"Where Is The Promise Of His Coming?"

by Jarvis, A. G. | Category: General | Jun 1966

(2 Peter 3.4)

The promise of the Lord's return has always been met with ridicule by those who neither believe in nor desire it. The world ignores His coming again. Ml its affairs are programmed as though such an event were clearly impossible. Its political systems, its social plans, and its other innumerable projects bear witness to the solemn fact that the world does not believe in such an event.

Lip service is sometimes paid to the "historic Christ", but the One of whom Scripture speaks as the coming Judge and King is largely unknown.

More solemn, perhaps, is the fact that many of God's dear children are in like case. They hold the doctrine of the coming again of the Lord Jesus Christ as an article of faith, but do not grasp its practical significance. Prevailing conditions tend to affect God's children to a greater or lesser degree. Our Lord said, "Because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold" (Matthew 24.12). Truth that gripped and held the hearts of so many of God's children about 100 years ago has become a matter of mere mental assent with many. Do we not all need a reassessment of the attitude of our hearts towards the "blessed hope"? The tempo of modern life, its innumerable activities, its amazing achievements and its glittering prizes all tend to carry us along in their stream. The finest antidote to this is the recollection of the truth, "The coming of the Lord is at hand" (James 5.8).

It has often been said that the hope of our Lord's coming is not only a "blessed hope" but also a purifying hope. As it is written, "Every one that hath this hope set on Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3.3). The need to have the hope set, fixed, on Him is vital.

There are two courses set forth in the word of God open to each one of us. First, to "mind earthly things", which implies that the mind is engrossed with the things of this world. A person so occupied is described as "seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins" (2 Peter 1.9). How graphic is Bunyan's picture of the man with the muck-rake! An angel stands near holding a golden crown, but the man with the muck-rake sees it not. He is too busy raking amongst the straws at his feet. The second course open to us is to set our minds on the things that are above. This demands an upward look and a forward look; "set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1.13). Let us remember the words, "Yet a very little while, He that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry" (Hebrews 10.37): "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise" (2 Peter 3.9).

Each Lord's day, as we remember Him we are pointed to His coming again, for "ye proclaim the Lord's death till He come". His last words in the closing book of the New Testament are, "Behold, I come quickly" (Revelation 22.12,20). May our hearts leap up and joyfully respond, "Amen: come, Lord Jesus!"

Jarvis, A. G. | Jun 1966
General