tor this they wilfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth compacted out of water and amidst water, by the word of God ; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished ; but the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men/' (II Peter 3 : 5-7.)

Here we see that Peter says the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. He did not have reference to the physical earth, seas and skies. The same physical heaven and earth that stood before the flood stands today. He had reference to the destruction of an ungodly race. The ungodly antediluvians who mocked at the warnings of Noah were suddenly destroyed ''and without remedy.'' So these scoflfers might expect to perish by the judgments of God, but as the physical heaven and earth did not pass away in the waters of the flood, may we not reasonably conclude that Peter did not wish to say that the physical heaven and earth would perish at the coming of the Lord ?

But nearly twenty-four centuries after the antedeluvian world had been destroyed by the waters of a flood, another world was destroyed, not by the waters of a flood but by the "fires of His jealousy," ''by desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword."

But just as the earth that perished in the great deluge was earthy, ungodly men, so was the earth that was destroyed at the end of the world earthy ungodly men, and as the living earth perished in the great deep, in Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the Red Sea, so the living earth perished at the end of the world. ''O earth, earth, earth, hear the words of Jehovah." (Jer. 22 : 29.)

CHAPTER 11.

THE DESTRUCTION OF AN UNGODLY RACE AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INNER KINGDOM.

Not Destruction as of Old.

God did not bring destruction upon the beasts of the field, nor the birds of the air as he did at the time of the great deluge, for "Jehovah said in his heart, T will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, — neither will I smite any more everything living as I have done/ " (Gen. 8:21.)

The Destruction of Them That Obey Not God.

Time, and, we believe, the Scripture also, proves that Peter did not have in mind the burning up of the immeasurable heavens above us, nor the ''everlasting hills'' about us when he said, 'They shall give account to him that is ready to judge the living and the dead."

"The time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God ; and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel

of God?"

*'The end of all things is at hand."

Nor when he said : ''The day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat. But according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'' (II Peter— 3.)

Peter evidently had reference to the fiery flames of that symbolic fire that Jesus had already kindled (Luke 12:49), which is also mentioned in Luke 3 : 16, 17; I Cor. 3 : 13 ; II Thes. i, 8, and other Scriptures of similar import both in the Old and New Testament, for, on the day of Pentecost in which Christianity was inaugurated, Peter looked down the centuries to far off generations that should receive the promise, and said, "For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord shall call unto him.'' (Acts 2 139.)

Neither did Paul have reference to the removal or destruction of the material world, nor the planets over our heads, when he said: "Whose voice then shook the earth; but now he hath promised, saying, yet once more will I make the earth to tremble, not the earth only, but also the

CHRIST S SECOND COMING J^ULFILLED

heaven. And this word, yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:26, 29.)

The Disannulling of the Old Covenant.

Paul had reference to the Old Covenant, the temporary or time covenant, which was not designed to be permanent, only a copy and shadow of the heavenly things; for he says: 'There is a disannulling of a foregoing commandment, because of it weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect." (Heb. 7:18, 19.) J ''For, if that first covenant had been faultless, then would no place have been sought for a second — but that which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away." (Heb.

8:7,13.)

That Paul did not have reference to a removal of the earth beneath our feet nor to the starry heavens overhead is clear from the following

Scriptures.

CHRIST'*S SECOND COMlNG FULFILLED

''That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2\y), and "Unto him be the glory in the church, and in Christ Jesus unto all generations' for ever and ever." (Eph. 3:21.)

The Consuming Fire of God's Jealousy,

It is therefore clear that neither Peter nor Paul associated Christ's coming with the angels of His power in flaming fire, nor the removing of things shaken, with a change in the physical universe; nor did Jesus and His disciples, as we see it, have any more reference whatever to any physical change of the earth at His second coming, than did the prophet Isaiah at His first coming, as recorded by St. Luke.

He says : "Make ye ready the way of the Lord. Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." (Luke 3:

5,6.)

The mountains and hills and valleys remain as they were when these words were first written.

He had reference to a moral leveling and not the cutting down of mountains and hills and the filling up of valleys.

While literal fire was a large factor in the destruction of Jerusalem, the holy temple and many persons, Zephaniah, the prophet, has probably made clearer than any other sacred writer the meaning of fire and earth in this event.

He says : 'The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jelaousy for He will make an end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in the land.'' (Zeph. i : i8.) 'Tor My determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms to pour upon them Mine indignation, even all My fierce anger ; for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah to serve Him with one consent.'' (Zeph. 3:8, 9.)

Malachi, the last of the Old Testament prophets, speaks the same truth. He says : ''Behold the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace ; and all the proud and all that work wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear My name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings ; and ye shall go forth and gambol as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, saith Jehovah of hosts." (Mai. 4:3.)

These Scriptures show very plainly that it was the earthy, ungodly men of which the prophets spake and not the earth beneath our feet.

There is a limit to the forebearance of even the Infinite One. "He will not always chide,'' said David, "neither will He keep His anger forever."

God gave "that crooked and perverse generation" not only forty days but nearly forty years in which to repent and accept the preaching of one greater than Jonah that they might escape destruction, for it had been declared "that every soul that shall not hearken to that Prophet, shall be utterly destroyed from among the people." (Acts Z'^Z')

His Coming and Judgment.

But evil men waxed worse and worse and caused the love of many to grow cold. Finally His long suffering came to an end. The cries of His elect for deliverance from the hand of all their enemies had its effect.

"And shall not God/' says Jesus, "avenge His elect, that cry to Him day and night, and yet He is long suffering over them. I say unto you that He will avenge them speedily." (Luke i8: 7, 8.) Again He says : "Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a Sabbath ; for then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be/' Never again such great tribulation, not that there never would be greater loss of life and property. And like the waters of the great flood, it would suddenly come upon them.

"Then shall two men be in the field — two women shall be grinding at the mill, one is taken and one is left/' One is taken and destroyed and the other is left untouched.

This event the revelator saw in his vision and said : "The kings of the earth and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains ; and they say to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come ; and who is able to stand ?' "

God began at a very early date to reveal unto His prophets the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying: ''Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungoldly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." (Jude 14, 15.)

Having the prophecies of Enoch, Moses, Isaiah, David, Ezekial, Daniel, Joel, Zephaniah, Malachi and others who spake of this great judgment, Peter could refer to the long lingering sentence and say, ''Whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not/' (H Peter 2:3), and Paul declared, "The wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.'' (I Thess. 2: 16), and Matthew, "But the king was wroth, and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then saith he to his servants, 'The wedding is ready,' but they that were bidden were not worthy." (Matt. 22:7, 8.)

These Scriptures evidently have reference to the day of judgment, as do the parables of the tares of the field and of the net that was cast into the sea; and likewise those in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew and other kindred Scriptures.

Milton would have expressed a great truth of revelation had he said, "God did not/' instead of ''God will not defer the vindication of the glory of His name."

The Dawn of the Christian Era,

That was the end of a long twilight of ever thickening gloom, which ended with the coming of the Bridegroom at ''midnight.''

Then came the dawn of a new day ; the brightening of the morning of the Christian era ; the establishment of the unseen inner kingdom, the Eden of love, far exceeding the primeval Eden — the early dawn of the millenium, in which Christ is to reign not only a thousand years, but on and on. (See II Peter i :ii ; also Luke 1:33), ''for He is 'King, Priest and Prophet of His people forevermore— the Lord of the hearts and minds of men, not the ruler over an outward kingdom on earth."